Canon ef 100 f2 usm review năm 2024

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The Canon 100mm f2 (f/2) lens is an interesting portrait lens from Canon. This lens is quite similar to the Canon 85mm f/1.8 lens. The Canon lenses are much cheaper than the Nikkor counterparts. The Canon 100mm f2 lens can be used on Canon full frame and Aps-C Dslr cameras as well. On Aps-c we have a tighter view which is better for head shots, while on Full frame we have a wider field of view for full body or group shots. The Canon 85mm is a little better in this regard, which is a little wider. The general opinion, if such a thing exists that a 85mm is a little better, more useful for portraits than the 100mm. The difference is small. On the other hand the 100mm is better for concerts for example where more focal length is preferred.

100, 85 or 50mm ?

I prefer to make a photograph of a face in portrait than anything else, for this the longer lenses are better. With a 50mm lens on a crop camera for this I need to be approximately 1m from the subject which is quite close and can be disturbing.

For group shots on a crop sensor cameras the 50mm is better, because we can go closer to the people.

Other big difference between the 85,100mm lenses and the 50mm, 35mm lenses is the quality of the out-of-focus blur or bokeh. The longer lenses are simply much better in this regard. For portraits blurred background is preferred.

With the 50mm lenses the background is not so smooth than with longer lenses. The 50mm f/1.8 II has 5 blade diaphragm which makes not so nice pentagonal highlights, instead of circular shape highlights.

Official name – Canon 100mm f2 USM

The official name of the lens is Canon 100mm f/2 USM

Compatibility – Canon 100mm f2

The lens is compatible with Canon Full frame and Aps-C cameras as well.

Specifications – Canon 100mm f2

Focal length range: 100mm Optical formula: 8 lens elements in 6 groups Brightness: f/2 Angle of view: / degree (Fx / Dx) Aperture range: f/2-22 Minimum focusing distance: 0.9m (2.95′) Weight: 460g (16.22 oz.) Dimensions: App. 75 x 71.5mm (2.95 x 2.81 “) Aperture diaphragm blades: 8 Magnification: 1: 8 Filter thread: 58 mm (non-rotating)

Range

The 100mm focal length is mostly useful as a portrait range. On Aps-C cameras, like Digital rebels, or Canon 60,70d or 7d you can make tight head shots from 2-2.5 m. For full body shots needs to go little farer. The field of view is around 2.25 m from 10 meters. The view on the Full frame camera is not so tight, little longer than 50mm on crop camera.

Optical qualities – Canon 100mm f2 review

The Canon 100mm f2 is a very nice, high quality lens. Some purple fringing appear with this lens as well, as with the 85mm. The lens is sharp from f/2, sharper than the 85mm at f/1.8. At f/2 the two lens is similar, perhaps the 100mm is a hair better. The lens has good contrast, nice colors and absolutely usable wide open at f/2.

Bokeh – Canon 100mm f2

Canon 100mm f/2 USM ISO 800 f/2 1/500s Canon 30D camera The bokeh is very nice, similar like a bokeh of the 85mm 1.8. You cannot make the same bokeh with the 50mm or 35mm wider lenses. I see no significant difference between the bokeh of the 85 and 100mm lenses.

Autofocus – Canon 100mm f2

The Autofocus of the Canon 100mm is a real quick and near silent ring-type ultrasonic auto-focus. The closest focusing distance is 90cm. In some low contrast situations the af can hunt, at least on my Canon 30D.

Price/performance – Canon 100mm f2

The Canon 100mm lens is a very nice, desirable lens. The optical quality is very nice right from the wide open f/2 aperture. Compare to the 85mm the lens is a little bigger and heavier. Other than that the two lens is more similar than different.

When focusing, the lens does not change size, does not leave anything and does not spin. You can comfortably use polarizing and gradient filters. The rear lens is also stationary, which eliminates the effect of a vacuum cleaner and minimizes the amount of dust inside the lens itself and the camera matrix, respectively.

Canon Lens EF 100mm 1: 2 Ultrasonic

Image quality

The overall image quality can be rated as good. At full frame with a full aperture (f / 2.0), vignetting in 1-1,5 steps is clearly visible. Edits in the editor with the appropriate profile. With a one-stop aperture (up to f / 2.8), vignetting ceases to bother. For rare paranoids and perfectionists, an f / 4.0 value will sweep away all issues.

A few words about the vignette. In real portraits, vignetting is sometimes not noticed at all. Sometimes I even forget where it is removed by the editor, and where not. If you do not engage in nonsense like shooting brick walls, then you can not worry about this drawback.

Chromatic aberrations, like the vignette, disappear at f / 4.0. Everything before that is well treated in the editors. On correctly exposed frames, the chromaticity is minimal (see examples of the Solzhenitsyn monument).

With sharpness, everything is good on the open (it is “sufficient”) and in direct proportion to better with the subsequent cover.

This lens proved to be excellent at portraiture both indoors with natural light and outdoors. I still could not get the nuts in the background. Probably tried poorly :) The very same bokeh always turned out to be very soft, film-noble or something.

Distortion for third-party tests is about 0,5%, and you can not worry about it.

In a blind test, none of my friends photographers could distinguish shots from it from the L-series (100 mm 2.8L USM), which gave some of them an extra reason to think about investing in the upper segment of optics.

If the photographer does not see the difference, then, most likely, the client will not notice it either. When printed even on A4 format, the “lacquered” lens looked exactly like its half-cheap companion from this review. Most likely this happened due to the fact that there was no well-savvy marketer from Canon around who could convince me otherwise :)

Canon Lens EF 100mm 1: 2 Ultrasonic

Features of focusing.

It is on this section that I want to draw your attention. Focusing caused some questions in the work of the hero of the review. It is clear that the quality of this depends on a variety of objective reasons: the focusing module, conditions, heterogeneity of objects (straight arms - naturally), etc.

Focusing itself is fast and tenacious, but not always accurate or, as I call it, “harmful”. The harmfulness depends on the specific camera models. For example, when shooting a test doll “head-on” with MDF on a Canon EOS 5D Mark 2, there are 4 hits out of 5 on one day, and on the other you had to set the edit to -8 (minus eight!). With a Canon EOS camera 450D this was not observed.

On the review page about EF 85 mm f / 1.8 says:

In 2010 on one sample of 5D Mark II, I got the best results with the focus micrometer set to +5. Otherwise it is consistently focused in front of the intended subject.

Either there is a variation in quality, or it is the eccentricities of a particular camera model.

As Ken Rockwell said about these two "twins": "Having one of them, the second is no longer needed." But I do not agree with him, tk. these are slightly different lenses.

Similarities to EF 85 mm f / 1.8

• diameter under the filter 58 mm
• Hood ET-65 III
• issued to this day (over 25 years!)
• produce similar image quality

Differences from EF 85 mm f / 1.8

• 85 mm costs $ 430 versus $ 480 for 100 mm. 50 dollars for an additional 15 mm FR. Specifically, in my city, two of these lenses at a flea market are sold at about the same price (at $ 250 for the spring / summer of 2017), which was an advantage in favor of the longer) 20 grams heavier if somehow felt in the process
• 2 mm higher :)
• metal thread under the filter

Canon Lens EF 100mm 1: 2 Ultrasonic

About the hood

For some reason, this nuance was not voiced in the review about the EF 85 mm f / 1.8 USM. Fill this gap :) In contrast to the usual fixing by means of a bayonet mount, the ET-65 III hood is mounted on four detent teeth by a groove, which is a one-piece ring on the edge of the lens. The clips themselves and the expanding design raise questions about their durability, but you should not worry - the loss can be easily restored in numerous online stores offering analogues on average from $ 4-5. In addition to this anachronism, the hood itself is somehow round and unreasonably long. The use of a shortened petal rubber or threaded hood from a third-party manufacturer had an identical effect with equal lateral flare. In the stowed position, the original hood completely blocks access to the focusing ring, significantly hides the numbers on the focus distance scale and makes it difficult to switch the focusing modes themselves.

Canon Lens EF 100mm 1: 2 Ultrasonic

General usage experience

The lens is well assembled and causes a feeling of a solid reliable thing. After a while, you cease to feel its weight, like the weight of the camera, completely leaving for the shooting process.

On crop cameras, the 1,6x focal length (160 mm) and a much smaller DOF, together with the middle travel of the focusing ring, creates some difficulties with manual focusing. Yes, it turned out that the ring travel of 90 ° is a very modest value for such a fast lens, I would like to be one and a half to two times more. A distance of 1/3/5/7 meters gives a rounded 0,7 / 6,6 / 18,6 / 36,7 centimeters of depth of field, respectively. Therefore, it was most comfortable for me to work on a full frame with “honest” values. Crop took a significant amount of time to get used to controlling the very narrow depth of field.

If it so happens that after a long unsuccessful search for the orthodox EF 85 mm f / 1.8, which all_ and_ everywhere_ advise, the opportunity to purchase this lens has turned up, feel free to take it. Image quality is similar, and the extra mm RF will only be on hand, forcing everyone to guess the secret of your pictures;) It would be very kind of Canon to release the next revision of such an excellent lens, and very desirable with a stabilizer.

Canon Lens EF 100mm 1: 2 Ultrasonic

Sample Photos

Examples of photos from ALL cameras were shot with the same settings: Picture style: STANDARD (3: 0: 0: 0), Sharpness - 3, Contrast - 0, Saturation - 0, Hue - 0, AWB.

Is Canon 100mm f2 discontinued?

The purge of EF lenses is continuing, this time I have confirmed that both the Canon EF 100mm f/2 USM and Canon EF 24mm f/2.8 IS USM have been discontinued.

What is Canon 100mm lens good for?

This lens is a great option for portraits because of the Ultra-Low Dispersion (UD) lens element that removes chromatic aberration and the exceptional bokeh produced by 9-blade circular aperture combined with f/2.8.

How far can a 100mm lens see?

The 100 mm will go close enough to photograph 1:1 magnification. Since your 5D has a 24 mm x 36 mm sensor, that is the size of subject you can photography at the 310 mm distance. Since distance is measured from the focal plane and the lens is 119 mm long, that gives a working distance of less than 200 mm.

What is the working distance for the Canon 100mm macro?

The Canon 100mm macro allows a reasonable minimum working distance (MWD) of 6" (150mm) from the end of the lens (without the hood in place).