Dean Hansen and I got together today at the Archbold Biological Station
in Venus, Florida for the 2nd Annual Florida Zuikofest. Attendance was
limited... only Dean and me manipulating the Zuikos.
The main purpose of today's gathering was to try out Dean's large
collection of OM macro gear on the OM-D E-M5. This presented some
challenges since OM macro gear is most easily used with OM TTL flash.
We had the TTL flash gear but, of course, there's no OM TTL logic in the
E-M5. We had to make do with two T-32s operating in auto mode while
adjusting their output and total exposure with a combination of aperture
and ASA setting on the flashes and physical aperture on the Zuikos and
ISO on the E-M5.
It took a lot of twiddling but we eventually managed some decent
exposures. But during all we were plagued by problems with vibration,
flash brackets having difficulty holding the weight of T-32s, lenses
getting in the way of the flashes, not having enough light to focus
properly, etc, etc. We were shooting with bellows mount Zuiko 38 and
20mm macro lenses. We were shooting these on the telescopic auto tube
which offers no aperture automation on a non-OM body. Too late in the
day to do us any good Dean suddenly says... "Hey, why aren't we using
these lenses on the auto bellows where we could stop them down with the
dual cable release." I replies... "Duh... how come?"
Well, we know it will all work but doing it conveniently and being able
to focus well will require some ingenuity in constructing some
specialized equipment that allows easy focusing and rapid and precise
positioning of the flash units.
Below are 7 shots that are sharp enough to be of interest. The first
and fourth are just a leaf at different magnifications using the 38 and
20mm lenses. The second and third are of a moderately cooperative
little spider (after she was chilled in the fridge) to slow her down.
These were shot with the 38mm and the vertical height of the photo
covers only maybe 4-5mm. She's a very lovely little lady with 8
beautiful eyes. We also discovered that spiders also get red eye from
the flash. These shots both needed red eye repair on one eye.
Unfortunately we couldn't use Dean's cross-polarizers with the flashes
in auto mode since the filters covered the sensors.
The last 3 shots are the scales of a tiny, male butterfly who was
perhaps 15-20mm across. The shots cover only a tiny spot of dark brown
scales on one of his wings. The tan patch in the middle is a sort of
pheromone in powder form that the male sprinkles onto his intended lover
to make him unresistable. We'll be marketing this soon and you'll be
unresistable to female butterflies. :-)
Anyhow we had a good time even if we were only getting about one
reasonably exposed and in-focus shot about once per 1/2 hour. :-)
I'm sure the camera could have probably helped out by brightening or
magnifying the display but I haven't gotten that far yet. But at least
the battery held out for the entire shooting session all done on the
display rather than EVF and I think there's still a lot left.
<http://www.chucknorcutt.com/2nd%20Annual%20Florida%20Zuikofest%20-%20Feb%2014,%202013/>
Chuck Norcutt
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