Olympus 60 mm lens - focus range?

[MB NZ]

New lens for me, primary for macro stuff. I'm guessing that a focus range of 0.19m - infinity is the most versatile, but 0.19 - 0.4 will give a faster autofocus. Is this correct?

Any other tips for this lens gratefully appreciated. It's going on my EPL5 with two YSD1 strobes.

Cheers

 

[victor]

I am just starting to play with this lens. Playing in the pool this week.
Limiting the focus range may not be a good idea. In some cases you have to stand off a little with this lens. 60 mm is equivalent of 120 mm.
This is a matchbox sized toy car


and a slightly larger turtle.

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I found strobe positioning quite difficult, need to practice some more with this lens.

 

[Divealpha]

You are correct. The lens will hunt more to focus. If you only will shoot macro on the dive, choose the 0.19- 0.4 setting. You can also find settings on underwater photography. Com for the PEN cameras. And a focus light will help for focusing.

 

[decidedlyodd]

I've used the lens with the dial set to 0.19m to infinity and 0.19m-0.4m, but definitely prefer the full range setting.

While I rarely take shots that are farther away than 0.4m when shooting macro, I still focus from farther away than that frequently. Because the angle of view is so narrow on this lens, I start focusing on a subject as I approach it from much farther away. If I'm less than 0.4m away from the subject, it can be very hard to find it in the viewfinder especially if everything is out of focus.

 

[NautilusCairns]

I go for full range as sometimes you want to take a fish portrait. Auto focus is still pretty quick. I use the video switch for AF and shutter for MF.

 

[victor]

I think manual focus would be too hard for me, sticking to autofocus.
Using the focus light on the YS01 helps me with strobe placement. I have a separate focus light that I can fit to the Hot Shoe. I will give that a try presetting the position to about 0.25 to 0.3 meter.
So many things to concentrate on and all while trying to keep that fish in the frame.
I used to try and use TTL until Martin Edge showed me that Manual is much easier than I thought.

The quality does blow me away. This is a crop of the Porshe badge on the dinky toy car, about 2 mm across.

 

[NautilusCairns]

I have just started using a close up lens with the macro 60mm and that's when I realised I needed to use the MF to get really sharp pics. So I AF with the video lever then slightly move (rock) the camera until the image is sharp then trip the shutter. Unfortunately for me conditions have to be pretty perfect for this to work .

 

[MB NZ]

thanks for the replies. some food for thought!

 

[bvanant]

You might check your 60 lens to make sure it is focusing where you think it is.
Bill

 

[deeper thoughts]

good info