harold_gough

February 2, 2017

I also have a camera (Olympus) with sensor cleaning but the kind of sticky bits from the natural environment don't shake free and a clean once or twice a year is required. It will depend on where you change lenses.

February 1, 2017

To respond to the question of how users get on with m4/3:

I started of with an Olympus EP-2. Although capable of good images, it was an appalling camera to use. In fact when my EM-1 was away for repair, I picked up the EP-2 and just couldn't understand how to use it. That rear screen was awful anyway and I could not use both the hot shoe VF-2 and flash at the same time, hopeless for macro.

These things were overcome with the EM-1, plus it used RC flash, my normal use being off-camera. I welcome the stop-smaller aperture effect for macro. Even down at effective aperture of f22 and f32, any diffraction is difficult to see and is easily removed by software. I have no interest in updating to EM-1ii.

I have a full frame Sony A7R which will make good use of my heritage wide and ultra-wide angle lenses and my full frame 1:1 Printing Nikkor 105mm macro. (I am considering a Laowa 12mm with shift, which will give 24mm with shift on m4/3).

I am not a shallow DOF enthusiast, wide-angle work being mainly buildings and landscapes.

January 31, 2017

I have a couple of Nissin di700a flash guns and the Air Command unit. They work very well TTL with my A7 (i) off camera e.g. for macro. Each has a drop down diffusion grid which does a good job.

January 12, 2017

Here is the setup (flash and camera excluded) I am now using for such close shots:

January 12, 2017

Yes, it's tempting to do something colourful via photoshop.

January 10, 2017

Here is one of the moth flies, FOV ca 4mm wide.

January 10, 2017

I shot these in the recent cold weather. I was testing my first high magnification macro setup with full aperture focusing.

I wanted to improve on some recent shots of Mothflies which live in my compost bin. I was using my EM-1 with an Olympus 4/3 50mm f2 with the a matched x2TC behind it and a Raynox MSN-202 (25 diopters) on the front. The effective aperture was f18 (f9 on the lens). The FOV was 5mm wide. Hand-held with some support.

I like to use triple flash but I struggled to get a second one aimed well enough.

As I was about to lift the lid off the bin, I noticed what I though were two extra large, slightly dark Mothflies on top of it. It was only when I saw the first one in the viewfinder that I realised that they were Heteropteran bugs. And it was not until I saw the first flash-lit image that I was the colours.

As with the Mothflies, I could not get the low angles I wanted because of the shape of the top of the bin. However, this shows how little DOF was available at f18.

January 4, 2017

Try pressing the Info button until you get several of your settings displayed. There should then be a number in the extreme bottom right, which is the number of shots left. Check by firing a waste shot and it should decrease by 1.

December 12, 2016

Here is a closer shot.

December 12, 2016

In October I bought (£180, a low price for this) an Olympus 4/3 Digital 50mm f2 ED macro. I did this based on its reputation. I already had a 4/3 to m4/3 adapter for use with an OM to 4/3 adapter and OM lenses.

I have been using it for moderate macro (life size with m4/3 crop) and it at least matched the Kiron (Lester Dine) 105 I had found to give superb results (better than OM 50mm macro and Leitz Elmarit 60mm macro, etc.). It is equally good with 43/ TCs, although I have only recently started using them. I also have a 4/3 25mm extension tube. These are some of the lower power shots.<img src="http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/ufiles/98/1363798.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" /><img src="http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/ufiles/97/1364697.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="768" />

December 3, 2016

The shorter registration distance gives enormous scope for using legacy lenses and that includes e.g. enlarging or copying lenses.

November 15, 2016

I have just be advised, in another Olympus forum, that the Olympus 4/3 70-300 was a modified Sigma full frame macro lens.

November 15, 2016

Here are a couple of shots, for my own satisfaction, and not to prove anything to anyone else. They were both handheld at 300mm (maximum aperture) and a proper test would have used a tripod. One is of a house across the road and another at about 8 feet, inside a sunlit window.

I have a system x 1.4 TC, should I want to use a smaller aperture.

Having seen what the 50mm would do, I tried the 70-300mm. That is all there is to it.

The images are uncropped and have had no in-camera adjustments. I have processed them as I would any other "keeper" images. (My images are currently only for posting on websites). These are hosted by this blog.

November 14, 2016

None of that.

November 14, 2016

The 4/3 70-300mm covers the frame at all focal lengths, with no darkening in the corners, at distance and at about 8 feet and 300mm. As the A7R shutter shake is a problem at longer focal lengths, it is not worthwhile investing in new telephoto lenses but the tele-macro will be useful on occasion. Motion blur can be taken out with my software for those few images.

November 10, 2016

Technical correction: I said I had no control of the lens aperture. It would be more accurate to say that I had no control of its diaphragm settings. I can control the effective aperture quite easily. That is for another day.

November 10, 2016

I have obtained a basic adapter. I have no control over the lens aperture, which remains on f2 but I can prefocus the lens on my EM-1. I have done some quickie shots to get the general idea of what vignetting, if any there is.

No image has been cropped. Essentially, there is a small amount at infinity but none close in (FOV ca 90mm, 42mm with 25mm tube). The small dark area top right of the second image is the background.

My interest would be in the macro possibilities. (I have Kiron 105mm macro as my go-to one for this camera).

A very relevant issue is the amount of hardware I can carry around.

October 27, 2016

Who is upset?

I don't need to "go by", whatever that means, any macro lens. I have a Printing-Nikkor 105mm which covers full frame. I like to try all sorts of new ideas, many of which pay off.

October 26, 2016

I asked a simple question and did not require anything other than a direct answer. I am not surprised that I did not get it, as I asked the same question of Olympus UK technical department. They told me that Olympus did not have that information. So, they built the lens and took a chance on the image circle?

I projected the image (infinity focus) onto a piece of paper. It measured around 40mm. I also lashed up a way of focusing the lens (set at infinity) onto the sensor of the full frame A7R. The image covers the frame. I cannot say what the edge of the image is like but there are clear macro possibilites with this lens on full frame, should an adapter be available.

October 14, 2016

The image circle is a feature of the lens design and is not a matter of distance. For example, the image circle of a shift or tilt lens will be something like 50% wider than than (43mm) of other lenses for the same format e.g. OM 35mm. The distance is a matter of infinity focus and reducing it loses that but gains closer focus.

The question is whether this lens, marketed for 4/3 has an image circle too small for a larger format.

"Many good FD macros out there by the way". Yes. I use an FD mount Kiron 105mm for most of my macro. I have a 35mm 4/3 macro AF but the working distance is too short. A 50mm macro could be interesting on FF.

October 14, 2016

Does anyone know the actual size in mm of the image circle? I can't find it in the specs or in any review.

I know it was made for 4/3 sensors but I would like to at least consider any merits of adapting it to full frame (Sony Alpha A7R). Even if it did not give a usable full-width, full frame image, it might give a larger one (to be cropped) than on 4/3 or m4/3 and the perspective would be different.

As the lens is operated totally "by wire", even in manual mode, it would have to be via a rather expensive adapter.

September 28, 2016

All I can say is that I have inhabited various macro forums for a number of years and don't recall a Canon fd 100 f/4 being credited.

September 16, 2016

https://www.stereoscopy.com/jasper/slide-bars.html

September 10, 2016

This is where My Resets come into action, if you have set them.

July 10, 2016

There are updates for the Fuji:

http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digital_cameras/software/firmware/x/xpro1/index.html

I don't entirely follow your argument about focal length effects of crop factors. Your lenses will still have a x1.5 factor on the Fuji.

I find the x2 factor of m4/3 a real bonus, especially for macro.

The only way to get the correct FL performance from your legacy wideangle* lenses is to invest in a full frame body. I have recently purchased a Sony A7R for just this. There are some shutter shake issues with telephotos (except with flash) and you may be better of with a body with IS.

All of the above is in the context that I use, almost exclusively, legacy lenses, some of which require the short registry distance of the m4/3.

* I have recently invested in a Pentax 15mm and a Laowa 15mm macro, mainly for use on the A7R. My 24mm and 17mm lenses also work well on it.

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Posts posted by harold_gough