Canon EF 100mm f / 2.8L Macro IS USM

Advantages: Great picture quality! On a fully open diaphragm, it is very sharp, not much worse than the maximum quality that is achieved at f5,6-f8. Great for portraits!
High-quality construction, dust protection, sits perfectly on the bayonet, does not play anything.

Disadvantages: The native blend from the kit hangs slightly on the lens.
Cannot be used with extenders 1.4; 2.0 unlike the same 180 macro.

Comment: Wonderful glass from Canon! You can shoot as a macro 1: 1 (the image of the object on the matrix will be the same size as in life), and portraits with a perfectly blurred background due to the 9-lobed rounded diaphragm. Very fast and clear autofocus and a terrific stabilizer! At normal distances, it gives 4 feet to the shutter speed, and allows you to take clear hands shots on shutter speeds up to 1/20 sec! At the macro two or three steps, depending on the increase.
There were a few mentions about the plastic case in previous reviews - yes, I would like to see metal with a beautiful color like all L-ki. But the quality of plastic is excellent, and the main thing is that under it the groups of lenses are still in a metal glass.
Almost no chromatic (or it is not noticeable), excellent geometry and clarity of the picture. This is one of the best Canon fixes for clarity in the entire aperture range used (2.8 - 16). With an average cost of 35,000 rubles, it gives an absolutely amazing picture!
I strongly recommend if you decide to replenish your kit with a fix for portraits! Bugs and flowers in nature can also become the object of your interest after buying this lens.

Advantages: - Sharp on F / 2.8 (!);
- Excellent color rendition and contrast;
- The stabilizer is very useful;
- Lack of HA on F / 2.8;
- Build quality: everything is neat, clearly, and there is nothing to complain about;
- 3 distance switches (this is very convenient, and the lens quickly focuses);
- Beautiful boke - circles, not nuts;
- Excellent macro (I admire);
- A hefty hood: on the one hand, you can’t put on the protective cover without removing the hood, and on the other, it protects the lens well from splashes, dust, etc .;
- Adequacy of the price.

Disadvantages: Very small depth of field at F / 2.8, both when macro shooting, and when shooting distant objects.
This is probably not a flaw, but the design of this lens.

Comment: I took this lens to the crop (EOS 60D), like two in one: macro and telephoto. The first impression is created from the first frame. You look at the first photo you took: sharp, juicy colors, not even a hint of HA ...
The stabilizer works wonders: you can take 1/20 sec. From your hands (!), And this is on the crope! (For example, my 50mm F / 1.4 and at 1/80 often smears).
Very good to shoot them portraits.
In most cases, the photos taken by him, do not need further processing. After the purchase, I revised my views on the optics that I use ... Canon EF 100mm f / 2.8L Macro IS USM has become the benchmark for quality.
A lens worth its money.

Test photos:
http://fotki.yandex.ru/users/christopher-grand/album/4237/

Advantages: Light
Tenacious autofocus
Sharpness

Disadvantages: I did not notice

Comment: Before buying this lens, the Sigma 100mm macro was considered
The price benefit was about 4 thousand.
Sigma chased a week and abandoned the idea of ​​buying. Leaving the trunk terribly interferes. And at Canon everything happens inside.
I recommend for shooting macro without steam :)

Advantages: Very sharp even at 2.8,
There are practically no geometric distortions and vignetting.
Good stab
Excellent color rendition
Accurate and fast autofocus
3-position focus limiter

Disadvantages: Perhaps not. In my opinion the best makrik have kenona.

Comment: In principle, everything has already been said about him :-) I emphasize that the presence of a stub helps a lot with both macro and other genres.
All the pictures below are taken from the hands, with the stub turned on. Without a stub of this quality would not work ... You can use it as an excellent portrait book. And the fact that it is very sharp, so IMHO is a virtue. You can always make a sharp out of sharp. But on the contrary - is not so easy)))
If you look for flaws, then if you shoot bugs or butterflies ...
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6610/27071204.1a/0_93714_d72bb0a8_orig
We must understand that close to remove problematic. You can frighten off. In this case, the macroelka 180 mm is preferable. But the absence of her stub add complexity.
Sharpness and detailing is impressive!
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6616/27071204.1a/0_980b2_a683f1_orig
When every hair is visible, you know what money is spent on.
The color rendition is also great!
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6514/27071204.1a/0_980b0_1e6ccff0_orig
Great picture and bokeh
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6616/27071204.1a/0_980ad_ff7e339_orig
DOF of course too small
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/6615/27071204.1a/0_980ae_71dbd818_orig
But those who know what the diaphragm is for, I think they will bypass this drawback)
In general, who needs a great makrik - I recommend. In my opinion it is better not to find it!

Advantages: -Build quality;
-Quality pictures;
- Fine and precise focus;
- The fine stabilizer;
-A light weight

Disadvantages: Not found

Comment: Strangely enough, but I did not take this lens for macro at all, but purely for portrait shooting and reporting. Macro is really amazing, of course, I sometimes “play around”, but for now this is a new direction for me, which requires certain skills and experience.
Numerous reviews prophesied some kind of super-sharpness, which supposedly would be bad for female portraits. Honestly, I did not notice anything supernatural here. The detailing is beautiful, but it is not "oversaturated" with sharpness. The only thing I can immediately say is that portraits should be shot mostly on an open hole, from 4 onwards the photo becomes not so plastic and interesting. By the way, about 2.8 - a perfectly working diaphragm, and with a good flu, at least with a half-length portrait.
When I first filmed a report on this weave, using the stabilizer and shooting parameters: f2.8, 1/25 and 400-800, I just got it. Yes, there are objects moving slightly and it turns out to be a lubricant that does not depend on you, but the stabilizer is just incredible, it works for all 150%. Now, even where there is an opportunity to shoot with a flash, I still try to do without it and the result is excellent!
If you are shooting on a fullframe, more on the street and in unhurried conditions - I may have advised you to Elk 135. But if you often have to shoot in difficult conditions, but you also like street portraits to take pictures - don't be afraid, buy this weave, it is completely fulfills the money invested.
Photos can be viewed here: flickr.com/photos/mak_peace/ almost all recent portraits are made on this lens.

Advantages: Fast, sharp, not expensive, 2.8 quite a working hole!

Disadvantages: It is too heavy when wearing a native blend - it is not realistic to put the lid on, so the polaroid is also not twisted! Sometimes with auto-refocusing it makes gloomy sounds, it seems that it will close here! :) In a dark room, the focus may not catch.

Comment: The lens is satisfied, the portraits are beautiful, the focus is fast and accurate, the color reproduction is good. Of course, I liked the Zeiss 100/2 macro more, but it is much more expensive and lacks autofocus, which is critical for many! Of course, you cannot climb into the eye to fly (for this, the MP-E65 is), but the macro does cancel. The stabilizer pleased, allows you to shoot quite working frames at hand at 1/25 (of course, if this is not a macro). In general, I have never regretted, I advise everyone. :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68490501@N06/6998367411/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68490501@N06/6928075189/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68490501@N06/7055038349/in/photostream/lightbox/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68490501@N06/6990909897/in/photostream/lightbox/

Advantages: The red stripe and the letter L speaks for itself. A sharp, convenient focal length on crope (wasps-bumblebees and similar stinging are obtained in large, but at a safe distance), aperture and stabilizer.

Disadvantages: In principle, they are not. If you only want to see a tripod ring in the kit.

Comment: This is my first macro lens. In this regard, I have nothing to compare it with. I use on 60d about a year. Macro - amazing. But do not expect that if there is a stabilizer, then a tripod is not needed. The stabilizer is a useful thing, but rather when you shoot non-macro plots. Autofocus speed is slightly lower than, say, 24-70L, but in general it is very operational. In the twilight focuses pretty confidently and accurately (shot a concert). Conveniently, there is a switch over the focusing distance. The lens is resistant to an external factor — shot in a shower, and in a blizzard, no complaints about the work.
Focal length allows you to use as a moderate telephoto portrait camera. The picture, of course, turns out very sharp. Not to say that it is annoying, even in a close-up female portrait, rather the background blur is somewhat peculiar. In conjunction with a magnifying lens works confidently, but the minimum focusing distance is naturally less.
Bottom line: if you need a macro lens, then in terms of price-quality ratio 100mm macro L - more than meet all expectations, very good glass, without clearly expressed flaws, but with a large number of advantages.
You can see the pictures on my page, from July 2011, any that fall under this focal length and aperture (the album "Trifles of Life" is a macro, and 08/06/11 - as a portrait painter).

Advantages: + Execution
+ All L'ki set: moisture / dustproof security
+ Fast AF
+ Versatility: first you take a spider and look at each hair, and after 5 seconds you are already making a portrait with amazing detail, and no lens changes)
+ Pathetic red ring +100500 to ChSV

Disadvantages: Not seen.

Comment: Awesome lens!
I use for macro photography, creating product catalogs and just shooting.
On the crope (550D), of course, you can’t snap it to its full height, but the portraits are simply Magnificent!
The stabilizer and aperture allow you to shoot with the hands, even in low light conditions.

In general, the praises can be sung endlessly, the verdict is one - if you have the opportunity to purchase this lens, then take it without a shadow of a doubt!

Advantages: -Stab allows with hands
-A light weight
-Universality, paradoxically sounds!
-AF accurate and noticeably faster in comparison with 100/2 .8 first.
- Slag protection.

Disadvantages: Feeling that you will compress a little stronger - and crack =)
But this is only at the level of sensations ... Black plastic is pleasant to the touch. Creates suspicion of lens fragility, but according to comrades from Canon, this plastic belongs to the type of engineering plastics and is designed to withstand good loads.

Comment: I use it on 1Dcm2 since summer 2010.
What I want to note right away is the new stabilization system. I was skeptical about this system until I tried it.
Vkradtse - the new system allows you to compensate for two types of vibrations. Angular and parallel. (angular - tilts, parallel - vertical camera shift)
In practice, this gives a smart result, the lens has an angular velocity sensor, cooperating with an acceleration sensor - a tandem of two comrades allows in practice to get a win in as many as 4 feet!

Now this makrik essentially replaced the staffer - the focusing speed, convenient focal and stub give a striking result in practice, allowing you to instantly switch from shooting beetles to a certain plot on the street that requires a quick reaction.

With him, I really felt what a night shooting is with hands. Walking through the city at night without a tripod with Iso3200 no longer seems like a nightmare.
From the hands really get sharp pictures up to 1/5 seconds. About 1 / 50-1 / 10 easy. 10 frames out of 10 knock out sharp.
So, to all those who doubt the new stub system, I inform you that this is not fiction or marketing, but a working system for mega results.

Advantages: The new image stabilizer in the Canon 100 f / 2.8L IS Macro really works and helps. The focus is very fast, the stub is almost silent. The bayonet is very tight, no backlash at all.

Disadvantages: The price of the model is clearly too high. IMHO, the price tag is pulled up almost 2 times from the previous model only due to the new stub and red stripes, with such pricing the old Canon f / 2.8 will be in demand for a very long time. The plastic case of the new Canon 100 f / 2.8L IS Macro looks quite flimsy, the inner voice suggests: - Be careful with it :)

Comment: First impressions: I didn’t test the excitement as a portrait from a special one, to compare with 85L and 135L is simply pointless. In no case should we take pictures of this makrik women, so as not to incur the wrath once again. How does a macro lens work at 100%! AF is very smart, focuses in fractions of a second even in low light conditions: f / 2.8, 1/30, ISO: 640. The stabilizer helps out a lot, allowing you to shoot at 1/30 - 1/60 with a hand at a 1: 1 scale without straining. The stabilizer is almost inaudible, a stub at 300 f / 4L, in comparison with him, just a tractor. On a 1: 1 scale, minimum aperture values ​​start at f / 10, otherwise the depth of field is measured in units of millimeters. On the crock, the glass did not test, on the FF it gives an amazing macro image. I am almost sure that on cameras 50D and especially 7D the same pictures as on 5D cannot be obtained, other things being equal at f / 10 - f / 32.