Hi guys,

What are your budget solutions for Macro video? Any suggestions for used retro lenses that work well with the t2i?

Not really inclined to splash out on the canon 100mm unless absolutely necessary.

The Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro looks nice for the price (around $250).

you could buy a vintage fd lens and a mount with no lens element. it turns them into macro lenses

The Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro looks nice for the price (around $250).

Yep, I looked really hard at that one (for my Canon 7D) as it's a very attractive price! Typical reviews on well respected photography sites commend this > 20 year old, good solid design very highly. There is a good photo of a watch on the first linked review that shows the limit of how near you can go whilst maintaining focus with this 50mm Macro on a cropped Canon 40D.

The thing that made me push the button yesterday on the new (and much more expensive) Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro IS was the ability to be further away (from my lights, avoiding shadows etc.) whilst still getting real close up, detailed and razor sharp macro shots - and of course the very advanced IS which will be really handy for my more "casual/out and about/on the hoof" type shooting style - when I'm not doing paid video and stills work that is (and who knows, just maybe even when I am) with my current Canon 7D and, maybe one day, a Canon 5DMkIII (or whatever...).

Canon 50mm Macro (http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/50mm-macro.htm)

Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Macro Lens Review (http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-50mm-f-2.5-Compact-Macro-Lens-Review.aspx)

There is of course the older, modestly priced non-IS Canon 100mm Macro which also gets rave reviews - the linked sites have reviews on this one also.

Here's the link to a parallel thread I started about the Canon 100mm F2.8 Macro IS in the 7D section a few days ago.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eos-7d-hd/485542-canon-100mm-f2-8-l-macro-video.html

The Vivitar Series 1 28-105 has a great macro focus feature. To a lesser degree the 28-90 also has a macro. You can find them on Ebay for $50-100. Both lenses are also great as a general purpose zooms and relatively fast for a zoom, 2.8-3.8.