macrophotography for Micro Four Thirds cameras

see also:

• more macro options and tips
• Micro Four Thirds system
• lenses for macrophotography
• Olympus m.ZD 60mm f/2.8 macro lens
• Panasonic Leica-DG 45mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens
• Panasonic 30mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens
• automatic in-camera focus stacking function for greater depth of field on Olympus cameras

A small rose bud using Panasonic GH-1 with Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro and Canon Ring Flash

• mirrorless camera systems cameras such as Micro Four Thirds system have the potential to be the best camera options for micro or macro photography because:
  • no mirror to cause camera shake which can be a real problem at high magnification photography such as 1:1 and higher
  • no mirror to continuously have to move out of the way to allow accurate magnified live view manual focus (autofocus is rarely suitable to macrophotography and never to microphotography)
  • flip out LCD screen so you don't have to bend down and look through a viewfinder
  • almost any macro lens ever made can be adapted to work
  • Olympus m.ZD 60mm f/2.8 macro lens is one of the best macro lenses ever made and has fast AF and nice focus limiters as well as being affordable and weatherproof
  • a nice compromise on image quality, noise at higher ISO levels, camera and lens size (easier to use in the field without a tripod)
  • image stabilisation potentially available with any lens (if you use an Olympus body), although IS is not usually as effective at macro magnifications although the new 5-axis 5EV IS of the Olympus OM-D E-M5 camera and later models should be handy!
  • off-camera TTL flash options available (eg. Olympus Ring flash or Twin flash, or Metz Ring flash, etc)
    • unfortunately, to date there is no Olympus macro ring flash which can act as a master to a slave background flash in TTL mode, although the Metz system may allow this
  • the cropped sensor gives even greater magnification such that a 1:2 macro lens (eg. Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0) covers the same subject area at closest focus as a 1:1 macro lens would do on a full frame dSLR.
  • the smaller the sensor, the less magnification factor of the lens is needed for a given subject size
    • there are a couple of downsides to the smaller sensor:
      • more image noise at high ISO and slightly less dynamic range
      • potentially less pixels
      • cannot use f/ratio smaller than f/8 without starting to lose sharpness due to the physical laws of diffraction.
  • automatic in-camera focus stacking function for greater depth of field on Olympus cameras

• see flash units for macrophotography including ring flashes and twin flashes
• if the Olympus macro flash system cannot be attached to a lens, it can be hand held, or alternatively:
  • can use Metz 15 MS-1 "ring" flash with another flash in the hotshoe as a master
  • can use Canon “ring” flash via adapter tube, but in manual exposure mode only
  • see macro ring flashes compared - Olympus, Canon and Sigma
• Olympus also have a cute tiny, cheap, twin flash for macro flash on Olympus Pen cameras.

• Kenko AF Extension Tube Set for Micro 4/3rds:
  • 10mm and 16mm tubes with all the contacts and circuitry to maintain communication between the camera body and the lens.
  • AF (within the limited macro range) and auto exposure are maintained, although with some lenses AF may not function.
  • focal length of the lens should be longer than the focal length of the tube for proper operation.
  • stacking of the tubes is not possible with the Panasonic 45MM Macro and PZ 45-175MM lenses, and potentially with other lenses.

• for outdoor work, my preference would be the Olympus 60mm macro
• if on a budget or you want higher magnification (mainly for indoor work), or, for underwater use, and don't mind losing a few features, then the Olympus 30mm macro is worth a look
• if you have Panasonic camera, then the Panasonic versions with OIS may be more attractive

• see Panasonic 30mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens
• more affordable but no focus limiter switch
• not weathersealed

• see Panasonic Leica-DG 45mm f/2.8 OIS macro lens
• high quality 1:1 macro lens with optical image stabiliser
• IF, close focus 15cm, 225g, 63mm long, 46mm filter, focus limiter,
• cannot attach Olympus macro flash system but these can be used hand held
• see Photozone review
• see dpreview.com's review

• see Olympus mZD 30mm f/3.5 2.5x macro lens
• close focus at 9.5cm giving macro to 1.25x (2.5x in full frame terms) and working distance of 14mm from end of lens, gives a field of view down to 13.9 x 10.9mm able to reveal subjects the unaided eye cannot see
• AF is 20-30% faster than Olympus m.ZD 60mm f/2.8 macro lens, and smaller, lighter, less expensive and with closer macro, but also shorter working distance and wider field of view and not weathersealed and no focus limiter
• compatible with auto focus stacking with certain cameras such as the E-M1
• $US299

• see Olympus m.ZD 60mm f/2.8 macro lens
• a very nice, compact, light, high image quality weatherproof lens
• fast, silent AF
• internal focus
• focal distance limiters improve AF performance
• adapter available for the Olympus macro flash system
• for most macro purposes, this is THE BEST lens for macro for MFT if you can afford it
• $US599

• ie. Four Thirds lenses adapted to Micro Four Thirds using the FT-MFT adapter
• AF may not be possible with older Panasonic cameras such as the GH-1

• see Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro lens
• professional level 1:2 macro
• slow AF but one of the sharpest lenses ever made
• 52mm filter thread
• adapter available for the Olympus macro flash system
• can use the superb Olympus EC-20 2x converter to double the magnification without shortening working distance
  • ie. your subject area will be reduced to the sensor size (18x12mm) and thus 1:1 in technical terms but actually twice the magnification of a 1:1 macro lens on a full frame camera. It thus becomes equivalent to a 200mm f/4 2:1 macro lens on a full frame at less than half the weight and bulk of a Canon EF 180mm f/3.5L 1:1 macro lens.

• consumer level 1:1 macro
• Olympus macro flash system fits without an adapter
• see Photozone review

• almost any macro lens you would like to use on it!
• see lenses for macrophotography

• the Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro at it's closest focus will achieve this magnification
• set your camera to manual focus
• turn the camera on
• rotate lens manual focus ring until it is at closest focus
• set exposure mode to manual or aperture priority
• set aperture to f/11 (perhaps f/16) for optimum compromise between depth of field and sharpness
  • DOF = 3mm at f/8, 6mm at f/11 and 10mm at f/16 (DOF determined in practice viewing image at 8x on live view playback, thus DOF of 3mm means +/- 1.5mm either side of focus plane)
• move camera in and out until image looks almost in focus (this will be ~10cm from the front of lens to the subject - the “working distance”)
• repeat above in magnified live view until you have precise manual focus

• set ISO to give an adequate shutter speed for correct exposure
• if using manual exposure you will need to manually set the shutter speed
• if hand held, at such high magnification, you will need a fast shutter - perhaps 1/250th sec or faster

• set ISO to 100-200 otherwise the ring flash even at its lowest output setting may be too bright at f/8
• as the ring flash to subject distance will always be constant for closest focus with this lens, you can use manual exposure on the flash so it decreases variability - typically with the above settings you will need to use 1/32nd or 1/64th flash output.
  • flash output on Canon Ring flash at ISO 200: f/8 = 1/64th, f/11 = 1/32nd, f/16 = 1/16th
• once your exposure is close, you can then make fine adjustments to flash exposure by minor changes to ISO or aperture
• alternatively, you can use TTL flash but be aware if your subject fills only a small part of the frame, you are likely to get erroneous results which is why I prefer manual exposure flash.

• having the shutter at flash sync of 1/160th or 1/180th sec (depending on model) will generally cause background to be very dark, even black unless it is in bright sunlight and a light color.
• to brighten the background you have several options including:
  • increase shutter duration - this will not effect flash exposure but you may need a tripod to avoid blurring your subject!
  • use another flash to expose the background
  • ensure background is a light color and in bright sunlight (or use a reflector)

• this gives you 2 main possibilities:
  • allows double the magnification at closest focus so subject size to fill the frame will be only 18mm x 12mm
  • allows same subject size but at approx. double the working distance of ~18cm instead of ~10cm.
• remember this doubles your effective f/stop.
• alternatively, one could add a Four Thirds 25mm extension tube to the Olympus ZD 50mm macro lens to double the magnification but your working distance will halve, while your effective f/stop still increases, and thus I find a 2x teleconverter much more versatile, and more expensive.