Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro

For the past months I have been seriously thinking about what kind of macro lens I should be getting.

At first, I looked at EF-S 60mm macro. But soon after that, I realised 60mm will be very short.

Then, I looked at 3 third-party macro lens that have very good feedback from online users, Tamron 90mm macro, Tokina 100mm macro and Sigma 105mm macro. The major benefits of these lens are that they are all quite cheap if compared to the canon.

But cheap means something not good. The Tamron has some build quality problem, and the other two aren't quite as cheap as the Tamron. The major problem is that these three lens will trombone when focusing at macro distance. That, for me, is a very irritating problem, as I will get a macro lens to shoot insects, and I don't want the lens to scare away the insects. I didn't personally tried all these lenses, but the photos that provided by different websites already scare me.

So my finish choice remains as the Canon original EF 100mm f/2.8 USM macro. I have to say if I wasn't sure which to choose before this, Ben's two lenses that I tried made me put the choice. USM is definitely awesome. The internal focusing feature is just so scary. I will most probably use only manual focusing on macro shooting, but it is also an awesome lens for portrait shooting. In that case, USM is a MUST.

Many people said that it's the best lens among the Canon lenses. I am definitely looking forward to it, even though it cost like about $750. Another good thing is that it also uses 58mm filters, so I can switch my filters between my kit lens and the macro lens.

So, it's time to start saving money. I don't know how long I will need to save, but one day I will be able to buy it.