Compare Canon EF 50mm f/2.5 Lens to Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 Lens

This superior-performance lens offers excellent optics and focusing from infinity down to one-half life size (0.5x). Its nine-element design features a floating optical system, which ensures top-notch performance even at close focusing distances. Light and compact, it functions beautifully as a general-purpose normal lens. Less

This lens, used alone without attachments, performs macrophotography from life-size to 5x magnification. This lens offers much better portability and operability for outdoor high magnification macro photography of flowers, insects, etc., than conventional bellows systems. The optics uses a 3-group floating system, which moves three lens groups independently for focusing. This compensates aberrations caused by the large changes of image magnification inherent in macrophotography, while achieving high magnification from life-size to 5x and a fast f/2.8 maximum aperture. A UD (Ultra-low Dispersion) glass lens element corrects chromatic aberration, which is often a problem in high-magnification macrophotography, and achieves a high-resolution and high-contrast image without color fringing. Less