Canon 60mm EF-S macro on Full Frame Cameras

I've finally got hold of Canon's 60mm f/2.8 EF-S macro lens and 12mm MkII Extension ring and tried them (although only on land so far). Certainly at 1:1 (ish), the lens works perfectly and there is no sign of vignetting. In air, focus is restricted from very roughly ~14" to ~2.5" (estimates by eye!). As soon as weather/vis permits, I'll try it underwater, but in the meantime I can say that it focusses very well on my 1DS and a scrutiny of the files at 100% in Photoshop indicates that they are perfectly usable. For anyone who is not bothered by some restriction of focus range, this could be a very useful combination for the 5D and 1D Series cameras. In the UK the lens is ~£280 inc vat and the extender about £70 so it matches the Nikon 60mm costwise.

I have now tried this lens/extender underwater and my first impressions are that it may well be a excellent set-up and is surprisingly versatile. I shot in the rather turbid waters of the Menai Strait (~3m vis) this morning (10 degrees and slackish) and could shoot full crab/urchin/sponge shots, but move down until I could fill the frame with small (~20mm) sea slugs. I will post a few images when I've had time to resize them for web use, but have to say that vignetting does not seem to be a problem and that the images are exceedingly sharp although I have yet to really play with them and convert them properly. Focus was generally much faster than the 50 macro and on a par with the 100 but easier to achieve focus lock. The lens fitted behind the Seacam P90 port (for the 50 macro) with a little room to spare (I'll try and figure out whether a shorter port would be ok) and as it is an internally focusing lens, there were no problems with the lens extending. All in all I'm impressed so far. I'd say that for FF Canon shooters, this lens/extender is well worth considering, depending on what and where you shoot.

This shot was taken at approx 1:1 - it has not been cropped and there is no vignetting. The image is sharp!

That is remarkably sharp (even for a 350px image )...so is this your primary low-vis macro lens now Paul?

~Matt Segal

Hi Matt

I always use a usm for web usage, but the original extrapolated 50Mb file is pretty good with just enough sharpening used to deal with the AA filter.

I think that for low vis work this combination has a more useful and effective focus range than the 50mm EF Canon lens (which only goes to 1:2) and it is certainly very much quicker in AF than either the Canon or the Sigma 50mm macros, so I suspect that it will become my main 'low vis lens' (and will get used in not so low vis too I expect). I'll try to post a few more shots soon.

Great information, Paul! For someone shooting in low vis, I can see it being a real option (with FF camea). I can also see it as an excellent night-dive lens (where most shooting is close-up, and fast AF would give it an edge not only the 50mm lenses you mention, but over the Canon 100mm macro lens as well!).

However, when diving in higher vis (with good daylight) situations, I'm not sure I'd ever choose it over the Sigma 50mm, which is also 1:1. Even though the Sigma has slower AF, I have used that lens for fish photos, shark and other big stuff (and even some reef shots!), where those subjects were 2-10 feet away, and I don't think the faster AF up close would be enough to make me give up that distance shooting. Frankly, I find the Sigma 50mm to be a lens of surprising utility (night dives, dives where we are likely to see nice fish, some big stuff AND macro, etc.), especially for the price.

But I had never seriously considered the 60mm EF-S, and for diving here in the often-murky waters of Puget Sound, it sounds like a very legitimate contender!

This is good to know. I think the range will be a little too limiting for most. Have you considered this mod:

http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/tutorials/efs-10d.html

I would consider the mod but Canon's technical manager (Chuck Westfall) suggested the 12 extender and this lens in response to a query and my guess is that on a FF camera the mirror might collide with the rear element (I haven't measured it though).

Anyway a couple more shots - the starfish is 'hand' size, the spider crab 'finger' size.