My new lens – Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x macro

Taking macro photography to the next level

I got a recommendation about a lens for macro photography. So of course I had to have it and here it is! It is the Canon 65mm f/2.8 1-5x macro lens. Forget about extension tubes or close-up filters, because you only need this lens to take great macro pictures. This lens is not for amateurs, then I would suggest you first start with Tamron 90mm f/2.8 or Canon 100mm f/2.8. The Canon MP-E 65mm do not have image stabilizer and no auto focus. So what is the advantage with this lens then? Answer is 5:1 macro, it is hard to beat that with any other lens. The Tamron 90mm and Canon 100mm only have 1:1 macro.

In the box there is only the lens and a CD and warranty papers. It did not come with a bag or a lens hood, that you have to buy seperatly.

I haven’t been able to try it out yet. Pictures of what this little lens can do will come soon. For now I will just show you some picture of the lens itself.

The lens comes with the front- and back lid and a removable tripod collar. It is a pricey lens for about 1049 US dollar.

This lens needs a flash of some kind, for example a ring flash is good when you take on insects and flowers. This is because when you zoom in it will get darker then you need light to brighten the picture up. The aperture range is from f2.8 to f16. It is also possible to use Canon extender 2x to get a even larger magnification. Stacking is a good way to get sharp images from this kind of lens. It is almost necessary in order to get a whole insects face sharp using stacking. I will try stacking and then post some pictures to show the results in another article here on Expressive Photos website.