Author Topic: Macro options with Oly mZD 14-150 (Read 1430 times)

adash · « **on:** July 23, 2011, 05:04:53 AM »

The 14-150 is a great walk-around lens, but its macro capabilities are quite limited.
There are however several options that can make it a bit more useful when trying to explore the sub-mm world.
Options are as follows:
Front macro lenses (a.k.a. diopter lenses, macro filters, close-up lenses, etc.).
These are cheap, but quality suffers. I have a +4 diopter HOYA, and I am not too happy with the result:

Details

As seen above, off-axis aberrations are kicking in quite fast, as are chromatic aberrations and curvature of field.
Magnification is about 0.5x

Another prime lens attached in reverse in front of the 14-150.
A photographic lens can be used as a highly corrected macro attachment:

Details

Magnification is about 1.1x or 1.2x, an apparent downside is the added weight on the front.
Results are more impressive, sharpness is better, but DOF is shallower:

Details

Please note that the above were heavily cropped and sharpened.
Unfortunately the combination vignettes a lot, the dark corner was left to give an idea.

14-150 itself installed in reverse:

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It obviously becomes very heavy and difficult to carry, but magnification can be enormous ( way more than 10x at max. extension),
with all of the associated hassles - Inexistent DOF, extreme dificulty finding your subject with the lens, dust specks becoming visible on the sensor, etc.

Details

The lack of a real aperture level or ring makes it impossible to control DOF without changing magnification though.
Diffraction is probably what softens the image a lot in the second photo.

E-M5 Pete · « **Reply #1 on:** July 23, 2011, 06:33:22 AM »

I had the ZD 40-150 Mk II, when I owned a E-510, I used a +2 on it .. and you have f/stop and auto exposure control also. (better Quality Highly Corrected close-up 3 lens kits are just under $100). I paid about $45.00 for may set, it was a mid tier quality at the time..

Always try to keep what you want in focus as parallel to the sensor as possible.. That may mean a different viewing angle of that part of the subject

All with a +2 filter

E-510, f/10 @ 81 mm, 1/500, ISO 400, No Flash ...

E-510, f/10 @ 150 mm, 1/640, ISO 400, No Flash

adash · « **Reply #2 on:** July 24, 2011, 09:50:51 AM »

These are very good....initially I could not believe that the HOYA +4 performed that bad.
It is either a very low quality one, or the distance to the entrance pupil of 14-150@150 makes it behave erratically.
I should try it on another telephoto lens....

Macro options with Oly mZD 14-150