Moving from 60mm macro to 30mm Macro lenses? Maybe?

Architeuthis wrote:

Dann-Oh wrote:

I currently use an oly 60mm macro on a Olympus EPL10 ( I have this combo) for lens for underwater macro. I am typically diving Beach dives in Southern California, USA, aka can have lots of particulates. I have noticed I have to keep quite a bit of water between my lens and the subject to fit the subject in the frame, for macro I am going after Nudibranch (Nudi) like the Spanish Shawl, Opalescent, and Hopkins Rose (see below for size of animals) . I am wondering if I should look into the Olympus 30mm macro to be able to get closer to the subject? Do you think I should keep diving my 60mm this summer and see if I can get it to work? I'm open to ideas.

There isn't much difference between the Oly 30mm and the Pana 30mm. I will most likely need to factor in the cost of a new port or spacer ring into the total package costs.

Pana is f2.8, longer and heavier $298

Oly is f3.5, shorter working min focus distance $224

For context the 3 nudibranch that I hunt the most are:

Animal - Size

Spanish Shawl Nudi - up to 2.75in (75mm) long

Opalescent Nudi - up to 3in (80mm) long

Hopkins Rose Nudi - up to 1in (25.4mm) long

Hi Dann-Oh,

I have the Zuiko 60mm and Pana 45mm macros, but not the Zuiko 30mm macro. I use them on EM5II and EM1II. Both lenses are outstandingly good, but my favorite lens is clearly the 60mm, sometimes with CMC-1 diopter (I like to go deep into macro)...

On EM5II S-AF is a bit slow and does sometimes not work with the 60mm, while 45mm is better. With EM1II I can do C-AF with both lenses well...

In case the working distance is too long with 60mm, the 45mm is better (when lot of particles). 30mm will be even closer (too close for my taste when it comes to real 1:1 macro). For bigger objects (75mm and 80mm as you state) no 1:1 is required - here I prefer the Zuiko 12-40mm behind Zen DP170, it gives extremeley sharp results and I like to zoom out as much as possible (12mm is already WA) to show as much environment/background as possible, when the situation/animal allows...

Wolfgang

Wolfgang,

Would you be able to share any image samples of the Pana 45mm and or the 12-40? Unfortunately, my housing does not have a zoom gear option so Im stuck with fixed focal lengths. I have the Pana 8mm fisheye and 60mm macro but nothing in between. Okay I lied my housing only has one gear on it, I have to choose between a focus gear and a zoom gear. Which means; I could use the 14-42 kit lens with a zoom gear in the standard port if I wanted something in between 8mm fisheye and 60mm macro. I also have the Zuiko 12-45 F4 I could use but I'm not too sure how well it performs underwater.

I have been eyeing the Zuiko 12-40 F2.8 to compliment my 40-150 F2.8 for top side photography. I wonder if ill need a port adapter for any of these decisions?  Time to call Backscatter :-).