The possibility of true 5:1 with the new OM System 90 Pro?

That would a great possibility.  For me, it is beyond my capabilities to go 5:1 but still look forward to new 90mm lens.

Dale

oneofone25 wrote:

For this thread, ignore the whole "Olympus 60mm macro lens is 2x equivalent to full frame" argument. The 60 is a 1:1 lens with 17.3mm field of view when at 1:1. That's half the field of view of a full frame lens at 1:1, but it isn't double the magnification. It's just a smaller field of view at 1:1 by 50%.

With the new 90mm OM Systems Pro macro lens on the horizon, many are getting excited (myself, especially) at the potential of using the MC-20 teleconverter with the lens. If you aren't already aware, you can use the MC-20 with the 60mm macro lens by coupling them together with either a modified 16mm PIXCO brand extension tube, or, a Kenko 16mm extension tube pressed hard into the teleconverter and turned after you push hard.

(see this thread for details https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/64350035 )

What that setup gets you is about 2.4x magnification when the Olympus 60 is set at 1:1 - that's a field of view of just over 7mm left to right - with full ability to use the focus bracketing mode to get up to 999 images to focus bracket later in Helicon or Zerene (or your favorite stacking software), and focus stacking mode to get up to 15 images stacked in-camera.

Now, what would be FANTASTIC is if OM Systems 90mm lens came out AT THE SAME TIME with a firmware update for the OM-1 and OM-5....providing the camera with the ability to do up to 30 images stacked in-camera. The reason I think this is an important step is due to the new 90 macro lens being a 2:1. If OM Systems wants to provide the users of the new 90 with the ability to stack in-camera without need of a software such as Helicon, then I believe that doubling the capacity of the in-camera stacking would be appropriate. At 2:1 at f4.5 or so, the depth of field is going to be slim, and focus stacking in-camera will get you about half the depth of field as you are getting at 1:1 when using 15 shots. So let's see 30 shots stacked in-camera for a firmware update, please?

Om Systems, are you reading this??

Now, onto the 5x possibility....

There should be nothing standing in the way of the new 90 being able to take advantage of the MC-20/extension tube modification setup I had shared 4 years ago or so....and have written about time and time again. My estimate gets us at around 4.8x magnification if it works just like the 60mm macro lens does....without any Raynox added! That's just beautiful as it will get us a field of view of about 3.5mm left to right...

But maybe, just maybe, OM Systems has seen how many have utilized the MC-20 teleconverter for the 60, and would consider full adaptability of the MC-20 or MC-14 with the new 90, so we don't have to use the extension tube, and would help with weather-proofing....

The extra space in-between the MC-20 and 60 that is caused by the 16mm tube is what gets the setup to 2.4x instead of exactly 2x. So if OM Systems enabled the teleconverters to work with the new 90, we would likely see the 1.4x teleconverter getting you about 2.8x and the MC-20 getting you exactly 4...but still, with the sharpness this lens will likely produce, we are going to be seeing a setup that will blow anything out there out of the water....as good as the MPE-65 is with its up to 5x magnification...you cannot focus bracket with it. And 5x magnification on a full frame sensor is about 7mm field of view...so we would get near this at 8.65mm without the teleconverter....

Now, add on the crisp, sharp and bright Raynox 250? We will see around 10x magnification on the MC-20/Kenko/90/Raynox 250 setup!