HELP! Macro and/or tele

[apusapus39]

I have E-620, OD 14-42 ED and O ZD70-300. Want to expand into macro and bird foto. Give me some input, ideas.

[photo_owl]

Re: Macro and/or tele

er.......... use the 70-300?

[apusapus39]

Re: Macro and/or tele

er.......... use the 70-300?

I had hoped a more understandable answer. Have been a user for 3/4 year and need more info than this, sorry!

[jamie allan]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sigma-52mm-Ach...item1e61c909cf

[Kenz]

Re: Macro and/or tele

Why dont you look at the Sigma Imaging website and you will find that they two macro lenses for the 4/3 mount.

One is the 150mm F2.8 at 900Grams and the 105mm F2.8 at 450grams.

Both are excellent lenses, as I have used them both and still have the 150mm.

It is down to the cost and the weight, you make the choice, but you will like either of them.

As for birding, look at the 50-200mm SWD faster F stops than the 70-300 but at 100 grams and 3 times the cost?? plus maybe a 1.4Tele converter.

Just for reach look at ebay for used Sigma 135-400mm F5.6, on par with the 70-300 in IQ, i think.

Hope this helps you along.

Look at Fourthirds org website for full listing of current 4/3 lenses, bodies etc

Cheer Ken, shame about the previous response, not very helpful

[Kenz]

Re: Macro and/or tele

50-200mm weighs in at 1100 grams, just my typo

Ken

[photo_owl]

Re: Macro and/or tele

I had hoped a more understandable answer. Have been a user for 3/4 year and need more info than this, sorry!

my apologies too, for my trite response.

however, you haven't really asked a question that has an answer - understandable or otherwise.

what do you mean by macro, what subjects and to what magnification? On the one hand the best close up capability of your existing gear would be the 70-300 which is pretty useful for flowers and large insects already. Then there's a scale of expense and capability that extends from adding an achromatic lens such as the canon 500D on the front of your 70-300 (which is actually a pretty competent option for the cost) right up to the 50/2 macro lens + EC20 + RF11 or TF22 (or a pair of FL36Rs and the new macro mounting bracket) + focus stacking software - all of which will give you 1:1 capability with astounding resolution and excellent lighting control, which you need for macro; but at significant cost. If you want to go even closer get an OM macro bellows, add the 20mm/f2 dedicated lens, stick your 620 on one end and use hot melt glue to add your RF11 head around the lens end to give about 1:7 magnification or higher. You can use different add on lenses, get different 'macro lenses (and combine them with either close focusing aids (EX25) or increase their magnification (EC14 or EC20) and you could play around with many bellows and legacy lens combinations........

the same applies to 'shooting birds' except that the lighting solutions get replaced by tripod and head solutions, starting with the 70-300 again, going through the 300/2.8 + EC20 and then considering 'scopes.

you see my point?

[apusapus39]

Re: Macro and/or tele

I should have written that I have just started, but I think the lack of depth could indicate that? Now you have given me a summary of the thick book I just started reading.

[Ellie]

Re: Macro and/or tele

what do you mean by macro, what subjects and to what magnification?

I think that's a good question you need to try to answer, especially as "Macro" means different things to different people.

Want to expand into macro

Do you want to simply be able to get 'closer' - to be able to get more detail from the centre of flowers, for example?

You can get fairly decent close-ups with both the 14-42mm and 70-300mm lenses. The 70-300mm won't let you get physically as close, so there's a greater risk of camera shake or simply missing a point of focus on something small, but you can almost poke the 14-42mm into the middle of a flower and it'll focus. Using a tripod will always help, because even breathing can make you miss what you're aiming for if it's very small.

Using budget-priced add-ons (filters or 'lenses') might get you started - there are loads on that auction site that'll fit (you need a 58mm thread) - but they aren't easy to use to get a good result. Images can be quite soft and focusing quite shallow, so it's easy to get frustrated unless/until you can master them.

Olympus do lovely macro lenses, the 35mm is very good and sometimes comes up on here second hand. There are also the Sigma lenses (105mm and 150mm macro), which also appear on here from time to time. You could also, perhaps, look at the older OM lenses (pre-digital) and try one of those using an adapter.

... and bird foto

I'm guessing you'd like to be able to capture images of those birds that always seem to sit just out of reach? If so then it's always likely to happen, because unless (even if?) you can afford the very best lenses they'll never be quite long enough. There'll always be something you see that's just that bit too far away, or moving just that bit too fast for your lens and personal reaction time. To move on from the 70-300mm would mean getting something longer, which is quite expensive and also quite heavy.

Your question really is quite broad, because you're asking about two completely different skills, types of photography and types of lenses and I think you need to work out :- a) which of the two is most important and b) your budget.

Once you've done that it might be worth your while spending some time looking through images that have been uploaded to this site - you can see pictures in people's galleries as well as on forum threads. When you see something you'd like to be able to imitate then take a further look at the EXIF data, which will hopefully tell you which lens has been used.

Don't forget that changing ISO etc can have an impact on how a lens seems to perform - if you've been dissatisfied with results it could be to do with the weather/amount of daylight/camera settings. I'm guessing you're already using Aperture Priority rather than either Auto or 'P' setting.

[gregles]

Re: Macro and/or tele

Just wondering if anyone has used the EX25 with the 35mm?

Does this allow a little more room to work with?

Thanks

Greg

[Ross the fiddler]

Re: Macro and/or tele

Just wondering if anyone has used the EX25 with the 35mm?

Does this allow a little more room to work with?

Thanks

Greg

I've got both & for maximum magnification, focus is very close to the lens for 1:1 at about 2cm working distance & as the EX25 is only designed to allow for closer focusing, it gives 68% increase (1:1.68) at approximately 1cm working distance. It's not very practical for most situations because of the difficulty in lighting, but I just tried it photographing the computer screen, being backlit, to check it. The EX25 does allow closer focusing with the ZD70-300 lens by allowing 32% more magnification (from 0.5 X to 0.66 X by getting a little closer) & this might be an option if bought cheaply (from China or 2nd hand).

I've just looked at the compatibilty charts & corrected the manification for the lenses.

[gregles]

Re: Macro and/or tele

I've got both & for maximum magnification, focus is very close to the lens for 1:1 at about 2cm working distance & as the EX25 is only designed to allow for closer focusing, it gives 68% increase (1:1.68) at approximately 1cm working distance. It's not very practical for most situations because of the difficulty in lighting, but I just tried it photographing the computer screen, being backlit, to check it. The EX25 does allow closer focusing with the ZD70-300 lens by allowing 32% more magnification (from 0.5 X to 0.66 X by getting a little closer) & this might be an option if bought cheaply (from China or 2nd hand).

I've just looked at the compatibilty charts & corrected the manification for the lenses.

Thanks for that Ross. Saw some stunning shots taken with the 50mm and ex25 but given the focusing distance with the 35mm it does not seem a practical combination unfortunately.

Greg

[benvendetta]

Re: Macro and/or tele

A OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 plus manual extension tubes and an OM to four thirds adapter.
Cheap!

[Ross the fiddler]

Re: Macro and/or tele

A OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 plus manual extension tubes and an OM to four thirds adapter.
Cheap!

Even better, reverse the lens (with the OM to 4/3s adapter still on it for aperture control) with a 49mm thread to 4/3s reversing adapter & focus distance is aprox. 2" from front of lens. Put this on the end of generic extension tubes & you have a nice amount of magnification, but light for focusing becomes difficult with the lens stopped down (to get sufficient DoF).

An OM 28mm lens used like this gives something like 5 X life size. I could be a little out because I've played with various combinations (including bellows) & can't remember exact results..

[gregles]

Re: Macro and/or tele

Some great ideas there fellas

I have emailed olympus to ask about the ex25 and the 70-300 as there is no info about compatibility of this combination on the oly uk site.