It's one of the most versatile lenses I own. It's very good at macro and tele distances and the stabiliser works very well. The all-plastic construction doesn't feel very solid and the focus ring have a (very!) little play. It's not weather-sealed until you attach a filter.

Very effective IS; Very fast AF for a macro lens

Subpar build quality for a L lens

Nice bokeh, image stabilisation, handles high contrast situations well, pics have a beautiful refined detail. Great for macro, portraits, cropped in landscapes etc.

Canon's premium 100mm L-series macro offers 123mm of sturdy plastic design, but with a respectable weight of 625g. The standout feature is the Hybrid optical IS, helping negate rotational and linear camera shake and giving back 4 stops, though less at 1x magnification.

Canon's newest "L" series lens is its first mid-telephoto macro lens to include Canon's sophisticated Image Stabilization. With the highest quality optics available, combined with near-silent Ultrasonic focusing and life-size close-up capabilities without an adapter, the EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM...

The classic definition of macro photography is that the image projected onto the digital sensor (or film plane) should be the same size as the subject. With a 1:1 ratio, a DSLR with a full-frame chip should be able to produce life-size magnification and focus on an area as small as 24x36mm.

Close-up fanatics wanting a top-quality Macro lens should consider the EF 100mm f2.8L, which works on cropped and full-frame bodies, delivers 1x magnification and boasts Canon's first Hybrid Image Stabilisation system which counteracts both lens shift and angular motion.

Canon's really raised the bar with this lens: exceptionally sharp, even wide open at f/2.8, with strong results for resistance to chromatic aberration and distortion. Corner shading can be a tad high at f/2.8 when used on a full-frame body, but for macro work, I imagine most people will be using...

Superb optical quality; Fast, silent, and accurate autofocus; full time manual focus; Highly effective image stabilization (for longer subject distances, at least); Solid build, including dust and water sealing;

Hybrid Image Stabilization still not particularly effective at macro distances; Precise manual focus at 'portrait' distances slightly tricky; Very expensive compared to non-stabilized alternatives;

Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 USM Macro is one of the best lenses in Canon's modern portfolio. The lens exhibits very even performance across pretty much entire aperture range on both APS-C and full frame cameras.