New toy: Canon EF-S 60mm 2.8 Macro - First shots

[iolair]

This is a very nice lens (though 1:1 shots with reasonable depth of field need a lot of light, other than that I can't fault it).

1/ Test Shot

2/ Test Shot

3/ Image at a regular working distance - single softbox portrait, SOOC apart from resize.

4/ White Weed on the pavement (sidewalk)

5/ Blue Weed (what IS this flower anyway, anyone??)

While I'm going to have to learn to get the best out of this lens, I'm more than pleased with its quality and capabilities I got it as an upgrade for my 50mm 1.8 and it's a BIG upgrade ... (though I'll still keep the 1.8 for travelling, and for when I really need that wide aperture).

Oh, any C&C welcome on 4 & 5. (1-3 were just lens tests).

 

[PatrickWTF]

Nice lens, I like #4 for most. It has the nicest bokeh.

 

[Ron Evers]

In macro shooting one must decide where to set the focus as the DOF is so short. In your #5 the focus is on the flower petals but it could have been on the central middle parts but not both unless you use focus stacking which I have never been successful at.

 

[iolair]

The focus was deliberately on the petals - I love their texture, and it made a stronger image for me. I've never heard of focus stacking before ... I'll have to do some reading up.

 

[fokker]

You badly need to clean your sensor...

Also the portrait seems very soft, not sure if this is a DOF issue or camera shake, what were your settings?

 

[iolair]

Hmmm, good plan ... I'm just running the 20D's "clean sensor" function from the menu now ... never done it before (had the camera 18 months). I'm guessing that's the best way to do it.

The portrait ... ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/250s, hand-held, no sharpening applied, working distance about 1.2m (4 ft). Looks plenty sharp enough to me, particularly on the full-size version zoomed in. I focused on the eyes. I like to use narrow DOF on portraits so that the ears/back of the hair etc. start to lose focus a little. At that distance and aperture, my depth of field should be 4 to 5 inches I believe?

 

[fokker]

To be honest you'll probably need to do a 'wet' clean of the sensor, I don't think the auto-clean works very well on stubborn spots. This involves locking up the mirror to expose the sensor and then essentially wiping it clean with a cloth-wrapped spatula and methanol cleaning solution. Or you can have a camera shop do it.

The portrait, the eyes look sharp but the chin and mouth looks very soft to me. I'd have thought that at f/5.6 you'd have ample depth of field for this shot, even at f/2.8 and 60mm you'd be struggling to have sharp eyes and a blurry chin. Maybe she was moving her mouth just as you pushed the shutter? Though at 1/250 it hardly seems likely. I dunno, maybe it's just me.... does anyone else notice the softness??

 

[iolair]

I'll worry about the portrait when I'm doing it properly ... really it was just a test snap to get the feel of the lens.

I had one of the camera shops in Exeter (London Camera Exchange) clean my sensor today; I'm too cowardly to poke it myself in case I break something. £30 though ... although that's cheaper than Devon Camera Centre quoted me (£35 to have it done in 3 days or £50 for the next day ... with LCE I popped back in after half an hour and voilá).