DV Info Net - macro lens suggestions

The considerations are:

Hand-hold-ability
Working distance (focal length)
Image quality
Magnification

Weight is one concern for hand-hold-ability.

Hand-holding is a big issue with video, as you can't stop action with flash or high shutter speeds.

It's an even *bigger* issue with the 5D2 because of the aliasing artifacts, which dance and twinkle with any movement.

That's compounded even more by the slow rolling shutter because even slight camera shake will cause noticeable skew.

All that is to say that hand-held macro is a big challenge on the 5D2. Tripod or macro-on-rails will be much easier.

The good news is that you can use diffraction as an anti-alias filter! That is, we're always cursing diffraction in macro, but this is one time you can actually be thankful for it.

If you don't need a lot of working distance, but you want hand-held, you may consider the shorter macro lenses such as the EF 55mm f/2.5 macro + 500D close-up, Sigma 50mm, or Sigma 70mm. The focal length is short enough that camera shake will not be an issue.

You might consider using an image stabilized telephoto lens with teleconverters, extension tubes, and close-up lenses to get a macro lens with lots of working distance and image stabilization to boot! For example, the Canon 70-200 f/4 L IS is perhaps the sharpest zoom lens ever made as well as the very latest 4-stop image stabilizer technology. Even after adding enough tubes/glass to get to 1:1, the image quality is still very good (there are examples around the web).

The Tamron 90mm f/2.8 for $360 after rebate is an amazingly sharp macro lens.

The Canon EF 100mm f/2.8, too, is great for only $470. Sigma sells a very highly recommended 150mm f/2.8 Macro for just $130 more.