I can't believe it! I am about to degrade one of the zuikos in my stable!
"How could he", you ask, "we should expunge him from the list for this
heresy!" It gets even worse, I'm degrading a zuiko prime lens below that of
an aftermarket zoom! "That's it, you are gone! Get rid of him, I say,
scat!"
Now, now, before everybody gets into a tizzy let me explain.
All this talk lately of macro work (hi, Kerry) has got me reexamining my
macro setup. Now mind you, I have many wonderful shots with my current
setup, but I know it ain't perfect. I just did a somewhat scientific test
with my equipment and almost required doing a load of laundry. With my new
2-4 screen I could see clearly for the first time what is REALLY happening
with my lenses. Now please understand I do not own a true macro lens, so
like most people, this is a case of making do with what you currently
possess.
My "standard" macro setup is the 100/2.8 or 50/1.4 on 25mm and 14mm of
extension tubes. I do other combinations as well, including 200mm and 24mm,
but the vast majority of my closeups are 100/2.8 and 50/1.4 shots.
For this test I put the 50/1.4 lens on 39mm of extension tubes and squared
up the camera with the back cover of John Shaw's "Closeups in Nature" book.
The center was in focus but the edges were way out of focus. I had to move
the camera in about 7mm to get the edges in focus. Yikes! 7mm variance in
focus between center and edge! I then tried the same with my "golden"
setup, the 100/2.8 on the 39mm of extension tubes. The variance was around
2-3mm between center focus and edge focus. Since most of my closeup work
has been flowers in nature and in the studio I'm using strobes and small
lens openings so it didn't really matter too much. I enjoyed the brightness
of the lenses in comparison to the macro lenses.
I then tried my Tokina AT-X 35-70/2.8 on the 39mm of extension. Wallah!
edge-to-edge in focus! Didn't matter what focal length either. Evidently,
this lens had some closeup correction designed in! I'm going outside right
after I post this and try some flash shots of the flowers in my yard. I'll
let everybody know how the results are.
I know I've talked ad nausum about this lens, but this usage was completely
new for me. I had never tried this combination before. Granted, I'd rather
own a true zuiko macro, but when you don't have that option, it is important
to know what the equipment you do own is capable of.
The 50/1.4 may find itself dedicated exclusively to the light table after
this. The zoom was better, even when the 50mm was stopped down to 2.8 to
match it.
Ken N.
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|