This lens is well worth the price. The first thing you will notice is the quality when you handle the lens. It has a very solid construction. But once you mount the lens is where it REALLY shines. The clarity of focus is the best I've seen and the focus is super fast. The macro functionality is just awesome. I highly recommend this lens.

The new Canon EF-S 60mm f2.8 Macro USM Digital SLR lens is designed to cover the entire field of the digital imaging sensors in Canon's digital SLR line, most notably the Canon EOS 20D. This corresponds in film to a normal lens perspective of approximately a 50mm lens. Furthermore it benefits from having Canon's USM autofocusing technology, allowing the photograher to have rapid, almost silent, autofocus, which is important when working in the field (You don't want to distract the animal you are photographing with the sound of the lens being focused.). Although this lens is not a L Series lens, the quality of its construction comes close to Canon's premium professional line of lenses. Any Canon user of digital SLRs such as the EOS 20D who is interested in macro photography will regard this lens as absolutely essential for making great macro images.

I only wish that I had bought this lens earlier so I could have been using it longer. I am especially pleased with the short minimum focus distance - about 3 inches. This allows you to get very close to a small subject and to still fill the frame with the subject.
I have had no problems with this lens and I love it.

4 starts because otherwise 5 stars is inevitable:
1) Slow autofocus (hunt at times) but is to be expected of a macro lens.
2) built quality not as solid as expected at this price range.

I bought this lens instead for two purpose: Macro and Portrait! I was thinking of buying the 100mm macro plus 85mm f1.8 but this lens saves me buying two lenses! I have been very happy with it as what it is. I don't do flying insects very much so it is not a problem but that said I was able to get 1:1 shot of a fly, see sample here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/3rd_350d_54.html

There are other samples in this gallery here:
http://www.theteh.com/html/my_3rd_350d_xt.html

The large aperture (F2.8) means that one could have shallow DOF and great for low light such as this pic:
http://www.theteh.com/html/3rd_350d_49.html

For portrait, I accidentally took this photo during the London Bombing of a women 'Shocked' by the incident unfolding in the public TV display. It was a coincident that her background inmage was the winning Reuter's photo of Tsunami tragedy and the matching colour of their dresses! I was quite far away so was able to capture her from head to toe:
http://www.theteh.com/html/3rd_350d_25.html

This illustrate the capability of both macro and normal photography using this lens. You will not regret it unless your primary aim is to shoot flying insets where longer 100mm or 150mm macro lenses may be needed in this case.

If you would like a list of sites with reviews email
gumby at dontquotemeonthat dot com

Pros: Very sharp, bright (fast), versatile, excellent build quality.
Cons: AF tends to be dicy in low-light conditions.

Pros: SHARP, SHARP, SHARP. No distortion, no CA, optically superb and better
Cons: EF-S mount. Had to sell it when I upgraded to the 5D.

Pros: Very solid build, Internal focusing is fantastic, Produces wonderfully saturated photos and high in contrast, Bokeh is lovely and very smooth, Auto Focus is typical ring-USM with Full Time Manual focus being excellent and smooth. f2.8 Aperture, 52mm Filter Size
Cons: I do feel Canon could reduce the price, however for this quality I don't mind paying for it.

if your a newbie here's some info

A lens is "fast" when it has a low f-stop... ok so when you have a smaller number the apature is bigger which allows more light through, so this means you can up the shutter speed. and still have enough light reach the sensor.

ok so lets say you have an out door shot if you have say an f/4 lens the shutter speed could be 1/250 of a second and you would get a good exposer. Now this lens can only go f/4

but if you in the same outdoor setting, had an f/2.8 lens you could jump to 1/500 of a second and get the same exposer. and freeze the action mmore effectivly, this i believe is why it's a "fast" lens.

ok have fun and get it done

I love Canon products and I have had a complete Canon system for about 10 years. I love everything Canon does. However I do not understand Canon's reasoning behind producing this lens.

The reason for the EF-S lenses is offering wider angle by getting the rear elements of a lens closer to the "film" plane. They cannot do this on film and full frame sensor cameras because the mirror is larger and would hit the rear elements of an EF-S lens.

They have indicated, however, that by 35 mm that advantage is gone. Why then do they produce a 60 mm Macro lens when they already have their macro requirements covered with they current three lenses? I would guess that the short back focus makes the lens cheaper; but this lens is only $60 short of the excellent 100 f2.8 USM Macro.

As I said, if for $60 I can get a lens that has 40 mm more reach (66 in 1.6crop cameras; useful in macro photography) and that works on ALL CANON CAMERAS, I'm not going to be thinking about this lens at all.

Granted, you might not be thinking of buying a FF camera anytime soon, but Canon has indicated that eventually they will have FF on all their DSLR's, so why bother with this lens?

The 17-85 or 10-22 are very reasonable offerings for the EF-S lineup, but the 60mm macro doesn't make any sense to me.

my $0.02

This lens is top notch. The quality of the photographs is the best I have ever experienced with a camera.

This was one of the first lenses that I purchased with my Rebel XT. Now after taking several thousand pictures with it I can honestly say it was well worth the cost. I very rarely have any unsharp pictures with this lens unless it is my own fault by trying to use too slow of a shutter speed without a tripod.

I also have the 180mm f/3.5L Macro Lens, which costs about 3 times more than this lens, and although it is very clear and the extra reach is nice at times especially since it can be used with both the 1.4X and 2X TC's, it is very difficult to use inside without a tripod. The 60mm can be handheld if needed with very good results even if you have to bump your ISO up a little to do so.

I have also used this lens for both inside and outside portrait work with very nice results.

All-in-all, given it's small size and light weight I very rarely leave this lens behind when I go out because you never know when you might see a great macro shot.

the optics are the best i've ever seen. the clarity is great. the abillity to focus on small objects only 2" away allows great macro pictures. however the auto focus is much slower than most canon lenses, but i can focus manually. this is my favotite lens ever.

One half of my order arrived and the lens never came.
Not the service I expected.

This lens is my favorite as I keep it on my Rebel XT at all times. I enjoy taking macro close-ups and portrait-type shots, which makes this a great lens for everyday use. It is light-weight and not bulky. My last SLR camera (years ago) was a Minolta with 50mm f/1.8 lens, and various other lenses that I rarely used. I usually don't use a zoom lens due to the extra length and weight. Also, most non-professional zoom lenses are much slower at the closest tele-position due to the higher f/stop. With a fixed focal length of 60mm, I don't mind moving myself toward or away from the subject (not a big deal). The pictures always appear to be sharp with good contrast and color saturation.

My opinion on this lens is: "buy it ... you'll like it".
I did ... and I love it.

Good Luck!

Others have raved about the quality of this lens, and all I can do is agree. It is nearly perfect from an optical perspective. It is fairly fast at f/2.8. It does the finest macro imaging of it's peer lenses. On a typical 10,20,30D, or Rebel body, it is also a FINE portrait or medium telephoo lens. This lens is light, small, and darn near perfect in every way. Just buy one. Be happy, and let the nay sayers wallow in their paranoia.

Someone here said that Canon had anounced that they will be producing only full frame cameras in the future. That was nonsense (or a lie). Canon will continue to lead the world in full frame pro DSLR's, but is commited to maintaining it's edge in the crop sensor realm that it's competition is focused on. The new 10 mp Rebel XTi is a good example of that concept.

Canon APS sensor cameras are here to stay for the long haul. Buy all of the "S" lenses that suit you. Even if you go with a full frame sensor body in the distant future, your APS lens collection will provide you with compact size, IS, light weight, perspective and image quality *right now* that cannot be met by current L lenses.

If you are an APS sized sensor owner today, be bearish on the S lens line. It offers awesome bang for the buck, and until the L line is upgraded with the latest 4 stop IS across the board, they offer you little or nothing.

I own several L lenses, and I owned a 5D. Some L lenses are awesome, but the bulk are outdated, and will be replaced by upgraged optics, and new or better IS very soon. Meanwhile, the S line is very impressive, and reasonable in price. Even if you go to full frame, your current eqipment will last for decades.

I had a 5D. I own a 30D. The 5D is sweet, but it is no where near as fast or trusted as the 30D. It has serious issues that (I hope) will be fixed in the next gen full frame camera. It has a sensor that creates serious vignetting even witrh L lenses. It has serious "dirty sensor" issues that are just being addressed in the Rebel XTi, and it is simply in need of an upgrade. Meanwhile, the lowly crop sensor camera is, and will continue to be the bread and butter format for years to come.

By the way, if you really think that the 5D is the cats' meow of digital cameras, buy one. You still need a solid backup camera though, and an APS sized body and lens set will get the job done. It's not either or. You need both for several reasons, and all of the premium S lenses you buy today will hold their value for years to come.

If you have a crop sensor camera body, buy a 17-55mm S f/2.8 IS lens and factory hood. Buy a 10-22mm S zoom and factory hood. Buy a 60 S f/2.8 macro lens. Then, spend your budget on whatever you please.

Take ultra fine pics today, and let someone else wait for the latest L lenses that might be out tomorrow.

I am more than happy with the lens and found it cheaper on Amazon than in any retail store.

I recently purchased this Canon 60mm f/2.8 macro. The images it produces are sharp, and the color is just awesome. I would say the images are on par with those produced by L-series lenses. The only reason why I give it 4 stars is because it is not built like L-series, but it is still solid enough for heavy use but not abuse. It is mostly plastic on the outside. Many complain that this lens hunts while focusing, ususally in low light. I find this sometimes true, but I've found a work-around. If I know I will take portraits or images farther away, I'll manually pre-focus the lens in that range (near infinity). If I know I'll take macro shots, I'll pre-focus toward the macro side. (This lens doesn't have a focus limiter like the Canon Telephoto zooms.) Then I just let the autofocus mechanism fine tune the focus. Since this lens is so versatile (having the ability to take macro AND far away shots), the autofocus mechanism must rack the optics a lot from near to far. So if your focus starts way off, it takes an extra second for the computer to figure out whether you are trying to focus close or far. So it hunts. I find that a rough pre-focus speeds up the autofocus once you are ready to take the image. Once I pre-focus, the lens has no problem autofocusing even in low light. The 52mm filter size is SO convenient. I can re-use my filters from my manual focus Nikon lenses, and filters of this size are inexpensive. Try pricing a 77mm polarizer and you'll see how expensive those get.

Great lens! I cannot wait to get out in my travels around the country and get some more great shots in!

I'm very pleased with this lens. The field is extremely flat; no need for Photoshop corrections, even in scientific photographs. The colors are crisp. It's compact design and light weight make positioning easy.

The working distance is a bit shorter than I'd like, but this not a problem in most set-ups. The alternative is to buy a much more expensive and heavier lens.

The auto-focus works quite well in most situations. In more extreme macro shots, the AF gets the focus very wrong, so for those shots, I usually turn off the AF feature.

All-in-all, a great lens for the price.

This lens is the best,I keep it on my Rebel XT at all times. I enjoy taking macro close-ups and portrait-type shots, which makes this a great lens for everyday use.With a fixed focal length of 60mm, I don't mind moving myself toward or away from the subject (not a big deal). The pictures always appear to be sharp with good contrast and color saturation.

My opinion on this lens is: The best macro lens.

I always thought that macro lenses were too specialized and that I would seldom need something so fine that I could photograph the segments in an insect's eye. That was until I bought this lens.

I use it with a Canon 20D. My other lenses include the 17-85 IS zoom, the 70-200mm f2.8 (non-is) zoom, and a 50mm f1.8 prime. But this is now my favorite lens, by a large margin. It's on my camera all the time, and the other lenses spend most of their time in the bag.

It's very sharp; it's not heavy or conspicuous, and it handles fine macro photography or standard walking-around work.

It's a little unfortunate that it doesn't come with a hood - Canon must make a fortune selling those hoods at the prices they charge. I'm using it without a hood, though, and so far haven't really seen the need for one.

More important than a hood is some kind of support for camera if you're doing any serious macro photography. With the lens wide open at f2.8 and the subject close to the lens you will only have about 1/4 inch of depth-of-field. Your breathing can move the camera enough to ruin your composition or knock the subject out of focus. So I'd suggest investing in some kind of small tripod or a bean bag or something to help hold it still. Of course, you can also boost the ISO and thereby get away with a faster shutter speed, but that's at the expense of a slight loss in quality. Depending on how your pictures are being used, that may or may not be important.

I enjoy macro work, typically with inanimate subjects. Although I have found I am able to capture the geometric essence of objects as well as beautiful portraits. This lens is sharp, quick and provides me with a much greater sense of artistic ability than the standard 18-55. I would highly recommend!

I have had this lens a few days now and it is awesome. quiet, fast (hunts a bit at full macro, normal) like that it zooms internal. need to use remote cable at max and tripod to get super sharp, but hand held it is very good. have 3 canon lens other that kit lens and all are great! was a minolta user, junk!

I am so happy I purchased this lens. I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but the results I've seen have been outstanding.

Pros:
- Lens is tack sharp.
- Autofocus is fast and silent
- Balances perfectly on my Rebel XT
- Feels solidly built

Cons:
- Autofocus "hunts" in some low-light situations. The fact that the lens employs Full-Time Manual focus makes this a pretty small issue, however. (Using a flash also helps.)
- There is significant loss of light at closer focusing distances. This is normal for a macro lens, however, and again, using a flash does wonders.

I also purchased a UV filter to keep on the lens (Canon's own UV filter is relatively inexpensive and hasn't seemed to negatively affect the quality of my photos), and the Lowepro 1S case to store it (which conveniently works for this lens and my 18-55mm kit lens). I would say that both of these purchases are worth the little bit of extra money to protect this lens.

Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Digital SLR Lens for EOS Digital SLR Cameras
Works great! Super quiet autofocus. Can achieve very shallow DOF.

I had to return this item for credit however the great service from Amazon I'm very happy
John

This is a great macro lens for a pro or a beginer. It produces very sharp photos, and works great for a semi-telphoto lens and close up portraits. I love this lens for the fact that you can use onboard flash for 1:1 work, any other macro lens you will need alot of light or a dedicated macro flash for up close work. Great price for a macro/2.8 prime lens with USM and full time manual focusing.

Manual focus is recommended during 1:1 work, but it will still work in AF close to 1:1, the focus speed is very fast for normal lighting conditions.

This is the first lens I added to my 20D kit, and seven more lens purchases later this little lens remains one of my favorites. Thel 1:1 magnification gives amazing macro results; when used properly images are utterly crisp with great clarity, contrast and at 2.8 you'll get amazing bokeh. As the owner of a few heavy L lenses I really appreciate the compact size of the 60 and the build quality is impressive at this price point. When compared to the 50mm 1.4 (another great little lens) the 60 blows it away. Manual focus is smooth and overall the lens offers a solid feel.

I've recommended this lens to a handful of fellow shooters and all who have bought it have not been disappointed. In addition to being a great compact macro it's great for portraits, making it all the more 'affordable.' EFS might be an issue for anyone considering a full-frame upgrade in the future. However, if you're like me, you'll keep a 1.6 crop sensor as a back-up and can use this lens on that body. I know others who love the 100mm but as someone who has acquired some big, heavy lenses that take up lots of room in my camera bag, I love being able to stash this little lens and go!

This is a light weight lens that is a pleasure to use whether you're taking photographs of little critters or jewelry!

I like the lens but am disappointed in its responsiveness. Since the focus range is so great, you really have to prefocus if you want any kind of focusing speed. The ability to manually focus while using auto focus is a nice feature. Prior to this I had been using some expensive close up filters with the standard Rebel XTi zoom lens and getting good results. I haven't done a side by side comparison which would tell me more once I uploaded it into my photo program and had a chance to magnify the image. I suspect I would find the edges sharper with the Macro. Still, if I could do it over again, I would opt out of this purchase.

A great lens! The USM is fast and inaudible a great feature. Sharpness and light gathering capabilities are excellent. I have been a Canon user since the late 60's my first Canon was an FTQL check out Canon's web site and you can see every camera and it's history that they ever made, very interesting.

I am an entry-level photographer with a Canon Digital Rebel XTi (400d) and have been shooting with it for over a year now. My first of three lens was the "kit" EF-S 18-55mm (good for beginners, but you'll want to upgrade), my second was the EF 28-135mm IS USM (a highly versitile lens with mid-quality optics and Image Stabilization, a life-saver if you know anything about photography), and my third and most recent purchase was the EF-S 60mm USM Macro.

This lens sports superior color and sharpness to either of my other two lenses, and it shows in the pictures I have taken using it. Even with the aperture wide open, the graphics stay sharp and crisp with excelent bokeh. As a prime, this lens obviously has advantages in both sharpness and color over any non-"L" zoom. However, even with it's fixed focal length, I did not expect the quality that this lens has shown. As it's title sugests, it takes excellent macro photos, and, with it's fast aperture, it is also good for portraits.

As I mentioned in the title, if you're looking for "L" quality with a big white lens, you won't find it here. But this lens comes so close to "L" that it is nearly impossible to tell the difference. And with a price this low, how can you complain? I would recommend this lens to all photographers using an APS-C frame (1.6x conversion) in Rebels, XT's, XTi's, and 20-40d's.

I received this lens as a gift a week or so ago and have used it alot.

It does have some short comings such as focusing a bit slow depending on the lighting and the distance to the subject.

And it is not for full frame digital cameras (the high end expensive Canons) but if you have a digital Rebel or a D series camera the lens is a worthwhile addition.

It does well as a semi-portrait lens and I took many photos during the holidays to figure out the best way to use the lens (mid-range faces) and it is worth it and is sharper than the kit lens, at least enough to see some shots come to life more plus the additional f/stop setting is an asset.

I am still learning about my new Canon EF-S Macro lens. This is the first Macro lens that I have owned but I took some quick shots to get familiar with it and was very pleased. I would recommend this lens to others.

I have read and re-read reviews for weeks and weeks trying to select a macro lens for my Canon XTi. I am a "hobby" camera buff who recently upgraded from the original digital Rebel, and have only used kit lenses in the past. To me, the kit lens was fine. This past Summer I started playing with Macro flower shots, and wanted more. Well, this lens came today and all I can say is WOW! The difference in clarity and sharpness is absolutely amazing, and was apparent from the first shot. To be sure, I did some test shots with both lenses, and the 60mm is a , pardon the pun, clear winner. Can't wait for Summer!!!

Another fine quality lens from Canon. The detail achieved is fantastic and gives anybody a leg up on achieving super shots.

Love it so far. Focuses easily on pretty much anything with great clarity. Have not had any problems with the auto focus feature or mounting. Lens was clean and arrived very quickly.

the first picture you take, you will notice how much sharper the image is compared to your $500 zoom IS lens! I don't need to digitally sharpen my images anymore, and the lens is f2.8 so faster shutter speed and less blur as well. The focal length, 96mm after conversion for APS-C size cameras (i.e.almost all Canon SLRs)is ideal for portaits, and enough telephoto to deliver excellent LOW depth of field to blur the backgrounds. Small and lightweight, but tough because of the aluminum mount.
After a few hundred shots, I give it a 2 thumbs up.

I got this lens 2 days ago. What can I say, It's amazingly sharp, it's solid build and fast... there aren't any 60mm macro lens which can outperform this one, it's even shaper than the Nikon's macro's (my friend has a D200).

Highly Recomended for EF-S mount owners...

At first, I was debating between this lens and the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8

I originally ordered the Tamron, but then canceled my order and went with this lens. I know they are not in the same zoom category, but I only had the money to buy 1 new lens. They are both great lens and have been scored very well by professionals and amateurs alike. Since I don't have that much money to spend on photography, I really did my research before purchasing.

I had been interested with macro so this lens seemed perfect- so far it has been. I wanted a wide aperture for portraits and for taking pictures at high school track meets.


FYI, I use a Rebel XT (350D) and bought the lens hood for the lens (Canon ET-67B Lens Hood for EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Digital SLR Lens)

I have found that the digital picture taken through this lens has revealed details that I did not see with the naked eye prior to the shot. The subject matter is detail review of mechanical parts, and the clarity of the details has revealed items never before seen in photo review.

I bought this lens after reading all kind of reviews that confused the heck out of me: I am ashamed to say that I am the type of photographer who keeps his SLR camera mostly on the "automatic" mode. f stop, ISO and other esoteric concepts escape me, despite reading the Canon manual now and then.

What I needed is to take close up shots of electronic components, the occasional lizard sunbathing, and funky bugs eating away at my garden to get help on the web. Without spending a fortune or hours figuring out the technical doc. Well, mission accomplished on the first try. The lens worked great. Without a tripod, fancy flash or lighting (bright sunlight works wonders) all pictures are clear and can be zoomed into in Windows.

The lens feels well made (it is heavier than the lens that came with my EOS Digital SLR), is very silent and focuses smoothly (with a professional sounding whir).

Great lens and good price. I bought this as a Christmas gift for a relative who is a budding photographer. She loved it, she gets beautiful close up pictures.

I really like this 60mm Macro lens. I have had this lens for a little over 30 days. I have shot about 3000 images using my Canon 40D.

I find the lens to be great for macro work and I have also produced some very good portraits using this lens.

The images are very sharp, and I like being able to use the manual focus even when in AF mode.

I really like this lens and do not regret the purchase. I think it is a great lens for the price.

I have already recommend this lens to several friends.

The only negative factor is the AF in very low level light.

This is a great lens - doesn't feel cheap, and the movement is so smooth. Perfect clarity, even handheld. Very pleased.

I got this lens cheap on auction site (you know where). I used it with my XTi, and the difference between this baby and the kit 18-55 is huge! Image by the kit lens is dark and grainy, the color is so off. This 60mm creates very nice bokeh, great for outdoor. I took some very nice raindrop pictures. I don't know how better L lenses are, but for normal Joe like me, this lens is definitely the keeper and well worth the price.

I am an amateur camera guy - so you won't get any technical words from me.

Excellent lens - sharp image - light (as compared with the 100mm). Should be part of everyone's kit particularly if you enjoy both portrait and macro work.

I received this lens for my birthday and took some flower pictures before I went and then a bunch of pictures while on vacation. this is a great lens for multipurpose walking around. It is lighter than my telephoto zoom, takes sharp pictures with amazing detail. I would recommend it for a second lens to anyone who already has a zoom. I am looking forward to setting up to photograph my mother-in-law's artwork with it as well.

This lens really is amazing, great colors, great detail. It took a long time to decide between this one and the EF 100mm Macro so for the extra $100 savings, I went this route. I mostly photograph flowers so the shorter range doesn't bother me too much, but looking back, I should have gone the 100mm route. I'm very happy with the construction, IQ, etc, but the extra reach would have been nice. Live and learn. I will say (as I always do with Canon lenses) that a lens hood would have been nice for the price (which is why only 4 stars). I bought a collapsable rubber one and it makes a great difference.

This lens does not disappoint for Macro shots or Portraits. The quality is outstanding and is worth every penny.

I have a Canon Rebel XT camera and a Canon MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite, and this has really helped improve the quality of my close up photography. This is definitely worth the money. It has worked great since I started using it a month ago.

Crisp, fast and versitile. I have found this lens to be remarkable. Close-ups of flowers and insects are easy and the auto focus seems fast enough for me, although it can get confused if there are too many possible focusing points in an image while shooting macro. I do not find this any worse than my other lenses though, that is what manual is for. Great landscape and portrait shots also.I use it most of the time. Buy it, you won't be sorry.