Looking for Canon Rebel Macro Lens

Hello,

I'm looking for a macro lens (EF) to fit a Canon Rebel. I went to Ebay
and I could not find any dedicated lenses to take my close ups. I am a
Dental Hygiene student and I will be required to take pictures of
people's teeth. There are lenses that will go 28-110mm however I am
not sure if these lenses will allow me to take the pictures I need to
take. Help please.

Steven

In article , Steven
writes
Hello,

I'm looking for a macro lens (EF) to fit a Canon Rebel. I went to Ebay
and I could not find any dedicated lenses to take my close ups. I am a
Dental Hygiene student and I will be required to take pictures of
people's teeth. There are lenses that will go 28-110mm however I am
not sure if these lenses will allow me to take the pictures I need to
take. Help please.

Steven

I actually did some teeth photos for a dentist friend a couple of years
ago. The best results will come from a proper macro lens; these are
designed to give sharp results at close distances.

For this work, a 100mm or similar lens will be best. The Canon 100mm
f/2.8 USM is excellent; if that is too expensive, you can probably find
the predecessor non-USM version second hand at a good price. The only
non-Canon macro of which I have heard consistently good reports is the
Tamron - IIRC it's a 90mm f/2.5 or something close - Google the NGs to
check.

You will also need to consider the lighting. A ringflash would be ideal
for this - it is exactly the kind of application they were designed for,
and is what I used. The Canon ML-3, now I believe discontinued, is of a
similar vintage to your Rebel, and should be at a reasonable price
secondhand. The Canon will interface correctly with the body; if it is
too expensive for you, there are several cheaper third party units, but
I don't know if they will do TTL flash metering for you. If you use
colour negative film the metering will not be quite as critical as it
would if you used reversal film.

You may be able to get usable results from a zoom lens and a
conventional flashgun, but the zoom lenses will not be as good, and the
conventional flash will cast very bad shadows. If you do have to use
one, try to use a couple of reflectors to reduce the shadows.
--
David Littlewood

Your best bet is the the Canon 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro. Yields 0.5
magnification. There is also an attachment from Canon to yield 1X
magnification I believe. There is one on eBay Item number: 3819167591.

Beware of aftermarket zooms that advertise "macro". They are usually
marginally macro.

Another option is extension tubes. Use your lenses with a combination of
tubes. I use them for closeup work. Inexpensive.

EF50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro

Marketed December 1987
Original Price 38,300 yen
Lens Construction (group) 8
Lens Construction (element) 9
No. of Diaphragm Blades 6
Minimum Aperture 32
Closest Focusing Distance (m)
0.23
Maximum Magnifcation (x) 0.5
Filter Diameter (mm) 52
Maximum Diameter x Length (mm) 67.6 x 63
Weight (g) 280
Lightweight and compact macro lens for close-ups up to 0.5x. Floating system
for superior delineation at all focusing distances. With a large f/2.5
aperture, true and beautiful background blur is possible. Multi-purpose lens
for portraiture and other applications besides macro photography.

Larry

Thanks David and Larry for your suggestions. You guys are great! As I
am looking at the prices for all the different lenses David suggested
I am getting depressed and thinking of using the school's camera.
Someone donated a 35mm with macro lens for school use, but I don't
want to be using a camera that *everyone* in the whole stinking class
is going to use. But then again reality dictates that I not keep
increasing the debt I am in.

My uncle is a DDS who does not use a ring lite. I will ask him how he
takes pictures of people's teeth with proper illumination.

I did find some good deals on the Tamron 90mm macro however. One model
(the f2.8) is selling for over $300 and the f2.5 is going for a little
over $100. I would probably go for the cheaper one. A very splendid
idea there!

Steven

Steven wrote:

Hello,

I'm looking for a macro lens (EF) to fit a Canon Rebel. I went to Ebay
and I could not find any dedicated lenses to take my close ups. I am a
Dental Hygiene student and I will be required to take pictures of
people's teeth. There are lenses that will go 28-110mm however I am
not sure if these lenses will allow me to take the pictures I need to
take. Help please.

Steven
I have Canon's 100mm USM f/2.8 macro. I am very pleased with it and it
does 1:1.