Macro question about G10

[WOODMAN]

I have been trying to use my new G10 with the macro option, and encountered something I have not seen before. When you bring the camera up close to your target with the lens at normal position, you can get pretty close and still maintain good focus. But, if you try to zoom in closer, the picture goes out of focus and you cannot get it sharp until you back the camera away from the target. The closer you zoom, the farther away you have to back the camera, and the resulting image is about the same as what you got if you crowded up close with the camera. So you can't zoom in for a really tight shot, it appears. Also, I was not especially happy with the level of focus I was getting with the auto focus feature on macro. I was wondering about using the manual focus feature (looks surprisingly comprehensive for a non-SLR camera) to try and improve focus on my next trip. Any suggestions? Woody

 

[gert7to3]

Here's a little discussion from the Olympus website on the difference between macro mode and tele macro:
Macro Photography

I googled "zooming in macro mode"

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Wood--Yep, that's how the macro works (the book specs mention this too: .39"-1.6" on WA, 12"-1.6' in Tele). You do get a handy "reminder" display at the top of the screen that changes as you zoom in macro (ie: it displays the focusing distance range for the focal length you zoom to). When I have time UW I tend to zoom out all the way, to be less intrusive but while moving along I found it's nice to zoom to more of a mid-range focal length or wider, in case something swims by me close-in. Took me a while to tumble to that--had lots of stuff "too close" because I was zoomed out and things happened too fast to change.

On the focus issue you might try Continuous AF mode, that seems to get me by (haven't had to mess w/ manual focus, though I do use manual exposure and am not hesitant to "push buttons"). The AF-Point Zoom I leave on, set to Flexi-Zone (who comes up w/ this nomenclature?). This gives you a zoomed in image in the AF frame area, handy for checking focus--if you can manage to hold the shutter release 1/2 way down while UW w/ the housing. (Practice, practice...). If it's dark enough, the focus light on my external strobe sure helps. The following were all done recently on Bonaire in AF, as described. // ww

 

[zahner]

Wood--Yep, that's how the macro works (the book specs mention this too: .39"-1.6" on WA, 12"-1.6' in Tele). You do get a handy "reminder" display at the top of the screen that changes as you zoom in macro (ie: it displays the focusing distance range for the focal length you zoom to). When I have time UW I tend to zoom out all the way, to be less intrusive but while moving along I found it's nice to zoom to more of a mid-range focal length or wider, in case something swims by me close-in. Took me a while to tumble to that--had lots of stuff "too close" because I was zoomed out and things happened too fast to change.

On the focus issue you might try Continuous AF mode, that seems to get me by (haven't had to mess w/ manual focus, though I do use manual exposure and am not hesitant to "push buttons"). The AF-Point Zoom I leave on, set to Flexi-Zone (who comes up w/ this nomenclature?). This gives you a zoomed in image in the AF frame area, handy for checking focus--if you can manage to hold the shutter release 1/2 way down while UW w/ the housing. (Practice, practice...). If it's dark enough, the focus light on my external strobe sure helps. The following were all done recently on Bonaire in AF, as described. // ww

is that lettuce slug shot cropped at all or is that how it was framed? what ISO was that shot at? Reason I ask is that I am really surprised by the high level of noise.

love the seahorse

 

[Warmwater Wank]

Zahner--Sorry for delay, been out in the boonies of SE Utah, out of touch. Opps. The lettuce slug was a mistake--not done w/ the G-10. I was trying to find some macro stuff and mistakenly posted it, I shot it with my old Fuji F-30. The other two are from the G-10 though. Seahorse was at 84fsw at Oil Slick Leap on Bonaire. (Kinda deep for a seahorse--I think he was trying to avoid us tourists!) Looks like we were both on Bonaire in August, that's when the seahorse and filefish were done. Nice shots on Flickr btw! // ww

 

[Puffer Fish]

WW's comments are spot on... I find that lighting requirements get rather picky the closer you get, so I tend to shoot at around the same distance, and use the zoom for framing....only when I have to, do I back all the way out and get close, as that means readjusting the stobes in and forward...and using far different settings.

This guy is about 1.5 inches long:

but if I go really close... with the same strobe position.. one gets very shadowie (not sure that is a word).

One can easily correct this by bringing the strobes in closer and keeping the same lighting angle as the first image...