Olympus 40-150 f2.8 is fantastic

MatLD wrote:

Albert Valentino wrote:

MatLD wrote:

I've been contemplating buying the 60mm f2.8 macro for a while, and insects would be an interesting subject for me. I'm puzzled by your shots (very nice ones btw) as 210mm seems a very long focal length for macro.

I know almost nothing about macro : did you shoot at 210mm to get maximum magnification from your lens or because of the distance to the subject ?

In other words, would you rather use the 60mm f2.8 for these shots if you had it ?

either will work but the difference is how close you need to get for the same composition. The 40-150 combo gives you space which is useful reqch for insects like bees. To get the max mag out of the 40-150 combo you don't necessarily need to use the long end, that is to magnify distance subjects. So the 40-150 is a versatile solution, whereas a dedicated macro is a less flexible specialized tool. I can highly recommend the 60mm macro, especially when on sale or a deal on a good used one.

Hum, I thought the minimum focusing distance was the same on all the range with the 40-150mm pro, and also did not change with the TC on. That would mean that you would indeed have the max magnification at 210mm.

In any-case, I understand that some reach can be useful, but is the 60mm too short ? Is 210mm too long ? (for things like bees, ants, flies and spiders that is)

Not sure what you mean by 210mm being too long? If the TC was 2x I would be shooting at 300mm if I could fit the scene in the sensor. It all depends on how large of a scene you aim to capture.

When we are down to the size of ants and smaller the macro lens will be more useful I'm sure.