Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFirst was DOA. Purchased a refurb from manufacturer & updated review.
Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2012
Allow me to first state that I want people to learn from my experiences below (initial review) - a bad unit can bite you, and depending on the seller, getting your money back may be harder than with others.
I have upped the star rating from 3 to 5 based on receiving a functional, refurbished unit that I received directly from Canon. If the lens was not up to the highest possible degree, I would have kept the review at 4 stars, based on my bad experience after purchasing my first lens. It exceeded all of my expectations once I received a fully functional lens. I will try to explain how in the following review.
I have now used this refurbished lens to take (at time of this review) around 700 pics in the last couple of weeks. I could not wait to update the review.
My initial impressions are extremely positive. Most reviewers have already gone over how the lens feels sturdy, the focus ring is smooth with a nice throw for easy manual focusing, and how the lens is tack sharp. I could not agree more. After getting a working lens (the autofocus now operates as I would expect) I can report that all of these statements are true. The thing that struck me the most, though, was the accuracy and speed of the autofocus system. At macro range, it will track an object and keep it in sharp focus even though my hands are twitchy and the subject may be moving around. There are a few moments where the focus will stop tracking, but a quick retap of the autofocus button will resume the search. As was stated in one of the comments, the autofocus does not like going from macro range to standard range, but this is a good thing. It tries to anticipate where the focus will be, instead of hunting all over the range.
The sharpness of this lens is the next massive asset in this lens's bag of tricks. The level of detail you get from pictures taken in a standard magnification range is absurd. Every line of every feather is in sharp contrast on a bird (assuming you can get close enough to fill a good portion of the frame at 100mm). Get close and the smallest details pop out. The tiny hairs on a grasshopper are present in the photo, and compound eyes become a nest of interwoven latticework.
Because this is a 100mm lens, in theory, one only needs to be 1/160sec on a 1.6x crop lens to avoid visible blur from camera shake (not sure if this translates to macro though...) which means you can hand hold this lens in moderate light (I have a very good amount of keepers at 1/160th). My recommendation, though, is to have a flash unit. I have a 430 ex ii which has been wonderful. I do not miss the lack of image stabilization on this lens due to the fact that I mostly use an external flash. I have tried to use the lens without a flash and unless you have fantastic natural light you're better off with a flash. Also, some claim IS assists in composing and framing. Composing a hand held shot is not difficult to me, even at maximum magnification and without IS. As I stated before, my hands are shaky, too.
If your photos require a close up perspective, this is a fantastic option. The results from a working version of this lens speak for themselves. In the first 5 minutes I was hugely impressed, and with a small amount of experience my love for this lens has only grown. I have also used the 100 f/2.8L which is very similar to this lens, but with the addition of IS and a red stripe (ok - a few other things, too). In practice, I have not seen an appreciable difference between the two lenses. The non-L is good enough for me.
Hope all this helps!
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Original Review:
The autofocus on this lens did not operate. It would hunt for focus for a few seconds and then stop trying. This was the case in all light levels. I also tried this with multiple focus distance limits (the switch on the side) as well as multiple camera bodies.
This is so sad because the lens has so much potential.
1. The pictures taken really are tack sharp.
2. The auto focus ring is smooth and has enough throw to finely adjust as needed.
3. The lens really opens up a world of fun in your photography. I found myself shooting everything I could to "test" the broken mechanism. It was hard to send back, even though I knew it was broken.
As far as the return process, I purchased this from Amazon, sold by Adorama (a company I've followed for quite a while and have trusted). They claimed that because I did not purchase directly through them (but rather on Amazon's site) I could not receive an exchange for a working unit. I could only return for a refund. They were going to charge me retroactive shipping from them ("free" on the original order), a restocking fee, and I had to foot the bill to ship back to them. WHAT?!? After a [mostly] calm conversation with their phone support I was told I would receive a full refund and a shipping label to ship it back. I'm out no money for a defective product shipped to me, so I'm now a happy camper.
Since the refunded money has already been reallocated, I now have to save up for this lens again...It's that good that I wouldn't go without it for too long after briefly having it in my possession. Thus it hurts to give it a 3-star...I just can't give higher without receiving a working unit. :(
