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A quick word on these 2 items as people have expressed slight interest, but first a photo.
I originally ordered the Nikon version of the Oshiro 60mm macro on Harold's recommendation. Mechanically it is acceptable, but optically it is quite remarkable especially for the price tag. It also performed very well with the MC-14 tele-converter (the TC nose fits nicely inside the mount adaptor) and I decided to purchase a cheap Nikon to Four Thirds adaptor to try the EC-20. That combination was not so good. Having bought the converter I decided to try the EC-14 and the result was fine. I then had the bright idea of fitting the MC-14 onto that combo. The only way to manage it was by modifying a 10mm extension tube (I cut the plastic centre with a hot wire (to avoid dust) to give room for the extra pin and the TC nose). Having balanced the aperture to keep diffraction to an acceptable level the resultant magnification is around 4.4:1 or 4mm across the frame at minimum focus distance. The working distance is about 40mm, allowing room for some flash using the STF-8. Obviously the usual caveats apply, it's impossible to focus without very good light when stopped down and depth of field is very small, nothing new there.
These are a couple of the first shots using this combination this morning.
The STF-8 is a miracle of a thing too.
Very light and easy to adjust from the camera SCP. No RC except it will control other flashes. Not a problem for macro as the max sync speed of 1/250th has little or no effect on the exposure from the background lighting at such high effective f-stops, so the flash arc time is effectively the shutter speed. The included diffusers are very good, but extra diffusion would be beneficial but difficult to implement in the working distance. To say I'm happy with it would be a mastery of understatement, expensive but worth it. The only slight down side is the mounting arrangement. An adaptor screws on the front of the lens into the filter thread and the flash head brackets attach to this ring. All the bracketary is behind the front edge so no problem there, but the outer diameter of the ring is large (84mm for the 62mm version) so lifts the front of the lens hampering a low shooting angle. It's not possible to cut it down as it screws on and the cutout may not be in the right place for another lens. There is an engineering solution which I may attempt at some point.
Congratulations for reading to the end!
I originally ordered the Nikon version of the Oshiro 60mm macro on Harold's recommendation. Mechanically it is acceptable, but optically it is quite remarkable especially for the price tag. It also performed very well with the MC-14 tele-converter (the TC nose fits nicely inside the mount adaptor) and I decided to purchase a cheap Nikon to Four Thirds adaptor to try the EC-20. That combination was not so good. Having bought the converter I decided to try the EC-14 and the result was fine. I then had the bright idea of fitting the MC-14 onto that combo. The only way to manage it was by modifying a 10mm extension tube (I cut the plastic centre with a hot wire (to avoid dust) to give room for the extra pin and the TC nose). Having balanced the aperture to keep diffraction to an acceptable level the resultant magnification is around 4.4:1 or 4mm across the frame at minimum focus distance. The working distance is about 40mm, allowing room for some flash using the STF-8. Obviously the usual caveats apply, it's impossible to focus without very good light when stopped down and depth of field is very small, nothing new there.
These are a couple of the first shots using this combination this morning.
Poppy sap drillers (slight crop).
Rocks in the road (cropped 30%).
Broken scales.
Spring tail (50% crop).
Aphid eye (cropped 10%)
Rocks in the road (cropped 30%).
Broken scales.
Spring tail (50% crop).
Aphid eye (cropped 10%)
The STF-8 is a miracle of a thing too.
Very light and easy to adjust from the camera SCP. No RC except it will control other flashes. Not a problem for macro as the max sync speed of 1/250th has little or no effect on the exposure from the background lighting at such high effective f-stops, so the flash arc time is effectively the shutter speed. The included diffusers are very good, but extra diffusion would be beneficial but difficult to implement in the working distance. To say I'm happy with it would be a mastery of understatement, expensive but worth it. The only slight down side is the mounting arrangement. An adaptor screws on the front of the lens into the filter thread and the flash head brackets attach to this ring. All the bracketary is behind the front edge so no problem there, but the outer diameter of the ring is large (84mm for the 62mm version) so lifts the front of the lens hampering a low shooting angle. It's not possible to cut it down as it screws on and the cutout may not be in the right place for another lens. There is an engineering solution which I may attempt at some point.
Congratulations for reading to the end!
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