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RE: [OM] Non-Hazy 65-200

Subject: RE: [OM] Non-Hazy 65-200
From: "Olaf Greve" <o.greve@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2003 15:12:34 +0200
Hi Gary,

> When I pull the focus/zoom ring back to 200mm and turn the focus ring to
> 1.2 meters I encounter a slight resistance.  If I continue turning the
> focus ring  I can feel the lens engaging and shifting into the
> close focus mode.  At this point the letter "S" in the word focus is
aligned with the
> white F stop mark.  At this point the lens seems to have a fixed focal
> length.  In other words, I am unable to use the zoom to change from
> 200mm.  The close focus works so long as the object remains at
> one distance only---approximately 1/2 meter.

Correct. This is the way the lens is supposed to work. Initially, I wasn't
aware of the 200mm limitation either, but indeed the behaviour you describe
is completely correct (including the heavier resistance).

> I own a Vivitar 7-210 macro which does allow me to vary the focal length
> and focus when in macro mode.  Am I overlooking something with
> the Zuiko or does it just work much differently than the Vivitar?

Nope, you're not doing anything wrong; as mentioned above, the close-focus
feature really only works at 200mm. Actually, my lens has zoom creep, which
causes the lens to "fall" to 65mm when walking with it and having it point
down. My trick to "lock" the lens when walking, is to turn it into the
close-focus range so it stays nicely locked. :)

> Or, is the Zuiko not a true macro lens?

That too. Technically spoken I believe the formal definition of a macro lens
to be a lens which allows a reproduction between 1x life size and 30x life
size. Officially spoken, everything with a smaller reproduction size (i.e.
up to 1x life size) is at best a close-up lens (note how the 50/3.5 and 50/2
officially spoken also fall in that category!), and evry lens that has a
reproduction ratio that's bigger than 30x life size is called a
micro(scopic?) lens.

Cheers!
Olafo


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