FE 90mm Macro....don't sell your Canon 100mm Macro yet!

I love shooting flowers so was really waiting for the A7RII plus 90mm macro lens. I finally got this combination and had a go at shooting Waratahs and other flowers at a local Botanical Gardens at Mount Tomah. Well, imagine my surprise when the dim conditions required a slow shutter speed ranging from 1 to 4 seconds. When trying to focus manually when shooting at 2 to 4 seconds it was difficult to see the image in the viewfinder. Magnified view was hopeless some of the time. Depended on the flower, I guess. Even with focus peaking it was hit and miss. Sometimes it showed the flower clearly and at other times it wasn't clear if it was sharp. I often do focus stacking with flowers and this wasn't easy for flowers in really dim light.

I found out that several flower photos were not sharp. Easy to see on my 30 inch monitor. I had to return to the Botanical Gardens and reshoot the flowers with the A7RII plus 100mm Canon macro lens. Much easier to see through that combination.

It puzzles me why the Zeiss macro doesn't show equally bright images as the 2.8 Canon macro. I don't have the L version. I was going to sell it but it appears I need it in some circumstances. The Zeiss macro does work in AF mode because the focus assist beam lights up the subject. I didn't use AF that day but would now.

The 90mm Zeiss macro lens is great on the A7RII. If I were rich I would keep it on the camera and get another camera for the other lenses so that I didn't have to worry about dust on the sensor. Darn, these A7R sure attract dust! The AF is great and the IS works well.

Vince