Olympus macro system – time for a re-vamp?

Written by Gary on January 9th, 2009

I love the Olympus dSLR macro system introduced in Dec 2003 because:

  • it’s relatively light for hand held use
  • availability of swivel live preview LCD screens so you don’t have to get down on the ground – eg. Olympus E330, E30, E3 dSLRs
  • a high optical quality macro lens – the ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro with circular aperture for nice bokeh, and edge to edge sharpness that is usually not found on full frame lenses
  • availability of superb teleconverters to allow higher magnification whilst maintaining working distance
  • availability of excellent complete ring flash and twin flash which share the same flash controller, and as is standard, provide full TTL auto exposure metering or full manual control as well as modeling lights, and for the twin lights you can control light ratio and importantly there are diffusers to improve the quality of the light
    • the Canon ring flash is actually segmented tubes giving a poor catchlight
    • Nikon don’t currently make a ring flash for their system
    • whilst the small size of macro ring flashes are not adequate to create the beauty ring catchlight of large pro ring flashes, they make great shadowless fill-in flash for portraits as well as their use for almost shadowless macro shots
  • it’s easy to use, particularly the flash module settings
  • image stabilisation is available for all lenses when using an IS-capable body such as E510/520/E30/E3
    • whilst Nikon make a VR macro lens, there are no image stabilised macro lenses available for Canon dSLRs
  • ability to use almost any macro lens ever made (Nikon, Leica R/M, Carl Zeiss, Olympus OM,etc) with notable exceptions such as Canon EOS
  • you can combine it with non-Olympus flashes in manual flash output mode by setting the Olympus macro flash to Manual mode (to switch off pre-flashes which prematurely trigger your other flashes), and use an optical trigger device on your other flashes

ring flash

The system is capable of taking some great shots such as this one I took of a bee:

Hold on to your dreams:

bee

BUT I believe its time to make it even better, so here are some of my suggestions:

First, the ZD 50mm macro lens:

  • the AF can be a bit frustrating – time for SWD and compatibility with contrast-detect AF
  • focus range switch to allow switchable settings such as 1:1 macro to 1m and 1m to infinity
  • 1:1 macro instead of only 1:2 – could we dream of 1:0.5 even?

Next, make adapters to allow the existing macro flashes to attach to almost any lens.

  • unfortunately Olympus designers seem to have been on hallucinogens making the current macro flash – the bayonet mount will only mount on certain lenses and even for the 50mm macro lens, one needs to buy a separate adapter.
  • the bayonet fitting used to fit the original ZD 50-200mm lens but the new SWD version of this lens amazingly has an incompatible bayonet mount
  • it’s time to make some adapters as is available in the Canon system so that these flashes can be mounted to various filter threads such as 58mm, 67mm, etc.

Now the macro flash system:

  • the obvious need is to add capability for it to be a master controller for remote TTL flash so that one could control FL-36R or FL-50R flashes used to light the background
  • it would be nice to be able to control light ratio of two halves of the ring flash – perhaps make the ring flash with 2 tubes as with Canon, but make them seamless so that you still get a full circle catchlight instead of the segmented ugly Canon ring light catch light

Lastly, perhaps some new macro lenses:

  • a 1-5x macro lens similar to the Canon lens although these are unlikely to sell in large quantities given the difficulty in using such high magnifications, the absence of AF or ability to focus to infinity, but such macro capability is essential in a complete macro system
  • a 100mm f/2.0 macro lens to provide a longer working distance and at the same time be a relatively compact, high quality f/2.0 lens for portraits, indoor action, astrophotography and whatever other applications one can think of
    • currently, the ZD 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD provides good macro performance at 1.2m close focus and 200mm focal length (400mm equivalent reach in 35mm terms), but I think a 100mm f/2.0 SWD macro would be a brilliant, even sharper lens in the pro line (rather than super-pro) and also compliment the current ZD 150mm f/2.0 lens which is probably due for a SWD upgrade
    • Stan has reminded me of the Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro lens but this does not appear to have the resolution wide open that I would like – see 105mm lens review.

More information on macrophotography here.

 

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New 2 terabyte memory cards on the way – new SDXC standard

Written by Gary on January 8th, 2009

The SD specification has been expanded to SDXC which allows up to 2 terabytes at a transfer rate of 104Mb/s this year increasing to 300Mb/s at some stage.

See fourthirdsphoto forum for more details.

Having just had a new cheap Photofast SD card suddenly fail without warning, I’m not sure I would like losing 2 terabytes of data in one go.

Nevertheless, it should be welcomed by those with compatible camcorders to give them much longer recording of videos, and maybe for those who like to show their mates their videos from their mobile phones.

 

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Olympus and Kodak battle it out for the 24-26x super zooms

Written by Gary on January 8th, 2009

Kodak announced their new Z980 12mp camera with an incredible 24x image stabilised optical zoom (26mm wide angle) and HD video and hotshoe – see dpreview.com.

Not to be outdone, Olympus quickly followed up with announcement of their SP-590UZ 12mp camera with f/2.8-5.0 26x image stabilised optical zoom (26-676mm range) which can be increased to 130x with the optional TCON-17N teleconverter which allows up to 1149mm focal length reach in 35mm terms!

Its built-in flash can remotely control the Olympus FL-36R and FL-50R flashes, and it has a 16 face detection AF and a special Beauty mode that smooths the skin for portraits automatically. It can multi-expose and macro focus to 1cm. It can shoot 6fps in 5mp mode or 10fps in 3mp mode. HDMI output but video mode is VGA resolution only. Interestingly, it will take microSD memory cards as well as xD cards and can record RAW files.

See dpreview.com

And, while we are on new cameras, one of my favorite carry in the pocket cameras, the Olympus waterproof, dust proof, drop proof, freeze proof TOUGH series seems to have finally been given image stabilisation (and not that crappy digital pseudo IS of bumping up the ISO!)

So here we have the new TOUGH-6000 and TOUGH-8000 (see dpreview.com, both of which also have the new beauty mode and smile detection mode just like all teenage girls would love – maybe for next Xmas.

post script:
in Feb 2009, Nikon has joined the superzoom bridge camera market with its 12mp Coolpix P90 sporting a 24x optical zoom covering 26-624mm focal length range in 35mm terms with image stabilisation, tiltable LCD screen, macro to 1cm, 15fps burst mode, VGA movies and face and smile recognition with blink warning.
see dpreview.com

 

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Skill and patience can be more important than equipment

Written by Gary on January 7th, 2009

I was browsing through the top ranked photos for the last month on photo.net, and at number 9 was this one which caught my eye:

dragon fly

by one Antonio Diaz.

Now thats a pretty impressive effort, nicely composed, nice background and bokeh, and catching the dragonfly in mid-flight – a pretty good effort and surely he must have used the latest Canon with EF 180mm L macro lens.

I look at the details and to my great surprise, it was taken with an Olympus E500 with a 40-150mm lens (presumably the kit lens)!

Now that makes the photo even more impressive in my view!

Well done Antonio!

Message – use what you have and learn to use it well.

 

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The creative eye – photography is not really about the equipment

Written by Gary on December 29th, 2008

There is an old adage in the professional photography world that the guy with the least equipment will often be the one taking away the best images.

The reason for this is that he will have narrowed his choices down and be so familiar with his equipment that the equipment won’t be distracting him from his photography.

To demonstrate this, I suggest you check out the social documentary works of Paul Marc Joffe.

Open the main page by clicking on the blue circled A in his name (the webpage uses flash player but once loaded your patience will be rewarded with nice large imagery to fill your imagination and provide you with inspiration).

He has divided his gallery into 3 slideshows which can be accessed by clicking on their titles – Anterior, Posterior and Artifacts – derived from his medical background . Then click through each slideshow by placing your mouse on the right side of the image to display a right arrow. At the end of each slideshow just go to the middle of the image and click on menu.

What I love about his works is that the majority were created using only available light and just a simple wide angle lens on a 35mm film camera (although many were taken on a Fuji dSLR using a wide angle lens).

And yet, despite this, his slide shows reveal a wide array of creative imagery demonstrating not only his clever, intuitive use of compositional elements and timing but his ability to capture people as they are.

His last slideshow called “artifacts” tends to be more abstract urban imagery which still manages to hold your attention as you ponder his thought processes and the contents obvious impact on him and how he has been able to present it in a visually appealing image.

There is much more to creating consistently great photos than the camera or lens, it is the eye and mind behind the camera.

I am sure Paul would have achieved the same results whether he had used the 35mm film camera, his Fuji dSLR, an Olympus E510, a Nikon D3 or a Canon 5D MII. And when you looked at his images you would not be worrying about which camera was used or how much image noise there was at high ISO.

I post this to hopefully inspire others that the important thing is to get out there and take photos and not worry too much about their equipment, but rather learn to make the most of it so that it doesn’t get in your way, and above all learn to love what you have and not what you think you might need but can’t afford.

 

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Fun with tilt-shift lenses – the Canon EF 90mm TSE for portraits

Written by Gary on December 17th, 2008

Many of my blogs tend to espouse the advantages of Olympus over Canon or Nikon dSLRs, so here is one to try to bring back some balance.

After all, each camera system has their strengths and weaknesses and I use whatever tool best suits my purposes irrespective of brand and what I have brought with me.

For those that are not aware, I have an extensive 35mm film outfit (Olympus OM primarily, with a Contax thrown in), an extensive Bronica SQAi 6×6 medium format film outfit with most of the lenses, a Mamiya C330f TLR medium format film camera with a couple of lenses, a Olympus E510, E330 dSLR with various lenses, and a Canon 1DMIII with various lenses.

I love each for different reasons, although I must admit, the 35mm film cameras are not getting much use at all as I prefer to use MF film if I am going to the trouble and cost of using film then scanning it, especially now that Kodak has stopped making their HIE infrared film.

So back to this blog where I thought I would demonstrate another beautiful Canon lens – the EF90mm TSE tilt shift – which I dearly love for artistic portraiture in particular. The effects may not be to everyone’s liking, but that doesn’t bother me – I like them and that’s all that matters.

Some may say you can recreate these in Photoshop – but you can’t – PS allows you to selectively blur, but you don’t get the same bokeh or quality of the out of focus highlights, and to get a selective plane of focus, you would need extreme depth of field in the initial image.

So let’s have a look at a couple of portraits I did for fun and experimentation to see what this EF 90mm TSE lens can do WITHOUT Photoshop:

Jess 1

Note in the above image, that by rotating the lens and tilting it, I have selected the plane of focus to pass through her left eye and her hair with all else being out of focus.

jess 2

Again, I have selected a plane of focus to pass through her right hand and her left eye with all else being out of focus creating the nice out of focus highlights on her shawl.

You can click on the above to see the images larger on my web photo album.

I have a prior blog showing similar effects using the Canon EF 45mm TSE tilt shift lens.

Of course, you can do this on your Nikon dSLR as Nikon have revamped their tilt shift lenses with improved models although very expensive.

Thus far, neither Sony, Pentax nor Olympus have tilt shift lenses in their line up – although you can buy the 3rd party option of Lensbaby lenses which provide some control, and of course, you can use the Nikon tilt-shift lenses or even Olympus OM shift lenses on Olympus although the 2x crop factor will modify their utility.

A critical aspect of using the rather complicated tilt functionality is having a camera with Live Preview where you can magnify the part of the image you want to be sharp and ensuring it is indeed in focus and then without moving the camera (you can’t just focus then recompose), take the shot.

Tilt shift lenses are a lot of fun, but require patience and experimentation.

If I had the money, I would have strongly considered buying the new Nikon 45mm tilt shift lens as then I could use it as a 90mm lens on my Olympus cameras and as a 60mm lens on my Canon 1DMIII – perhaps one day I will get the new Nikon 24mm ED tilt-shift lens if my wife lets me sell her car 🙂

Unfortunately, unlike Nikon lenses, Canon lenses cannot be used on other brands.

More information on perspective control lenses here..

 

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Leica M lens adapter for Micro Four Thirds

Written by Gary on December 17th, 2008

At last, there will be an affordable digital solution for those with their much loved Leica M lenses – the new Micro Four Thirds system now will have a Leica M adapter thanks to German manufacturer Novoflex.

Leica M lenses are manual focus lenses designed for 35mm Leica M rangefinders which were the tool of choice for 20th century street photographers.

Unfortunately, their short lens to film distance means they cannot be used on digital SLRs as they have mirror systems. But now, with the Micro Four Thirds there is another way of using these lenses.

Novoflex will also be making other adapters for Micro Four Thirds, although the success of these will depend on the support for obtaining accurate manual focus on these cameras.

 

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Radio wireless TTL flash – RadioPopper announces 2nd generation X system

Written by Gary on December 14th, 2008

A rather perplexing decision by ALL the dSLR camera manufacturers (Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc) who have implemented remote TTL metering flash capability is to use infrared technology instead of radio waves.

Whilst infrared works reasonably well for many situations, it has major limitations placed by line of sight and limited distance from camera. In particular, placing flash strobes inside umbrella softboxes or behind the camera can mean your IR triggering no longer works and you have to resort to optical or manual radio wireless triggering devices (eg. CyberCommander, Pocket Wizards or cheap Chinese Ebay versions) and thus manual flash exposure (although I usually prefer this anyway).

Canon and Nikon users have at least one 3rd party option (RadioPoppers) using transmitters and receivers which convert the IR signals to radio wave signals to remove the constraints of IR, but at a price and the nuisance factor of ensuring the receivers are actually placed to detect the IR signal.

RadioPopper have just announced their 2nd generation product “X system” which should be a significant improvement and the key features of the PX models are:

  • 64 channels with 16 unique frequencies, each allowing 4 iTTL/eTTL channels
  • range > 1700 feet (in practice 120 feet?)
  • manually dial in compatible studio light light levels (eg. Alien Bees)
  • high speed sync up to 1/8000th sec
  • full eTTL (Canon), iTTL (Nikon) with groups and light ratios control
  • allows 2nd photographer to share slave units
  • upgradeable firmware – maybe they will provide support for Olympus as well?
  • RRP $US249 for each PX transmitter or receiver

You can download the press release pdf here.

Or watch a video here:

Now, if only the camera manufacturers would use radio waves instead of IR for their remote TTL flash, cumbersome 3rd party products would not be needed – unless you want to control studio lights or incompatible flash strobes as well.

With this, you could go out and build your own umbrella helmet knowing you won’t need to worry about that annoying off-camera TTL cord anymore:

Juergen Specht’s umbrella invention, see example:

helmet umbrella

in action

you know you want one!!!

PS. I have made a new blog about the new TTL-capable Pocket Wizards.

 

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Lens AF micro-adjustment – curing back-focus and front-focus

Written by Gary on December 13th, 2008

I suspect the concept that your camera and lens requires AF adjustment is a rather foreign concept to most Olympus users, and indeed, if they have a problem, its a job for service centre to fix, up until the new Olympus E-30 arrives which allows one to correct back-focus and front-focus AF errors.

Perhaps Olympus has so far been able to avoid such issues as they have good quality control and better tolerances, or perhaps the wider depth of field can disguise it better, nevertheless, the issue has been a problem with Canon and Nikon users.

My Canon 1DMIII required significant adjustments to a couple of lenses and my friend’s Canon 5DMII required even larger adjustments.

I checked the AF accuracy of my Olympus E510 with ZD 50-200mm SWD and it was spot on – which I guess is fortunate otherwise its a trip back to Olympus.

Now how does one go about doing micro-adjustments?

There are several methods – all taking a minute or two to do per lens:

Keith Cooper’s blog with downloadable AF target to assist accurate focus assessment on camera LCD screen.

LensAlign product reviewed on Luminous-Landscape.com

You can use either of these to check ANY camera but obviously, only those cameras with AF microadjustment will allow you to adjust it yourself, at present, this includes:

  • Canon 1D MKIII, 1Ds MKIII, 5DII, 50D
  • Nikon D3, D3x, D300, D700
  • Sony A900
  • Pentax K20
  • Olympus E-30
 

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The walk-around telephoto zoom kit – comparisons

Written by Gary on December 9th, 2008

My requirements here are:

  • focal length range ~100 to 400mm in 35mm equivalent terms
  • high image quality
  • reasonably light and compact – < 2kg for the camera and lens and preferably < 24cm long mounted so it fits in a medium size shoulder bag
  • image stabilised
  • aperture at least f/4.5 to allow reasonable background blurring
  • circular aperture blades for nice bokeh
  • preferably sharp enough and with minimal aberrations to allow reasonable use of teleconverters
  • close focus
  • ultrasonic motor or equivalent for fast AF
  • preferably weatherproofed so you don’t need to panic if it starts to rain
  • medium priced

NOTE: ONLY the Olympus ZD 50-200mm kits satisfy ALL the above options.

Nikon D700 full frame with Nikkor 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR:

  • unfortunately the aperture is a bit slow negating use of teleconverters, etc and it is an expensive lens and is 1.36kg for the lens alone, while close focus is a poor 2.3m
  • a pro would probably go for the Nikkor 200-400mm f/4 VR but that is much more expensive and tips the scales at almost 3.3kg!
  • verdict – great high ISO and action performance but not for walkabout

Nikon D300 cropped sensor with Nikkor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR:

  • gives 105-450mm range but at a slow f/5.6
  • a nicer option would be the much more expensive and heavier Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 VR which gives 105-300mm and could be used with a TC

Canon 5DMII with EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS:

  • again a rather slow aperture and I suspect its resolution will not be adequate for the 21mp sensor, and I’m not a big fan of the push-pull zoom mechanism while at 1.36kg its still a touch heavy and close focus of 1.8m is still nothing to write home about.
  • I suspect it’s time for Canon to update this lens
  • an alternative is the more expensive but much lighter 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DO IS lens
  • verdict: not a great option for this focal range as a walkaround

Canon 50D with Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 VC lens:

  • an incredible 15x zoom range giving 28-419mm range but lots of compromises on image quality and AF speed
  • verdict: may be an option if image quality is not highest priority and don’t need it for action photography

Canon 50D with EF 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 IS:

  • 112-480mm range but again, slow aperture and resolution will not match the 15mp sensor

Olympus E520/E510 with ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD:

  • the lightest (<1.8kg for camera and lens), and almost the cheapest option, and provides some great features which beat all the other options:
    • lens is weatherproofed (camera can be too if you buy the E-3)
    • nice wide aperture with circular diaphragm for nice blurred backgrounds
    • close focus to 1.2m giving 0.42x macro
    • ability to use with either 1.4x or 2x TC with AF functioning and good image quality, allowing an incredible 800mm f/7 capability which can be hand held at 1/250th sec
  • now if Olympus could make it a touch smaller and lighter, and work for Micro Four Thirds in contrast AF mode, it would be perfect
  • verdict: MY favourite telephoto zoom lens – if you need action use, then consider the E-30 or E-3 cameras which will give faster AF, more AF sensor points for continuous AF and 5fps burst rates

Olympus E510/520 with ZD 70-300mm f/4-5.6:

  • a cheaper, lighter alternative but at cost of image quality, slower AF and teleconverter use not recommended
  • gives an incredible 140-600mm range image stabilised and not as obtrusive as the other options

If you really want super compact but high quality and no need for fast AF for action, then consider:

  • Micro Four Thirds camera with forthcoming 45~200mm f/4-5.6 OIS lens which gives 90-400mm range in a very compact outfit, and I’m guessing there will be some continuous AF video-enabled camera bodies coming soon

It’s not just the camera to consider when buying a new camera but what lenses are available for it and how you want to use it.

I have a comparison table of lens features here, some example photos I have taken with this lens, and example photos taken with this lens with Olympus 2x teleconverter (EC-20).

Bob Atkins has a comparison of entry level dSLRs here – although he does not go into length on the relative benefits of the lenses available to each.

Brandon Eu has a nice blog demonstrating how useful this lens is.

In my opinion, for the amateur who can afford it, the Olympus ZD 50-200mm SWD, the excellent Olympus teleconverters and general high optical quality of their lenses are some of the main reasons to choose the Olympus system, the cameras are rather secondary.

 

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