My Gear – Canon Specialty Lenses

You might remember last year I posted about my Canon L prime lenses and my Canon L zooms.  This is the third post talking about the tools I typically use at a wedding and many of my film projects. You might remember how much I loved my Canon L primes lenses from my previous post, here are my specialty lenses pictured below.

Shown from left to right are the 15mm 2.8 Fisheye and the 100mm 2.8 Macro.

I refer to these lenses as my specialty lenses since they have limited uses and give specific looks. Both lenses offer some great advantages compared to everything else in my bag, that is the reason I use them at every wedding for specific shots. Keep reading below for a few notes about each lens and a few favorite images I took with it.

Canon EF 15mm 2.8 FisheyeIf you are looking for a fun lens, a fisheye is one of the best! Due to the shape of the glass in this lens you get a huge amount of distortion which can be fun, but it isn’t flattering if used improperly.  My Canon 15mm Fisheye gives me a 180 degree field of view and allows me to focus as close as 8 inches.  With this huge field of view you really need  watch your edges to make sure your foot or other body part is entering the frame.  I mostly use my fisheye lenses for overviews of a wedding ceremony and for capturing fun images during the reception.  Every once in a while it comes in handy when shooting a fun group shot.  Check out the images below for a few examples. 

Canon EF 100mm 2.8 Macro  I mainly use my macro lens at every wedding for ring shots and occasionally getting ready shots. This lens allows me to focus as close as 12 inches (film plane to subject) so I can capture the smallest details on a wedding day. When shooting details at the minimum focus distance, the depth of field is very shallow a 2.8 so I often bump it up to 5.6 or 8 which requires more light.  Because if this, I always try to get details done early in the day using natural window light, if that isn’t possible bouncing a flash works well.   Here are a few examples of images shot with my Canon 100mm macro.