Canon 60mm Macro or 85mm 1.8

[dean messenger]

thoughts on the two above mentioned lenses.. i already have one but have the possibility of swapping for the other.
just wondered on what peoples thoughts are . price wise doesnt seem to be much between them and both have the same USM motor . using on APS-C canon 60D so no problem there.
main use portrait and obviously with one the added benefit of macro. both seem to have pros and ( not to many cons ).

 

[simonbarker]

Do you need macro? Get the 60mm.

Do you need a slightly longer lens, shallower dof, better in low light or something that will work on full frame? Get the 85mm.

They're both good but your priorities should make the choice clear?

 

[dean messenger]

lol thats the problem. i already have the 85 but would like to try my hand at shooting macro as i dont have a dedicated macro lens and cant afford one. only option would be a swap of my 85.. but i love the quality of image on the 85 and having never seen the 60mm in action for both macro and portrait otehr than looking at google images its hard to know.

 

[woof woof]

lol thats the problem. i already have the 85 but would like to try my hand at shooting macro as i dont have a dedicated macro lens and cant afford one. only option would be a swap of my 85.. but i love the quality of image on the 85 and having never seen the 60mm in action for both macro and portrait otehr than looking at google images its hard to know.

Most macro is manual focus so why not look for an old film era manual focus macro? They're cheaper than modern AF macro lenses

I bought an old 50mm f2.8 macro and I just can't fault it really. It cost about £60. Get yourself on an auction site and look at the used sellers websites, get a cheap manual macro and an adapter and you'll be shooting macro for a fraction of the cost of a new AF lens.

 

[odd jim]

lol thats the problem. i already have the 85 but would like to try my hand at shooting macro as i dont have a dedicated macro lens and cant afford one. only option would be a swap of my 85.. but i love the quality of image on the 85 and having never seen the 60mm in action for both macro and portrait otehr than looking at google images its hard to know.

Stick a Raynox DCR 250 onto the front of your 85mm, that combo produces stunning macro images. And it'll only cost you £45.

Or buy extension tubes.

There are plenty of low cost but good quality macro alternatives to a dedicated lens.

 

[dean messenger]

i had the raynox before ( sold it as part of complete kit sale ) sadly as i never really got to use it.an old 50mm macro sounds interesting but the focal length is a little offputting, ( same with the 60mm canon tbh ) . hard enough trying to get shots of bugs and whatnot without the added issue of having to get within 6 inches of em!
will have to see if i can find some shots taken with the raynox on the 85mm

 

[odd jim]

I've got some, but on my phone at present so can't upload any...

Either way, even with longer macro lenses you'll still be within 6 inches of the bugs!

 

[woof woof]

i had the raynox before ( sold it as part of complete kit sale ) sadly as i never really got to use it.an old 50mm macro sounds interesting but the focal length is a little offputting, ( same with the 60mm canon tbh ) . hard enough trying to get shots of bugs and whatnot without the added issue of having to get within 6 inches of em!
will have to see if i can find some shots taken with the raynox on the 85mm

Then get a longer lens Yes, for 1:1 you're still pretty close but if you're just going for a nice picture rather than 1:1 maybe a longer lens will be ok. I take a lot of flower shots and the like and whilst I don't need 1:1 a macro lens will allow me to fill the frame whereas a non macro wouldn't and I'd need to do a heavy crop. Anyway, if you want an old macro there's enough choice out there and if there isn't just look again in a couple of weeks.

I tend to use my 50mm most on MFT and so get a 100mm FoV. If you have APS-C Canon an old 90 or 100mm macro might be a better choice. I loved my Sigma 150mm f2.8 but lenses like that cost a lot more.

Raynox and similar and tubes will get the job done but I prefer macro lenses as you retain infinity focus. Use a screw on magnifier or tubes and you may need to remove them to take the next shot.

 

[dean messenger]

i thought you had around 3 feet shooting distance with the 100mm canon macro.. im not a great fan of bugs and wasps and hate bloody spiders so would prefer to shoot from as far away as possible lol.
now if i could just get a 1200mm macro lens id be happy!
never messed around with adapters and manual lenses on my canon ( last time i had a manual camera and lenses was about 1988 ) so need to do some research on what i can actually fit and will give me true 1:1 macro as theres plenty of lenses out there ( including my 28-105 ) which is listed as macro but doesnt even come close

 

[woof woof]

I used my Olympus Zuiko lenses on my 5D via an adapter that cost £5. You can get adapters with focus confirmation but I don't know how well they work, they're cheap too.

I do know that Canon FD and Minolta Rokkor lenses need an adapter with a corrective lens in it when mounted on eos so I'd steer clear of them.

 

[MatBin]

I'd stck auto tubes on the 85. My wife and I have both lernses and the 85 with tubes is wonderful, much better option in my view. Alternatively get a 100 macro and have best of both worlds, plus a bit of distance.
Matt

 

[MatBin]

Most macro is manual focus so why not look for an old film era manual focus macro? They're cheaper than modern AF macro lenses

I bought an old 50mm f2.8 macro and I just can't fault it really. It cost about £60. Get yourself on an auction site and look at the used sellers websites, get a cheap manual macro and an adapter and you'll be shooting macro for a fraction of the cost of a new AF lens.

How do you control the aperture?
Matt

 

[woof woof]

They have an aperture ring on the lens, so it's simples

This is my A7 with an old 50mm f1.2 on it. No, it's not a macro lens but it shows the aperture ring

 

[odd jim]

i thought you had around 3 feet shooting distance with the 100mm canon macro.. im not a great fan of bugs and wasps and hate bloody spiders so would prefer to shoot from as far away as possible lol.
now if i could just get a 1200mm macro lens id be happy!
never messed around with adapters and manual lenses on my canon ( last time i had a manual camera and lenses was about 1988 ) so need to do some research on what i can actually fit and will give me true 1:1 macro as theres plenty of lenses out there ( including my 28-105 ) which is listed as macro but doesnt even come close

Proper Macro lenses are easy to tell apart from the "fake" macro zooms.

The proper macro lenses will always be the prime lenses

(The zooms often will say 'macro' but that just means they'll have a shorter MFD than other zooms but still nowhere near 1:1 macro).

 

[MatBin]

They have an aperture ring on the lens, so it's simples

This is my A7 with an old 50mm f1.2 on it. No, it's not a macro lens but it shows the aperture ring

Can't see that working on an eos camera and an old manual lens which requires a lever to close down the aperture or it means you have to manually close the aperture in some way, how do you meter, full aperture and compensate? Stop down? Very slow process, OK for static subjects I guess.

 

[odd jim]

It works fine. On Canons you can use a fully manual lens in AV mode and the camera will meter and set the shutter speed accordingly even after the aperture is manually selected.

And even in full manual mode, it's still quick and easy!

 

[MatBin]

It works fine. On Canons you can use a fully manual lens in AV mode and the camera will meter and set the shutter speed accordingly even after the aperture is manually selected.

And even in full manual mode, it's still quick and easy!

So you look through the view finder at the selected aperture rather than fully open?

 

[odd jim]

So you look through the view finder at the selected aperture rather than fully open?

Yep. But I tend to use live view on the only manual lens I've got (Samyang 14mm f/2.8, best way to focus on such a wide lens on an FF body) which compensates as it shows live exposure.

And of course on mirrorless systems this will be the same, as its EVF or live view all the way.

Through the OVF it does darken.

 

[MatBin]

Yep. But I tend to use live view on the only manual lens I've got (Samuang 14mm f/2.8, best way to focus on such a wide lens on an FF body) which compensates as it shows live exposure.

And of course on mirrorless systems this will be the same, as its EVF or live view all the way.

OK thanks for explaining, sorry if this went off topic (slightly).
Matt

 

[woof woof]

Can't see that working on an eos camera and an old manual lens which requires a lever to close down the aperture or it means you have to manually close the aperture in some way, how do you meter, full aperture and compensate? Stop down? Very slow process,
OK for static subjects I guess.

Macro or pseudo macro tends to be rather static and manual focus.

Note that some EVF's gain up as you stop the aperture down but I've no idea what live view on DSLR's does.

I mentioned old manual lenses as it's a relatively cheap way into macro. You can get a 50mm macro lens for £50/60 and a 90/100mm for a little more and as I said one advantage over tubes and screw on magnifiers is that you retain infinity focus and can use the lens for other than close focus stuff.

 

[odd jim]

Macro or pseudo macro tends to be rather static and manual focus.

****Note that some EVF's gain up as you stop the aperture down but I've no idea what live view on DSLR's does.***

I mentioned old manual lenses as it's a relatively cheap way into macro. You can get a 50mm macro lens for £50/60 and a 90/100mm for a little more and as I said one advantage over tubes and screw on magnifiers is that you retain infinity focus and can use the lens for other than close focus stuff.

As per my post above, live view is exactly the same as it gives live exposure, so evens it out as per the final image.

 

[petersmart]

If you want to take macro then your best bet really is a set of auto extension tubes - I myself have a set of Kenko Auto tubes which I bought on here about 3 years ago for £75.00 and am still extremely happy with them and consider them indispensable for macro and close up work.

They can be used with almost any lens and with my 70-300mm L IS lens I can get excellent close up shots from quite a way away - perfect for not disturbing wasps, bees, hoverflies etc.

Amazon now have sets on auto tubes for Canon from £17.00 with mixed reviews:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=canon+auto+extension

EDIT: Some of the reviews are less than enthusiastic with some people reporting loss of connections when a heavy lens is used and some very happy with the sets.
.