see also:

• lenses for macrophotography

• a 1:1 macro lens designed for full frame sensors but available in a number of mounts including Olympus Four Thirds dSLR system
  • the Four Thirds version has been discontinued
  • the Four Thirds version can be used on Micro Four Thirds system but the AF will be very slow as it is not CDAF optimised and phase AF is slow - you probably should regard it more like a manual focus lens
• beautiful optics - sharp wide open, low distortion, nice bokeh but slow AF - slower than the Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro lens
• on many cameras, many models appear to have front-focus AF error issues requiring microadjustment to give sharp AF images.

• 150mm f/2.8
• as with most macro lenses with internal focusing (IF), the lens looses between 1.5 to 2 f-stops in speed and the focal length reduces when set to the min. focus distance!
• closest focus 38cm giving 1:1 macro and 7.6“ working distance
• detachable tripod collar
• barrel-type lens hood
• 72mm filter
• AF-MF switch (when used with Four Thirds cameras this must be set to the same settings as the camera settings)
• focus limiter: 0.38-0.52m; 0.52m-infinity; and full range
• HSM AF allows manual focus in AF
• 16 elements in 12 groups including APO
• 80mm wide x 137mm long
• 895g (200g lighter than the CanonEF180mmmacro
• compatible with the two Sigma AF converters (1.4x, 2x)

• photozone.de review on a Canon 350D APS-C camera
  • 0.08% distortion
  • 0.5EV vignetting wide open at infinity reducing to 0.17EV at 1:1 macro
  • sharpest at f/5.6 but very sharp wide open
  • minimal CA of 0.23px
  • BUT “the sample lens suffered from a rather extreme degree of decentering which pollutes the resolution potential of the lens (on the left image side) - a rather worrysome quality control issue.”
• SLRGear review on a full frame Canon 5D
  • 0.04% pincushion
  • good sharpness across the frame wide open
  • very low CA
  • ~0.7EV vignetting wide open
• the digital picture review
  • provides a very nice compromise in size, weight, working distance and cost in addition to focal length while retaining the f/2.8 aperture