So Sharp It Will Cut Your Eyelashes

Photography - buy a camera and start shooting, right? Not if you are serious about it! I have owned cameras since I was in grammar school and the passage of time has taken me from a Kodak to a digital SLR. I have a family to consider so adding to my camera gear has been a long, slow process. I have a nice DSLR (Canon 30D), a great mid-zoom lens (Canon 28-135mm IS USM)and a telephoto (75-300mm)lens. These items, along with the "other" gear (Slik tripod, Canon EX420 flash, bag, filters,etc.) means that I have a lot of money invested, certainly more than my wife realizes, but I wanted a nice, sharp macro lens. I shopped and compared for a long time before deciding on which lens I wanted to invest in (I tell myself that it is an investment, rather than an expense). After scouring the internet and reading reviews by others (epinions, of course), I decided to buy the Canon 100mm f/2.8 Macro. I am very thankful that I did.

From the day that I took it out of the box and put it on my 30D it has been a joy to use. I have found it to be very versatile and unfailingly sharp for my macro shots and it makes a very nice portraiture lens as well. In fact, I love it for everything I do. The aperture is wide enough to dispense with the flash in most cases for indoor shots. It is solid, well constructed piece of glass and it feels like it. Not light by any means (21 oz.), it makes you aware that it is hanging on the front of your camera, but I like that. It is very fast in its focus and smooth as a baby's bottom while in operation, not to mention almost completely silent. I love the fact that I can tweak the focus manually without turning off the autofocus in order to select the point of preference in a macro shot.
It is not a cheap lens, at least not to me, and represents the most expensive lens I own, but the vistas it opens up makes it worth every penny I spent to acquire it. Its very shallow depth-of-field makes it perfect for both macro and portraits. The only bad thing about it is that it has increased my hunger for more advanced specialty lenses, and the price tags they carry.