# Canon Eos Lenses



## jasonm

When I bought my Canon d30 it came with 3 lenses, a 50mm a 28-80mm and a 80-200mm...All 'Ultrasonic' apparently, PG tells me thats good









Im thinking of just keeping the 50mm as a general purpose lens and trying to sell the other 2 to fund a dedicated Macro lens, what do you think? Macro lenses seem to be quite expensive, what size macro should I look for? ( for watch photos of course)

I know less about lenses and photography than I do about F1 and watches


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## Stan

Jase,

Can you borrow a set of extension tubes from someone? They'd be a lot cheaper than a proper macro lens.

They should work well with the 50mil, it's a nice sharp lens.

"Try before you buy" either item, if you can.


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## jasonm

Thanks Stan, PG lent me a set, Ive had Ok results, your right though, Ive not done much playing around, I should walk before trying to run I guess


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## hippo

If you do decide to rum then I would go for Canon's excelent 100mm marco, sharp as a sharp thing and I consider it very cheap at just under Â£300, its a 2.8 aswell!! Although I'd have a play with the tubes too


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## jasonm

Cheers Hips, the thing I find with the tubes and a 'close up lens' that screws into the front of the 50mm lens is that it gives a great close up of a very small area, everything around that point is out of focus, is this a 'focal length' problem? ( see, I know a tec term) 









Edit...Its depth of field isnt it









Found this really good idiots guide

http://photonotes.org/articles/beginner-faq/lenses.html

Right up my street


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## Stan

A 100mm macro lens will let you work further away from your subject but DoF isn't as "deep" as with a shorter focal length so you'd need to stop down a bit more.

If you buy one go for the Canon, if you decide to sell it some time in the future it won't lose as much money as a third party lens.


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## jasonm

Cheers Stan, but I doubt I will get one to be honest, its only watch photos, not really important enough to blow a wedge on ....Ive got a new bottomless pit to spend on, Harry...


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## Roger

Buy Harry a lens for Xmas and sell me the 80-200 very cheaply as you will have no further use for it!
















Rog


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## Boxbrownie

Quite honestly Jase I would flog the two zooms and buy one of the wider Canon zooms for general photography (too much emphasis is put on long focal lengths I am afraid, unless your into airshows or something specifically requiring shaky pictures!







) and definately play around more with the 50mm and tubes or better still a bellows unit, not sure if canon do one for that camera as I am a Nikon man myself







.....hippo sounds keen on Canons, but then there is no helping some people









Whatever you choose you gonna need loads of light and stop it that lense down to get any kind of DoF......and although the 50mm will not be optically optimised for that kind of work it will give you excellent results compared to any compact I am certain.

Best regards David


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## pg tips

i might be interested in the 80-200 Jase

any of you pro's had any feedback on the canon 60mm 2.8 ef-s macro?

http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Fi...f2.8_Macro_USM/


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## chris l

pg tips said:


> i might be interested in the 80-200 Jase
> 
> any of you pro's had any feedback on the canon 60mm 2.8 ef-s macro?
> 
> http://www.canon.co.uk/For_Home/Product_Fi...f2.8_Macro_USM/


DOF is always an issue at close distances.

As I recall the rule is that DOF is greatest when; the focal length is short/the subject to lens distance is great/the aperture is small.

A short lens at distance well stopped down has great DOF. A longer lens close up and/or wide open will have little.

So a shorter lens for close up pictures will always have more DOF for the same aperture and coverage.

The 50mm may be your best bet, as well, (being a 'prime' or single focal length lens), as being of inherently higher optical quality.

For close up pictures you need _lots _of light, too - to give smaller apertures, so as to make the most of the small DOF that you get close up.

The minimal DOF can be best used by either making sure that you shoot flat on to the subject, or when shooting across, or at an angle to the subject, that you select the primary point of interest to be sharp, allowing the out of focus areas to frame or lead into the PPOI.

It's all coming back to me....

At least with modern cameras you don't have to work out the close up exposure compensation factor.

I'll get me coat.

(Used to be all dinosaurs round here, y'a know. Yes Grandad.)


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## jasonm

Thanks all for your pearls of wisdom


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## James

Keep the 50, it will be your sharpest being non zoom.

Your second sharpest is the shorter zoom, less a focal range

Third sharpest is the longer zoom as it has to do more so some compromise at either extreme end of the focal length

I would try a close up filter on the 50 and keep the rest or eventually sell the long zoom and pick up a fixed focal tele of 200 or 300. Prob is that long zoom covers the good portrait range.

So heck keep them all and be in no rush! Learn how to use it and special attention to how you set the camera up and never use full auto you can get better pics out of it than that! use a tripod and maybe after outgrowing those pick up a stabilizer lens saves you a few stops or an L series, toys are good.


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## jasonm

> Learn how to use it


I think these are the key words here!


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## JTW

Does anyone have any advice on lighting for close up shots of watches / movements?

Flash gives nasty reflections and tends to wash out, ordinary lightbulbs give a colour cast, which although you can correct is a hassle.

Also you really need a tripod - also a hassle.

any easy answers?

Ian


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## James

You would need to start a new thread on indoor lighting. But on tripods just get a mini then, I keep one under the car seat too.


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## strange_too

JTW said:


> Does anyone have any advice on lighting for close up shots of watches / movements?
> 
> Flash gives nasty reflections and tends to wash out, ordinary lightbulbs give a colour cast, which although you can correct is a hassle.
> 
> Also you really need a tripod - also a hassle.
> 
> any easy answers?
> 
> Ian


PG's tips should help http://www.wrist-watch.info/pgtips/phototips2.htm


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## JTW

Thanks guys.

Ian


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## chris l

JTW said:


> Does anyone have any advice on lighting for close up shots of watches / movements?
> 
> Flash gives nasty reflections and tends to wash out, ordinary lightbulbs give a colour cast, which although you can correct is a hassle.
> 
> Also you really need a tripod - also a hassle.
> 
> any easy answers?
> 
> Ian


Shaded daylight and a light tent.

Find a shaded area of the garden, make a frame of light wire like a box with a side missing and cover it with tracing paper or cheap material like light white cotton. Assemble it on a table. Put more white material at the bottom, like white paper.

Stand the watch in the middle well above the base, so that the base is out of focus, and any defects are therefore out of focus.

Set a manual white balance and shoot. This will eliminate colour casts if done properly. Bracket exposures.

When I was a photographer we used a completely closed white tent with a lens hole in one side. This when used with the shifts on a view camera, prevented any unwanted reflections.

You can also use a tent indoors with either flash or incandescent bulb lighting shining through the material from outside. Not too close to the tent.

Use a tripod. Fix the camera. Move the watch! It's easier...

A double layer of material on the sides of the tent, separated by a couple of inches is even better.

Good luck.


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## JTW

chris l said:


> JTW said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does anyone have any advice on lighting for close up shots of watches / movements?
> 
> Flash gives nasty reflections and tends to wash out, ordinary lightbulbs give a colour cast, which although you can correct is a hassle.
> 
> Also you really need a tripod - also a hassle.
> 
> any easy answers?
> 
> Ian
> 
> 
> 
> Shaded daylight and a light tent.
> 
> Find a shaded area of the garden, make a frame of light wire like a box with a side missing and cover it with tracing paper or cheap material like light white cotton. Assemble it on a table. Put more white material at the bottom, like white paper.
> 
> Stand the watch in the middle well above the base, so that the base is out of focus, and any defects are therefore out of focus.
> 
> Set a manual white balance and shoot. This will eliminate colour casts if done properly. Bracket exposures.
> 
> When I was a photographer we used a completely closed white tent with a lens hole in one side. This when used with the shifts on a view camera, prevented any unwanted reflections.
> 
> Wow!
> 
> You can also use a tent indoors with either flash or incandescent bulb lighting shining through the material from outside. Not too close to the tent.
> 
> Use a tripod. Fix the camera. Move the watch! It's easier...
> 
> A double layer of material on the sides of the tent, separated by a couple of inches is even better.
> 
> Good luck.
Click to expand...

Wow!

Thanks for that, definitely more food for thought.

Ian


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## Boxbrownie

Or go buy a white translucent waste bucket from Ikea and cut a hole big enough to poke your lens through and try that first, makes a useful portable "tent" also good for photographing flora in the wild and preventing the wind swaying them around.....and if you want a natural background cut the back off the bucket and place a mirror to reflect the sky and clouds as the background....all sorts of tricks you can use. I have seen a rather large "cake/cheese tent" on a collapsable wire frame that could be used too, and in fact a company that makes reflectors (Lastolite) make a very compact cone of white material for the very purpose with a velcro sealed side.......

Best regards David


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## Boxbrownie

Found my tent although havent used it for a while so it looks a bit too creased!

























I think you can just see the velcro seam from top to bottom, it has a wire frame at the bottom which you "wind up" to get it back into the carry pouch....










Easy to carry anywhere......

Best regards David


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## hippo

Boxbrownie said:


> Found my tent although havent used it for a while so it looks a bit too creased!
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> I think you can just see the velcro seam from top to bottom, it has a wire frame at the bottom which you "wind up" to get it back into the carry pouch....
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> Best regards David


Looks like a KKK hat!!!! 

P.S. You need to get the washing in!!!!


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## Boxbrownie

Aha! It an irish KKK hat....no eye holes!









Washing? Thats womans work.......























Best regards David


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