Finally, I Bought The Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro

I have never actually owned the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro lens before. Previously, I had one for long term loan from Olympus when I was involved with them as an Olympus Visionary (a fancy name for ambassador). Since I left, I have returned the macro lens together with a selection of other amazing lenses, and I never looked to purchase one for myself because macro photography was not what I was doing for a living. Fast forward many years to today, I found the Olympus 60mm F2.8 Macro in the used marketplace at a really good price I cannot resist, so I bought one, and my hands got so itchy I went out to the nearby park to grab some insect macro images. I made a video about this, you can watch it here (click). 

I personally think the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro is the best macro lens made for Micro Four Thirds system. Here are my reasons:

1. The lens is so small and so light, it pairs very well with any small sized Micro Four Thirds cameras. This setup is perfect for my shooting technique, holding the camera with lens with one hand and wireless flash on the other. I cannot imagine holding something much larger and heavier, say the OM System 90mm Macro which would throw everything out of balance, and I could break my wrist (exaggeration intended). 
2. The lens has sufficient minimum working distance. Some other lenses, say the Olympus 30mm macro and Panasonic 45mm macro will require you to move much closer to the subject, with higher chance of spooking some sensitive bugs away. Having more distance to work with is a huge bonus if you intend to shoot living tiny critters without scaring them off too easily as you approach them. 
3. Weather-sealing is another plus point, as it does rain a lot here in Malaysia. Not that I shoot my insect macro in the rain, but some of the leaves and bushes out there can be quite wet, and as we move into secondary jungle (typically hiking trail) there are times rain can happen randomly and there is nowhere to hide, but to get wet. Having a weather-sealed camera and lens can put the mind to ease. 
4. Autofocus is a must have for me, as I just cannot be bothered to deal with manual focus. I think life is too short for manual focusing work. I acknowledge there are many amazing budget macro lenses made by third party manufacturers (7Artisans, TTArtisans, Pergear to name a few) but none of these lenses have autofocus, which just adds another layer of complication during shooting execution.
5. The Olympus 60mm Macro produces excellent image quality, the sharpness is just incredible, and the overall rendering is so pleasing. The lens can render amazing amount of fine details, superb contrast, even if this is not the best lens out there, I don't really care anymore as I am extremely happy with what the Olympus 60mm macro can do. 

Many people will be quick to point out the newer lens OM System 90mm F3.5 Macro PRO which I admit is an excellent lens - it has newer optics, so I do expect the image quality to be very good, it also does double the magnification of 60mm macro, and it accepts teleconverter, pushing the reach and magnification even further if needed. However, the lens also costs three times more than the asking price of 60mm macro (at full retail) and the size of 90mm Macro is just too large to be useful for my kind of shooting technique. I do not make my money from insect macro; hence it makes no sense to pay such a high cost for a lens that I am using merely for fun and getting no return in investment. Even if the 90mm macro can perform better than the 60mm Macro, I find the 60mm Macro to be more than sufficient for my needs, and if I do need more magnification, there are practical and much cheaper solutions, like attaching extension tubes to go much closer to the subjects. 

It is rainy season now in Malaysia, if it does not rain so much, you bet I will be out there shooting some cute little bugs!

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