Added this baby to my arsenal this evening. I shoot with mainly prime lenses these days and the 100mm range is ideal for portraits. Plus the macro part is actually the deal clincher. I don’t shoot a lot of macro photography but when I want to shoot details and food, not having a macro lens is a pain. I was using extension tubes for macro work all this while but outside the studio, it’s a pain to setup.

So new toy = new pictures to shoot. I fired a few test shots with this lens and I’m impressed with the speed. I’ve used the older non-L version before so this new lens is quite a jump. Focusing is very fast considering the elements having to travel from 1:1 range to infinity. Of course, selecting the range with the selector switch helps reduce the ‘hunting’ time.

I wished the aperture is bigger than the f2.8 though. The IS really helps in low light but only to reduce camera shake. Moving subjects would be a problem at shutter speeds as low as 1/15s. I’m planning to use this for portraits mostly and the occasional macro work. Looking forward to using this lens the next few days.