I was hoping not
I received word from a few folks that the EF 100 f/2.8 Macro has been discontinued. The lens currently still appears in Canon Canada's price lists as well as Canon USA's. The manufacturing of the lens may have stopped.
I hope this lens isn't gone, there's a big difference between $650CAD and $1300CAD for a 100mm Macro. I own the aformentioned lens, and I have no plans to upgrade.
I'll look for something definitive.
cr
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34 Comments
I have to side with Dave. I’ve owned THREE versions of this lens within the past 18 months; even had them all at the same time, all the USM focus type. I kept the best one of the bunch after some comparison shots and still make good use of it for a variety of subjects.
It’s very good to excellent except for contrast.
What I’ve found with all of them is that the overall image contrast and colors are not nearly as good as I would have expected. There are some internal baffle elements to reduce stray light problems, but there are also a still a lot of highly reflective (some are metallic) surfaces inside this lens which continue to reflect stray light in an uncontrolled manner. I’ve also seen inconsistent lens coatings or cementing of elements causing visible flaws and a “speckled” appearance when looking thru the lens at a bright light source. These optical problems all contribute to reducing the absolute IQ it COULD have achieved.
The new L version seems to really kick the old lens’ into the weeds at larger apertures for contrast but it also has a tad more distortion and CA.
I’m keeping my old lens for now, the L would be a complement to it rather than a replacement, if I could afford both.
Yeah, the devil’s in the detail. They should pay more attention to the stray light. Maybe in future they add more powerful in-lens processor, what would allow to avoid IS movable lens (like mirrors in DSLRs). Also software correction of common optical flaws could be done in-lens and not in RAW converters. That new generation lenses could be even cheaper than traditional ones, knowing how precise is manufacturing of some lenses.
BTW, one thing I’ve discovered about the 100/2.8 Macro is that is breathes a ton. (Breathing is a zoom-like effect when changing focus.) It’s no big deal for photos, but is a bad trait in a video lens.
The non-L 100mm macro has disappeared from Canon’s site. That could be evidence that it’s been discontinued..??