A unique manual-focus lens designed exclusively for macro shooting, between life-size (1x) and 5x life-size – at its maximum magnification, you can fill a 35mm frame with a grain of rice. Compatible with the Macro Ring Lites and new Macro Twin Lite, it eliminates the need for awkward bellows accessories for many macro shooters. A floating system preserves optical quality at different focusing distances, and features a UD-glass element.
11Unique high-quality manual focus lens exclusively for macro photography from 1~5x life-size
Supports AE metering with EOS cameras
Compatible with Macro Ring Lite and Macro Twin Lite
Removable tripod collar revolves smoothly and locks securely
well,read about the lens and thought thats the one to get, loving macro, its a wowwy! !! i use tripods usually and remote too brilliant !! also recently i tried the 1.4 extender on it. now it stays on the lens, even better superb, inside flowers once setup is brilliant its just like havin a microscope on the end of your camera !!!!!! ill give live view a try too: shud be even better : 5 times +the extender give it a try you wont be dissapointed ?? love it to death : A.L
This lens requires some skill, but it can get results that no other DSLR lens can. I have both this and the 100mm f2.8L macro. The 100mm is arguably a better lens for 'regular' macro, but this one can get incredible magnification. It opens up a whole new world. . Here's an idea of scale: I shot the side of a blade of grass at a 45 degree angle (5x, tripod, sunlight, no flash). It more than filled the frame. Only a small ribbon is in focus, and there's a really nice blur in the background and foreground. . If you love macro and you're willing to put in the work, get this lens. If you want an easy lens to walk around with, get the 100mm f2.8L.
By far the most difficult lens I've ever used. It does what it is supposed to do better than any other lens, but handling the lens is a real challenge. At this magnification level, 5x, even the slight breeze throws the object out of focus. Not only a very sturdy tripod is a must, but in my opinion, a remote trigger is same as much necessary since merely touching a camera to click results in vibration and out of focus picture. I have lens ring mounted flash, not the ring light but the one with 2 adjustable flash strobes. It is difficult to work with those as well since often time, using this particular lens, one will find himself barely couple of inches away from the object. I am still trying to learn to use this lens.
Cons: must have ring flash, must have tripod, must have remote
I have this lens along with the ring flash and thought it would be great fun when I first purchased it. It is very difficult to operate because the depth of field is about 1mm when at 5x. You definitely need a tripod, flash and ideally a remote trigger to get clean shots. At 5x a photo of a house fly's eye will fill about half of the image and will only have about half of it in focus because if you focus on the front of the eye the back half will be a blur. This is obviously the nature of the lens but if you need to shoot at 5x often I would suggest a microscope instead.