Using Olympus 60mm macro lens on EP-1

jiayaw wrote:

mbar63 wrote:

Hello,

my son would love to start shooting macro photos, and, given that I'm not using my venerable Olympus Pen EP-1, I am considering buying the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro lens for that purpose and let him use the resulting kit.

The only doubt I have: will he suffer any major limitation due to the age of the camera? Apart from speed in general, I mean. What about autofocus? Any problem with the MSC lens autofocus when mounted on the EP-1?

Many thanks for your help, feedbacks and comments.

I'm sure the camera and lens will give good results together, and the output from the E-P1 remains impressive, even after all this time.

BUT the biggest problem with the E-P1 is usability - I find it fine for indoor and controlled macro conditions (I prefer to use a decent legacy macro lens) but outdoors and on the fly*? Forget about it; using the LCD alone is very frustrating in bright sunlight or in awkward positions.

Additionally, the inaccessibility of magnify mode and lack of focus aids don't help to make macro shooting a delightful experience

The limitations and deterrents to getting into macro won't be the lens or the sensor, but the camera itself. I'm guessing that, as in my own case, there is a reason you are no longer using the E-P1.

*See what I did there

The magnification actually comes out automatically when you af....even on the ep1.

Sure it does, but IIRC you can't change the timeout so it is either too quick for you to finish focusing, or too slow, and (also IIRC) the shutter release doesn't exit magnify mode so you then have to wait for it to time out.

Not really wanting to go into detail here, but to initiate magnify mode manually you have to be in one particular view mode (the E-P1 doesn't combine modes as newer cameras do) and again, the shutter release doesn't exit magnify mode.

maybe not on legacy lenses but for sure any m4/3 lenses

Definitely not on legacy lenses.

The E-P1 did and still does take excellent images and is an excellent general purpose camera but for some uses, it is a dog.