E-520 and 50mm Macro a bit soft

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Ardy

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Location
Australia - Southern HIghlands NSW
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Hi Guys something is wrong with my set up. I have looked at severals guys shots prior to making this purchase and they were all very sharp in macro. My latest efforts with the 50mm macro are a little disappointing.

I am using RAW but I am not seeing the level of detail that say Gary gets from the same set up I am a bit disappointed.

Are there any settings I have changed that could be affecting this?

The flatworm is about the sharpest.
 

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Need to know what your settings are.

For macro I suggest around 180th (I think that's as high as your camera will sync) & f/12-16. Move your strobes in close and adjust as necessary.

Jack
 
Hi Guys something is wrong with my set up. I have looked at severals guys shots prior to making this purchase and they were all very sharp in macro. My latest efforts with the 50mm macro are a little disappointing.

I am using RAW but I am not seeing the level of detail that say Gary gets from the same set up I am a bit disappointed.

Are there any settings I have changed that could be affecting this?

The flatworm is about the sharpest.

Jack's advice helped my photo's greatly. I have the same set up but you do need a decent focus light or you will not the best focus. I also have much better luck shooting macro in manual mode 1/180 and f16-f22 so your depth of field is larger and I use my strobes (sea & sea 110 and 110a) on optical ttl. A few adjustments in light room and I'm getting great results now.

Brian
 
Hi Guys I should have said that I am running it in manual. Most of the macro shots are taken at 1/80th and between F18 and F22 with a single manual strobe although that's by the by.

I was wondering if there were any of the weird settings that could effect the sharpness of the shot?

I will give the 1/180th a try next time I get wet Jack.
 
Generally the fastest shutter speed tends to give the best results, but it depends on how much or little background you want to show.

I'd say decrease your f/stop to a more mid range setting and get your strobe close for the best color saturation. I generally find that much above f/16 starts to get soft on most lenses/sensors.

This was shot at 1/180 f/16 single Oly UFL-2 in TTL on an E520.
3354782505_b36b239418.jpg


Jack
 
Jack that is more like I was expecting from the 50mm macro lens. Something else just dawned on me (I am a bit slow some times). It is a 4/3rds system therefore depth of field is better than on say my old Nikon F4 film set-up with a 100mm macro lens. The DOF in your shot at F16 is excellent and is far greater than I could get on my old film set up at F16. It is also sharper than I got on my last trip.

Need to adjust my plot for this system.
 
Jack one more question if I may. Is the 1/180th only for macro or for all fish shots as well on this camera?
 
Ardy,
1/125 - 1/180th is where the camera should live with the 50mm IMO. As Jack stated, and it is true with any lens, the mid-point of your f-stop will be the sharpest point. So f13-f16 is a great place to keep the 50mm lens. BTW, even though I knew this in Bonaire I got a little intoxicated with my 1.4TC and its ability to make the f-stop f32. While every shot came back with super DOF, it wasn't near as sharp as my shots taken a year earlier in the Philippines. So I'm living in f16-f18 these days with the 50mm and TC combo.
 
Hi Gary thanks for the confirmation of what Jack has been saying. Any chance of a look at some of the 1.4 TC shots?? It is the obvious next move.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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