Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM : Specifications and Opinions

Reviews

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The following opinions have been automatically translated with Google Translate.

Gianka79

sent on 26 Gennaio 2026

Pros: Size, Footprint, Sharpness

Cons: Maybe the price

Opinion: Purchased in June on a pure "whim" in the sense that I had the opportunity to take it during the canon cashback campaign, so I found myself doubly encouraged to take it. Mostly I foolishly thought of using it only as a macro lens, instead I found myself by pure chance taking portraits set in December in Hanoi in Vietnam where I was photographing flowers freehand. To my amazement I took portraits wide open and I found myself with a file full of detail and sharpness that I would never have thought. The focus is lightning fast and precise to the millimeter especially in macros. I don't find it heavy or bulky at all, on the video side, now like all RF lenses it has a detachment and a transition from one subject to another really fantastic. Using it more and more frequently gives great satisfaction. If someone asked me I would recommend it.... it is still an L-series from Canon and is a lens with multiple uses. On the other hand, there is the price, which struggles to go down so paradoxically it holds the market and its value well.

Victrix

sent on 11 Novembre 2025

Pros: Lightweight and easy to handle • Excellent sharpness and detail rendition even outside the macro range

Cons: Nobody

Opinion: I recently replaced my old 24-105 with a lens that, while designed for macro photography, proved to be extraordinarily versatile for my product photography and still life studio needs. Among the main pros, there is certainly the lightness and maneuverability, which make it perfect for studio sessions with flash lights, where I need to move easily and adjust the equipment without clutter. What really struck me is the rendering of details: the optics offer sharp images, without geometric distortions and with a truly remarkable fidelity of details, perfect for product shooting. In practice, even if it is a lens designed for macro, I found it excellent for non-macro still lifes as well, adapting very well to a use other than its main purpose. Ultimately, for the use I make of it, it was a good choice and I did not find any noteworthy cons.

Orion

sent on 14 Agosto 2024

Pros: Excellent realization, it makes you want to take macro photos while walking or stopping to catch the insect. Creative possibilities with the spherical aberration shift ring of the lenses. Reproduction factor 1:4 and it is not a small thing, perhaps unique compared to contemporary competitors.

Cons: The bracket for the tripod is missing, the red dot on the caps would not have sent the company into bankruptcy. High price at the moment.

Opinion: Very fun to use, sharpness and features in line with the best. I find it very versed not only for macros. It is not made for macro superspecialists, but it also comes close to their needs even without slides and manual focus supe precise Leica 100 apo macro style. Adjusting the spherical aberration brings you closer to the Trioplan effect, but loses sharpness that cannot be recovered even by acting on manual focus. A real shame!

Roby82

sent on 26 Novembre 2023

Pros: Sharpness, stabilization, weight, footprint

Cons: Nothing.

Opinion: I had sigma 105 f2.8 and 180 f3.5, I tried the laowa 100 2x as well. With Canon it's a different story, and I would never go back. These RF optics make it a pleasure to shoot even with challenging focal lengths like this. Comfortable, the right size, balanced weight, the dials positioned exactly where they need to be to touch them at the right time, fluid, precise to the millimeter (as befits a macro), being stabilized I pushed myself to shoot handheld at shutter speeds of a 1/20-15 without too many problems (really superb, considering that it is a macro and getting sharp photos with slow shutter speeds is difficult). Pretty fast autofocus, but it depends a lot if you use it often or not (in macros, except in cases of particularly fast insects, I prefer the manual). The SA ring is an interesting addition: for those who don't know, it allows you to "move closer" or "farther away" the subject by changing the bokeh of the background, an effect that can be useful and very creative. Those who, like me, are passionate about macro and have a Canon mirrorless I highly recommend investing the money to buy it because the fun is guaranteed.

Abele Ruggeri

sent on 27 Giugno 2023

Pros: Sharpness,,l series,macro and af fabulous innovative function SA,,AF SPEED

Cons: Nobody

Opinion: I had the homologation ef, passed to the r system I also switched to the 85 f 2 macro great for portraits but unusable in macro . This 100 is even 1.4 × and exploits a fabulous Af and not the atmosphere of the 85 not suitable for the macro. Of course there is the doppip but it is money well spent. I'll put it to the whip but for now I love it, I'll try it even in the studio

Stefano Scapin

sent on 29 Maggio 2023

Pros: Sharp, 1.4x magnification, stabilized

Cons: at the moment none

Opinion: I went from ef 180mm macro 3.5 to this. Surely the weight and size have slimmed down a lot. I like the fact that you can zoom in at 1.4x although at 100mm very close with animals or insects is difficult. While photographing a spider on a plant, the spider often jumped on my lens. With the 180 it didn't happen because you were more distant. In any case, the sharpness is excellent, it is not easy to work with a large magnification because you have very little focus but this is a challenge that I have to overcome. I tried to use the blur control but honestly I don't find much usefulness. You leave in the middle and stop.

Nicoli Giuliano

sent on 15 Aprile 2023

Pros: Excellent stabilizer, excellent sharpness from F4 upwards, nice mechanism of blur management, 1X4 magnification, good tropicalization

Cons: under F 4 loses sharpness, weight.

Opinion: I come from the old 100 macro USM, a war lens that gave me so much satisfaction and also a prize, the new 100 macro RF is very sharp and has excellent management of spherical aberration, the stabilizer is silent and very good. A small flaw on the weight but nothing so worrying, I was surprised instead by the loss of sharpness to F2.8 or F3.2 ....... it is not so striking is clear but comparing the photos certainly makes better to F4. Definitely a great lens that does not regret the change with the old 100 macro.

Giallo63

sent on 30 Marzo 2022

Pros: Optical quality, mechanical construction, stabilizer efficiency, spherical aberration management, 1.4x magnification

Cons: Price, bulk

Opinion: It is a masterpiece with a double or triple persomality, which makes it possible to combine macro and medium-length portrait media, in the past very critical: macros were too rich in microcontrast to be convincing in the classic portrait, and the portrait medioteles in turn did not have the characteristics of detail and magnification for effective close up shots, also used with tubes, bellows or worse additional lenses. With this lens you can go in a moment from the "dreamy" and flou portrait (true, not with soft filters) to the extreme close-up shot, to the landscape detail, with a sharpness of an excellent level. Beautiful rendering against the light, without flare; very fast m.a.f., the stabilizer allows you to dare the unfathomable, even at significant RRs. The blurry is pleasant and pasty. In short, compared to the license plate data (a 100mm f:2.8) costs a bang, but considering that it performs very well the functions of generic mediotele, macro thrust optics and portrait lens you could also paradoxically support, grano salis, which does not cost much. The only relative limit is the rather generous size (but it is an internal focusing, it does not extend) and the fact that the "real" F value is not displayed as the RR increases, which in use with external flashes could mislead. But for me it is unique in the current panorama of level optics, not only at Canon. I can't wait to try it on the mountain trails, combined with the 15-35/2.8, for a kit that is still quite light and of very high versatility.

Alberto Tirri

sent on 15 Settembre 2021

Pros: Magnification ratio, sharpness, colors, unprecedented control of spherical aberration and therefore of blur.

Cons: Honestly at a high price, although congruous to the technological innovations, I would have found it reasonable to provide it with a tripod ring.

Opinion: The lens, as it was logical to expect, is of a stunning sharpness and returns colors equally at the top. The same applies to the micro-contrast, which is expected to be high from a professional macro and which does not disappoint, from the first shots. The operating silence and the speed of the autofocus really fast are striking, even considering the type of lens. What makes the difference, however, lies, substantially, in two characteristics that, at the current state of things, are unique: the magnification factor 1.4 and the control of bokeh: both open up scenarios as unusual as they are exciting. We can now go further and further into details hitherto unexplored from a photographic perspective and check, already in the car, the background of the image we portray. In this regard and provided that we use the SA ring grano salis, we find ourselves a tool of undoubted usefulness also in portraiture, always after having made a little 'hand. In all honesty, the only note is the absence of the tripod ring-bracket, which at that price could, quietly, have been part of the package.

Assunta1927

sent on 29 Agosto 2021

Pros: Exceptional colors and sharpness.

Cons: The price.

Opinion: It has been a month that I have been in possession of it replacing the previous macro, it is great not only for macro lovers but also for portraits. You can approach at a minimum distance from the subject that is not very close and therefore does not bother the animals. It has a macro ratio of up to 1.4 . Very fast and quiet in focusing. It's a bit longer than the previous macro. The colors are very natural. It is a blade.