Flowers around the house and a watch out for Canon 100MM RF Macro

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jeffnles1

jeffnles1

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I had some work around the house yesterday so while taking a break, I shot a few flowers in the garden. My first set were all just slightly soft. I kept upping the shutter speed since there was a slight breeze. Nope, still soft. I took the macro off and was going to do some wide angle with the close flower sharp and overly large due to the wide angle effect. Works for some images. When I was switching the lenses I noticed the lock button on the macro had flipped off and the SA ring was not centered. I have no idea why Canon put this on the lens. Why would we make a macro lens purposely soft? I guess if using it for portraits maybe.

Anyway, here are a few images from yesterday (after I figured out what was going on with the lens).
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JAS said:
Nice work! Glad you figured out the issue.
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Thanks. Yep, "stupid Jeff trick" at work. I didn't realize what happened. Probably flipped the switch as I was putting the lens on or taking it off. Not sure. Other than the first day with the lens to see what the SA ring did, I don't recall ever using it again. A little turn of that ring goes a very long way. I hope my experience can help others wo may have this lens. If the photos suddenly are not as crisp as you like, check the position of that little ring, move it back to the center (there is a detent at center position) and flip the lock switch.

Fortunately it was just shots of flowers in the garden so I didn't miss anything once in a lifetime due to my own error.

Jeff
 
It seems like a cool feature overall, though. Good they include the off switch on the barrel though.
 
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bleirer said:
It seems like a cool feature overall, though. Good they include the off switch on the barrel though.
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I think softening it up a little for portraits would be a good feature. I know a couple wedding and portrait photogs and they either soften some images in post or use older or softer lenses for the same effect. They say many people don't want to see every wrinkle, skin pore or blemish in 47megapixel glory. For macro work, I am not a big fan of it.

It really isn't an on/off switch. It is a lock switch similar to the lock switch on a zoom lens. The SA ring is right behind the focus ring and when it is in the middle position (with a slight detent) the lock can be engages preventing the ring from being turned. When the lock switch is off, the ring can turn like a focus or zoom ring. Fortunately, it is well dampened and the force needed to turn it is what I would say appropriate.

I think a focus pull from soft to sharp may be cool in some video applications too.

Overall, I do not object to the feature, just wanted to pass the warning or awareness along if someone else has this lens and notices their images suddenly start to look soft it is probably the lock switch was turned off and the ring moved. Just a slight movement of the ring creates a soft focus effect. The more the ring is turned the greater the effect. It has a plus and minus side and I'm not really sure what turning all the way one direction dies differently than turning it all the way the other direction. One of these days wen I'm really bored I will have to do some testing.

Jeff
 
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