Stu Warner
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 p.1 #1 · Anyone recommend a 100mm f/2 semi macro? | |
This is my first thread. Very exciting. Sorry if I inadvertently make any faux-pas regarding unwritten FM protocols. 
Ah, cool, I like smileys 
Anyway, I'm aiming for a 24/50/100/200 all-prime setup on Canon EOS. The 24 is the 24/1.4L and the 200 is the 200/2.8LII (that I use with a 2xTC when I need the length), and I have no complaints whatsoever with either lens. However, I need a good 100mm and a good 50mm, and I can't see exactly what I want in the Canon line-up. So I turn in frustration and despair to this forum for advice on alternatives. 
At the moment I have a Sigma 50/2.8 macro, which is a peach of a lens, but perhaps not optimal for macro or for low-light. It captures quite a bit more background than a telephoto macro, and it has a short working distance that in all practicality limits the amount of extension tubes I can add to go beyond 1:1. It's also pretty slow for a 50 prime. By now you are probably thinking that I should get a 100 or 105 macro, and swap my 50 macro for a fast 50 . I would agree, if it weren't for me also wanting an extra stop at 100mm. I LOVE shallow DOF work generally, and for portraits in low light especially.
So I am not only tempted by the a 100/2.8 macro, but I am also very tempted by Canon's EF 100/2, even though this doesn't focus very close at all and sits right in the range I would like to have occupied by a macro lens . I suppose I could add extension tubes for reasonable close-ups, but I wouldn't even be able to get to 1:1 reproductions, never mind beyond that. On the other hand, the 100/2.8 macro looses a full stop to the 100/2. Not only does this reduce it's use in low-light, but it won't give me the subject isolation and non-distracting bokeh I crave.
So, I am starting to look at non-Canon lenses. Does anyone know of any good 100/2 semi-macro lenses that I could use with an adaptor? I would be happy to sacrifice AF at this focal length for closer focussing. Image quality is my premium concern, especially smooth tonal tranisitions and bokeh, so I want luurvely lens coatings and bundles of aperture blades. Incidentally, if anyone has such a lens, do you use it exclusively on a tripod to focus wide open with a bright VF and then stop-down, or do you have a good technique for hand-holding with flash? Please share if you do, as I prefer monopod (+flash if necessary) rather than tripod.
As far as the Canon range is concerned, I can't really see a worthy replacement for my 50mm, which is already very nice wide open at f/2.8. The EF 50/1.4 comes closest, but only really starts to perform from f/2 onwards, which only gives me one extra stop usability. I have not seen many pictures at all from the EF 50/1.4 that impress me below f/2, and even the handful I do like are B+W conversions presumably done to remove the terrible halation and lack of micro-contrast at these wide apertures. I've also heard a lot of reports about AF inaccuracy with this lens, how it isn't ring USM etc, etc but those are secondary concerns – I'd be happy to use manual focus. The 50L is a bit out of my price range right now (I'm waiting for the 2nd gen 5D), and setting aside the mixed early reports on its performance, it is pretty heavy for a walk-around 50mm. It seems to me like most fast 50s are not that great performing wider than f/2. Any exceptions?
Sorry for asking so many awkward questions. I am perhaps trying to have my cake and eat it at 100mm, but it is such an important focal length that I cannot image none of the manufacturers have produced something that provides the compromise I want.
Many thanks for any thoughts or suggestions – I'm going around in circles over this…
and fear that before long I will be substituting smileys in place of standard punctuation 
PLEASE
HELP
ME
:worried:
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) which is a great help for my macro work. 