First impressions on Oly 30mm macro

richj20 wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Soo, here are a few shot with High Res.

This one is the best for me: everything is in sharp focus, and within the DOF. The fine edges of the inner flower parts have excellent resolution.

Another one at 48mp

Have you stopped down more than f/8?

f/8 is as far as you can go with High Res mode.

If you are concerned about diffraction, run some tests.

I'm kinda comfortable up to f/11. If I can get the stuff I want in one shot, I will rather stop down than have stuff out of focus. But most of the time, I end up doing focus stacking (in camera or in post).

A good test is to photograph a cactus with tiny spines. As you stop down, you will see at what point the tips of the spines become less defined.

Other subjects will not be as obviously affected. You will learn how much you can stop down with different subjects.

Do you use the lens as a normal lens as well as macro? I think it is a wonderful focal length combination!

So far I'm so enthralled by the macro stuff, so this is what I mostly use it for. For casual walk around shooting I have a GM5 with Panasonic 20mm, so I'm unlikely to use the 30mm as a normal prime.

Donald B wrote:

Im with you on this. The concept of 1:1went out with film. The new macro is the most pixels on the subject wins :-).

Don

which is why the TG-4,is so good at "macro". Close focus with tiny good quality sensor

I preferred it with regard to the 60mm lens and until now  I am very pleased.

robert j wrote:

Give a $40.00 LED Ring light a try.

My main reason for wanting to use artificial light is to freeze subject movement, which LED lighting can't do.

I do actually have a ring flash stuck in a drawer somewhere. I was never satisfied with the results. Shots always looked unnatural compared with ones lit from above with a diffused hotshoe flash.

One from today

Harlequin Ladybird Larva

would be nice if olympus or panasonic come out with a macro lens with a built in ring flash.  Canon just released a 35mm f2.8 macro lens with a built-in ring flash with stabilization

gameguru1360 wrote:

would be nice if olympus or panasonic come out with a macro lens with a built in ring flash. Canon just released a 35mm f2.8 macro lens with a built-in ring flash with stabilization

Yeah, before release I was secretly hoping that Olympus will do some innovating with their 30mm. But Canon takes the win with their EF-M macro by not only being wider (44mm eq vs 60 of Oly) but also having this LED light. Both of which I would welcome with open arms.

Sdlv wrote:

Astrotripper wrote:

Yeah, before release I was secretly hoping that Olympus will do some innovating with their 30mm. But Canon takes the win with their EF-M macro by not only being wider (44mm eq vs 60 of Oly) but also having this LED light. Both of which I would welcome with open arms.

To add LED lighting for the 30mm at close magnification, a macro arm light can be useful. I have the JJC version (with 6" flexible arms), as shown below -- see below. I got mine 18 months ago (for about $13) and haven't used it much, but it's the ideal length for the 30mm.

Thanks for pointing out this option. I just ordered one. While STF-8 looks very nice for stills, I'm not yet sure if I'm gonna get so serious about macro as to warrant such a tool. But this little JJC arm light should be perfect for the kind of video I play around with recently (like this ).  And should do the trick in a pinch outside, hopefully.