Camera Labs

Hi

Just a couple of shots I took with the Zuiko 50mm f2.0. Still learning... What a lens, though...

A.

Great to see the 50mm f2 here. I heard its close to being the sharpest lens out there, on any DSLR system. I bought the 35mm 1:1, and i have some problems have to get very close (objects come in contact with rim of lens) and focus is really hard to achieve (maybe a problem with all true macros) I ended up buying a focus rail for my tripod. How would you say the 50mm feels and handles?

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Olympus E-30
Olympus E-1
12-60mm SWD F2.8-4
50-200mm SWD F2.8-3.5
50mm F2 Macro
FL-36R
SRF-11 Ring Flash Set
EX-25 Extension Tube
Dolica AX620B100 Tripod
and some mad Skillz

Let's add some more:

Jay, more flowers:


Rather boring, but I love the bokeh


That's sharp


And for serious macro work, here combined with the EX-25

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Olympus E-30, ZD 9-18mm 4.0-5.6, ZD 50mm Makro 2.0, ZD 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, ZD 70-300 4.0-5.6

Light travel equipment:
Olympus EP-2, µZD 14-42mm , Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake.

Cullmann Trento IT Daypack

Nice product!

See your doing alot of "macro" work with it, have you tried it in other areas?

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My Flickr

Nice shots PrinzMegahertz!... I love the daffodils one. The second picture, I think, really highlights how sharp this lens is. Just look at the texture of that rock...

You picture of the bee is really interesting to me, because I was wondering whether I could get this kind of shots - so close - with only the 50mm, that is, without the Ex-25 extension tube. Looks like you really have to use it for such close macro, don't you? Do you find it a big compromise - i.e. slower focus?...or hindrance to having to use f4.0?...or any loss in sharpness?...

A.

@Ant1: I'm glad you like my pictures

To be honest, I'm not much of an expert concerning macro photography. My gear consist of the 35mm, the 50mm, the 70-300mm and the EX-25, but for some reason I always feel that I have the wrong combination of equipment with for the things I want to do.

I usually use the 70-300 because it can deliver a maximum aspect ratio of 1:2 just like the 50mm, but also works as a tele lense, meaning you can use 1 lens for 2 purposes (and I don't want to carry too much stuff with me). The 50mm on the other hand can be a great lens for portrait photography, but the AF is rather bad - it will fail you even in normal indoor situation with windows. It's rather embarrasing. With the 35mm you get an aspect ratio of 1:1, but you need to get so close to your subject that lighting seems to become a problem.

So, why do I prefer the 70-300 for insect photography?

Insects often move fast between one flower and another. While people with more patience might wait for the perfect situation and use a tripod and manual focus, I don't, so I need
a) Autofocus, which you don't get with the EX-25
b) a larger range of distances from the subject your lens can handle. With both the 35mm and the 50mm you have to get rather close to the insect, meaning you have to follow it from flower to flower. With the 70-300mm you can keep your distance and just follow the subject with your camera. You might not get the best aspect ration, but with so many megapixels at hand, cropping is no issue (at least not for me)
c) did I already mention you need lot's of light? Too bad for the 35mm


I haven't tried the 35mm with the EX-25 yet (I received the lens last week and there are no insects around at the moment), but I don't think it would work. Still, 1:1 aspect ratio on 4/3 is pretty neat, see below.

Some comparison shots for the 50mm, first without and second with the EX-25:

_________________
Olympus E-30, ZD 9-18mm 4.0-5.6, ZD 50mm Makro 2.0, ZD 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, ZD 70-300 4.0-5.6

Light travel equipment:
Olympus EP-2, µZD 14-42mm , Panasonic 20mm 1.7 pancake.

Cullmann Trento IT Daypack

Not too exciting a subject, I know, but it does show what can be done with the 50mm f/2+EC-20 2x extender...I cropped it and sharpened it in PS using Intellisharpen and Topaz adjust.



A.

That's impressive, love the detail.

What surface is the subject on? And was the subject alive at capture? Just curious. Cool picture though.

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Olympus E-520, Zuiko 14-42mm 3.5-5.6, Zuiko 40-150mm 4-5.6, Zuiko 50mm 2.0
Canon powershot s5
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Maybe To get:
12-60mm
25mm

The little fella' was just resting on the round aluminium hand railing on my balcony, very much alive. I took a series a photos using the built-in flash, progressively getting closer and closer. I could have gone even a bit closer I think but it had enough and flew away..

A.

Very nice, it came out great that way. I would have not thought about using a flash, but it really brought out some great detail.

I've yet to work with the 50mm. When doing macro shots like this (with a living subject) do you find yourself working with auto focus or manual focus; because your focus is perfect in this shot.

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Olympus E-520, Zuiko 14-42mm 3.5-5.6, Zuiko 40-150mm 4-5.6, Zuiko 50mm 2.0
Canon powershot s5
---
Maybe To get:
12-60mm
25mm

It was a weird angle to shoot as I had to rest somehow the camera on the railing to give the shot this 'head-on' look so I used AF for this shot. It's only when I'm not sure that the AF will grab what I want that I would use MF. But because the camera was kind of steadied on the handrail, I could focus precisely on its eye, so I trusted the AF which is very precise on the 50mm anyway. However, I did close the aperture to something like f/11 because even if the AF is extremely precise, the DOF is so tight on this lens when wide-opened that the slightest movement and the pic is blurry, so f/11 compensated a little I think.

I used the flash because during daytime the contrast makes the subject way too dark, as it happened during a previous attempt. That time I did try spot metering but it still didn't work very well and, as I said, the insect came out under exposed no matter what. Maybe I'm not doing something right?...I'm definitely open to suggestions.

A.

Thanks for sharing the tips! I think the final result looks great.

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Olympus E-520, Zuiko 14-42mm 3.5-5.6, Zuiko 40-150mm 4-5.6, Zuiko 50mm 2.0
Canon powershot s5
---
Maybe To get:
12-60mm
25mm

I can see someones HUGE head in the last picture

Might be the refection of the bug, but it looks like a head.

very nice btw

_________________
Olympus E-30
Olympus E-1
12-60mm SWD F2.8-4
50-200mm SWD F2.8-3.5
50mm F2 Macro
FL-36R
SRF-11 Ring Flash Set
EX-25 Extension Tube
Dolica AX620B100 Tripod
and some mad Skillz

Hillarious!... Yes, I can see that too, underneath the fly's body. However, I can assure you it can't be my head's reflection because of the low angle from which I took the picture of the 'monstrous beast'. The fly's reflection can be more easily seen in the un-cropped picture, where you can see the reflection corresponding to the fly's body. The fly was resting on an aluminium round handrail that reflected its body. But very funny observation, though...

A.

So I thought I would share a 100% crop of a macro shot I took. This is hand held at 1/13 with iso 400. With built in image stabilization, it is possible.

_________________
Olympus E-520, Zuiko 14-42mm 3.5-5.6, Zuiko 40-150mm 4-5.6, Zuiko 50mm 2.0
Canon powershot s5
---
Maybe To get:
12-60mm
25mm