Pancake lens and macro tubes

[alex_p._schorsch]

Hi everybody. I was wondering if the 25mm pancake lens accepts the use of a macro tube. I could then use this lens

as a "walkaround" everyday carry and as a good "office camera" for scanning documents and small stuff. Cheers,

Alex.

[tommyinca]

The 25mm pancake already has a minimum focus distant of 20CM and can fill the screen with a 95mm wide

document. Putting it on an extension 25mm tube (EX-25) will result in too little working distant and properly too

much magnification for this lens. Make more sense with teleconvertor for this one.

[alex_p._schorsch]

Sounds good. Do you still have autofocus with the extension tube and/or teleconverter???

[GerrySiegel]

If you are doing table top work of any importance ( you didn't say what you are copying) and want better results,then I recommend plan to spring for the 50mm F2 macro. It isn't your pancake pintsize,but it is pretty compact,light, and gets great flat field results and good working distance. I guess I am echoing the same old themes to say that SLRs by definition require a lens system that fits your applications( within a reasonable budget). You will come to appreciate Olympus's real company strengths in lens design. Wait to catch a discount.

 

You can still add a tube. Or teleconverter.

[patrick j dempsey]

When using extension tubes it's best to turn AF off and prefocus and move the entire camera to focus. Not all tubes and teleconverters are created equally and if you find some for under $50 it's likely that they don't have any electronics in them and are just a physical connection... these cheap tubes will not allow for autofocus or electronic aperture control and should be regarded as a scam! So shop carefully, it could be easy to end up wasting alot of money on bunk gear. Don't expect to pay under $200 for electronic tubes or teleconverter. Beware of screw-on diopter lenses mislabeled as "teleconverter lenses". You can recognize a diopter because the front of it looks just like a normal lens, with no visible lens mount. A true teleconverter has shiney flat steel lens-mounts on both sides with a small lens inside. It's best to stay with a recognizable brands like Olympus, Sigma, Tokina, if it says it's shipping from Hong Kong, it's probably junk. Also be sure it is for Olympus Four Thirds mount and not Olympus OM, or Pen F mount.

[godfrey]

The ZD 25/2.8 works fine with the EC14 teleconverter and will provide an FoV that covers about 67 x 50 mm at minimum

focus distance. The EX25 will get you in much tighter but since the tube is designed to provide the 50 Macro with the range

from 1:2 to 1:1 magnification, you're going to have a discontinuous hole in the range of magnifications available.

 

There's really little point to either the tube or teleconverter with the ZD25/2.8, which becomes a 35mm f/3.9 lens with the

converter. If you want a nice walk around lens that is small and light and also supports 1:1 macro, the ZD 35/3.5 Macro does

a better job and only costs about $200. Also, the two lenses together are less expensive than the ZD 25 plus either the EC14

or EC20 teleconverters, only $100 more than the ZD 25 plus EX25, and take up about the same amount of space in pocket

or bag anyway.

 

I use the ZD 35 Macro for recording documents all the time. It is well corrected for flat field copy work with only minor simple barrel

distortion, easily correctable if desired. It also makes a nice short portrait tele for general shooting and has nice rendering qualities on

landscape and people pictures in the f/3.5-f/7.1 range.

 

Godfrey