A little while ago we showed the Canon twin-flash for macro workers. A TTL solution for illuminating the tiniest of worlds. Well, today here is a suitable lens for it - the new
35mm Macro IS STM for the RF system. A very tempting piece of glass.
The 35mm focal length is somewhat ideal for both small and full-frame cameras - a normal field of view for the former and not too wide for the latter. Of course, there is some debate as to what a normal field of view might be when you move to 1:1 macro - but you can decide for yourself by raising your spectacles and peering closely at something a couple of inches away from your nose. Get to the point where your focusing ability just about runs out and before you lose the ability to set the stereo images together in your head. That's how wide you can see, so that's the standard for you.
Those of you who have markedly different abilities in either eye - one working better than the other at certain distances - will have to make your own compromises. It's a bugger getting older and finding the variance increases as cataracts start to hold hands and dance together. But for some, the ability to get focus at a slightly longer distance is a welcome thing. For a lot of tiny model painting, I now doff the spectacles - I get hooted at in the model-building club for having my head so close to the work, but the results are better.
Any road, here you are with your Canon EOS R or RP and want a macro lens - clap on the new one you see here. Inside the dark box is an amusingly large amount of bubble wrap with a lens inside. Laugh if you want, but it's actually a darn good packaging of this lens - some makers of other lenses use tiny bubbles or complex polyfoam mouldings. One makes cardboard origami to cradle their optics - and the card's so sharp that you risk paper cuts from it. This big bubble baggie is easy to get into and more than adequate for the job.
The lens itself is straightforward - smallish front element, focus and function rings, and an image stabilizer built-in. This is a blessing as macro is small areas magnified and this also magnifies the shakes we all have. If you're going to be out in the field for your close-ups, choose an IS lens.
It will go to f:22 and as close as 17cm. All very much to the good.
The question of a lens hood is somewhat to taste - somewhat subject to the exigencies of lighting. If you are going to adapt the Canon twin-light system or any ring flash, they'll go on the bare filter ring.
So far the lens has only been seen in the Camera Electronic premises - when time and availability of a new Canon EOS R or RP permit, there will be a session in the Little Studio on some of the toughest scenes. I won't anticipate too much, but I expect great results from this Canon.
