What is the perfect Canon Lens

[vader88]

Looking for a affordable lens ( 500 or so ) that has decent speed for those faster fish and has decent macro capabilities along with good low light level performance.

Does this exist ?

Thanks

["Umm, fish?"]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/194451-USA/Canon_4657A006_100mm_f_2_8_USM_Macro.html

$490. I just slid in under the wire. :)

[megaspoot]

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/423691-USA/Canon_1056B002_EF_85mm_f_1_2L_II.html

[TitusvileSurfer]

The short answer, no it does not exist.
The "perfect" Canon lens is the 180mm f/3.5 Macro
The "next best" is the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Being macro lenses neither is great for fast moving fish. The auto focus speed is slllllow and unless your turning the focus ring with your hand, chances are you wouldn't be able to track your target.

For fish: 24-70 f/2.8 or 70-200 f/2.8 IS would be "perfect"
For coral and things that don't move: the 180 macro is "perfect"
for the best of both worlds I'd get a 24-70 and 100 macro. I own both and can personally testify they are nothing short of amazing.
Sadly, combined your looking at $1700 with a good deal.

"has decent speed for those faster fish and has decent macro capabilities"
No lens will do this. Fast tracking and macro are two very different specialties which tend to cancel each other out.

[drparker]

^ +1

I find the 24-70 f2.8 easier to use for fish than my 70-200 and I will be adding the 100 f2.8 macro next. The shots in my gallery are with the 24-70.

[TitusvileSurfer]

What body do you use Parker?

[bwest]

I've had success tracking fish with a standard 18-55 kit lens, as well as a 70-200 f4L

[drparker]

titusvilesurfer, I've got a 5D.

vader88, You probably have already but just in case. A good tripod with a good ball head is a must.

[TitusvileSurfer]

Wow...very very nice. I shoot with a lowly 40D. Though I am EXTREMELY pleased and satisfied with it, I sure would love a 5D.

[drparker]

I had the original XT. Found a dealer going out of business that gave me a sweet deal plus I got double rebates from Canon. Now if I win the lotto then I'm getting the 1Ds Mark III.

[TitusvileSurfer]

Yeah I have a friend with a 1Ds mk III, he lets me shoot with it sometimes. He carries a two year grant to photograph the ~ 300 sq. mile Merit Island National Wildlife Refuge (NASA's Kennedy Space Center), and when I'm not in school or working at the Cape I trek around with him. He uses the 100-400 on a 20D and a 16-35 on a 1Ds mk III. I use a 70-200 f/2.8 IS and a 24-70 on a 40D. We compliment each other pretty well and have a whats mine is yours and yours is mine policy out there. I love that camera...

[drparker]

You are soooo lucky:dance: I'd love to be able to do that, enjoy!

[BenJL]

I used Canon 40D with Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens for close up shoots . So far I'm Very Happy with It.

[kylekinder]

the ideal lens would be (for fish) one with a wide aperature 2.8 or larger, and a macro setting.... imagine a 200-300 mm lens with a 2.8, you could see the cells on your coral and fish

[TitusvileSurfer]

Accept I've never heard of a zooming Macro worth its salt. (pun intended) This is easily achievable with the Canon 180 f/3.5 macro and some other accessories.

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12505275#post12505275 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BenJL
I used Canon 40D with Telephoto EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro lens for close up shoots . So far I'm Very Happy with It.

Ben can you tell me the exact setting you use for the best results ? I have the same lens on a XT but not very happy as of yet.

[TitusvileSurfer]

What everyone on this forum fails to realize...is that DSLR photography is all about manual settings. Telling you the exact settings he uses won't do diddly squat for you. Your shot will require different settings. You have to learn your camera inside and out. You have to know your camera's capabilities...and its limitations. You have to know how each element of exposure works together (or against eachother). Just buying a rebel and 100mm Macro lens will not get you good tank shots. Sure, you could get lucky every now and then, but you have to throughly understand your cameras settings to consistently do so. To those considering buying a DSLR, if you are not willing to take the time and learn learn learn just like you did with your tank, then buy a Point and Shoot such as the G9. You can expect very similar results with either. Do not expect a Rebel/100 macro that you just spent $1200 on to deliver those professional looking results if you aren't going to learn how to make it do so yourself.

[BlueCorn]

Step one. If you're not using a tripod, or have a really inexpensive one, fix that.

When dealing with macro photography, the depth of field is so shallow that the just the motion associated with your breathing can take the shot out of focus.

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12574150#post12574150 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
What everyone on this forum fails to realize...is that DSLR photography is all about manual settings. Telling you the exact settings he uses won't do diddly squat for you. Your shot will require different settings. You have to learn your camera inside and out. You have to know your camera's capabilities...and its limitations. You have to know how each element of exposure works together (or against eachother). Just buying a rebel and 100mm Macro lens will not get you good tank shots. Sure, you could get lucky every now and then, but you have to throughly understand your cameras settings to consistently do so. To those considering buying a DSLR, if you are not willing to take the time and learn learn learn just like you did with your tank, then buy a Point and Shoot such as the G9. You can expect very similar results with either. Do not expect a Rebel/100 macro that you just spent $1200 on to deliver those professional looking results if you aren't going to learn how to make it do so yourself.

I'm not failing to realize anything, that is the reason I'm hear asking questions. I'm simply asking him for a baseline, that is all. I did not
originally buy a DSLR for tank shots, it was purhcased for action shots, so yes there is a learning curve for me.

It helps to have a idea as to what people are doing, as beerguy mentioned, a good tripod is a must ... I have a el cheapo which
isn't going to cut it.

[Blazer88]

Vader, where did you get your avatar?

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12576193#post12576193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blazer88
Vader, where did you get your avatar?


I just did a google image search and found it somewhere.

[Blazer88]

That's good to know, I took that shot last year from a friends tank. Let me know if you can remember which site you got it from since I prefer my pics to not be used without my knowledge.

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12576427#post12576427 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Blazer88
That's good to know, I took that shot last year from a friends tank. Let me know if you can remember which site you got it from since I prefer my pics to not be used without my knowledge.

I'll find out, I'll remove it now

[Blazer88]

Tim, I'm fine if you would like to use it as your avatar since you are apart of this community, I didn't mean to sound like you need to remove it. I do have a problem of my pics being shown on a website since I haven't given any site permission to use it (that I can remember anyways). On another note, I did take that picture with my Rebel XT and 100mm F/2.8 :)

[TitusvileSurfer]

He probably got it from its post location on Reef Central. If it was some sort of vendor though I'd be ****ed.

[vader88]

I'll try and get a nice pic myself and use it but thanks for the offer, hopefully I can go home and backtrack where I d/l'ed the image from, I'll let you know.

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12578192#post12578192 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
He probably got it from its post location on Reef Central. If it was some sort of vendor though I'd be ****ed.

He could be right, I may have just copied the image location, I can't remember though.

[vader88]

well.... it seems I'm the one in the wrong, I must have some how been steered to your photobucket account, I looked up the address when I saved the picture and seen your avatar.

sorry

[TitusvileSurfer]

Thats one sure fire way to couch for smugmug, nobody can copy those pictures. Of course if you post it here off it wouldn't matter anyway.

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12581163#post12581163 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
Thats one sure fire way to couch for smugmug, nobody can copy those pictures.


Huh?

[vader88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12581615#post12581615 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beerguy
Huh?

I'm waiting on the translation of that one too...

[TitusvileSurfer]

On smug mug, you can post images which can't be stolen. The avatar in question was taken directly from a photobucket page. If you post the image here there isn't any way around it though. I meant to say "vouch" instead of "couch"...

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12581931#post12581931 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
On smug mug, you can post images which can't be stolen.

Sorry but that's utter non-sense. It you can see it in your browser, it can be stolen.

[TitusvileSurfer]

well I suppose you could print screen or something, but they do a pretty darn good job.

[BlueCorn]

The only way to truly protect your work against electronic theft is to not make it available.

[vader88]

all the site would do is disable d/l'ing of images. It's simple enough to go into the browser and re-enable it for that site.

[Blazer88]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12579458#post12579458 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vader88
well.... it seems I'm the one in the wrong, I must have some how been steered to your photobucket account, I looked up the address when I saved the picture and seen your avatar.

sorry

It's all good man, it's really no big deal. I really don't care if you got the picture from my photobucket account or my smugmug (which you can easily copy the pictures from). I thought you may have found the picture on a different website which was something that I wanted to know about. Sorry to de-rail your thread.

[sassafrass]

I have a rebel XT and a 100mm f2.8 macro lens what I did was set the camera up on a tripod in front of one coral with the pumps off and first put the camera on aperture priority and took one picture closed the aperture one stop and took another and so on until the exposure became so long that movement caused blur ,then I looked at the photos to see the effect on the image .Then I went to other settings like manual exposure ,IOS and so on .This method along with alot of reading really helped me . PS above all else have fun with it , life is short
Regards,Lee