Teleconverter and 50mm

[Mr_Pyro]

Has anyone used the EC-20 2X teleconverer together with the 50mm macro lens.
I can't find any port extension for the EC-20, only the EC-14 that is suported by the PER-E01. The PER-E02 look to big for the EC-20.
The price of the EC-20 makes one wounder if it wouln't be better to use a Sigma 105mm macro instead of the Zuiko 50mm+EC-20. Any thoughts or experiences about the subject?
Phil metioned the cool combination of 8mmFE and TC...

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I use the 50 macro 2 x tele converter combo all the time and it works great. Auto focus is slowed a bit and you need to be aware of strobe placement. To get the correct extension length with your macro port you can stack two PER-01 extensions or use the extension for the 7 to 14 zoom. Remember that this combo puts more distance between the lens and the subject so even if the fully extended lens sits a little distance from the inside of the port glass it will still focus well outside the port. I now use the Athena extension for the 7 to 14 zoom because it is designed for the 220 mm dome not the Oly 170 mm port and is shorter than the Oly extension port for the same combo making it just about perfect.

I would not recommend the Sigma because it is slow and can't be manually focused from inside the housing.

PMA is the first week of March and Olympus will introduce any new E-system lenses at that time. The Olympus 100 mm macro is the only lens left on the Olympus lens "roadmap" which has not been released and I still hold hope that it is coming this year.

My avatar at the left was taken with the 50 macro 2 X tele combo from about twelve inches using the Athena ring flash.

Phil Rudin

 

[Mr_Pyro]

Thanks for the info!
Good to know tha there is a few solutions.
After I wrote the msg I found a TC-20 port from Athena.
ƒAƒeƒiH‰›
I'm not sure if it can be used with the 50mm or only the 35mm.

A 100mm sounds perfect, looks like it might be worth to wait a bit. And who knows what bodies might come up in the m4/3 department. I'm eagerly awaitning an Olympus DSLR with decent moviecapabilities.

Any news on a E-30 housing?

Cheers
/Mr_Pyro

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

The TC-20 can be used with both the 50 and 35 macro lenses if you have ports for both.
The down side is that it is an f/3.5 lens and when you add the TC it becomes even slower which makes for slow auto focus. Also when you add the TC-1.4 to the 35 mm it becomes about the same as the 50 macro and when you add the TC=20 it becomes about like the 50 with the TC-1.4. Since the 50 macro is a much better lens it does not make much sense to add TC's to the 35 unless you are looking to get to 4:1.

What the 35 macro is best for are larger fish that don't fit well into the 24 degree angle of view of the 50 macro.

Regarding the E-30, I don't think we will see a housing from anyone but Iklite because the E-3 is so close in price and four different housings are already made for for that housing from Iklite, Nexus, SeaTool and UK-Germany.

Phil Rudin

 

[Mr_Pyro]

What I ment was that of it possible to use the Athena extention port (EP/FG50-TC20-PTE
) that is custom made for the TC-20 together with the 50mm. Athenas page is somewhat unclear....

The reason that i was looking int the E-30 was that it has the same autofocus as the E-3, but in a more compact form.
I had a go at an E-3 together with a 12-60 in a shop the other day. Talk about lightning fast autofocus.
The E-520 hunts "quite" a bit indoors in normal light. Don't want to think what it would do in the murky Baltic waters, sure a focus light would probably do the trick...

But is there any other tricks one can use to increase the focus speed of the E-520?
I'm quite surprised that Olympus haven't implemented a macro mode for the auto focs system, that limits the range that the lens has to travel thrue on the search for focus. This would be very usefull for the liveviewmode and is already implemented on all PS-compacts.... I'm pretty sure that they could fix it in a firmware update..

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

Yes to the Athena extension and 2 X tele being used with the 50 macro, in fact it could be use with any lens and matching port. I use the 1.4 X tele with the 8 mm fisheye all the time to put a little more distance between the lens and subject on this very close focusing ultra wide lens.

The E-3 12 to 60 mm combo is very fast, that is why Olympus can claim it to be the fastest AF on its release in the market. The E-520 also has fast AF and I had no problems with it in clear dim lit water. Did not have a chance to test it in low vis. turbid
water and a focusing light will always help.

On DSRLs focus limitation is built into the lens and requires an on-off switch in the lenses I have seen.

Phil

 

[bmchugh]

I recently purchased the E-520 and the auto focus is fast under most circumstances. I have used it in murkey water in Monterey and San Diego including some night dives. I do use a focus light however. The only time it has had trouble getting focus is when I did not have the focus light aimed on the subject. I've not used an E-3 or E-30 so can't comment as a comparison.

Brian

 

[LineSider]

I agree with the previous post so far that the E-520/12-60mm doesn't suffer from any loss of focus speed.

This lens is blindingly-fast in autofocus. I used it in a studio model shoot last weekend, and it is pretty amazing. I also compared it side-by-side in a controlled shoot with the 50mm+1.4x (70mm) outdoors shooting some berries and foliage...and looked at the result...almost no difference and the color rendering was perceptably brighter as well.

I haven't actually compared it to an E-3 side-by-side but, the e-520 looks functionally-equivalent to the E-3 when it comes to the focus system.

It also was released after the E-3 and as these things tend to go, they incorporate the latest improvement into the latest release.

Challenge will be to house that lens without breaking the bank...

I use a good focus light anyhow...that seems to be just best practice.

Bob

 

[PHIL RUDIN]

I am shooting the 12-60 with my E-3 in a SeaTool housing and it is indeed fast. I would say the E-3 and the coming E-30 will out distance the E-520 in speed although not be much. The problem with the 12-60 zoom in the Olympus housings is that Oly does not yet support this lens for U/W use.

This means no factory gear or extension port. I use the 7-14 extension port from Athena with the Athena extension port for the X-1.4 tele converter combined and a custom made gear with the Olympus/Athena 170 mm port. I had been using the Oly 7-14 extension port with the same (170 mm) port in an Olympus housing and the lens came very close to the inside of the glass and was less than stellar at the long (60 mm) end due to being so close to the glass. This is a fantastic lens with a great range for U/W photography and is a great step-up from the 14-42/14-54 zooms.
I sold my 11-22 due to lack of use when I got this lens. It is also my prime travel, studio and model lens.

Phil Rudin

 

[LineSider]

It looks like Athena has an extension port made for the 12-60mm and the PPO-E04 dome from Olympus. The Athena number is EP/FGZG 12-60MF-PTE and it looks like it includes a gear from the picture. That could be a less expensive alternative, as the street price on the PPO-E04 is around 850....not sure what Athena would get for their port but it would be interesting to try it.