Hi guys,

I have a 60 mm canon lens for my Canon 450D, and am planning to buy a "super" macro lens.

I had a look online and found the tokina 100mm and the tamron 90mm.

Which one would you go for ?

Or maybe do you have another suggestion ?

Cheers

Daniel

Canon 100mm would be my first choice. I believe neither of lenses you are looking into have internal focusing, so subjects might be to close to the front element. In case you need it, Canon AF is much better in low light conditions.

I agree with Daniel. Canon 100mm has internal focussing, is pretty fast and very sharp. Good in lowish light and the only drawback I find is that it hunts on black or very dark subjects, particularly against the light. You can get round that to an extent with a focussing lamp. I don't think it is any different to other offerings in this respect.

I too would go with the Cannon 100MM USM. For my style of shooting, I am very dependent on AF, and macro is the most demanding on AF, so especially for Macro you really want to get a lens with a great AF motor. The Canon has much better AF than those other two lenses so to me it is the obvious choice.

Yea the other lenses are a bit cheaper, but it is not worth it when you find the AF is garbage. The reason why you find good reviews for those lenses is because most people shooting macro on land are shooting a stationary subject and have the camera on a tripod. When that is the case AF is not important because MF is the best choice in those conditions so it does not matter if the AF is painfully slow. But we are trying to shoot a fish that won't sit still while we are bouncing up and down/side to side in the waves. For us MF is a luxury that we most of the time can not afford, so ever bit of extra AF power is well worth it.

Super Macro? As in greater that 1:1 magnification?

THe 100 and 60 will both give 1:1 magnification only. THe only difference is that you have a greater working distance with the 100mm. You will probably find that you end up filling the frame a lot more with the 100mm due to this but both will technically do just 1:1... If you need more, you will need to need TCs, diopters or wet diopters in addition to the lenses.

Someone please correct me if I am mistaken...

Eskasi is correct.. Adding tele converters , diopters and wet diopters all have pros and cons.. Housing and port design is also a consideration when choosing the above combinations.

Wet diopter the easiest way to proceed with super macro.

M.

I think Eskasi and Starbuck summed it up nicely.

A wet diopter (woody's or macromate) with a 60mm or 100mm lens is a nice way to start out. I like to use a 1.4x teleconverter with my 60mm lens, housed in a longer port.

here's a comprehensive thread on doing "supermacro"

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...=macro&st=0

scott

If using a wet or dry diopter, you'll probably want to use a longer focal length, like the 100mm. Though you can add a diopter to the 60mm, it may present a problem in that your working distance may be too short - making lighting difficult.

i find the working distance with the 60 to be too short. with the 100 you can add a 1.4x (kenko, not Canon) and/or the 500d closeup if you want more than 1:1

While that works for the Nikon 60 it won't work with the Canon EF-S 60 macro. In general EF-S lenses don't work with teleconverters so be very careful about purchasing a teleconverter for the Canon 60.

Personally I use a Canon 100 macro with various combinations of a Woody's dioptre, Kenko 1.4X and Tamron 2X teleconverters for super macro work.

Gudge's/eskasi's statements are what I discovered, as well, after my Nikon buddies (like SCOTTY G!!!!) got me all excited about TC's - teleconverters won't work with the 60 mm EF-S lens. Insert expletive here.

To get greater than 1:1, I use either (1) my 60 mm EF-S lens or 100 mm EF lens with a flip-on Macro Mate (ridiculously expensive, but I do love that thing!! Woody's diopter is another way to go and may not give you much different results) for tiny things I can get very close to, like nudibranchs or (2) the 100 mm EF lens (Canon) with with either a screw-on a diopter (I just started a thread about this on this board a few weeks ago - I have been using a +3 the 2 times I've dove it), which allows me to get shots of skittish things, like gobies/blennies.

In my (limited) experience....Combo #1 can get lovely results, but it can be very frustrating in surge - you have to be able to get close and stay close. Combo #2 gives you a bit more working room for things that are likely to take off, but it does not provide the same magnification as combo 1.

Good luck!

Allison

FYI you can use a teleconverter with the EFs-60mm macro if you put an exension tube between the lens and the teleconverter. You will loose infinity focus, but you will gain more magnification than if you just used the teleconverter.