Using your MC-20 Teleconverter with your OLY 60mm Macro lens

OM mani padme hum wrote:

Really amazing photos - thanks for showing us what's possible.

I have a few questions:

1. Am I correct in thinking you must use a rather solid tripod + focussing rail?

2. What type of light source(s) do you use?

3. How do you deal with subject movement during focus bracketing - unless the insects are dead, tranquilized somehow, or refrigerated?

Thanks again for posting!

1.  I almost never use a tripod - I usually am setting my camera on a flat surface or in the grass carefully and use something solid to prop it up to the height I need my lens to be - I do not need a focusing rail as focus bracketing works wonders with this setup.

2.  for in the field I may add some light from a godox 126 led from above but usually no added light or flash.  In the "lab" I have a drawer that I put my camera and subjects in, and close it and have a GODOX 126 LED that is on the hotshoe that's a constant light source,

3.  sometimes it takes a thousand or more shots to get the 100-150 I need for a focus stack of an insect.  They just will move when you don't need them to sometimes.  ANd many times right at the end of your focus bracketed shots.  SO you have to just start over.  I do find dead bugs all the time and use those.  I don't kill them or freeze for my shots.

I have found a solution for lens support with this macro setup.

Here are pictures with my E-M1 mk II, MC-20 TC, two 10mm extension tubes (on Pixco), and the Olympus 60mm macro. I had a previous thread about similar lens support with other lenses here:

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4518140

For that thread, I was using the following components:

• Hejnar G010-50 5-inch Long 1/2" Thick Rail (with an end screw mount)
• Hejnar Standard Bar with 1.150" Wheels
• Hejnar LLSR-1.25 1.25 Inch Lens Support Rail
• Desmond DAC-38 38mm wide short knob Arca Clamp
• 3/32" Rubber Pad (spacer for the Arca Clamp)

Because the Olympus 60mm macro lens has such a small diameter, the 1.25 inch lens support rail was not long enough.  So I switched to a 2-inch Lens Support Rail.  With three washers inserted between wheel bar and the wheels, the lens support is just long enough to reach the static band at the end of the 60mm macro, providing optimal support for the lens.  The overall length can be adjusted to accomodate the single 16mm extension tube if it has been modified to fit, as well as the MC-14 teleconverter instead of the MC-20.

Here are some pictures of the setup:

Super macro lens support

This is the maximum extension, so if you are going to use the 10mm and 16mm extension tube, you can get the 6" rail, or get the 4" rail and place the wheels behind the focus ring (rather than in front).  If you do get the 6" rail, then you can leave off the washers.

Desmond clamp and Hejnar rails and wheels, with washers between the wheels and bar to get that last bit of extension.

I bought the cheapest macro tubes I could find on ebay, and thought I'd share photos of the modification process of the 16mm tube.

Remove the four screws on the rear.

Remove the mount. Note the eleven contact springs. Tweezers are useful to put them back in their holes.

The ring of contacts sits inside the mount. Note the locating tab and notch.

Remove the three screws.

Remove the plastic ring.

Here I was checking this was indeed the part that stops the macro tube from attaching to the MC-20 teleconverter. As you can see it doesn't fit over the lens protrusion.

The ring has a significant ridge that reduces it's internal diameter.

I shaved the plastic away with a knife...

... and sanded it too, until it easily fit over the lens protrusion.

Reattached it to the macro tube. N.B. the screw and locating holes are not equidistant, so it only fits one way.

The locating hole for the camera's locking pin was not deep enough on either of the macro tubes. I used a 2mm drill to remove the bottom of the hole. I found it needed to be slightly closer to the inside of the mounting ring.

The macro tube reassembled.

Attached to the teleconverter.

I hope that's of use to someone.

There is a much easier way to modify the spacer.  A few swirls of sandpaper with a Dremel tool will do it.   Do a couple of turns and test, repeat until it fits.   It took me about 2 minutes and it is invisible !

OMG, your macros are simply wonderful!!!  Thanks for sharing them.  Any tips about macro lighting?  I find that trial and error tricky.

Beetles wrote:

oneofone25 wrote:

I have posted a few different posts specifying how I do this (especially with the MC-14), but I wanted a single post about the process that makes it possible for the MC-20.

First off, the way this is made possible is through the PIXCO extension tubes that are found here:

https://www.roxsen.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=1779

they can be found at other locations, but this brand PIXCO specifically are the ones you must have to make this work. It can be done in 3 different ways:

1. First way, and easiest is to buy one set of the tubes, and hook up the 10mm first to the protruding lens side of the MC-20, then the 16mm that will connect to the Olympus 60mm macro lens. It will look like this (ignore the brand name of the 10mm one - I could not find my Pixco brand 10mm tube)

This setup works fine, but there is a tad more space between the teleconverter lens and the 60mm macro lens than I would prefer. So I initially did the following in #2:

2. Buy two sets of the Pixco extension tubes since they are inexpensive, and use two 10mm extension tubes to attach to the MC-20 teleconverter. Do not use the 16mm one. You will reduce the void space between the teleconverter lens and the 60mm macro lens, providing more light and sharper images.

3. Now, you are wondering why not use the 16mm extension tube with the teleconverter on it's own.....the reason is that the 16mm extension tube has an opening that is too narrow to fit all the way down the shaft of the teleconvter lens. This is why this option can be best....use a sharp knife and just scrape out some of the plastic around the inside of the 16mm extension tube, which will allow the teleconverter to fit inside it all on it's own, providing the tightest fit for your teleconverter to be as close as possible to your 60 macro lens rear glass,

The electronic connections work perfectly, allowing autofocus to work - but more importantly, the focus bracketing setup to work.

With the third setup, you are right at 3x magnification when the camera is set at 1:1. Your distance to subject at 1:1 is at around 77 millimeters - very sufficient for lighting a subject.

I feel badly to keep posting versions of the same question. In a related thread another poster had the same issue that I did, No communication between camera and lens, so no focus or aperture adjustment, with the MC20 and two 10/16 pixco or Fotga tubes attached.

https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4428158?page=3

As an update, I tried downgrading firmware from 3.4 to 3.1, 3.0, and 2.3, and none of those helped. 2.3 gave a black screen with just the 60mm and a pixco extension tubes. 3.0 and 3.1 behaved well with the tubes, but non had focus or aperture control with the MC20+10mm+10mm+60macro combination. It's just not for me I guess, unless anyone has any suggestions here. Has anyone else had this issue, and more importantly, suggestions to get around it? I've tried two MC20's, and three pairs of extension tubes from Fotga and Pixco. It might be the camera, but it's a pretty new camera and working well otherwise.

This  sounds like bad connection somewhere. The pixco tubes are not of the best quality as for materials and mechanics, and you're not the first to have problems like this. Try first to wiggle (twist) the connections on either side.

Maybe you will have to widen slightly the holes where the locking pins protrude into, as it's not always possible for the locking pin to extend fully into the hole. These matters have been described in this forums before.

What is the required  inside diameter of the extension tube in order to clear the tekeconverter?

Thanks.

bikerguy wrote:

What is the required inside diameter of the extension tube in order to clear the tekeconverter?

Thanks.

The diameter of the protruding front lens of the MC-20 is 26 mm (rubber protection (collar) included).

EspE1 wrote:

bikerguy wrote:

What is the required inside diameter of the extension tube in order to clear the tekeconverter?

Thanks.

The diameter of the protruding front lens of the MC-20 is 26 mm (rubber protection (collar) included).

Thanks.

I recently found another make of ETs that fits the MC-20 ºrotusion.

The make is Kernel. I had never heard of it. It costed me 34.90 €. It is amazingly light-weight, feels lighter than plastic! It comes in 10 mm and 16 mm sizes, like most (if not all).Only the 10 mm tube fitsthe MC-20 protusion, but it fits very comfortably, no need to scape anything from the inside.

I used the configuration suggested above (MC-20, then ET 10mm, then another ET, which can be the Kernel 16 mm or any other; I used the Kenko 10 mm).

The fit of both these Et to the camera mount, or to each other, or to the Kenko tube, is VERY tight, much more than I would like it to be. But they go in and come out, with some effort!

They are fully automatic, work fully with AF, and with the previous combination any form of Olympus focus bracketing or focus stacking operates fully. I presume (but have not tried) that the same can be said of combinations with Panasonic equipment.

I include two photos. One shows parte of the 10 mm Kernel tube (inside), coupled to a 10 mm Kenko tube. It can be barely seen that the Kernel tube is slightly wider, by a fraction of a millimeter, and that is why the longer inner part of the MC-20 fits inside. The Kernel tube is next to us. The MC-20 will sit in the part that faces us.

In next photo you can see (with difficulty, everything is the same color!) the same tube (Kernel 10 mm) but from the other side, with a MC-20 actually mounted. The salient part of the MC-20 can actually be seen in the inside of the ET.

To mount the 60 mm lens (or any other) it is necessary to mount another tube, such as the Kenko of the previous figure, and the the lens, otherwise the showing bit of the MC-20 touches the lens