EF and not EF-S?
A claimed sighting of a prototype new Macro. An EF 60mm f/2.8 Macro IS. The tipster may have meant EF-S.

We’ve already seen a patent for the 60 Macro with IS.

A separate source has said to expect to see the new Macro with a 60D announcement.

New Macro to the Lineup?
The same source says Canon engineers are working on a Macro with the hybrid IS that is longer than the current 180mm f/3.5L. That macro lens would remain in the lineup.

Don’t expect this macro anytime soon.

cr

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72 Comments

  1. The rumors seem to be picking up lately. is it because a launch is near or CR guy you are letting more filter through? :) anyways keep up the good work!

  2. What would be a practical use of such a long macro? More forgiving working distance? Deeper DoF for easier focusing, less stacking, ability to shoot wide open? I guess I’m also in the “why would anyone need this” camp.

  3. Nevermind, I missed the second part of the post.

    Canon already has a 180mm Macro lens.

  4. I heard the 60D was being launched with the EF-S 15-70mm f/4 IS USM. Others have said no way.

  5. I’m not sure if it applies always, but generally if you vary only subject distance and focal length to keep the same subject size (in other words, magnification) then the DoF is about the same too. The only variable would be increased shake risk at longer focal lengths.

    For example, I found a 1325mm focal length telescope could focus close enough to give 0.6x magnification, but it was stupidly sensitive to vibration.

  6. the longer the farther away from the subject… so its a 2 variable equation…

    the 180mm gets 1:1 a lot farther away, so you dont have to be as close to the subject as you would be with a 60mm.

    The 60mm is EF-S so its actually comparable to the 100mm on full frames.

  7. That is cool some new macros can be potentially coming down the pipe. I will be excited to see what their IQ are. And I hope they are EF lenses. They don’t have to be Ls, but EF-S is such a rip-off.

  8. 60mm macro EF lens wouldnt be very good… you would have to be really close to get 1:1

  9. Doing weddings, I hand held macro’s of the wedding rings and flowers etc. Currently I keep my old 30D with an efs-60 for that very reason. I am looking at the 100 macro to whack on my 5D2 but a 60mm IS would be interesing as well. So I guess the answer is yes, there would be some use for this lens!

  10. So far 70-200 f4 IS vs non-IS and 100 f/2.8 macro HIS vs non-HIS have negligible weight changes

  11. While the IS probably won’t work that well at near 1:1 distances, it can be very useful when using the lens for portraits, etc. So I welcome IS in the Macros, BUT the price increase for the last macro with IS was nuts. So I guess I can’t have one.. breaks the budget.

    My 100mm Macro is tack sharp (especially using 10x in Liveview on the 40D), so I have a solution for macro.

  12. In the past 5 years or so, Canon has released 4-5 lenses per year, some in Jan-Feb, and some in Aug-Sep.

    As Canon has released only one lens (the new 70-200 f/2.8 IS II) this year at Jan, I guess people are expecting 3 more lenses at photokina at Sep.

    Hence the rumors at what would be the lenses to be announced at that time.

  13. Grummbeerbauer on

    That lens is actually quite feasible, it wouldn’t even have to be too expensive, considering the price of the Sigma 17-70 2.8-4 OS. And as an added bonus it would be the only (?) lens in that focal length and aperture range by a system manufacturer (i.e., not a 3rd party add on).
    But of course it would be even more expensive than the 15-85, bringing it close to or even beyond the 17-55, making it less interesting.

  14. Grummbeerbauer on

    I agree, while IS doesn’t help you too much for handheld macro shooting, it adds a lot to the usefulness of a lens for other purposes. While I find the 100L a bit too long on APS-C for spontaneous indoor portraits, its excellent sharpness wide open make it the perfect mother-in-law torturing kit.

  15. An EF 60 F2.0 IS “Macro” (1 : 0.5x) could be a great all purpose lens. If it is F2.8 and 1:1 i will stick to the 100mm.

  16. I don’t think 60d will be released anytime soon. Reasons:
    1. 7d and harvesting the margin from the market with it.
    2. Only Sony released new cameras in the same price range lately. I guess canon will wait at least for a new Nikon.

    And I call the EF-S 15-70mm f/4 IS USM a total BS. Canon will force us to buy 5d and 24-105 or 24-70 to get shallow DOF on a zoom and will surely not provide something equally functional for an APS-C format.

    All of this is quite bad, since I desperately want to replace my 350d… 100% coverage and AF are nice in the 7d, but I don’t want to cough up for the high FPS that I just don’t need.

  17. For macro shots of butterflies and other insects or small wildlife you may not have the time to set up a tripod, so it’s handheld or nothing.

    The 100mm macro on a crop body is superb for this.

  18. If it comes with the 60D, it will almost certainly be an EF-S 15-70 f/4. therefore no L.

    Would it not be nice if Canon introduced an EF-S quality level that is on par with the L series? Call it P for precission, for example, or SL, to avoid confusion with the existing L series… Costs nothing and can only be good for marketing. Just make sure the quality really is as good as the FF L-series.

    An upgraded 17-55 f/2.8 would/could deserve such a label.

  19. There already is the EF 50mm “compact macro” that is destined for the chopping block if the 60mm is EF and not EF-S.

    AFAIK, the 50mm compact macro gets 1:1 only with a spacer ring.

  20. One would expect this to be a hybrid IS, like the new 100L. Otherwise there really is little point.

    The linear stabilisation has _exactly_ the same effect for long and short focal lengths.

  21. f/4 on a crop body does not exactly give you very shallow DOF.

    The instrument for that is the 17-55 f/2.8, or primes

  22. Isn’t 60mm an odd focal length for an EF lens? 60mm makes sense on a crop body as it is close to the 100mm on full.

    I don’t see this as an EF need.

  23. It does not make sense for canon to release this lens since we already have the EFS 15-85 IS…

  24. Any weight increase will be offset by the increased lightness of your wallet anyways.

  25. That is like saying there is no reason to have the 24-105L, because there is already a 28-135….

    OK, the zoom ranges do not overlap 100%, but the bigger difference is in the build quality, image quality, f/4 throughout, weather sealing, …

    An EF-S 15-70 f/4 with L-like build quality would certainly find buyers.

  26. You have a point here but the two main differences with these lenses are its price & L designation.

  27. weerent you the guy who went ballistics coz no one was listening to your 15-70 f4 legit rumor?

  28. Okay, I can’t resist a few comments. Not that mine are any more informed than anyone else, just trying to inject some common sense.

    A 60mm macro with new IS makes the most sense as an EF-S lens. An obvious alternative for the existing non-IS lens. Essentially the same focal length as the 100 mm (Although for my money, I think I prefer the 100mm as a more versatile lens)

    A 15-70 f4 kit lens seems odd to me as it isn’t all that much different than the 15-85 f3.5-5.6 that just came out. I doubt if there is enough market demand for both.

    Someone trashed the 15-85 mm. I don’t know what lens he is using, but I have no complaints about mine. It is very sharp (my own opinion, but also backed up by third-party reviews) and much better made than most EF-S lenses. It’s build quality is comparable to the 7D and I hope that is the trend for Canon.

    It would be nice if it were a little faster, but f4 won’t cut it. Now, f2.8 would be great, but that would probably push the lens over the $1,000 mark — not exactly kit-lens territory.

    Someone said Canon releases 4-5 lenses a year and it appears they are behind schedule. Same commenter said Canon has released only one lens this year.

    But, in the past year (since last fall) I count at least three lenses — the 70-200 f2.8; the 15-85 and the 100 mm IS macro. I’m not sure where the 4-5 lenses per year comes from (looking at the line-up and release dates on this site, I’m not seeing it), but even if that’s true, they are pretty much on target.

    Finally, I love all the speculation about a 60D, but I’m still waiting to read something that makes economic sense. Not saying there won’t be one at some point, just saying I’m having a hard time figuring out the economics and remember Canon is a company. They are in business to make money, not to make our wishes come true.

  29. Well, we do not know the price of the hypothetical 15-70 f/4.
    It will not be L, but might have equivalent build quality and optical performance (like the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8, which is not L either).

    I pointed out above that it would be nice to create an L-equivalent class of EF-S lenses…

  30. Sadly, yes. It’s about the only thing preventing me from buying it. Ditto the Canon macros being f/2.8 instead of f/2.

  31. I really hope the EF-S 15-70mm f/4 IS USM does come out, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

  32. I think it would serve as a dual-purpose lens then, 96mm FF eqv. with f/2 is nice portrait lens, for macro work, you can always close down the aperture if needed…

  33. Nikon’s 60mm AF has been very popular for a long time. I don’t see why Canon would make this an EF-S lens. The 50mm Compact Macro is useless.

  34. I have 15-85 on 7d and T2i. Great lens. Very close to L quality on build. Disagree about 60d. There is a big price gap that needs to be filled. It might not make sense to you but it makes sense to many, many buyers out there that I speak to that want better build than T2i but can’t swallow 1700+ for 7d.

  35. Sounds like pure speculation Jings. Where did you hear it? It would certainly be shocking to introduce a camera below a 7d with a lens that spanks the available kit lens for 7d. However, if 60d is marketed as “video optimized” as some have speculated, maybe it could make sense to enhance low light shooting.?.?

  36. I sure would love to see more lenses as well.

    Photokina is the right event at the right time, especially as Canon are going to announce (so I’ve heard in this site) the 1Ds mk IV at that event.

    I hope those would be a EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6 IS USM mk II and a new ultrawide zoom to compete with the Nikkor 14-24, I’d definitely buy those.

  37. As noted before, it appears Canon is upgrading lenses which are either L or EF-S, and the 70-300 is neither.

    I think an upgrade for the EF 100-400 or EF-S 55-250 is more likely.

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