Canon EF 180mm F/3.5 Macro USM Lens Review

Photographer Christopher Frost recently published another interesting review of an old but still very relevant long macro lens from Canon – the EF 180mm f/3.5 Macro USM.

The EF 180mm f/3.5 Macro USM is Canon’s longest macro lens in production. It is an L series lens and it has been around for more than a decade (no word on replacement yet as this is a sort of specialized lens). All major lens manufacturers have a long telephoto (usually 180mm) macro lenses – they are considered very sharp (like most other macro lenses to be honest) but they are more expensive and typically used more by professionals and those looking to shoot macro from a distance (butterfly shooters for example).

The EF 180mm f/3.5 Macro USM can also be a very good portrait lens if you are looking for a longer focal range with very sharp image. You do have to keep in mind that the AF is slow (it is a slow lens and a macro lens – so using the limiter will speed things up).

You can get the Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 Macro USM for just under $1400.

This is not the first macro lens that Frost has reviewed recently – not too long ago we published his review of the Venus Optics ‘Laowa’ 60mm f/2.8 Macro 2:1 lens which is also worth checking out if you are into macro photography. We would also highly recommend that you check out our macro photography section and our extensive article about super macro photography and the Nanoha 5X lens review.

You can find many more previews and reviews on our Photography review section here on LensVid and you can find more of Frost’s videos here on LensVid.

Iddo Genuth

Iddo Genuth is the founder and chief editor of LensVid.com. He has been a technology reporter working for international publications since the late 1990's and covering photography since 2009. Iddo is also a co-founder of a production company specializing in commercial food and product visual content.