Macro

[skitron]

Has somebody tried the combination of:
Canon EF 100mm macro + Kenko 2x (non L lens) ?

FWIW I tried the 100 L with Kenko 1.4x and it was not good IMO. Had a large degree of increasing softness from center to edges and it was much worse on the right. I also noticed on the Kenko documents in the box that it is only recommended for > 100mm and actually designed for longer telephoto.

 

[Edwin Herdman]

Sort of tempted to bump the TS-E 90mm rumors thread, but it's a bit old.

How about TS-E 90mm with a stack of Kemco (for example) extenders on a 1.6 crop Rebel?

Not sure I personally need 1x; .5 sounds pretty reasonable to me. I have gotten dang good "macro-like" results even on a 50mm with that 1.6 crop factor, though nothing like Neuro's amazing picture from the last page.

My TS-E90 worked well with a TC and for close up images. I had bought it to use for product photos, but experimented with closeups with and without a TC. However, 90mm turned out to be a bit long for my product photos, so it did not get enough use for me to keep it.

If a person needed the tilt-shift function, it could certainly work for a near macro lens and have supurb resolution. However, the cost is comparable with the 100L, so its a tradeoff of the features you would use most. I bought a 100L to replace my TS-E90, but was sad to see it go. For me, the IS of the 100L was more useful.

Late reply here - thanks for the response.

I went ahead and got the TS-E 90mm, but your report jives with my own (very limited) experience. The lack of IS is definitely a con at this focal length (it's the second-longest lens I own so far). IS in a TS-E lens would be a first but I don't think it'd be any problem to add.

From what I can see the 100L (or the 180L for that matter) might as well be sharper for macros - haven't shot either of those to compare with, but the 90mm doesn't seem as sharp as the old stories say Still pretty good of course, and it fits a niche, but if they release an update to this I'll be ready to jump. I think it'll be more challenging to compose landscapes with this than I had anticipated...it's not far off from the short end of a telezoom.

 

[Admin US West]

Late reply here - thanks for the response.

I went ahead and got the TS-E 90mm, but your report jives with my own (very limited) experience. The lack of IS is definitely a con at this focal length (it's the second-longest lens I own so far). IS in a TS-E lens would be a first but I don't think it'd be any problem to add.

From what I can see the 100L (or the 180L for that matter) might as well be sharper for macros - haven't shot either of those to compare with, but the 90mm doesn't seem as sharp as the old stories say Still pretty good of course, and it fits a niche, but if they release an update to this I'll be ready to jump. I think it'll be more challenging to compose landscapes with this than I had anticipated...it's not far off from the short end of a telezoom.

The TS-E 90 is best with a tripod, I'm sure some can do the tilt and shift handheld, but I was not one of them.

Manual focus is another area where my poor vision makes it difficult. I need to use liveview at 5 or 10x while on the tripod to get the best results.

As far as sharpness, its about the same as the 100L in the center, but without tilting or shifting, the edges are better on a FF camera due to the large image circle.

There is a learning curve and I never fully mastered it.

 

[Edwin Herdman]

I think the secret to using the TS-E is to put your camera on continuous mode and blaze away.

Tripods are great in theory, but I get a lot more shots wandering around shooting freeform than I'd manage lugging around a tripod. I'm not restricted to things like deadlines or sales, though, and when lighting is poor the tripod seems essential (most of the time - dark cityscapes where you don't need a long exposure may be one exception, though the tripod will help there again).

Getting the tilt plane lined up right is always a chore for some reason. I'd been more or less baffled until I saw a random video of a Canon rep introducing the 17mm on a convention floor - his words were "gross focus, adjust the tilt, then fine focus." I finally looked at the manual (for the TS-E 90mm) and this is essentially the same procedure mentioned there - add in shift, if necessary, which comes as a first step (iirc, though the manual explicitly states shift doesn't require focus to be reset).

But aligning the tilt setting and the desired image plane is still a chore. I spent a good few minutes on just one subject today, moving back and forth, trying to see if I couldn't get it aligned at extreme sideways shift...not quite. I've managed to hit it 100% other times, though. And it's definitely good to remember that before setting shift, see if the composition isn't already perfect without shift...best to make the process easier from the start.

One last thing - I've been able to hit focus at distance just through a Rebel viewfinder, in good light, and even have gotten some minimum focus distance shots (just below half a meter) by watching the focus plane shift, but for critical focus and generally most of the time I hit the Live View button. It always brings out details to focus on that I miss in the viewfinder - on the other hand, the magnification mode makes it easy to obsess over the wrong area for focus, instead of the whole image. On the Rebel this is even more of a chore than it needs be because the mirror swings back into position after a time - I've never timed it but it seems like it gets more and more impatient in certain circumstances (especially if the camera is getting warm).