suitable macro fixed lens for lens and a 28-105 lens for an eos 20D

[KTaustralia]

Just wondering if an EF 24-105 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens will work with my camera EOS 20D. Also potentially looking at a fixed 100mm macro lens that would suit as well. Any advice appreciated. Would love a new body but not possible just yet so thinking about getting the lens's first. Need them for food photos.
Karen

[RobertTheFat]

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@KTaustralia wrote:
Just wondering if an EF 24-105 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens will work with my camera EOS 20D. Also potentially looking at a fixed 100mm macro lens that would suit as well. Any advice appreciated. Would love a new body but not possible just yet so thinking about getting the lens's first. Need them for food photos.
Karen

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Any EF or EF-S lens should work on your camera.

[MikeSowsun]

It is possible to take good photos with your 20D, but why not use the lenses you have now? You really don’t need a true macro lens for food photography. You could add a short extension tube to any lens to get a little closer and increase magnification if you need to.

The EF 24-105 STM can focus down to 15.75” and has a max magnification of .30x But, if you are on a budget, instead of buying a $600 EF 24-105 STM, I would recommend a EF-S 18-55 STM. The EF-S 18-55 STM can focus down to 9.84” and has a slightly greater max magnification of .36x. It also has great image quality, but it is much cheaper as it is a very common kit lens and many people sell them for about $100 when they upgrade to more expensive lenses.

[TTMartin]

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@KTaustralia wrote:
Just wondering if an EF 24-105 mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lens will work with my camera EOS 20D. Also potentially looking at a fixed 100mm macro lens that would suit as well. Any advice appreciated. Would love a new body but not possible just yet so thinking about getting the lens's first. Need them for food photos.
Karen

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I would look into the EF 40mm f/2.8 STM pancake lens for your food photography. It has a close focus distance, a flat field of view like the 100mm macro. Plus, with a 20D you'd have to be pretty far back from the food with a 100mm macro lens.

[Ray-uk]

I would have thought the close focusing of 15.7 inches with the 24-105 stm would be quite adequate for food photography especially considering that applies throughout the zoom range.(edit .... Mike just beat me to it with that bit of info)

However if you really fancy a 100mm zoom lens the the older Canon 100mm 2.8 usm is really an excellent lens, of course if your budget is a bit bigger then you could get the L version which also has IS. I have the older version and have not yet found a situation where I needed IS.

[ebiggs1]

"I would recommend a EF-S 18-55 STM. The EF-S 18-55 STM can focus down to 9.84” ..."

I like this suggestion.  For you it is the better choice.

" You could add a short extension tube to any lens to get a little closer and increase magnification if you need to."

I don't like this suggestion and neither will you.  I would add a good post editor.  That is where you will "make" the photo.  Not in the camera.  Great photos, especially close up food shots, come from post.

[TCampbell]

The EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM would work extremely well for food photography.  It's a true 1:1 scale macro lens... so if you do want some very close detail shots, you'd have no problem.  

The 60mm focal length works very well on an APS-C body (works out to the equivalent of a 100mm macro on a full-frame body ... which is what I normally use for food with my 5D bodies.)

It does a wonderful job resolving fine detail:

This next shot was taken using a full-frame body and the EF 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro USM.  It turns out by the math... since 60mm x 1.6 (crop factor) = 96mm (basically 100mm), the two lenses actually have the same depth of field if you position them for similar framing.

So while this wasn't technically the same lens, you'd be able to duplicate this using an APS-C body such as the 20D and get nearly identical depth of field and background blur.

This was actually shot at f/4 (not f/2.8 ... even though it is an f/2.8 lens).  The chef and I went through several apetures looking for one that provided nice detail on the food, but slightly blured the wine bottle & wine glass ... we didn't want to blur it too much and found f/4 was a nice balance.

[KTaustralia]

There's a cheap 2nd hand EF f/2.8L Macro IS USM L series lens available. Its a great deal should I get it? Will it be ok the 20D

[TCampbell]

The 100mm lens will work fine on the 20D... you’ll just have to back away from the subject a bit more than you might think.  You’ll need to make sure you have room to work.

[KTaustralia]

There's a cheap 2nd hand EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM L series lens available. Its a great deal should I just get it? Will it be ok the 20D