Hmm. Well, that doesn't seem too bad.. I would stand across the room for the kind of pictures that lens takes. I'm not sure I understand why you had to take the shot in sections, why you couldn't just back up more. I've heard about the 1.6 factor, but am not familiar with how it works in action. This is my first real slr.
But oh well, like I said, I would stand across the room to get photos of that quality. I do Not want to have to lace together separate shots just to get one shot, however. That would take way too long for what I'm doing, because I take dozens of shots from different angles.
Now I want a 17-40MM f4 L too.. lol. Figures! But I will wait on that! That one seems to add the same glow that I like. Almost as nice as the 100mm. Know what I mean?
Now that I look at photos taken by other lenses I am spoiled. It just seems like there is such a difference in the way the colors come out. I just don't see the point in taking photos if the end result isn't gorgeous.
Do you know of any other lenses that capture color and light like that? I'm not so sure about the kit lens.. The photos are kinda blah. I wish they'd make an 18-55mm and put whatever magic dust inside it they did the 100mm. Even the 55mm macro doesn't look quite the same to me.
If I can't find the 100mm for a decent price though, I might just settle for the 50mm 1/8 lens for now.. I don't like the way it picks up color & detail near as much as the other two, but it doesn't take bad pictures and would probably work fine. I saved a lot of money on the camera though so now I can afford to spend a little more on a lense IF it is worth it.
The main purpose I will be using it for is to photograph dolls that are 15 inch, but it's mainly their faces and features like eyes. So I need to get in good on an inch of detail, and color is Very important. Basically, mini-portraits. So it's a similar scale to what you were using with that sword hilt, but smaller on the whole.
I wish there was a closer-focus lens that took the same quality of pictures.. Ideally, I would like to get between 6 inches to 1 or 2 feet from the subject, as I like to manipulate the object as I go (change poses, etc).
But for the quality the 100mm produces, a little inconvienience is probably worth it.
On the other hand, the 3x magnification might actually work perfectly for what I am trying to do. I guess I would have to try it out to know for sure.