Photographing the Earth, one millimeter at a time…

This weekend I finally received one of the most coveted lenses remaining on my list - the Canon 180L.  This lens is the second in what I call - “The Holy Trio of Canon Macro Lenses”.  They are the following.

Canon MP-E 65 - The only macro lens capable of going beyond 1x without extenders or extension tubes.

Canon 180L - The longest macro lens available for Canon.  Also considered to be the sharpest and the only one with an L designation.

Canon TS-E 90 - Not truly a macro lens (.33x) but the tilt and shift capabilities make this a very interesting lens.

I almost didn’t get a chance to play with the lens this weekend.  The package needed to be signed by an adult and, though Nelya was home that day, the UPS truck arrived while she was picking the kids up from school.  Luckily I was able to pick it up at the facility that evening, only to find that the order was messed up and I am still working at getting it corrected.  Luckily, the 180L was not one of the items messed up so I opened it immediately.

First, the build of the lens.  This lens is built like a rock and has the same finish and feel as the MP-E 65.  As a bonus, it comes with a sleek lens case that I have actually been using since I am out of room in my camera bag.  It seems that Canon has in general improved their lens cases, so I will be curious to see if future L lenses also come in the same type of case.

I have read a number of reviews where people complain about focusing with the 180L, but compared to the MP-E 65 it is a breeze.  It is so refreshing to not have to struggle to get the subject in focus.  The only difficult point so far is the fact that the 72C adapter, which will allow me to use the MT-24EX with the 180L, was part of the order that was messed up (not included in the box but I was charged for it).  While I wait for the adapter I have to take all shots with available light.  Eventually I plan to take some flower shots with a tripod, but I haven’t had a chance to work on those yet.

Because I had to shoot everything in ISO 400-800, there is a bit of noise on the shots so it is difficult right now to detect sharpness.  Also, I had to use a lower shutter speed than I would have liked so that also made the shots a bit blurry.  I will have more to say about the sharpness in the next few weeks.  In particular I am curious to see how it compares to the MP-E 65 at 1x.

One nice thing about the 180L is I can use it for subjects other than macros.  This is most useful when we take the kids to a playground.  Usually I search for bugs during part of the stay and then take some pictures of the kids.  Until recently, this required me to switch to my 70-200 4L IS, but now I can use the 180L if I want to.  However, this is not a fast autofocusing lens and the 70-200 leaves it in the dust in any comparison.  It does have a focus limiting switch, which does help AF, but the truth is this is a macro lens.  When taking macro shots, you never use AF so it isn’t that important.

So far I have only had about a half hour to use this in the field, with the shot above one of the results.  I happened to find two crane flies mating and quickly got a few shots off.  I did, however, notice that I can take shots of subjects that would ordinarily be scared away by the MP-E 65.  For instance, flies were much more approachable with this lens.  Eventually I plan to take some shots of dragonflies once they come out in full force.  I may even get bold enough to take some bee shots.

All in all this lens so far seems to be very well worth it.  In the next few weeks, when more of my accessories come in (including a Wimberley macro flash bracket that is on backorder) I will have more to say about this lens including details on the sharpness.