Macro with EPM1

[John Gulliver]

The 60mm macro lens will not focus closer than 19cm from the subject. It looks to me as though you were too close. If you want to get closer than 19cm, you will need to add a diopter (with a 37mm thread) to the front of the lens.

By the stroke of luck, some unexpected extra money showed up out of the blue and I was able to buy the 60mm lens. I found it used on EBay for $399 (I wonder if it was the same that you saw).

I have been using it for several weeks now and I must say that it is a rather remarkable lens. Now I know what other users meant when they mentioned something like “dancing with the focus mechanism”. On land when the lens struggles to focus for minutes on end I switch to manual but underwater I keep trying and end up shooting a lot of bad pictures hoping to get one right.

The first image is a close up of a skunk cabbage flower and I am wondering whether the areas that are out of focus are normal or are a sign that the lens has a problem.

View attachment 182544


The second image is a close up of a coonstripe shrimp standing on an orange sea cucumber. Would you consider the focus on this image acceptable? (Well I think it could be better)

View attachment 182545


I have noticed that when the subject is not frozen still the lens struggles to focus too. Even on land I find it difficult to get sharp pictures of moving subjects despite of the lens that I use.

 

[Foxtrot16]

I tend to agree - I think you may have been too close to your subject.

When you are the correct distance away >19 cm the lens should focus very quickly - perhaps you need to practice your distance judging on land so when you are under the water you know how close you need to be - do this with your camera in the housing.

Also don't forget that your F Stop / depth of field will also affect the image in some ways as many people use a large F Stop and then forget that the DoF is shallow and think that there is a focus issue as well. I like to use F Stops of between F11 - F16.

Hope this helps.

Karl

 

[John Gulliver]

Interesting! F11-16 works fine in clear tropical water with >30m visibility but here in our dark northern Waters, I don't think you would get a decent shot with that aperture unless you used a very slow shutter speed or high ISO setting.

I tend to agree - I think you may have been too close to your subject.

When you are the correct distance away >19 cm the lens should focus very quickly - perhaps you need to practice your distance judging on land so when you are under the water you know how close you need to be - do this with your camera in the housing.

Also don't forget that your F Stop / depth of field will also affect the image in some ways as many people use a large F Stop and then forget that the DoF is shallow and think that there is a focus issue as well. I like to use F Stops of between F11 - F16.

Hope this helps.

Karl

 

[Soakedlontra]

I tend to agree - I think you may have been too close to your subject.

When you are the correct distance away >19 cm the lens should focus very quickly - perhaps you need to practice your distance judging on land so when you are under the water you know how close you need to be - do this with your camera in the housing.

Also don't forget that your F Stop / depth of field will also affect the image in some ways as many people use a large F Stop and then forget that the DoF is shallow and think that there is a focus issue as well. I like to use F Stops of between F11 - F16.

Hope this helps.

Karl

Thanks! I will try on land with the housing as you suggest. But then is the distance the same considering that the density of air and water is different?

I am having a lot of fun using wide apertures too on land, my background is in the fine art, so I like the fact that with this lens you can focus on a particular detail and turn the rest of the picture into abstract shapes. Anyway next time I will experiment with higher f stops.

---------- Post added April 24th, 2014 at 09:14 AM ----------

Interesting! F11-16 works fine in clear tropical water with >30m visibility but here in our dark northern Waters, I don't think you would get a decent shot with that aperture unless you used a very slow shutter speed or high ISO setting.

I dive in dark northern waters too so I will tell you all about it!

The folks who wrote reviews about this lens talk that I read a while back talk about a range of "optimal F-stops". According to them if you go above, or below, that you won't get good results on land...Ma! I need to try it myself before I believe them.

 

[umbert]

$399 Sale for this lens is going on as of now, Amazon, B&H, Adorama, etc

 

[Foxtrot16]

Here is a couple of my examples with this lens. Where I dive the water is very green and dark as well and very poor visibility - usually 4m would be considered excellent with lots of floaty bits and crud in the water.

This image of the Cuttlefish was taken at F16 @ 1/160th ISO 200 with the strobes snooted and at 2/3 power in daylight.



This image of the Sabretooth Blenny was taken at F13 @ 1/125th ISO 200 strobes snooted at 2/3 power



All taken on my EM-5 and I would assume that our water conditions are similar to yours - i.e dark and poor vis.

This image of a Goby 10mm in size was taken at a site called the 'Drop Off' in Tulamben Bay Bali in 15m of vis at F14 @ 1/100th ISO 200 strobes snooted and at 1/2 power.


I have yet to use the 60mm since the latest upgrade with the new ISO of 100 but I will try it tomorrow (if the weather holds ) and see how or if that has any effect.

Hope this helps.

Karl

 

[John Gulliver]

Yes, that sounds about the same conditions as we have here.Very nice shots!

 

[Foxtrot16]

A couple of images from my dive today - this is the first time I have used the 60mm with the EM-5 since I did the latest firmware update and now I have the ISO set at 100 and the small focus point.

All settings the same - F14 @ 1/100th ISO 100 strobes snooted and @ 2/3 power.

60mm macro

60mm macro and Subsea +10 dioptre / wet lens

60mm macro

60mm macro

Due to the conditions I dive in I use home made 50mm snoots to restrict the angle of light and therefore only light up my subjects so this allows me to use a shutter speed of 1/100 and an F stop of F14 to get black backgrounds thereby reducing the chance of backscatter and distraction / ugly backgrounds etc.

Karl