Canon 60mm Macro

[DrKevbo]

Can anyone tell me if the port for the 60mm macro/ metabones combo is in fact available for the Naughticam Nex system? Would love to wait for the Zeiss 50, but need a soultion sooner than the newest release date of Feb 27th. Thanx

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Try here,

Nauticam Macro Port and Focus Gear Set for Metabones Canon EF Lens to Sony NEX Smart Adapter II and Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro [nau.36203] - $700.00 : Reef Photo & Video!, The Underwater Photo Pros

 

[DrKevbo]

Thanx Phil. I couldn't find anything on the Nauticam site.

 

[alien]

DrKevbo do you go through with this? Love to know what you think of this set up with the Canon 60mm macro?

 

[alien]

Hi Phil Would you go the Nauticam port for this lens or the Zen? thx for your thoughts

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Hi Alien,

First you will need to use manual focus for best results at close range with either setup, so be aware of that. I would tilt towards the ZEN port system because you can interchange the ports and I would want to use both the 100 and 60mm macros. Because the ports are interchangeable it may also accommodate a dome port, (you would need to ask ZEN about that) for lenses like the Canon fisheye and fisheye zoom.

If cost and the use of only the 60 macro is your choice them the Nauticam port seems the better choice. It is a shame to me that Sony has again this week introduced yet another NEX body without more lens support. Not to harp on the M43 system but you have an excellent lens in the Olympus 60 macro (a great range for U/W work, 120mm 35 equivalent) for $500.00 and you still need these work arounds to get a quality macro on NEX. Not withstanding the excellent Ziess 50 macro the Sony NEX line has been very successful but still lacks a quality lens line.

 

[alien]

Yep i hear you. Don't really want to change whole system....yet. Thx for your thoughts yet again. Assume the peaking on the Sony would work fine with this lens and the MF?

 

[Marshmellow]

Hi Phil,

As to the Canon 60 and Zen ports, is there a focus gear for the Zen port set-up you mention above when shooting 60 and 100mm macro? You mentioned using MF in both the N and Z set-ups. I know the special N port has a focus gear built in, but wasn't aware that the Z port system offered anything, but I don't keep up on it. If not, the Metabones Smart II adapter is pretty horrible in AF from what I've read.

As an inexpensive macro alternative for my trip next month, I just picked up a Sigma 60 with a metal Meike 26mm extension tube set for higher IQ SM for my NEX7, all for under $200 . Fits perfect in Port 72 and focuses fast and accurately in AF. This is a very sharp lens and has considerably higher magnification than the kit lens when using diopters. Plan to use it alone with the tubes, along with FIT 5X and Aquatica 10X diopters. Granted it doesn't have the focus range of a lens that works at infinity, but than I'm shooting SM with it exclusively. I'll switch to the 18-55 when I want more single lens versatility. All the other macro alternatives for NEX are so expensive when factoring in the ports and adapters. Like you said, too bad Sony doesn't spend as much time on lens development as they do on camera bodies.

The Sigma set-up will have to do until things shake out a bit in NEX lens selection or Zeiss releases the 50. I'll post some stuff from the extension tube set-up as soon as I can during the 3 months I'm in the Philippines for those interested in a lower cost macro alternative. Curious to see how much better it does than the kit lens and what kind of ranges I'll have to work with using the tubes and diopters. Surface testing appeared promising and workable for SM. Having the Port 72 swing mount will make it a little easier when trying different focus ranges.

Marshall

 

[alien]

Thanks Marshall can you please post pics of your actual set up with this or links?

 

[Marshmellow]

Hi Alien,

I don't have any UW photos from this set-up yet, but it's pretty straight forward as to the configuration. The extension tubes come in a 16 and 10mm set. You stack them for 26mm, add the Sigma 60mm and you have exactly the same length as the 18-55 fully extended. It fits perfectly in Port 72. As to the limited focus range, it's not much different then when I went down with a 100mm macro and diopters; one is limited on what they can shoot. The magnification is considerably higher than the kit lens and the Sigma has some of the highest ratings on test sites, both in resolution across the f stop's and very low CA. So it'll be interesting to see what kind of results gets I get on the NEX7 sensor. Really not much macro choice for us NEX macro shooters in any kind of affordable range. I'm envy what 4/3 people have in that regard, but like you, I'm not changing systems any time soon.

In terms of working space, at the highest magnification I have a couple inches to work with in front of the lens which is enough for my lights. I hope this suffices until someone makes a reasonably longer macro like a 70-100. Personally after working with a 100mm in my old Canon rig on APS-C, I love to see a 70-80mm macro and some small wide primes to fit our 4.33 dome.

I'll try to put my rig together for you this week sometime and take a few photos of an common object (probably my mac keyboard, it's what I used) and show you the magnification comparisons and maximum distance you can get with only the extension tubes and no diopter. I made tests on graph paper a while back, but probably just easier to gauge the magnification on something familiar with a few photos.

Marshall