cannon macro lens

i am looking at buying the CANON EF-S 60mm f/2.8 MACRO USM LENS and would like to know from anyone who has one ,

what they think of its performance ,and i am looking at housing it in a ike housing,is there any issues with ports with this lens PS i read a review on the net that the working distance for the 60mm for 1:1 is 9 cm is this true?

I have one and am very happy with it as is everyone I know who has one. Very sharp with fast focus, what more could you ask for in a macro lens.

The minimum focus distance is 200mm from the sensor plane, so allowing for the body and lens in front of the sensor plane, 90mm sounds about right for minimum distance between the front of the lens and the subject. I'll have to measure it tonight when I get home from work.

i find that the working distance from the port is too short with this lens for small fish. i tried it in hopes of getting better autofocus than my 100M. i'm going back to the 100M and adding a focus light

I'm with Gudge - super sharp and fast focus. A great lens.

Yep, super sharp, great AF, best fish lens I've found. With the 100mm I notice just a little more blur because of the additional water your shooting through. It's a trade though, the 100 lets you get shots you might not get with the 60mm if the critters won't let you get close. Like everything else it's a trade. :-)

Good luck, you'll love the lens,

Steve

Thanks for the info everyone,I will be buying the housing and flat port in the next week or 2 depending on availability.will get the tonkina 10-17 and 8 inch dome with another ds 125 strobe in a few months.

steve

I would also consider the Sigma 50 and 70mm. They are not IF or HSM(USM equivalent) but still are sharp and if (or when) you upgrade to a FF camera, you don't have to throw out the AFS lens. Obvious for WA, you're going to have to take a hit.

FYI the working distance of the 60 EF-S is 0.2m.

FYI - 60mm EFS + Extension Tune 12mm (MkII only) = superb full frame macro lens! I use this combination a lot underwater and the Canon 60 is an excellent lens.

FYI - 60mm EFS + Extension Tune 12mm (MkII only) = superb full frame macro lens! I use this combination a lot underwater and the Canon 60 is an excellent lens.

I guess you loose focus at infinity with that setup. If so, how far will it focus when set at infinity? Also, how far is the working distance from the front of the lens?

/Bent

60mm + 12mm extension allows for a focus range of about 40cm to greater than 1:1. Extremely useful in murkier temperate waters.

if you put on an extension on would the image still be sharp?

The Canon 60 EFS lens is an Internal Focus lens (not quite the full technical decription but near enough) and as such performs very well but over a restricted range - normally this means that it operates very well indeed from infinity to 1:1 (lifesize) on a reduced format camera. Adding 12mm of extension allows use of the larger image circle which is available at the back of the lens (think of a cone of light projecting behind the lens and as you add extensions you can use bigger areas) and allows it to be used on a full frame camera. However because of the lenses' design and construction if you push the lens too far by adding more extension, performance and image quality reduce. So adding 12mm gives very acceptable (actually excellent) results, but adding more tends to result in a softer, less acceptable image. So to answer your question - no, but within limits. I would not recommend this lens with more than 12mm of extension on either reduced or full frame formats, but it will work very well with 12mm. If you want to use a lens at increased magnification then I would suggest looking at the none-internal focus lenses which are available (NOT Canon's 50mm macro though as this requires an additional optic to maintain performance even down to 1:1).

For Nikon users this is someting to think about as their older 60mm worked well even at increased magnifications but I suspect that their newer lens will perform less well at increased magnification - it will be interesting to see if anyone checks this out on wetpixel.