gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I'd suggest something in the 100mm range, no zoom, for starters. The Tokina 100mm F2.8 Macro is a good value. Decent quality, decent price. I use one on my D7000.

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

The end use is important. The shorter lens is the closer you have to be. I personally like a100mm but looked at a 180 for butterflies flying.

mas24 Loc: Southern CA

Since you have a crop sensor Canon Camera. I'm going to recommend two third party lenses that have good reviews. They are the Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro, and the Tokina 100mm f2.8 macro. Both of these lenses are affordable, and have a 1:1 magnification, which makes it a true macro lens. The Tamron comes with a 6 year warranty. Or you can start from scratch, and get a set of Kenko Extension Tubes, like a friend did, before purchasing his Tamron 90mm f2.8. Good luck.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

One that nobody's yet mentioned is the Tamron SP 60 f2 Macro ... performs flawlessly, gives you some extra speed, and is reasonably priced ($525) ...

If you need greater reach and would prefer IS - then the Tamron 90 VC USD will give you stabilization for not a whole lot more ...

There is a special Canon only version for a little less than $500 ....

Not listed in the current B&H catalogue .... but it was there in the old one ... call them and ask, k, K? ....

Jim Plogger Loc: East Tennessee

Agree. I have this lens and it is excellent.

fotobyferg

Shot with Tamron 90mm

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

You might consider the Canon 100-400mm MII lens if those are the subjects. Focuses to near macro at 400mm and you keep a superior distance.
I find the unique to this lens type near macro capability makes it an all around great lens.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I use several and will list them in the order I'd recommend...

1. Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM (not the L/IS model)... Easily my most used and IMO one of the best available for "general purpose macro" outdoors on either crop or FF.... I use with optional, separately sold Tripod Mounting Ring B (B) and I've got the rather large, ET-67 lens hood for use on it, too. This lens and the more expensive Canon 100/2.8L IS are the only two 100mm macro lenses that can optionally be fitted with a tripod ring (the L/IS lens uses Tripod Ring D), which I consider a very important accessory. Both have excellent image quality and top build quality, very good USM autofocus, internal focusing design and Focus Limiter (the L/IS has a three-way limiter, while the non-L/IS has a two-way limiter). The non-L/IS version I use sells for about $600 and uses 58mm filters. The L/IS is currently on sale for $750, comes with the matching lens hood and uses 67mm filters. (Note: the non-L/IS has means to directly mount the Canon MT-24EX and MT-26EX-RT Macro Twin Lite or the ML-14EX Ring Lite flashes. The L/IS requires a Macrolite Adapter 67.) The Image Stabilization on the L/IS model is one of the best systems available, specially developed for macro. However, though better than stabilization on some other lenses, even it is of limited effectiveness at high magnifications... maybe about one stop at full 1:1. The IS is more effective for non-macro shooting, where it can give up to three or four stops worth of assistance.

2. Tamron SP 60mm f/2 Macro/Portrait.... This is a nice, compact, internal focusing lens with great image quality and very good build that's a stop faster aperture than most macro making it better for dual purpose such as macro. This is a "crop only" model (Tamron calls it "Di II") and it doesn't have particularly fast focus drive or a focus limiter. It's fast enough focusing for most macro and portrait purposes, but not for action like sports. I carry this lens a lot when I'm not planning to do macro or portraits, but want a lens in my bag that can be used for those purpose, just in case. Currently selling for $525, the Tamron SP 60mm is relatively small and replaces three other lenses often in my camera bag (50mm f/1.4, 85mm f/1.8 and 100mm macro), considerably lightening my load. There's considerably less working distance with a shorter lens such as this.

3. Canon 180mm f/3.5L Macro USM.... A superb "long macro" when lots of working space is needed to avoid scaring particularly shy subjects or to keep from getting stung or bitten by some of the meaner ones. This lens is quite well built and internal focusing (very similar design and materials to the Canon 100/2.8 non-L/IS). I DO NOT recommend this or any other 150,180, 200mm macro lens to everyone.... ESPECIALLY on APS-C crop sensor cameras. Longer macro are more difficult to work with, a lot more susceptible to camera shake pblur and more likely to need a tripod or at least a monopod. Longer focal lengths at high magnifications also make for extremely shallow depth of field, which can be challenging and require using extremely small apertures, which only exacerbates the challenges getting a steady shot. Even though it has both high performance USM and a Focus Limiter, it's also slower focusing than the 100mm and some of the other shorter lenses, so less "dual purpose". Tripod Mounting Ring B (B) is included with this lens, as well as the matched lens hood. It costs about $1400 and uses 72mm filters (and requires Macrolite Adapter 72C to attach the Canon macro flashes using their built in mounting system).

4. Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8.... Is a highly specialized, ultra high magnification macro lens. In fact, the LEAST it can do is 1:1, which is the maximum most other macro lenses can do. And all on its own, the MP-E 65mm can do up to 5:1 or five times life size! It can fill a viewfinder with a single grain of rice. Rather than merely photographing insects with it, you can make tight insect portraits and mug shots with it! It is manual focus only and is not internal focusing... so it grows in length quite a bit when set to max magnification there's very little working distance. This design also means that the "effective" aperture decreases in size as magnification increases... the lens' minimum f/16 selectable aperture is more like an effective f/90 or so, at max mag. It's almost mandatory to use a tripod with this lens and Tripod Ring B (B) is included (same as used by the 100/2.8 and 180/3.5... but not the 100/2.8L IS). It renders incredibly shallow depth of field and is slower to work with.... For these reasons I DO NOT recommend the very specialized MP-E 65mm lens for most people. But if you need ultra high magnification, a lot more than most macro lenses offer, this $1000 lens goes where other macros can't. It uses 58mm filters, a very odd (sold separately and expensive) little metal lens hood and is designed so that Canon's ML-14EX Ring Lite and MT-24EX, MT-26EX-RT Twin Lites all can be directly fitted to the lens.

5. Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5... This is a vintage, manual focus lens I sometimes use on my Canon DSLRs. It dates back to the 1980s and can only do 1:2 on it's own, but can be made to focus closer, at higher magnification pretty easily with macro extension tubes. This is an Adaptall lens... an interchangeable mount system that allows the lens to be adapted to fit almost any SLR/DSLR camera past, present or future. I've got easily swapped out Adaptall for my modern Canon EOS.... as well as vintage Nikon F, Canon FD, Konica K/AR and Pentax P/K mount cameras in my collection. I recently found out I can even get Adaptall to fit the old lens to new mirrorless such as the Canon M5. I don't use this lens a lot now, but keep it for it's extreme versatility. It is manual focus AND manual aperture.... so slower to work with. But I mention it as an example of older, but still excellent and very usable macro lenses that are widely available on the used market. This lens cost me all of $20 a local second-hand store, then I spent another $40 to get an Adaptall/EOS mount from China (via eBay or Amazon). That's pretty cheap macro! But it is slower to work with.

6. Canon TS-E 45mm f/2.8 Tilt-Shift... Another rather specialized lens that I often use for close-up work.... table-top, studio shots of small products primarily. The tilt and shift movements are useful for certain things. While this lens isn't truly macro, it works well with extension tubes. Not something I'd recommend to every one, but worth mentioning. This lens model is being replaced with a TS-E 50mm Macro that has closer focusing ability (1:2). Canon also is introducing new TS-E 90mm Macro and TS-E 135mm Macro Tilt-Shift lenses. The 90mm supersedes an earlier model that's excellent, but not as close focusing. The 135mm is new and the longest focal length Tilt Shift lens anyone is offering. The new TS-E lenses also have two planes of rotation, which allow the the user to easily set the tilt and shift movements to be aligned or 90 degrees out of phase with each other. This is the same design as the TS-E 24mm "II" and TS-E 17mm (neither of which are "Macro"). It's an upgrade from the earlier TS-E models (24mm, 45mm, 90mm) where the lenses came with the movements set out of phase, could be modified to align them if wished, but requiring a trip to the Canon service department to do so... it isn't a modification the user can do themselves with the original three TS-E. But all five of the new models allow the user to do it quite easily.

7. Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS USM and EF 100-400L "II" USM are two other non-macro lenses that are among the closest focusing, longer telephotos.... that I use at times for close-up work. The older 300/4L is able to do about 1/4 life size on it's own and the newer 100-400L II offers even better, nearly 1/3 life size. That's considerably better than most telephotos of this kind. And either of these Canon also can be made to focus even closer by adding a macro extension tube or two. These extra long focal lengths can be useful with especially shy or exceptionally dangerous subjects.

8. Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L IS USM... I don't have, but may add this lens to my kit sometime in the future. A very good, versatile "walk around" lens, it's also able to focus far, FAR closer than most lenses of this type. It can do .70X or nearly 3/4 life size all on it's own. That's pretty amazing and might make a specialized macro lens a lot less necessary. I use an older 24-70mm f/2.8 now and, while it works on both, I actually like it better on crop sensor cameras for many things. It's pretty good at close-ups too... although it doesn't offer anywhere near as high magnification as the newer (and considerably more affordable) f/4L model. The f/4L lens also has IS, which the f/2.8 models lack.

Over the years, with film camera I've used a lot of other macro lenses and accessories. The above are what I use now on my "daily user" Canon cameras. All the above are usable on both full frame and APS-C crop cameras, except for the Tamron 60mm. (Note: Canon also offers a quite good and compact, crop-only EF-S 60mm USM lens... faster focusing, but it's max aperture is f/2.8.)

Unless you want something more compact and lighter weight for hiking and similar, like those 60mm... For general use and one's only macro lens I recommend something in the 90, 100 or 105mm range of focal lengths as the most versatile. Those are "long enough" to give good working distances for most subjects.... not so short to put you too close, scaring away shy subjects or casting unwanted shadows over others... but not so long as to difficult to hold steady. Besides Canon's two 100mm, in this range there are many excellent macro lenses from various manufacturers. For example there are Sigma 105mm f/2.8 OS HSM, Tokina AT-X 100mm f/2.8 and choice of two different Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8... among others. But it bears repeating, IMO, the fact that either of the currently available Canon 100mm can optionally be fitted with a tripod mounting ring is a BIG, important selling point for those lenses. In other brands you simply won't find that possible at all, unless you step up to a bigger, heavier, less versatile and more difficult to use 150, 180 or 200mm macro lens.

Hope this helps with your decision!

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

Tamron actually offers a number of versions of SP 90mm for Canon, Nikon, Sony and Pentax mounts. There isn't a "special Canon-only" version. There are two versions offered in Canon EOS/EF mount. The same two are offered in Nikon F-mount. Three are offered for Sony, two for SLR/DSLR and one for mirrorless. Only one is offered in Pentax mount. All the following are listed at B&H currently:

$499... Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 for Canon, Nikon, Sony/Minolta and Pentax... An older version using a simpler optical formula, slower micro motor AF, without images stabilization and not internal focusing.

$569... Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 USD for Sony/Minolta (Mfr #AFF004S-700)... with faster ultrasonic AF, internal focusing, and no stabilization (since it's in-camera with many Sony).

$629... Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 USD for Sony A (Mfr #AFF017S700). For mirrorless camera models.... with same faster ultrasonic AF, internal focusing, and no in-lens stabilization (in-camera).

$659... Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 VC USD for Canon/Nikon with faster ultrasonic AF, upgraded optics, in-lens stabilization and internal focusing.

All versions are full frame capable, so are usable on both FF and APS-C cameras. I am pretty sure all versions have a Focus Limiter, too.

Note: The first lens listed above uses an older 10 element, 9 group optical formula. Both the Sony versions share the same 14 element, l1 group optical formula, but have a different register... The less expensive model is designed for Sony film SLR and standard DSLRs.... While the somewhat more expensive version is designed for use on mirrorless Sony models. The last lens listed also uses the newer 14 element, 11 group optical formula. All four models use 9-blade apertures.... But the last two listed use curved blades to produce a rounder opening at smaller settings.

The OP has is looking for a lens to use on Canon, so the first and last lenses listed above are their choices.

PaulR01 Loc: West Texas

I have a Tamron 70-200 f 2.8 IF Macro A001 Canon Mount I am about to put up on e bay for $525.00

sirlensalot Loc: Arizona

For my Xmas list I have added a Tokina 100mm f/2.8 Macro. Great reviews. A couple of non-deal breaker comments that it can be slow to focus in low light. Not an issue for me as I will be using it in MF for macro work anyway. It may be an issue using it for portraits, but I am willing to take the chance. It is half the price of a Canon with superb IQ.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

Alan ... you are missing the Canon ONLY lens ... it's also VC USD ... it's around $449, I believe ... listed in a couple of older B&H catalogues ....

Bob Boner

If you plan to photograph insects, a longer lens (150mm--180mm) works better. My experience with shorter lenses is that the insect is likely to be frightened off when you get close enough with a shorter lens. I have owned 55mm, 90mm, 100mm, 150mm, 180mm, and 200mm over the years. The last three were the most useful.

Chris T Loc: from England across the pond to New England

The trouble with the 180s (Tamron, Canon) ... and the Nikon 200 ... you're dropping away from f2.8 ... 3.5 with them ... f4 w/ Nikon ...

Only one that stays true to f2.8 - is the Sigma trio - 105 / 150 / 180 ... (569 / 1100 / 1700)

Any one of those - IMHO - is a class act ... got the first ... will add the other two, in time to come ...

Can't beat them, Bob ... they're all Optically Stabilized, and have Hyper-Sonic Motors ...

Picture Taker Loc: Michigan Thumb

Fo micro a 2.8 setting might give the depth of field the thickness of a sheet of paper. No that good for general use.