I'm loving the 100mm Macro

[kwl1763]

So I'm really beginning to fall in love with the lens. Today I decide to shoot exclusively with it.

The camera is a Canon 400 (Rebel XTi) and this lens is the 100mm/f2.8 Macro.

First thing I did was setup about 10 feet from the tank and wanted to try the photomerge command. At this distance it took 4 shots to get my 10 ft long tank but photoshop did a great job stiching them together.

The I took a few "normal" macros:

Next we headed to the botanical gardens where I was very hesitant to take a no zoom no IS lens. All I can say is wow. I took over 100 pics and at least 75% were great. Not good but great. Here is just a couple.

Anybody contemplating a macro I would highly recommend. As always critique and comments of the pics welcome!

 

[Conceyted]

=-o amazing! I have this same camera and I have no idea how to use it. I am reading the manual every day trying to get tips and pointers. Looks crazy! Cant wait to get this good at taking pictures.

 

[StCraft]

Can you describe a little bit the "photomerge command"
I didn't see this command on camera ?

 

[kwl1763]

It's in photoshop under the file menu. It basically takes multiple files and lines them up together so you can create a panorama. The full size version of the shot above is almost life size at almost 10ft. It's also almost 100Megs!

 

[Lpabsolute]

Very Nice

 

[Rosseau]

More and more I think I'm going to wake up and buy that lens, it's only a matter of time. I'm glad it's working out for you.

The first flower shot is pretty neat.

 

[edwing206]

Wow. Nice pics.
I love the rockwork in that tank!

 

[thirst]

any recommendations on where i should go to buy the xti + lens?

whats the main difference between the 350D and 400D?

 

[beatle]

Wow, great pics. You've pushed me closer to the edge.

 

[reefkoi]

that photostich sounds cool, I will have to try it, do you move the camera sideways each time? then is it hard to realign all the photos? or is that why the stich feature is so cool?

 

[Tagareef]

Keith,

Nice pix!!!

I finally bit the bullet and ordered a 100mm 2.8 macro from B&H Photo with my some of my income tax money. Should be here tomorrow. Hope I have enough time to play before the lights go out!

Luis

 

[nosh]

Wow great pics!

 

[nUgZ]

Very nice work. The fish and corals are great, but I'm especially in love with the flower shots. I'd love to see the full size shot of that Phalaenopsis.

 

[JGoslee]

Great pics! I pretty much always use the 100mm. I love that lens!

 

[kwl1763]

nugz if you want PM me your email and I'll shoot a full size over to you. I have probably 50 orchid shots and almost 100 other flower shots (and another 50 reef shots) from that day but I haven't had the time to process them yet!

Ya the lens really is great. I'm really glad I took it the botanical gardens instead of one of my other lenses. I got some amazing shots that the long minimum focusing length of the other lenses wouldn't have allowed. Also now that I know the photomerge function works well I can always panorama with multiple shots so that's less of a concern.

Speaking of photomerge, reefkoi, The beauty of the Photomerge is that it doesn't have to be perfect. I didn't move the tripod, I just rotated the camera. Moving the tripod would have been better as there is some very slight distortion from shooting at an angle but as you can see it still worked well! As long as there is some overlap your fine. The auto does a great job but if it doesn't for some reason you can manually "get it close" and it does this kind of "oh now I get it" and snaps it into the correct place. Really awesome feature!


Next stop with it out will be the georgia aquarium unless I decide to take a drive with it this weekend. The trees/bushes are in full bloom here so I'm thinking of heading a little north to the mountains to get some outdoor sots this weekend. I had forgotten how much fun outdoor shooting is! The lighting is so much nicer then the aquarium!