New Olympus 30mm macro - Any interest divers?

[Ardy]

Looking at the lens rumours site they have a 30mm macro lens. Specs of Olympus 30mm f/3.5 Macro, 25mm f/1.2 and 12-100mm f/4 Lenses Leaked

There are no additional details and it tweaked my interest as the 60mm I own makes it a 120mm macro which has some drawbacks a 30mm being 60mm might have some advantages. The expected specs are:

Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 30mm F3.5 Macro Lens Specifications:

• Lens construction: 6 group seven (one DSA lens, one EDA lens, one aspherical lens)
• Minimum focusing distance: 0.095m
• Maximum photographic magnification: 1.25x (35mm equivalent 2.5-fold)
• Aperture blades number: seven
• Filter diameter: 46mm
• Size: 57 x 60mm
• Weight: 128g

 

[Furnari]

I'm thinking the working distance on this is too small except for static things like slides, coins, etc. And that's on land- put it behind a port underwater, and it's tough to see how this is useful. Would love to be wrong, though. At any rate, I like how active Panny and Oly are on bringing out new products.

BTW, if that 12-100 is an internal zoom, it might have some potential for us (although the leaked specs show a longish minimum focus distance).

 

[Ardy]

I dived with a 50mm macro lens for years in film days and loved it, so I am a bit more hopeful that you. 0.09m close focus is about 4" in old measure and that is tight. Still, I will wait and see.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

This lens should be announced tomorrow 9/19 when Photokina opens in Germany. This lens is great news for Olympus U/W photographers who are hard core macro fans. Like most lenses this one is designed to fill a void in the Olympus lens line. Most Can/Nik U/W photographers use both 50/60 and 100/105 range lenses. The 100 range lenses work best for macro (1:4 or greater) or super macro (1:1 or greater) with C/U lenses. The 50/60 range works best as a portrait lens for fish and other subjects in the 1:2 or greater range. The lens is twice as wide so as you back away from the subject it allows you to photograph larger animals at a closer range than with the 60 macro. The lens also has twice the depth of field as the 60 macro even close up given the same F/stop. These lenses do not really work all that well with C/U lenses because of limited magnification. A 50 mm macro that focuses at 1:1 which this lens does not will go from 1:1 to about 1.4:1 with +10 diopter not a huge difference and little to none at 1:2.5.

If you already own the Olympus 60 macro I would be looking to add the 30 macro for larger animals at close range. If you are just getting into macro the 30 macro is a better choice to me because the learning curve will be less frustrating than with the 60 macro.

 

[PatW]

Even a 60 mm macro has too close of a working distance to allow true macro, that is an image that is one to one on the sensor. I use it quite a bit because it is a pretty flexible lens. For true macro, a 105 is far more practical. It has a distance of about 4", if my memory serves. A 35 mm macro would work a bit like a mild wide angle with the ability to do close ups. It could be quite versatile, allowing photos of larger animals like groupers and turtles and some smaller things too. But some of the wide angle zooms and primes allow a pretty close focus distance like 4", a large aperture and more flexibility. What lens you use has more to do with your style. So use what you are happy and comfortable with.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

First of all life size (1:1) is the same regardless of the focal length of the lens. On a M43 sensor 1:1 is the same if it was taken with a 60mm or a 105mm the only difference is the working distance and skill of the photography using the lens. The new 30mm macro (60mm equivalent on 35mm) is not a 1:1 macro so it should be easer for new photographers wishing to enter the macro world.

The attached photos taken at life size (1:1) with the Olympus 60mm macro and E-M-1 using +10 and +15 C/U lenses or within 10 to 12mm of the subject.

 

[Ardy]

Hi Phil, this lens does interest me and I am looking forward to the report, I hope you will do on it.

On another topic have you given any thought to focus 'stacking' in macro? Do you know anyone doing it?

 

[Furnari]

Today's press release for the E-M1mkII mentions a new housing and a new macro port for the 60mm and 30mm. As an aside, I hope that mention of a new port means that this housing will have the same port lock system as the M5 and M1. At any rate, it does sound like they are supporting the use of the 30mm underwater. For the low price of the lens, it's probably worth a shot.

 

[JackConnick]

I agree with Phil's comments in concept, but a 60mm on a cropped DSLR like a D7200 has a 1.6x crop factor, so it's really something like a 96mm lens (35mm equiv) - much stronger, which allows for greater focusing distance.
The focusing distance sounds tight, we'll have to see how it works out. The 30mm Sony was a failure uw and diopters just made it worse.
But as Oly has announced a port (and I'm reading that like you Furnari), it sounds like they are going to stick with the M5/M1 old E-Style ports.

They think it will work. The question is also getting any light on the subject.

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

It could help if we talk about angle of view and not focal length on full frame and crop sensors. The Olympus 60 macro has an AOV of 20 degrees and full frame 105 and 150 macros are 23 & 16.4 degrees, could not find a full frame 120mm lens.
Olympus 30mm macro is 40 degrees and 60mm on full frame is 39.4 the difference being the extra hight of a 4:3 sensor over a 3:2 sensor.

Again to me the 30 and 60 are two different tools for two different jobs. The 60mm is mostly for 1:4 to 1:1 and super macro with C/U lenses.

The 30 is more of a portrait lens for animals in the 1:4 and larger range, with twice the AOV and twice the DOF.

Both of these AVO's were used with great success in the film days and are still relevant today. If I were looking for a lens to shoot 1:2, 1:1 and beyond all the time of course my choice would be the 60mm.

Regarding the macro stacking question in a word no for U/W work. The basic premise is to take several photos different DOF without anything moving and them compress them into one photo. The first problem is that you would only get in one flash of the strobes while the say five to eight images were taken. The second would be keeping everything still and the third would be the excessive blue tint stacking eight images over each other to name a few. Stacking and high res will need to be used for still life from a tripod with controlled lighting.