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Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro - Review / Test Report |
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Lens Reviews -
Canon EOS (APS-C)
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Page 1 of 3
Review by Klaus Schroiff, published October 2005
Lens kindly provided by Rob (NL)
Introduction
The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 USM macro is a fairly recent addition (2005) to the Canon lens line-up.
The EF-S naming refers to Short-back focus design which is only compatible to
APS-C EOS SLRs starting with the EOS 300D (Digital Rebel). EF-S lenses feature a protruding rear
element which requires a special mirror design to avoid a collision of mirror and the rear part
of the lens. The principal idea is the reduce the distance of lens to the sensor which can
translate to a better lens design. The field-of-view of the lens is equivalent to 96mm on
full-frame cameras.
The lens features a true IF (internal focus) design so the front element does not rotate
and the length of the lens remains constant regardless of the chosen focus distance.
Typical for ring-type USM lenses full-time manual override is always possible in one-shot AF mode.
The AF speed is very fast which is unusual for a macro lens.
The minimal focus distance is 0.2m (90mm working distance) resulting in a max. magnification
of 1:1. This is an improvement over the classic (full-frame) EF 50mm f/2.5 macro which requires
an additional macro converter for the magnification step from 1:2 and 1:1.
The broad, rubberized focus ring and has smooth, pleasant operation. The build quality is
excellent with a metal mount and an outer barrel made of good quality plastics. A barrel-shaped
hood is optionally available.
The optical construction is made of 12 elements (lead-free) in 8 groups without any special elements.
The lens features 8 circular aperture blades. Typical for all true macro lenses it features a floating
system in order to achieve a constant performance throughout all focusing distances. The filter
size is 52mm. The lens is a small, neat package with a weight of just 335g and a size of 73x70mm.
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