Four Thirds lenses vs Micro Four Thirds lenses IQ

L0n3Gr3yW0lf wrote:

Oh, and should I try to go to a legacy 50/100mm f 3.5 macro lenses instead of the Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm f 3.5 Macro ? From what I understand the wider angle gives more DOF and it would make it a bit easier to get the subject in focus, though the small working distance will make it hard for sensitive subjects not to be scared and fly away.

It's a myth that wider angle lenses provide greater DOF. At the same magnification and aperture the depth of field will be the same, you'll just be closer and see more of the background with the wider lens.

I own the 50mm f/2 Olympus 4/3 1:2 macro lens and struggle with its limited working distance - to me the 35mm isn't a good choice for things like bugs. As well as scaring subjects away, it makes it harder to light the subject with off camera flash, especially when using a lens hood. I'd also class its AF on my GX7 as completely unusable, not just slow (although that's not a big deal for macro use).

Plenty of people get good results with legacy macro lenses, but to me the lack of automatic aperture is a significant disadvantage. It isn't practical to focus wide open and then stop down for the shot, not when shooting handheld or dealing with a moving subject. Accurately focusing stopped down is more difficult and the lack of light can degrade EVF/LCD image quality.

To me the best budget macro option on M4/3 is to use a dioptre (e.g. a Raynox DCR-150/250) on a cheap (M)4/3 zoom lens (e.g. a 40-150mm f4-5.6). That gives you a decent working distance and versatile range of magnification with the convenience a native lens provides.

And if a lens is 1:2 macro (when used in FF) shouldn't the magnification double when mounted on a Micro Four Thirds camera because of the 2x crop factor, making pseudo macro lenses into half macro and half macro lenses in full macro lenses and, subsequently, full macro lenses in 2:1 (like the Olympus Zuiko Digital 35mm f 3.5 ?

Technically the magnification isn't increased, but you will fill the frame with a smaller 1:1 subject on M4/3 rather than full frame.