The Canon MP-E 65mm Macro Puts the Microscopic Within Reach
The Canon MP-E 65mm Macro Lens is one of BorrowLenses’ most unique lenses. The MP-E is more than a macro lens – it is a portable microscope with the ability to fill an entire 35mm frame with the texture of something as small as a grain of rice. Floating internal lens elements keep the resolution sharp throughout the range of focus at 1x, life-size, to 5x magnification, or 5 times life-size.
The Canon MP-E 65mm’s magnification essentially begins where other macro lenses end. The focus distance range is very small – only 41mm at 5x – but this allows for tremendous detail of very small objects, including the tips of pens or the eyes of a butterfly. Since this is a dedicated macro lens, it cannot focus more than a few centimeters away from the front element. This is not your ordinary 65mm lens and to properly shoot with it you will need a couple of tools.
Jim Goldstein’s star trail photos on an iPad, left at 1x (life size) and right at 5x.
What You Need to Shoot Macro
This lens is manual-focus only and you will need to use a macro rail, such as a StackShot Extended Macro Rail or our Mini Novoflex Focusing Rack. These provide essential support to prevent blur from lens shake (which is very noticeable at higher magnifications) and allows for micro adjustments in distance to and from your diminutive subject.
This lens is manual-focus only and you will need to use a macro rail or similar form of support.
Lighting for Macro
The effective aperture is going to be much smaller than what is displayed on your camera due to the extreme magnification of the lens. Keep this in mind when calculating your exposure – your aperture needs to be multiplied by the magnification, plus 1, that you are using. For example, if you are shooting a penny at 5x magnification at f/13, you are effectively shooting at f/78 (f stop x (magnification + 1).
As you can see in this picture of the penny, even with a 1 second exposure and an LED lamp, there is not a lot of light on the subject. Also, when hovering over a very small subject, you tend to cast a shadow on an already dark scene. A macro ring light is essential for combating these very small apertures. This lens is compatible with our Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Ringlite Flash.
With a 1 second exposure and an LED lamp, there is still not enough light on the subject–you need a Canon MT-24EX Macro Twin Ringlite Flash or similar.
Patience for the Little Things
This is not a lens for the impatient! It may take several micro adjustments and a steady gaze to get your subject sharp but the rewards are as great as the details the Canon MP-E provides. Check out a few of our images taken with this lens below, shot between 2x and 4x magnification:
A carnation – © Alex Huff
A cigar – © Alex Huff
Butterfly wings – © Alex Huff
Canon’s 65mm MP-E is in a class of its own but there are other fantastic macro lenses to try out, especially if you are looking to just play around and don’t really want to commit to rails and macro lights yet.
Alexandria Huff
Alexandria Huff's photography and lighting tutorials can be found on 500px and her blog. See her lighting tutorials here. She is a Marketing Associate Manager at BorrowLenses.com. She learned about lighting and teaching while modeling for photographers such as Joe McNally and has since gone on to teach lighting workshops of her own in San Francisco. Before focusing on studio portraiture, she shot motorsports for X-Games, World Rally Cross, and Formula Drift. See her chiaroscuro-style painterly portraits on her website.
20 Comments
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Dan Dexter
Robert. There are several posts from a gentleman named Brian Valentine (LordV is his account name on many sites). Google that along with the lens name, macro, and diffusers, and you should find some written information about the lens in great detail.
Also, scan through http://www.photography-on-the.net/forum and go to the macro section. There are many users there, including myself, who use this lens. The biggest challenges of this lens are diffraction softening and lighting. I use the MT-24ex for lighting and shoot at the smallest apertures as follows to get the sharpest images. 1x (f11-f16 sometimes), 2x (f9), 3x (f7.1), 4x (f6), 5x (f5.6). These are numbers that I’ve read from other sites that I’ve found to work best for me. I do vary somewhat depending on what I’m shooting, but not more than 1 stop in aperture or diffraction softening sets in big time in my opinion.
Focus stacking is a big thing with this lens because of the depth of field. I, and many others, use zerene stacker.
I hope this helps get you out of the dark.
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Robert
Can anyone recommend any sites, blogs or forums where one might pick up some valuable tips on using the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro lens? There’s a tough learning curve on this guy and any help is appreciated!
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Neville Goldsmith
A canon 100 macro with an old minolta 50mm 1.7 taped in reverse to the front will fill the 22.3 aps-c 7D image area with 7mm you can focus in and out with both lenses
without a moving front lens. mirror lockup and rails…lot’s of fun. -
Dan Dexter
That’s currently my biggest complaint about my site that I can’t fix at the moment. I don’t know if these will work any better for mobile viewing or not…
http://www.dandexterphotography.com/insects/insects-16/
http://www.dandexterphotography.com/insects/insects-12/
http://www.dandexterphotography.com/insects/insects-13/ -
John Slaughter
I’ve put my 50mm 1.4 on the end of my 180mm L before too. That’s pretty fantastic. I can’t find the threaded coupler to save my butt right now though.
Also, couldn’t look at your site. It doesn’t work right on mobile browsers.
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Dan Dexter
I use the Canon 100mm f2.8 with 68mm of Kenko extension tubes and sometimes reverse a Canon 50mm f1.8 on the front of all that for more magnification. I photograph bugs with it! http://www.dandexterphotography.com/insects/
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Paul Looyen
Have both the non L100mm and the MPE65. Love both. A rail is not needed for the MPE but a steady hand sure is 🙂
Some 100mm shots
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plooyen/5334629521/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plooyen/8244301916/Some MPE65 shots
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plooyen/6157595655/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plooyen/8352921442/ -
Marshall
I shoot with the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR IF-ED Micro and it is great for portraits and close-ups (obviously not as extreme as the examples in this post). I like using prime lenses as opposed to zooms, but it all depends on what a person is shooting.
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krystal92586
I took many of these through an MPE-65mm and then focus stacked them. They are 50 to 200 images each stacked in a program called Zerene Stacker.
http://scienceinquirer.wikispaces.com/Microscope -
Jim M
It’s the fact no there isn’t another lens like it- for any system. Nikon doesn’t have anything directly comparable. He’s just saying that it’s a lens that macro enthusiasts drool over.
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Sean Hoyt
Why do Nikon users love this lens? Are you saying I can adapt this canon lens to my nikon mount??
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John Slaughter
Here is my Canon EF 180mm f/2.8 L Macro lens coupled with the 2X Extender on my old Canon Rebel T1i (I have since moved to a 7D):
This is a flea I found on my cat. I placed it on a piece of paper, and put a thin glass container over it. Then shot with the Macro lens.
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Daragh
MPE 65mm lens very tricky to use at great than 1x, difficultly with dof, stability and light even with MT24 as the distance from lens to subject is very limited to get light in.
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Jim M
I’m a big fan of the non L 100mm 2.8.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eeek5127/8200603757/
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waredgo
I have this lens, a Sigma 180mm macro and the Tamron 90mm macro. While I like all 3 lenses, the Tamron takes the prize for the sharpest and most useful lens of the bunch! Amazing sharpness.