Macro Lens for Table Top Videos?

Sup fellas,

I'm in the market for a macro lens so that I can take table top video reviews like this.

That video was recorded with a omd + pana 12-35 f2.8 , which is the only lens I have now, but I find that it's a little awkward because of the minimal focal distance, so I'm looking for a proper macro lens.

Concerns..

- That video was recorded at 12mm, which is doable, but I fine that the widest proper macro lens on the m43 is the olympus 35mm, which...is absent from shopatolympus.com?

- Not sure about the macro performance on the 12-50 kit lens @ 12mm, most of the reviews I see are always taking their shots at the longer focal lengths. I also saw the description saying 'macro at 7 inches', which is like further than my 12-35 ...so what's going on? I was assuming macro mode meant that you could bring it real close...

I thought of getting a handycam which does macro really well, no doubt, but I thought that if the same amount of money could be used on a useful macro, why not?

Oly's 60mm and Pana's 45mm is definitely out if that's the case....any other recommendations? 3rd party? Thoughts about the kit as macro and the 35mm?

Thanks

This hasn't been answered yet, so I'll give it a try.

First, a macro lens technically means the image on the sensor is at least as big as real life. When it's the same size, it's a 1:1 macro. The 1:1 ratio is the actual size : the the size on the sensor. It also can be expressed as a 1x magnification factor. If the image on the sensor is bigger than real life, then it's a 2:1 or 4:1 (2x or 4x, respectively) lens. And some lenses call themselves macro, but don't meet the definition, such as Olympus' 50mm macro, with a 1:2 (0.5x) magnification. Note that the macro definition ignores crop factors, so the Olympus' 50mm 1:2 macro results in a picture much the same final size as a FF 1:1 macro lens (on a FF camera with the same resolution).

Now, there are two factors in how large the image on the sensor is: how close you can get, and the lens's focal length. A 12mm macro has to get about 4x closer than a 50mm macro would to get the same 1:1 ratio. And the opposite is true too: a wide focal length could have a very short minimum focus distance, but still not be a macro lens. Say a 12mm lens has the same minimum focus distance as a hypothetical 36mm 1:1 macro lens; the 12mm would have about a 3:1 (or 0.33x) magnification, and thus not be a macro lens. This is one reason most macro lens are of longer focal lengths.

All this to say, sounds like a macro lens isn't exactly what you need. I think you either want

A) a wide angle lens with a shorter minimum focus distance, or

B) a lens with a higher magnification (not necessarily a macro lens) than your's has and set up the camera as needed to get the view you want.

Both would be best, of course.  I'm not sure which lenses have shorter minimum focus or working distances, and higher magnifications on the short end, though. Sorry, not much help there.

And lastly, the 35mm Olympus lens you mention is an older four thirds lens, not a micro 4/3, so you'd need an adapter to us it, if you could find one to buy. It might give you a bigger magnification, part B) above, but I doubt you'd be happy with the angle of view.

Thanks for the extremely informative reply!

I guess I was thinking too much about the macro's ability to focus on very near objects.

Yeap, a wide angle with a nearer focusing distance would be what I need. I recently upgraded to the em1 and its corresponding oly 12-40, which has a shorter focusing distance than my previous pany 12-35.

Still can get as close as I want, but for my intended purpose, I think it does its job reasonably well.

Thanks again

shadowoflight wrote:

Sup fellas,

I'm in the market for a macro lens so that I can take table top video reviews like this.

That video was recorded with a omd + pana 12-35 f2.8 , which is the only lens I have now, but I find that it's a little awkward because of the minimal focal distance, so I'm looking for a proper macro lens.

Concerns..

- That video was recorded at 12mm, which is doable, but I fine that the widest proper macro lens on the m43 is the olympus 35mm, which...is absent from shopatolympus.com?

- Not sure about the macro performance on the 12-50 kit lens @ 12mm, most of the reviews I see are always taking their shots at the longer focal lengths. I also saw the description saying 'macro at 7 inches', which is like further than my 12-35 ...so what's going on? I was assuming macro mode meant that you could bring it real close...

I thought of getting a handycam which does macro really well, no doubt, but I thought that if the same amount of money could be used on a useful macro, why not?

Oly's 60mm and Pana's 45mm is definitely out if that's the case....any other recommendations? 3rd party? Thoughts about the kit as macro and the 35mm?

There are some native M4/3 manual lenses that have short focus distances. It seems you need close-up ability, not true macro, based on the video.

The SLR Magic Hyperprime CINE 12mm T1.6 and Voigtländer 25mm f0.95 both have a minimum focus distance of about 6". A longer focal length may be problematic and of course, manual focus presents a different set of challenges while shooting video Of the sort you show.