Advice wanted on the Oly XZ-1 / PT-050 / Macro lens

[Quero]

Hi Adam. It happens that I own both a Canon G11 and an Oly XZ1 along with the OEM housings for each of them, and I think I can shed some light on your dilemma.

First, let me say that I normally shoot with an Inon D2000 strobe, but on my last dive trip I flooded it on the second day with my new XZ1, so I spent the remaining 12 days of my trip shooting only with the internal flash. While I definitely prefer using a strobe, I found the internal flash in macro mode to work without any problem at all, shooting in Manual Mode so that I could adjust the amount of light for each image. Using the flash diffuser worked well, and I didn't have any discernable shadow in the lower right corner of the image when using the diffuser, but there was a really sharp shadow when not using the diffuser.

Next, I also use an Inon 67 mm wetmount macro lens with my camera for closeups. Even with the lens in place (which by its nature extends the shadow range even further) I had no distracting shadows produced by the internal flash (and needing to be cropped away) when using the flash diffuser.

As to the ease of use of a camera with a wetmount macro lens, unless you are able in your freediving to spend some time getting the focusing depth right, a wetmount macro lens may not be what you want at all, regardless of whether you choose the Oly or another camera. In order to use a lens like this, you have to manipulate the distance from the subject manually by moving the camera itself in and out, and then when it's in range, the Auto Focus can fine-tune the focus. But until you get the camera into range, the Auto Focus won't be of any use. So while freediving, do you have the time to stay close enough to your subject to do this kind of manipulation?

Next, regarding where to store the lens when it's not attached to the housing, in my opinion, you would be better off with the Canon G12. Although you need to buy a separate lens adapter for this camera housing, it is attached by thin bungee cords and has a little quick-release cord so that you can simply detach the lens adapter with the lens screwed into it and it will be safe from loss. The Oly uses a screw-in method directly onto the housing (with no adapter), so you have to actually take the loose lens off the housing and have no place to store it.

BTW, the manner of the attachment of the wetmount lens is my main complaint about the Canon OEM housing. I hate that method of having a separate adaptor that dangles around when not in use, but for you it might be exactly what you need. I went back to the Oly for a number of reasons, but certainly one of them was that I am able to screw my wetmount lens directly onto the housing.

 

[Adam608]

Hi Quero

Thanks for your really helpful reply.

Im not sure if the manual focus method is going to be viable or not whilst freediving but thinking about it I tend to do this a little anyway with my TZ3 as its easier to lock focus by pressing the button half way down then moving into focus than using the AF which can scan and cause more problems than it helps.

Thats a toughie however and not something I had really considered as I had assumed the AF would still work with a macro lens, although I realised the focal range would be much reduced. If a macro lens isnt viable on any camera for me freediving then I think the XZ-1, the G12 and the S95 are all out of the running as their macro functionality seemed really poor without. I couldnt get any of them to take a pic of something less than about 3" to totally fill the picture - as we know critters are often much smaller than that meaning I cannot get a full screen shot of my subject.

For instance this is the very closest pic I could take of a popcorn shrimp with my TZ3, and it took some considerable time to get one this good - I really want to be able to take much closer pics than this and more consistently. I am worried that the XZ-1 and G12 will actually be worse than my TZ3 without a macro lens???

 

[Quero]

Adam, I think that if you are able to get within 3 inches of your subject, you won't have any problem using a wetmount macro lens, and it will give you the capacity for detail that you are looking for, judging by the image you attached to your last post.
I'm attaching a shot of a crinoid shrimp I captured using the wetmount macro lens and only the internal flash. I have not cropped this image at all, so apologies for the poor composition. (My photo instructor, Tim Rock, told me once that he crops virtually all of his shots, so I am not ashamed to shoot and then crop when the image I get isn't perfectly composed.) I shoot in the largest format allowed exactly so that I have the scope for post-editing. (You'll notice that the head is slightly out of focus, and this was due to the fact that the animal is so small that I focused on the wrong part of it. I may have a better shot, but I'm in a bit of a hurry and just picked the first one I could find to upload here. Anyway, it's good enough for the purposes of illustration I intend.)

 

[Adam608]

great thanks - just to confirm that your photo of the crinoid shrimp was taken on XZ-1, and not the G11? If so then I certainly cant see any noticeable shadowing of the flash by the port which I assume would have been bottom left in original orientation?

Whilst I love taking pics I just seem to lack the enthusiasm to spend hours on post production - simply selecting the good ones seems to take long enough. So every pic I have ever taken was in JPG format, unedited and uncropped. This is likely to be the same with any new camera I buy - hence I'm looking for the best shots up front rather than being able to modify them after.

I will look into the G12 bungee cord quick release lens base... Sounds interesting but Id be worried about a £200 macro lens dangling down below my camera for prolonged time...

 

[Quero]

Yes, the camera I used was the Oly XZ1 in the OEM housing, with a wetmount 67 mm Inon macro lens attached to the port of the housing, and using only the internal flash. The shadow, if there had been one, would have been on the bottom right corner since the orientation of the image is already correct (the fronds of the crinoid are pointing up, and the fuzzy area at the bottom is near the mouth of the crinoid). Not only did I not crop the image, but I did no post production editing other than converting the file from RAW to JPEG and reducing the file size/resolution so that it would be small enough to attach here. So those are the original colors, that is the exposure as shot, and the composition is what it is.

 

[Adam608]

great thanks.... I assume you could have got a lot closer still then with the Macro lens if you had wanted to?

I'm hoping to be able to take uncropped photos like this with a macro lens. (not my picture - just something I have found on google images)

Would that seem like a realistic expectation with the XZ-1 (or G12)?

 

[Quero]

I was pretty close. That shrimp was so small that if I had wanted to completely fill the frame with it, I would have literally knocked it from the crinoid with the camera. I suppose I could have zoomed a little more, but I prefer to crop after the fact than to risk harming the animal, and zooming often has the effect of reducing sharpness. The photo you posted in #16 has almost certainly been cropped.

Some people stack their macro lenses in order to fill a frame with a tiny subject. However the depth of field, which is already tricky with one macro lens (as evidenced by the out of focus face and tail of my shrimp with the back of the shrimp in perfectly sharp focus), is even harder to get right with stacked lenses.

 

[Jun Lao]

Hi guys, sharing using stacked Inon ucl165, no crop but used 30% zoom (anything beyond 50% zoom xz1 refuses to auto focus)


Electric by Yagit Diver, on Flickr

the hairy squat lobster only used dive light & internal flash slightly covered by fiber optic coil..due to being embedded deep within barrel sponge grooves (tried with external strobe but my arms werent long enough to get right angle above groove)

 

[Quero]

That's what I'm talking about, Jun! Sweet shot! But even that little squat lobster is about twice as big as my shrimp in actual size.
(We've gotta go diving together, Jun, so our cameras can "play" with each other!)

 

[Adam608]

Nice Pic Jun - thats what Im aiming for!!!!

Can either you you tell me what the approx min / max focal distance is of the XZ-1 with one macro lens fitted please?

Also am I right in saying a macro lens can only be used in Macro mode, not SuperMacro?

Regards
Adam