Is this a good macro lenses?

EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM i want to do more macro closeup photography i have a 18-55mm, 55-200mm and a 70-300mm all are f/2.8 also how much does the an led ring light or ring flash improve or effect your photos when shooting macro or portraits

Unless I'm mistaken, I don't think Canon makes an 18-55mm f2.8, a 55-200mm f2.8, or a 70-300mm f2.8. They make a 17-55mm f2.8 IS, a 70-200mm f2.8 L, and the 70-300mm is a f4.5-5.6.

To the 60mm f2.8 macro lens, I agree with Pooky, it is a great lens. The macro lighting is a very good system for macro work, since a lot of times the pop up flash will be blocked by the front of the lens. It also adds nice depth to the subject. However, the flash unit is around $450. If you can afford it, and really need a dedicated macro lighting unit, get it.

Hope this helps.

Popular Photography magazine ran a test on that lens and they said it's one of the sharpest canon lenses they ever used.

http://www.popphoto.com

On canon's website, it says, this lens "Accepts both MR-14EX Macro Ring Lite and MT-24EX Macro Twin Lite" The results should be shadowless photos.

p.s. I don't think your other zooms are f 2.8.

That's an excellent lens, as mentioned above.

A ring light will give very flat and even light on a tight macro subject. Personally, I don't use one, because that "flat" look takes away a lot of the dimensionallity of the object being photographed. If you have one or two point light sources, it will give at least a little bit of modelling to the subject (shadows) so you can tell what shape it is.

I used to use an off-camera strobe in my film days, but now I actually use only the pop-up flash on my camera. I often set EV compensation to (-0.7) if I am really close to avoid blown highlights.

See http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstei...

Anything taken using a flash on an SLR has the pop-up flash as the lighting source. Many have no flash. Start without any additional flash and buy one if you decide you need it.