CANON EF-S 60mm f/2.8 MACRO USM £380/$400

No longer being able to boast that it’s Canon’s one and only APS-C format macro lens, this still has something to offer

Introduced in 2005, this was Canon’s only macro prime lens for APS-C format DSLRS until the advent of the EF-S 35mm macro, last year. The 60mm is more conventional, without image stabilization or a built-in Macro Lite. It feels rather more substantial than the 35mm, weighing 335g compared with 190g. Up-market features include a ring-type ultrasonic autofocus system, with the usual full-time manual override, and a distance scale beneath a viewing panel. This time, however, you need to pay extra for the optional ET-67B hood, which costs around £30/$27.

With an effective 96mm focal length in full-frame terms, the viewing angle is more telephoto than standard. Indeed, combined with its fast f/2.8 aperture rating, this lens doubles up well as a portrait lens.

The minimum focus distance of 20cm is a little more relaxed, compared with the 35mm lens’s very tight 13cm. Even so, the front of the lens still comes to just 9cm from the subject, which can be uncomfortably close for wildlife macro shots, as well as casting a shadow over the subject.

performance

The ring-type autofocus system is quick and quiet, but no quicker than nor as near-silent as in the 35mm stepping motor lens. Manual focusing is less smooth and trickier to adjust precisely. Even so, this lens edges ahead of the 35mm for image quality, with better cornersharpness, less colour fringing and practically zero distortion.