[Marie-Elise Rijke]

I do a lot of macrophotography in nature. A lot of the pictures I make handheld with a canon 100mm macro non-IS.

Now I am doubting to buy a canon 100mm IS or a sigma 150mm OS.

I love the idea of having more working distance with the sigma (great for e.g. insects), but due to medication my hands are not so stable, so I am wondering if I'd better buy the canon IS for easier handheld shooting?


Anyone any idea which lens is easier fot handheld shooting?


Thanks a lot!


Marie-Elise

[Brightcolours]

You give the answers already:

You like the extra distance the 150mm Sigma gives.

 

Both have IS, so both will help a little bit at close up distances with handshake-"ignoring".Is there a store nearby that allows you to handle both lenses on your camera?

 

If somehow the Canon IS is better in countering the handshake at close up distances, there is a 3rd option: Canon 100mm f2.8 IS + Kenko 1.4x tele converter.

[Marie-Elise Rijke]

Thanks Brightcolors,

 

I do already have the Kenko 1.4x teleconverter. It fits on my Canon 100mm non-IS. The results are great! The only problem is the loss of light, although I think it's not a very big deal if IS works well.

 

I guess you're right. I will go to a store and try both. It's probably the only way to find out which one is better for handheld shooting.

[Brightcolours]

Thanks Brightcolors,

 

I do already have the Kenko 1.4x teleconverter. It fits on my Canon 100mm non-IS. The results are great! The only problem is the loss of light, although I think it's not a very big deal if IS works well.

 

I guess you're right. I will go to a store and try both. It's probably the only way to find out which one is better for handheld shooting.

Usually you close down the lens anyway, for macro stuff, even if only a bit. So now the TC already does that 1 stop.. no big deal in this case?

[popo]

From memory, but I might be wrong, the Canon 100L macro doesn't accept teleconverters which protrude into the lens. Some Kenko ones don't, so those would be ok.

As for the IS, I'm not up to date on who does IS like the 100L, which compensates for both tilt and shift. Normal IS only compensates for tilt, but shift can get more important for macro. It still doesn't correct for movement forwards/backwards nor rotation. I haven't used it myself so can't comment on its relative effectiveness.

[Marie-Elise Rijke]

@Brightcolors: I might be wrong, but I think the TC diminishes the DOF, so that f2.8 on a 100mm gives about the same DOF as f4 on the combination with the 1.4x TC...????


@popo: I have the Kenko 1.4x converter pro300 dgx, according to Kenko it fits on the Canon 100mm IS, I tried to find out if it also fits the Sigma 150mm OS, but I did not get any results.


I googled a bit more about IS and OS, I think both Sigma 150mm OS and Canon 100mm IS have tilt & shift corrections.


Thanks popo and Brightcolors!


Marie-Elise

[Brightcolours]

From memory, but I might be wrong, the Canon 100L macro doesn't accept teleconverters which protrude into the lens. Some Kenko ones don't, so those would be ok.


As for the IS, I'm not up to date on who does IS like the 100L, which compensates for both tilt and shift. Normal IS only compensates for tilt, but shift can get more important for macro. It still doesn't correct for movement forwards/backwards nor rotation. I haven't used it myself so can't comment on its relative effectiveness.

The Canon 7D (and 7D II) has a feature called "Intelligent Macro Tracking". When you put a macro lens with USM on the camera, like the 100mm f2.8 L IS USM, and set the camera to AI-Servo, it doubles the AF scan frequency when used at 1:3 and bigger.

This then acts as back/forward movement correction. Of course, a TC may mess this up. I do not know which other cameras, since the 7D introduction, have this feature. It is not widely advertised.

 

No Kenko TC protrudes (the Canon and Sigma converters do protrude), and you can put them on every EOS mount lens. Not on EF-S lenses, as they have protruding backsides.

[Brightcolours]

@Brightcolors: I might be wrong, but I think the TC diminishes the DOF, so that f2.8 on a 100mm gives about the same DOF as f4 on the combination with the 1.4x TC...????


@popo: I have the Kenko 1.4x converter pro300 dgx, according to Kenko it fits on the Canon 100mm IS, I tried to find out if it also fits the Sigma 150mm OS, but I did not get any results.


I googled a bit more about IS and OS, I think both Sigma 150mm OS and Canon 100mm IS have tilt & shift corrections.


Thanks popo and Brightcolors!


Marie-Elise

The TC makes the f-value smaller. The f-value stands for focal length divided by that number = aperture diameter.

With a 100mm f2.8 you have a max. apparent aperture diameter of 100 / 2.8 = 35.7mm.

Adding a 1.4x TC changes the total focal length to: 100 x 1.4 = 140mm. The aperture diameter of the lens has not changed. Thef-value then will be: 140 / 35.7 = f3.92

 

So, your 100mm f2.8 lens changed into a 140mm f4 lens. Both in DOF and f-value. So, when you close down the Sigma 150mm to f5.6 for DOF purposes, and you close down the 100mm f2.8 + 1.4x TC combination to f4,  you get about the same DOF and light, due to the 1 stop difference the TC makes.

 

The Kenko TC will fit on the Sigma 150mm.

[Marie-Elise Rijke]

Unfortunately my EOS 6D has no intelligent macro tracking...


I am still trying to understand why DOF & light are about the same for 140mm f4 and 150mm f5.6

I tried to make 'about the same picture' (I mean the same cut/framing/crop or however I should put it into English...) with 100mm at f2.8 and with 100mm + TC at f4 (which means I had to get closer without TC), then the DOF in the pictures is about the same.


Hmm, difficult...still thinking about it.

[Brightcolours]

Unfortunately my EOS 6D has no intelligent macro tracking...


I am still trying to understand why DOF & light are about the same for 140mm f4 and 150mm f5.6

I tried to make 'about the same picture' (I mean the same cut/framing/crop or however I should put it into English...) with 100mm at f2.8 and with 100mm + TC at f4 (which means I had to get closer without TC), then the DOF in the pictures is about the same.


Hmm, difficult...still thinking about it.

140mm f5.6 DOF is quite like 150mm f5.6. But to get f5.6 with the TC combination, you set f4 on the camera. The TC takes one stop.

 

Macro distances anyway have very narrow DOF, and seeing a difference can be hard.