M43 flexibility for Macro photography with Oly 60mm F2.8, extension tubes, raynox M-250 and MC-20 TC

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a longtime reader and member of DPreview, but it is actually my first time posting on the forum.

The forum has been of tremendous help and a great inspiration through my photography journey and has been invaluable in my learning of the craft, so I’d be very glad to participate in helping others by sharing with you some of my findings/opinions.

Also, I know many of you are truly talented and knowledgeable photographers, so it’d be really appreciated to have some feedback on the pictures I’m going to share.

The gear I’m using for true macro is primarily the EM1 X (sometimes the EM1 II) with Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro, this gives up to 2x magnification in FF equivalence.

If I need more magnification, my first pick is adding the Raynox M-250 (DCR-250) diopter in front of the lens. It is a fantastic option, since it just takes a second to clip in front of the lens, it doesn’t loose too much light, and to my eye it doesn’t seem to degrade the picture quality (maybe just a tiny bit of chromatic aberration in some case, but that’s really neat picking).

From there, if I need more magnification I have different options. I an add extension tubes to the mix, or I can remove the raynox M-250 and use 2x 10mm extension tubes with the Olympus MC20 2x Teleconverter. The latter actually yields quite impressive results with the 60mm F2.8 macro. It makes you loose 2 stops of light but makes you jump straight to a little over 4x magnification (FF Eq.). You do lose a little in IQ but it is still impressively good. I would even dare say that the IQ loss is less noticeable than on the 300mm F4 or 40-150mm F2.8. That may be due to the close focus distance and the impressive 60mm F2.8 microcontrast.

Then, if you want to go crazy and need even more macro power, you can go 2x 10mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. From there you can definitely tell it does start to affect the IQ, but still perfectly useable in my opinion. Finally, you can reach about 8x (FF Eq.) magnification I believe (don’t quote me on that, I’m not totally sure but that’s definitely a lot, just a little less than the 10x I have with the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x macro) with the combo 2x 10mm extension tubes + 16mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. With this last setup, that’s the limit of usability, I think, regarding IQ, light loss and the fact that it’s the maximum number of extension tube you can use before the focus bracketing starts failing.

I feel this setup is really awesome. You can actually go from infinity to up to about 8x macro with 1 lens, while still having access to focus bracketing and AF!!! I’m not sure but to my knowledge I don’t see anything else that can do that. You can surely find options that will provide better result at specific tasks, like using bigger sensor with motorized bellows and microscope lenses, but you can hardly consider that a hassle free, convenient, flexible, lightweight, compact, run & gun setup...

Here are some picture taken with this setup (Not full resolution) :

Shot of an adult male Phidippus Audax (about 15mm with the legs spread)

Shot of a juvenile Spiny Flower Mantis (Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii) (size : about 15mm)
Single shot handheld

Gear :
Olympus Em1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro

————————————————

Macro Portrait Shot of a Juvenile Phidippus Regius Bumblebee Jumping Spider perching on a dead leaf.
Subject size : 4mm.
Single shot handheld.

Gear :

Em1X + 60mm F2.8 + Raynox M-250

—————————————————————-

Macro portrait of a juvenile Bold Jumper (Phidippus Audax)
Subject size : about 4mm
Single shot handheld

Gear :
Olympus Em1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro
16mm extension tubes
Raynox M-250

————————————————-

Macro portrait shot of a juvenile Phidippus Regius jumping spider.
Subject size : 5mm
120 shots focus stack

Gear :
Olympus Em1 X
Olympus 60mm f2.8 Macro
2x 10mm extension tubes
Olympus MC-20 2x teleconverter
Raynox M-250 (DCR-250)

————————————————-

Macro side portrait of a weevil.
150 shots focus stacked.
Subject size : about 2.5mm

Gear :
Olympus Em1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro
Olympus MC-20 2x teleconverter
2x 10mm + 16mm extension tubes
Raynox M-250 (DCR-250)

—————————————————-

Single shot handheld of a Baby Phidippus Audax (size : 2.5mm)

Gear :

Olympus Em1 X
Olympus 60mm f2.8 macro
2x 10mm extension tubes
Olympus MC-20 2x teleconverter

————————————————-

Macro shot of a juvenile Phidippus Audax jumping spider.
Single Shot Handheld.

Gear :
Olympus EM1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro

————————————————-

Macro shot of a Phidippus Audax jumping spider.
Single Shot Handheld.

Gear :
Olympus EM1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro
Raynox M-250

—————————————————-

Closeup shot of moth in flight.
Single Shot Handheld.

Gear :
Olympus EM1 X
Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro

————————————————-

There it is for today!

I hope it can be helpful to someone.

I’ll try to make a topic about the 300mm F4 Pro for closeup photography and also the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x on M43 and show the difference with the 60mm F2.8 when I find the time.

If you like the pictures I shared and you have some time at hand, you can have a look at some of my work on 500px at : https://500px.com/julienmonborgne

I post regularly on that platform.

Thanks for your time.

Julien

junmoe62 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a longtime reader and member of DPreview, but it is actually my first time posting on the forum.

The forum has been of tremendous help and a great inspiration through my photography journey and has been invaluable in my learning of the craft, so I’d be very glad to participate in helping others by sharing with you some of my findings/opinions.

Also, I know many of you are truly talented and knowledgeable photographers, so it’d be really appreciated to have some feedback on the pictures I’m going to share.

The gear I’m using for true macro is primarily the EM1 X (sometimes the EM1 II) with Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro, this gives up to 2x magnification in FF equivalence.

If I need more magnification, my first pick is adding the Raynox M-250 (DCR-250) diopter in front of the lens. It is a fantastic option, since it just takes a second to clip in front of the lens, it doesn’t loose too much light, and to my eye it doesn’t seem to degrade the picture quality (maybe just a tiny bit of chromatic aberration in some case, but that’s really neat picking).

From there, if I need more magnification I have different options. I an add extension tubes to the mix, or I can remove the raynox M-250 and use 2x 10mm extension tubes with the Olympus MC20 2x Teleconverter. The latter actually yields quite impressive results with the 60mm F2.8 macro. It makes you loose 2 stops of light but makes you jump straight to a little over 4x magnification (FF Eq.). You do lose a little in IQ but it is still impressively good. I would even dare say that the IQ loss is less noticeable than on the 300mm F4 or 40-150mm F2.8. That may be due to the close focus distance and the impressive 60mm F2.8 microcontrast.

Then, if you want to go crazy and need even more macro power, you can go 2x 10mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. From there you can definitely tell it does start to affect the IQ, but still perfectly useable in my opinion. Finally, you can reach about 8x (FF Eq.) magnification I believe (don’t quote me on that, I’m not totally sure but that’s definitely a lot, just a little less than the 10x I have with the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x macro) with the combo 2x 10mm extension tubes + 16mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. With this last setup, that’s the limit of usability, I think, regarding IQ, light loss and the fact that it’s the maximum number of extension tube you can use before the focus bracketing starts failing.

I feel this setup is really awesome. You can actually go from infinity to up to about 8x macro with 1 lens, while still having access to focus bracketing and AF!!! I’m not sure but to my knowledge I don’t see anything else that can do that. You can surely find options that will provide better result at specific tasks, like using bigger sensor with motorized bellows and microscope lenses, but you can hardly consider that a hassle free, convenient, flexible, lightweight, compact, run & gun setup...

Here are some picture taken with this setup (Not full resolution) :

There it is for today!

I hope it can be helpful to someone.

I’ll try to make a topic about the 300mm F4 Pro for closeup photography and also the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x on M43 and show the difference with the 60mm F2.8 when I find the time.

If you like the pictures I shared and you have some time at hand, you can have a look at some of my work on 500px at : https://500px.com/julienmonborgne

I post regularly on that platform.

Thanks for your time.

Julien

Julien-

It truly is a great setup.  I have been using similar to what you do for the last year.  I use the Olympus EM1 Mark 2, the MC-20 teleconverter, a 16mm PIXCO brand extension tube and I scraped out some of the plastic inside. Using the 16mm saves 4mm of void space compared to using two 10mm tubes, and allows for less light loss.  The 16mm pixco is the only one that I have found will work out of about 5 different extension tubes.  I then hook up the 60mm macro lens and a Raynox 202 or the 505.  WIth the 505, I acquire about 9x magnification on the Micro 43 system - about 18x equivalent on full-frame.    Here are some of the shots I have done, and a pic of my setup:

a grain of garnet sand, 1/4mm wide balanced on another grain of sand, both from Bandon, Oregon.  I stacked 147 images for this shot in Helicon.  Focus bracket mode works flawlessly with the setup, but you must use 1/10 for the focus bracket step setting.  Image was cropped only to put into a portrait setup:

The head of a wheel bug - used HIGH RESOLUTION MODE for this stack of 37 images.  I use Olympus Capture to move my focus little by little through the object.  High resolution mode does not work very well with my sand pictures but works with insects as long as they are dead.  Go figure....

2mm field of view

Scales from the wing of a Luna Moth.  Image was cropped by 50% to show texture.  Less than 1mm field of view

the foot of a Robber Fly.  1.5mm field of view

My pet jumping spider with it's prey.  This is a live shot (for the spider at least!!!)

210 images stacked

WOW! just doesn't cut it but swearing isn't allowed.

You are both incredibly talented and thank you for sharing your images.

Oh, and welcome Julien.

I love Weevils and I especially love your Weevil

Welcome Julien. Wow, what great images. Those spider eyes are really mesmerising

That's quite a setup and must be difficult to use handheld.

The Olympus 60mm macro lens seems to be the best of the bunch and is now hard to come by.  All the stores, both bricks'n'mortar and online seem to be out of stock. Fortunately, I managed to find one and await delivery.

junmoe62 wrote:

Macro shot of a juvenile Phidippus Audax jumping spider.

You can just name this picture "Phidippus audax,jumping spider." The shallow depth of field (which is usually problematic in macro photography) works here very well, emphasizing action and precise timing. Well done!

Incredible images. Thank you, for posting. First post and you've started with a bang.

Thanks Julien - amazing images and thankyou for describing your setup. What brand of extension tubes do you use? Do you use manual or auto focus?

What brand of 46-37 mm step-down ring did you use? I have struggled to find one.

Wow, this is just insane.

Amazing.

Had to pick up my jaw from the floor.

I recently picked up the 60mm and STF-8 and I do have the extension tubes and DCR-250. Man, this makes me want to go out and experiment and practice. Maybe one day I will be able to get images 1/10th as good as those

Royd63uk wrote:

Nice shot's

A picture of the set up with the extension tubes and 2x converter would be useful

Hi Royd63uk,

Thank you, I’m glad you like the pics!

Concerning the setup, oneofone25 was faster to answer your question, it is pretty much the same setup.

These are the extension tubes that I use. The brand is LAINA, they very cheap plastic built Chinese tubes. They Are not the sturdiest ones but they work great and they have the connections to communicate with the camera for AF and metadata. They seem to be the exact same than the PIXCO ones that oneofone25 posted.

As you can see below, part of the MC-20 optic is protruding out. You need to have the hole inside the extension tubes big enough to fit them on. The holes inside the tubes are slightly conical, so the 16mm one doesn’t fit, unless you shave the inside, as oneofone25 explained. The 10mm tubes fit without the need to modify them, but they are too short to fit the lens without having the back of the lens touching the MC-20. That’s the reason why you will need 2 of them for it to work. It also means you’ll need to buy 2 sets of tubes. If you don’t want to buy 2 sets, you can whether use the 10mm tube first and fit the 16mm on, or modify the 16mm. Note that the 10mm + 16mm option will lose more light than the 10mm + 10mm, the single modified 16mm being the best option for light loss, but also offers less magnification.

Also, keep in mind that using those extension tubes will lose the weather sealing between the MC-20 and the lens.

Then, to fit the Raynox M-250, I decided to use the clip on adapter that’s supplied with it. I prefer that way instead of screwing it on top. It’s just faster to put on and of I find. Especially considering that is the element I mount or unmount the most often.

To mount it though, the front thread diameter of the lens is too small, s you’ll need a 46mm to 52mm step up ring. (I‘m afraid I have absolutely no idea which brand it is...)

There is the full magnification setup (MC-20 + 10mm tube + 10mm Tube + 16mm tube + Oly 60mm F2.8 + 46mm to 52mm step up ring + clip on Raynox M-250 :

I hope it is clear and helpful!

Richard2Go wrote:

Those are some great photos, Julien.

I’m curious, did you use auto-focus for those shots? I ask because I started using an adapted macro lens, a Canon FD 50mm with extension tubes. It’s a great lens in great condition, and the limiting factor is definitely my photographic abilities and not the capabilities of the lens. But I don’t feel like I’m missing auto-focus, manual focus with peaking seems to do the job pretty well. Thanks.

Hi Richard,

Thanks for your kind words!

Sometimes I’m using AF, especially if the subject is really naughty and doesn’t want to stay still!

But most of the time (like 90 to 99% of the time) I’ll just MF at the magnification desired and focus with my body by moving back and forth slightly. You can also use this technic to do handheld focus bracketing, meaning that you shoot a series of shots by moving slightly back and forth. That’s very efficient, but it is easier to achieve with flashes that have faster recycle time. Also it is easier to achieve with lesser magnifications, for the reason above and because the DOF gets increasingly small with higher magnification.

cheers!

oneofone25 wrote:

junmoe62 wrote:

Hi everyone,

I’ve been a longtime reader and member of DPreview, but it is actually my first time posting on the forum.

The forum has been of tremendous help and a great inspiration through my photography journey and has been invaluable in my learning of the craft, so I’d be very glad to participate in helping others by sharing with you some of my findings/opinions.

Also, I know many of you are truly talented and knowledgeable photographers, so it’d be really appreciated to have some feedback on the pictures I’m going to share.

The gear I’m using for true macro is primarily the EM1 X (sometimes the EM1 II) with Olympus 60mm F2.8 macro, this gives up to 2x magnification in FF equivalence.

If I need more magnification, my first pick is adding the Raynox M-250 (DCR-250) diopter in front of the lens. It is a fantastic option, since it just takes a second to clip in front of the lens, it doesn’t loose too much light, and to my eye it doesn’t seem to degrade the picture quality (maybe just a tiny bit of chromatic aberration in some case, but that’s really neat picking).

From there, if I need more magnification I have different options. I an add extension tubes to the mix, or I can remove the raynox M-250 and use 2x 10mm extension tubes with the Olympus MC20 2x Teleconverter. The latter actually yields quite impressive results with the 60mm F2.8 macro. It makes you loose 2 stops of light but makes you jump straight to a little over 4x magnification (FF Eq.). You do lose a little in IQ but it is still impressively good. I would even dare say that the IQ loss is less noticeable than on the 300mm F4 or 40-150mm F2.8. That may be due to the close focus distance and the impressive 60mm F2.8 microcontrast.

Then, if you want to go crazy and need even more macro power, you can go 2x 10mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. From there you can definitely tell it does start to affect the IQ, but still perfectly useable in my opinion. Finally, you can reach about 8x (FF Eq.) magnification I believe (don’t quote me on that, I’m not totally sure but that’s definitely a lot, just a little less than the 10x I have with the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x macro) with the combo 2x 10mm extension tubes + 16mm extension tubes + MC20 TC + Raynox M-250. With this last setup, that’s the limit of usability, I think, regarding IQ, light loss and the fact that it’s the maximum number of extension tube you can use before the focus bracketing starts failing.

I feel this setup is really awesome. You can actually go from infinity to up to about 8x macro with 1 lens, while still having access to focus bracketing and AF!!! I’m not sure but to my knowledge I don’t see anything else that can do that. You can surely find options that will provide better result at specific tasks, like using bigger sensor with motorized bellows and microscope lenses, but you can hardly consider that a hassle free, convenient, flexible, lightweight, compact, run & gun setup...

Here are some picture taken with this setup (Not full resolution) :

There it is for today!

I hope it can be helpful to someone.

I’ll try to make a topic about the 300mm F4 Pro for closeup photography and also the Laowa 25mm F2.8 2.5x-5x on M43 and show the difference with the 60mm F2.8 when I find the time.

If you like the pictures I shared and you have some time at hand, you can have a look at some of my work on 500px at : https://500px.com/julienmonborgne

I post regularly on that platform.

Thanks for your time.

Julien

Julien-

It truly is a great setup. I have been using similar to what you do for the last year. I use the Olympus EM1 Mark 2, the MC-20 teleconverter, a 16mm PIXCO brand extension tube and I scraped out some of the plastic inside. Using the 16mm saves 4mm of void space compared to using two 10mm tubes, and allows for less light loss. The 16mm pixco is the only one that I have found will work out of about 5 different extension tubes. I then hook up the 60mm macro lens and a Raynox 202 or the 505. WIth the 505, I acquire about 9x magnification on the Micro 43 system - about 18x equivalent on full-frame. Here are some of the shots I have done, and a pic of my setup:

a grain of garnet sand, 1/4mm wide balanced on another grain of sand, both from Bandon, Oregon. I stacked 147 images for this shot in Helicon. Focus bracket mode works flawlessly with the setup, but you must use 1/10 for the focus bracket step setting. Image was cropped only to put into a portrait setup:

The head of a wheel bug - used HIGH RESOLUTION MODE for this stack of 37 images. I use Olympus Capture to move my focus little by little through the object. High resolution mode does not work very well with my sand pictures but works with insects as long as they are dead. Go figure....

2mm field of view

Scales from the wing of a Luna Moth. Image was cropped by 50% to show texture. Less than 1mm field of view

the foot of a Robber Fly. 1.5mm field of view

My pet jumping spider with it's prey. This is a live shot (for the spider at least!!!)

210 images stacked

Hi oneofone25

Thanks for your comment! You’ve posted some great pictures that showcase perfectly the strengths of the setup!!

That’s a great idea to modify the 16mm tube! Since I have a spare one, I might have a try at it someday!

I’ve never tried the Raynox 505, but the pictures you’re showing definitely make me want to give it a go! You can see take the IQ starts taking a hit at those crazy magnifications, but that’s definitely way better than I though it would be!! That’s absolutely usable!

Thanks for sharing and for opening my eyes!

Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Cheers,

Julien

windmillgolfer wrote:

Welcome Julien. Wow, what great images. Those spider eyes are really mesmerising

That's quite a setup and must be difficult to use handheld.

The Olympus 60mm macro lens seems to be the best of the bunch and is now hard to come by. All the stores, both bricks'n'mortar and online seem to be out of stock. Fortunately, I managed to find one and await delivery.

Hi windmillgolfer,

Thank you!

Yes, those spiders are so cool! When they get closer to becoming adult, they start having some sort of foil coating on the eyes. It just looks like lenses! I don’t know if it is Zuiko ZERO coating though...

It’s not that difficult to use handheld, unless you arrive on the super high magnifications.

If you’re photographing moving subjects, that’s way easier handheld. The key in that case is patience!!! It’s very difficult sometimes when the subject is always moving! And more often than not they like to turn their back on you! I mean... If I had a giant paparazzo who wanted to take picture at 2 inches from my face with soft boxes the size of the Empire State Building, I’d probably turn my back on him as well!!

If you like macro photography, you won’t regret your purchase I garanti you! That’s truly an awesome lens, especially considering the price, size and wait.

Regards,

Julien

pannumon wrote:

junmoe62 wrote:

Macro shot of a juvenile Phidippus Audax jumping spider.

You can just name this picture "Phidippus audax,jumping spider." The shallow depth of field (which is usually problematic in macro photography) works here very well, emphasizing action and precise timing. Well done!

Haha, thank you,

I actually titled this one “The Ballet Dancer”. I could see see a nice photoshop with ballerina shoes!