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Candle_UK

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Hi all excuse the silly questions as I am not over clued up on photography but I do love it and want to get more deeply into it. I currently own a FZ38 which is a jack of all trades but the image quality always leaves me wanting more. I am though just a point and shooter type at the moment. I have stuck with the FZ as I have never wanted to carry lots of kit around etc.

I have got my hands on a new G3 with just the 14-42 lens that comes with it, the size suits me and I am hoping I can up my image quality. The problem is I am used to taking lots and lots of shots of the same subject in various the modes that the FZ has instantly without having to do anything apart from pressing a button.

Forgive me for asking this but what you all advise to make the G3 similar to the FZ38, ie I have found that out of the box I am unable to take extreme close ups of plants. The FZ has a button on it that I press for auto focus macro mode and I can stick my lens right up against my target. I can't get anywhere near with the G3. I understand it is a different type of photography but I can't afford lots of money on a dedicated macro lens so is there any tips etc. to help me.

I am beginning to fear that I may be in over my head with the G3 and can see that I would have to spend a fortune on more lenses when my FZ already does the job all be it with less quality.

Thanks in advance
--
Down South in Dorset UK
 
Regarding extreme close ups, typically you will have to buy a 'macro' lens to do this. Most conventional lenses aren't designed to focus to a very close distance as you require.

You should be able to focus 'reasonably' close however, but sometimes the camera can have difficulty focusing in such situations, especially if it is a low-contrast subject. If you have this problem, what I would do is switch the camera to manual focus, change the focus to the closest position possible, and then move the camera back/forth until the subject is in focus. This is as close as you will get.

You can also try zooming in - some lenses have the same minimum focus distance regardless of focal length (zoom) AFAIK (i'm not an expert).

Sorry if this sounds overly complicated!
 
Welcome to micro 4/3 forum,

Ok, this is how to get closer without spending a fortune, there is a mode on the camera called ETC zoom, it lets you get closer to your subject by cropping the centre of the sensor, this will get you from 84mm, the normal max distance ( FL ) to about 160mm, the trade off is the image becomes a 4mp instead of 15mp, but at normal viewing distance of the image you wont see much difference, of course if you pixel peep you will see the difference.

The second method to get closer with the kit lens is to buy a cheap close up filter/lens, you can get a raynox 150 or 250 on amazon for about £40 the last time i looked, the 150 will magnify your image by about 4x and the 250 about 8x.

Hope this of some help to you.
--
Mark.
 
Hi and many thanks for the answers, I have had a look at the Raynox 250 and for the money it sounds great. Would I need anything else to fit it on the G3 with the standard 14-42 lens ?

Thanks again to everyone your help is much appreciated, i so want to love the camera I think I am just a bit scared of it at the moment. I have never had to change lenses etc. before

--
Down South in Dorset UK
 
mark1000 said:
Welcome to micro 4/3 forum,

Ok, this is how to get closer without spending a fortune, there is a mode on the camera called ETC zoom, it lets you get closer to your subject by cropping the centre of the sensor, this will get you from 84mm, the normal max distance ( FL ) to about 160mm, the trade off is the image becomes a 4mp instead of 15mp, but at normal viewing distance of the image you wont see much difference, of course if you pixel peep you will see the difference.

The second method to get closer with the kit lens is to buy a cheap close up filter/lens, you can get a raynox 150 or 250 on amazon for about £40 the last time i looked, the 150 will magnify your image by about 4x and the 250 about 8x.
Click to expand...
All this is good advice, but there are at least three other methods open to you:
  • buy a dedicated m43 macro lens. The only one currently available in the UK is the Panasonic Leica 45mm f2.8 macro lens. It offers superb quality but comes at a considerable price. Those of us who have used it quite a lot regard it as good value nevertheless.
  • buy a 'legacy' macro lens originally intended for a 35mm film SLR camera. These can be found quite cheaply but you also need to buy an adapter to fit these lenses onto the G3. You will probably need to shoot from a tripod or a monopod in manual mode with such a lens. Another learning curve.
  • buy an Olympus 43 fit macro lens and attach it via either Panasonic's or Olympus's dedicated 43 to m43 adapter.
There are also possibilities of using more conventional 'legacy' lenses with reversing rings or extension tubes, but you may not want to go there.
 
Modern point and shoot cameras are remarkably versatile. They are able to do close up and long telephoto all with one lens.

Even the image quality, for web sized images is good.

By moving up to an interchangeable lens camera with a larger sensor you gain a lot more image quality, useful for large prints. But you lose the versatiltiy of a single lens being able to do everything. The lenses are interchangeable because you will need to have different lenses for different jobs.

To do close up photography with the G3 you have many options, some very expensive and some very cheap. A dedicated macro lens like the Panasonic/Leica 45mm is expensive. But you could just get a cheap close up filter to screw onto the 14-42 zoom lens. Although cheap this will give you better quality than your point and shoot in macro mode. But once attached to your lens you will only be able to take close ups. You will have to take it off again to resume normal photography.

You might ask why you can't have a camera with a large sensor that can have a single lens which will do everything, like a point and shoot. The answer is that the lens would be too big and too expensive. It's only feasible to design a small do everything lens for a small sensor.

--
Vaughan
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/jvwpc/
 
No you don't need anything else. The raynox clips on to the front of the lens.

Regards
John
 
mark1000 said:
Welcome to micro 4/3 forum,

Ok, this is how to get closer without spending a fortune, there is a mode on the camera called ETC zoom, it lets you get closer to your subject by cropping the centre of the sensor, this will get you from 84mm, the normal max distance ( FL ) to about 160mm, the trade off is the image becomes a 4mp instead of 15mp, but at normal viewing distance of the image you wont see much difference, of course if you pixel peep you will see the difference.

The second method to get closer with the kit lens is to buy a cheap close up filter/lens, you can get a raynox 150 or 250 on amazon for about £40 the last time i looked, the 150 will magnify your image by about 4x and the 250 about 8x.

Hope this of some help to you.
--
Mark.
Click to expand...
Thanks again everybody, a Raynox 250 is on its way to me and should arrive tomorrow, if I decide the G3 is to much for me and return it I can still use the raynox 250 on my FZ38

Mark your tip about the ETC zoom helped quite a bit, many thanks.

Keeping my fingers crossed for some good weather so I can get out this weekend and have a proper play with the G3.
--
Down South in Dorset UK
 
The basic premise behind u 4/3 is that the lenses are specialized and that you will buy an appropriate lens for what you want to shoot. The benefit you get is better image qaulity (IQ), the cost is size and money. The basic premise with point n shoots is that one camera with a compact built in lens does it all. The benefit is reduced size and cost, the price is lower IQ.

You must come to terms with this bargain before you can choose the appropriate camera. You can not beat the system. If you want better IQ you are going to have to spend more money and carry more stuff. The good news is that with u 4/3 at the portrait and telephoto lenghts, there are lots of good cheap lenses to choose from. Not so much at wide angle and macro-only the expensive stuff.

Tedolph
 
Not as much as you'd think. I have seen some exceptional postings that used a manual macro and extension tube. For example, though this is far from the best example that I've seen, my 1:1 macro cost around $100 (for scale, the winter ant Prenolepis imparis is about an eighth of an inch long).



 
I would call those "super macro". For regualr macro a 50mm legacy lens and a reversing ring would seem to do the trick, no?

Tedolph
 
Not a fools question, at all. The fools are the one's who don't know and don't ask.

Welcome to m43.

Enjoy your nice camera!
Candle_UK said:
Hi all excuse the silly questions as I am not over clued up on photography but I do love it and want to get more deeply into it. I currently own a FZ38 which is a jack of all trades but the image quality always leaves me wanting more. I am though just a point and shooter type at the moment. I have stuck with the FZ as I have never wanted to carry lots of kit around etc.

I have got my hands on a new G3 with just the 14-42 lens that comes with it, the size suits me and I am hoping I can up my image quality. The problem is I am used to taking lots and lots of shots of the same subject in various the modes that the FZ has instantly without having to do anything apart from pressing a button.

Forgive me for asking this but what you all advise to make the G3 similar to the FZ38, ie I have found that out of the box I am unable to take extreme close ups of plants. The FZ has a button on it that I press for auto focus macro mode and I can stick my lens right up against my target. I can't get anywhere near with the G3. I understand it is a different type of photography but I can't afford lots of money on a dedicated macro lens so is there any tips etc. to help me.

I am beginning to fear that I may be in over my head with the G3 and can see that I would have to spend a fortune on more lenses when my FZ already does the job all be it with less quality.

Thanks in advance
--
Down South in Dorset UK
Click to expand...
 
You can still get some nice shots w/o macro if you are further away. I got my g3 about a week ago and played with some flower shots I was using the 45-200. I don't remember if I tried any with the 14-42

It depends on what you are photographing and lighting. Obviously a macro lens has its uses, but just for fun you can use the zooms.









--
rsp
 
You can get extension tubes for m4/3, but it will be manual.
 
Cailean Gallimore said:
Not a fools question, at all. The fools are the one's who don't know and don't ask.

Welcome to m43.

Enjoy your nice camera!
Candle_UK said:
Hi all excuse the silly questions as I am not over clued up on photography but I do love it and want to get more deeply into it. I currently own a FZ38 which is a jack of all trades but the image quality always leaves me wanting more. I am though just a point and shooter type at the moment. I have stuck with the FZ as I have never wanted to carry lots of kit around etc.

I have got my hands on a new G3 with just the 14-42 lens that comes with it, the size suits me and I am hoping I can up my image quality. The problem is I am used to taking lots and lots of shots of the same subject in various the modes that the FZ has instantly without having to do anything apart from pressing a button.

Forgive me for asking this but what you all advise to make the G3 similar to the FZ38, ie I have found that out of the box I am unable to take extreme close ups of plants. The FZ has a button on it that I press for auto focus macro mode and I can stick my lens right up against my target. I can't get anywhere near with the G3. I understand it is a different type of photography but I can't afford lots of money on a dedicated macro lens so is there any tips etc. to help me.

I am beginning to fear that I may be in over my head with the G3 and can see that I would have to spend a fortune on more lenses when my FZ already does the job all be it with less quality.

Thanks in advance
--
Down South in Dorset UK
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
for u 4/3 macro photography is........??

Tedolph
 
curriosity a bit.

Why did you buy an interchangeable lens camera if you didn't know what you were getting into?

I mean this in the most respectful way and am very interested in your answer.

Thank you in advance for your response.

Tedolph
 
It takes a bit more practice but yes, a 50mm std prime with reversing ring can take some fantastic macro pics for very little $$$. I remember one guy who specializes in wolf spiders using that trick to take pics where you could count the whiskers.

In general I'd say that money does not limit anyone's access to macro with this system. The real limiting factor is practice and patience.
 
Yet another option is to use something like a legacy MF 50mm f1.8 with extension tube(s). Since such a lens is also good for portraits and such you get double duty out of the one lens. There are lots of ways around this problem.
 
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