Canonmacrolens

I wanted a macro lens and contemplated purchasing the budget Sigma 105 lens at £329.00, the only problem was that with a limited income and having just purchased a Canon 80d, funds are a little tight.

I decided to purchase this versatile lens and contacted the vendor (Laurel) for advice. She responded immediately and provided me with comprehensive feedback and advice on the lens; particularly how to adapt the lens to double its focal length. i decided to purchase and the lens arrived the following day.

The lens came complete with a UV filter and more guidance on how to best utilise it's features. It looked like a new lens, functioned exactly as advertised, with the optics producing sharp and unblemished images. May I say that macro photography is quite easy providing that you take your time and understand that there are limitations to how this lens functions; it isn't the same as the Sigma 105 as it can only be used for macro work and not portraiture, but at a considerably lower price.

i am still experimenting with mine, but might i suggest that the purchase of a ring flash and focus rail will help you it you really want to take serious images, although hand held, with good light, excellent images are possible.

if you have any questions or need advice before or after purchasing, Laurel is on hand to respond quickly to any enquiries. Combine this with a money back guarantee and what have you got to lose.

Great budget lens, outstanding customer service, so what's to lose?

This lens is by far one of THE best lenses I have used for macro. As an experienced macrophotographer, I have been working with quite a few bits of equipment over the years, ranging from 1-40x magnification!

Now, I bought this lens with the intention of using it primarily handheld on live subjects.. However I can stick it on my bellows for my studio setup and get crisp, sharp images, even at F/16 with just 2 LED lamps.

I have attached some photos I have managed to get with this lens, some are handheld with a dual flash, and some are using a stacking technique. Single shots at f/22 still seem to be tack sharp, and the lens works well at pretty much any F stop, with a sweet spot around the F/16 mark.

I would recommend the lens for a beginner, right through to advanced based off the photos I have got so far.

If you were to compare this lens with, say, the 65mm MP-e lens (coming in at £800+).... it's matching that lens in EVERY way bar the magnification. However, magnification can be altered hugely with this lens, with a simple trick of adding in some extension tubes, and/or bellows. I have managed to get this lens working perfectly up to 12x magnification, with a lot of clarity still remaining in the image! It's safe to say I am really impressed with this lens.

Packaging was great, and instructions with the lens were clear and easy to understand, as I was snapping away after just 30 minutes of opening the package !

Therefore I'm rating this lens 5 stars and a MUST HAVE for ANY macro-photographer looking to get some tac-sharp images of big, small, and even minute bugs !

Top macro

Wow, first shot with lens was enough to tell me it’s going to be a winner, I could not believe how sharp the image was and hand held. The reworked and re- glassed lens was in really good condition the cleverly redesigned standard Canon lens was cleaned and spruced before having the glass lenses modified, it arrived with all the bits you would expect with a new lens like a lens cloth, a bag of silica gel and a new protective filter, I tried the lens asap and was blown away by the sharpness, the great contrast the amazing colour. I was worried when I first read the adds, would this work, will the pictures be sharp, is it just someone’s amateur project? well take it from me it was well worth dipping my toes in, if your in any doubt, don’t be. I would buy this again for sure.
I think what people need to think about when using a macro lens is that the area of sharp focus is very short, to aquire a close up with everything in focus requires the use of focus stacking, ie take an in focus shot at different positions through the image then stack them together in software to get your totally in focus shot, this lens gives you the tools to work with and it works very well, also remember that the slightes movement in a macro shot will look blurred so take care in planning your project.
I can recommend this lens, you just need to practice your craft to get the best out of it, like any other tool.

As an amateur photographer still finding my way I had a fantastic service from start to finish from Laurel & the macro lense does exactly what it says it does. I primarily bought it for indoor work but took it outdoors also and had some great results in the field. You won't be disappointed.

So pleased with this lens, it has saved me a lot of money. It is a re-enginered lens using genuine Canon parts and do not be put off by this. The focus is pin sharp, works great in both auto mode and manual and is quick to focus. You will not be disappointed with this lens, its better than a 1:1 macro lens as you have the option to do a quick change over to be a 0.7x-1.8x lens, this is great as it gives you even more options when taking macro pictures. I hope this company starts do more of these kind of re-engineered conversions, it comes with a no quibble money back guarantee, I had a couple of questions and found the Customer Service to be fast and accurate in their response. And they love to see customers photos so send some to them when you've done. 110%AAA+++++

I collect ancient and medieval coins, and have no prior experience of using a DSLR. I had picked up a used Canon 1100D on eBay a few years back, which was happily collecting dust till last month, when I finally I decided to learn to use it. I started by getting a few books by Bryan Peterson, along with Mark Goodwin's book "Numismatic Photography", as I am particularly interested in taking pictures of coins. I quickly discovered that the kit lens was not suitable for macro photography, and that a dedicated one was quite expensive. I was in the process of looking for a Canon extension tube on eBay when I stumbled across the listing for this lens.

On first glance, the listing looked too good to be true. The price of the lens was not substantially higher than that of the the extension tube I was looking for (Canon EF 25 II), and it offered better than 1:1 magnification! I mailed a query to the seller, asking the differences between the three versions listed, and received a quality response, including advice specific to the camera model I was using. I went ahead and ordered the "Red Luxury Edition", which was shipped to me promptly along with images of the lens, the box, and the POD. I also received an e-mail detailing instructions (including YouTube video links) on its use.

The box arrived a few days later. The lens was packed safely along with everything else stated in the listing, and was exceptionally clean for a used lens. I would describe its physical condition as 8.5 or 9/10. They had even included a nice dark chocolate bar! I was able to insert the optical element without much trouble, thanks to the excellent videos. In my excitement, I managed to get a some fingerprints on the optical element. Thankfully, they did not interfere with the image quality and should be easy to remove with a cleaning cloth. I took a few test shots in both manual and autofocus modes and was immediately pleased with the results.

The test shots shown here were cropped out of pictures taken in aperture priority mode at a high f number (20 or 22, if I remember correctly), with the camera hand-held under natural sunlight on an overcast morning. A bit of tinkering in Photoshop improves them dramatically and I hope for much better results with artificial lighting, a copy stand, and a remote shutter release. I decided to include these photos in their original state to give an honest reflection of what is possible for an utter novice shooting under less than ideal conditions.

I do not normally write such reviews, but this is a rare instance in which I was thoroughly pleased by the product and the seller's communication. I recommend them and this lens highly!

Lens arrived within 48hrs as promised
Unpacked, typical man dont bother to read just fit it and start shooting.
Fantastic, Superb, iso400 250th f32 results are really great.
Just imagine how good it will be when I read the instructions.
I found it works best to tun off the auto focus and just focus by moving the camera backwards and forwards to obtain focus.
Lots of light and a high f stop at least f22 if you have the light.
I am using AV mode and hand holding at the mo, results are just great.
See pic floating dandelion seeds.
Many thanks

Jeff Gill

Excellent value canon macro lenses and the service is second to none.