Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro Review: Extreme Close Up Shooting

Important Notes:

1. This is a user experience based review.

2. All images were shot in RAW and converted directly to JPEG (High Quality) via Olympus Viewer 2.

3. General camera settings, Noise Filter = OFF, Contrast/Saturation/sharpness = 0, White Balance = Auto (with an option maintain warm color = OFF), Gradation = Normal

4. No post-processing applied to the images, except slight brightness/contrast balance tweak. All images were as good as straight out of camera, with minimal cropping for better presentation.

UPDATE 1: 21/9/2012 7.00pm
[1]  A group of enthusiastic and amazing local Malaysian photographers, a group called ZUIKOHOLICS led by great friend and macro shooter Amir Ridhwan have also posted up their review for this beautiful Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens (click here to go to the review). Amir's macro photography work has become a strong inspiration and influence to me, and I looked up to him as a mentor and friend. I am glad Olympus has also loaned them the 60mm macro lens for testing and reviewing purposes. Do check out their site, and say hi!!
[2]  In addition, Ming Thein, no stranger in the world of photography gear review has also posted up his review of the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens. Ming Thein specializes in product photography (his work with close up expensive watches is simply astounding), hence it is significant to hear what he has to say, coming from a professional environment. Click here to go to Ming Thein's review. 

I have had two full day shooting experience with the newly launched Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens, kindly loaned to me for my blog review purposes from Olympus Malaysia, and I have so much to say and share with you beautiful people. If you have not read my initial impressions of the lens, please kindly do so here (click). For this round’s review of the M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens, I shall break it down into two separate blog entries, discussing primarily on the different purposes the lens is used for: Part 1 – extreme close up macro shooting and Part 2 – general purpose shooting. In this particular first part of my review, I shall put more emphasis on the Image Sharpness and AutoFocus performance of the 60mm macro lens. In addition to that, I shall also try my best to answer how well does the M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens perform in comparison to its older sibling, the much revered Zuiko 50mm F2 macro lens?

Before we dive right into the review, allow me to clarify a few items. This review will be written from a photography-enthusiast’s point of view, because I am not a professional photographer. This will be a user experience based review, sharing on what I think and feel as I use the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens (mounted on Olympus OM-D E-M5) in real life shooting situations. Therefore, this is not a technical review as there will not be elaborative technical explanations, which can be easily accessible from many professional review websites such as DPreview and DXOmark. 

1/60sec, F/5, ISO200

All images in this entry were taken at Orchid Garden and Butterfly Park, Kuala Lumpur. The main subject of this shooting session was insect macro (which also includes spiders). Since the M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 is a dedicated macro lens, it was only appropriate to test it for its intended purpose that was specifically designed for. 

MACRO GEAR SETUP

Before we go on further, allow me to explain the techniques on how I shot some of the extreme magnification images. For general shooting where extreme magnification is not required, I used standard AutoFocus to lock my subjects. Do bear in mind that the following technique is only employed for high magnification images more than 0.5x magnification on the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens. 

Gear Setup

Body: Olympus OM-D E-M5, with the bundled flash attached, and switched ON all the time

Lens: Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens
Flash: Olympus FL-36R flash

My execution on macro shooting:

1) Olympus E-M5 with 60mm macro lens was held single-handedly by my right hand

2) External flash, FL-36R was held by my left hand, with wireless TTL mode activated and ready to fire.

3) I used the DIY made "Shoebox Flash Bouncer (click for more details)" on the flash head all the time. The direction of the bounced flash was aimed at the subject mostly from the side, slightly above their head level.

4) General camera settings: Shutter Speed from 1/60sec to 1/125 sec (to capture a little bit of ambient light, if possible for a more natural look), Aperture from F/5.6-F/14 (to control and maximize depth of field required), ISO200. 

5) Manual Focus, with the lens set to the amount of magnification required (for magnification of 0.5x or higher). I rocked myself back and forth until the zone of focus-interest was seen clear/sharp on my viewfinder, and I fired the shutter button.

6) Autofocus, with the focus limiter switch set to 0.19-0.4m, for larger subjects.I shall elaborate on my reasons for choosing the Autofocus or Manual focus in the later part of this blog entry. 

1/60sec, F/4.5, ISO200

Image Sample 1

100% crop from image sample 1

1/60sec, F/4.5, ISO200

Image Sample 2

100% crop from Image Sample 2

Take note of the Moiré pattern on the butterfly's eye

1/60sec, F/5.6, ISO200

Image Sample 3

100% crop from Image Sample 3

Take note of the Moiré pattern on the dragonfly's eyes.

IMAGE SHARPNESS

The wonder of macro photography is the ability to reveal the tiniest of details, opening up a whole new world  that the human naked eyes cannot see. Therefore, it is extremely crucial for a macro lens to be as sharp as possible to be able to capture and resolve as much details as possible. 

Lets go straight to the point, this M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens is extremely sharp. When I was shooting with the 60mm macro lens, I almost thought I was using the 50mm F2 macro lens instead (probably due to the very similar focal length, 60mm vs 50mm). While reviewing the images shot on the camera backscreen, it was evident that the 60mm F2.8  lens is sharper than the 50mm F2 lens, perhaps by a small margin, but the difference was visible, and there was no slight hesitation for me to have a strong impression that the 60mm was the winner. This was just a quick mental comparison I made while I was shooting on the field, and may not be conclusive at this point, because no side by side real comparison at 100% view on gigantic computer monitor screen to justify such claims. That, shall come a bit later. 

The 60mm F2.8 macro lens is so sharp, capturing too much details that Moiré pattern has become an issue for a few photographs that I have taken. Take for example Image Samples 2 and 3, strong traces of Moiré pattern can be seen on the butterfly's eye and dragonfly's eye respectively. I have rarely encountered such issue when I was shooting with the older 50mm F2 macro lens (almost never). The good news is, we can be very reassured that this 60mm F2.8 lens is indeed, undeniably, exceptionally sharp. The bad news is, using the 60mm macro lens on the E-M5 body that has very thin anti-aliasing filter, the Moiré pattern can pose a real problem. Olympus' claim that the Moiré problem can be corrected by internal software is not happening as I have seen the problem in quite a few numbers of my macro shots. Perhaps, a lens being too sharp is not necessarily a good thing all the time after all. 

I seldom find the need to shoot at full magnification 1:1 ratio, and most of the shots shown in this review blog entry were shot at 1:2 (or 0.5x) magnification or lower. Therefore, for the sake of testing the macro len's capability, I have forced the lens to focus at its full magnification factor of 1:1 out of the necessity. When I was reviewing my shots taken at full 1:1 magnification, it appeared that the image was also very sharp, but somehow not as crackling sharp as I have hoped for. It was not as sharp as I have remembered seeing while I was shooting at lower magnification ratios, such as 1:2 or smaller with the same lens. I shot a few more attempts, and the results were similar: still incredibly sharp, just not as sharp as it should be as seen at lower magnification factor. I have a few theories thought out immediately:

1) At full 1:1 magnification, the depth of field is so shallow that I needed to stop down the aperture to F/11 or narrower to capture sufficient zone in focus. Using narrower aperture could be the cause of the slightly softer images. 

2) Hand Shake issue. I was shooting at 60mm (equivalent of 120mm in 35mm format) with a single hand, at full 1:1 magnification. As much as I believe that the magical 5 Axis Image Stabilization system can work miracles, sometimes being practical, I cannot be entirely sure that there was completely no hand shake. I was faced with a situation where tripod was impractical. 

A practical explanation for this scenario is high likely due to diffraction phenomenon of the lens shooting at narrower aperture (F8 or narrower). Diffraction is a very common technical flaw that every lens inherits. Moreover, the diffraction is further amplified when the magnification factor increases, hence the noticeable small decline in overall resolution. Using very narrow aperture in combination with the full magnification factor may not yield the best performance the lens can offer. Therefore, for serious macro shooters, various techniques have been employed to mitigate this problem, such as composite images and focus stacking, in order to avoid using highest magnification factor and also smaller aperture. Working within the optimum parameters of the lens will surely bring out the best performance one can expect from it. 

Perhaps after all the years of experience with Olympus Zuiko's beautiful optics, I am expecting nothing short of perfection !!

Though the images at 1:1 magnification was not as crackling sharp as I have hoped for, they were still very, very good, retaining excellent fine details. Examples of 1:1 magnification images are shown below.

Make no mistake, this 60mm F2.8 lens may just outperform any other macro lenses from other manufacturers in terms of image sharpness.

1/125sec, F/14, ISO200

Image Sample 4 taken at 1:1 full magnification

Center Crop (not 100%) of Image Sample 4

1/100sec, F/10, ISO200

Image Sample 5 taken at 1:1 full magnification

Center Crop (non 100%) from Image Sample 5

1/80sec, F/9, ISO200

Image Taken at 1:1 full magnification

AUTOFOCUS PERFORMANCE

One of the main problems with the older Zuiko Digital 50mm F2 macro lens, and to a certain extent even the 35mm F3.5 macro standard grade lens, was the poor autofocus performance that can become frustratingly unreliable in challenging shooting conditions, especially at large magnification shots. It is a huge relief to us Olympus users that this issue has been looked into and resolved in the new M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 lens !! The fact that the autofocus has been significantly improved is one reason strong enough for many people to consider having this lens, knowing very well now the sharpness of the lens is not compromised at all. 

Before we go on further, I would like to talk more about the focus limiter switch. Primarily, the focus limiter has 3 options and one shortcut. The 3 options varies according to focusing distance, while the one shortcut allows quick access to full 1:1 magnification factor. It was very thoughtful of Olympus to include the focus limiter switch, which conveniently optimizes the lens' autofocus performance in all range of shooting circumstances. 

1) 0.4m to infinity. This is the normal general purpose shooting range. For non-macro shooting purposes, and using the lens for other purposes such as portraits or street shooting, this is the best option, as it prioritizes images away from the macro shooting zone. I shall explore this focusing range in my next blog review, where I bring the lens out for non-macro shooting.

2) 0.19m to infinity. This is the setting on the focus limiter switch that allows full range of focusing distance, from full close up macro of 1:1 magnification to infinity. I strongly do not recommend the use of this setting, and while doing a short test using this shooting mode, I did encounter some very annoying hunting and hesitating of the lens, going back and forth. While the focusing is still generally very fast at this setting, it is not optimized for any shooting purposes at all. If you are leaving the lens to a friend that has no idea about how the magnification factor or focusing distance works, then this setting should minimize any confusion of not using the right focus limiter switch for the job. 

3) 0.19m to 0.4m: This is the close up macro range. At 0.19m (distance measured from the image sensor to the subject), you get full magnification ratio of 1:1, and that is the closest you can get to your subject, and the full performance of the macro lens. At 0.4m distance, the magnification ratio was just slightly smaller than 1:4 (0.25x) magnification ratio. This setting on the focus limiter switch is optimized for close ranged, extreme magnification macro shooting only. 

4) Shortcut to 1:1 magnification. This is not exactly an option on the focus limiter, because it is not a fixed setting. You can twist the dial to the 1:1 setting and the dial won't set there, and it will roll back to the 0.19 to 0.4m (which is the option 3: close up macro range) option. The 1:1 setting is just a shortcut to allow instant access to full magnification, and this works both when you are using Autofocus or Manual focus. I would say this setting is more useful for manual focus, because once you used the shortcut, the focus is set to full 1:1 magnification ratio, and it won't be changed unless you move the focusing ring. I am sure many of you have issues starting the camera and lens (especially those who have lens reset to infinity option on for power-off), and to go from infinity to full magnification 1:1 ratio by twisting the focusing ring can take quite a bit of time. This new 1:1 shortcut eliminates this problem. 

If you are accustomed to the focus limiter switch already and have selected the best option for your intended shooting purposes, you will find the lens to focus very optimally. You get the blazing fast AF that the OM-D E-M5 is known for, and having such capability for macro shooting is even more impressive. 

I have tried the Autofocus extensively on my macro shooting session, and I must testify that the autofocus worked very, very efficiently. Nonetheless, for extreme close up shooting with 1:2 magnification to 1:1, I actually preferred to use the manual focus. It was not because I did not trust the camera, it was more of me not trusting my own hands. Therefore, using the manual focus to set the focusing to a desired magnification factor (say 1:2) and allowing myself to rock back and forth until I see the part of the subject (eg the eye) is in perfect focus through the electronic viewfinder, I instantly clicked the shutter button. 

Please take note that I did not use any magnify assist or zoom in zoom out function to help me focus. It was far more efficient to just trust what I saw on the viewfinder, rather than fiddling with so many buttons. I was holding the flash on one hand, and the camera (with lens) on another. Surely the whole magnify assist in live view thing is not feasible in my shooting approach. 

1/60sec, F/7.1, ISO200

Image Sample 6

100% Crop from Image Sample 6

1/80sec, F/8, ISO200

Image taken at Full 1:1 Magnification (very tiny baby mantis)

1/80sec, F/5.6, ISO200

1/80sec, F/8, ISO200

I realized the DOF was not sufficient, as I readjusted my position and stop down the aperture, the loving couple decided to fly away. 

1/60sec, F/9, ISO200

As you can see in the green background there are dusts (possibly smears of something else) on the E-M5's sensor. The previous user of this review unit must have brought the lens to some very extreme conditions, and decided to change lens in that extreme condition. 

HANDLING OF THE LENS

How does the M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens handle in macro shooting environment? The 60mm macro lens handles well. Mounted on the OM-D E-M5, the combinations feels balanced and very comfortable to hold. The lens was substantially long enough for comfortable holding of the left hand. The lens was also very light (at only 185g). If you intend to shoot with two hands (like most normal sane photographers do) then you do not need the extra battery grip pack to improve the handling. However, I was shooting with the lens and camera on my single handled right hand, hence I added the horizontal/landscape grip for additional stability. 

The minimum focusing distance for full magnification at 1:1 ratio was rated 0.19m, which was measured from the image sensor on the camera body to the focal plane of the subject in focus. Effectively, you get approximately 10cm (0.1m) working distance from the front of the lens to the focal plane of subject, which is still very usable in most conditions. The 10cm working distance was merely my educated estimation without actual measurements. (I am an engineer, my estimation is usually very reliable). Employing such high degree of magnifications, the subject you are shooting must be exceptionally tiny, and 10cm may seem like very near but it was still very comfortable to work with. 

I did some simple calculations to verify my 10cm claim. 

Working Distance = Minimum Focusing Distance - Lens Body Length - Flange Focal Distance

Working Distance = 190mm - 82mm - 20mm

Working Distance = 88mm

Not to forget, small part of the lens mount at the rear of the lens goes inside the camera body, hence adding perhaps another few millimeters to the working distance. Therefore, adding that few millimeters (say 5mm screw-on mount) my initial estimation of 10cm was near accurate. 

1/60sec, F/7.1, ISO200

1/80sec, F/9, ISO200

1/80sec, F/8, ISO200

1/80sec, F/11, ISO200

Image taken at full 1:1 magnification

1/80sec, F/8, ISO200

1/80sec, F/9, ISO200

LEICA RED DOT COMPARISON

As I was looking through the images and marvelled at how sharp the images taken with the M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens was, I have this unsettling feeling that still doubted the ability of the 60mm F2.8 macro to surpass what the original 50mm F2 macro can do. It was because of that unsettling feeling that I decided against my usual style of not doing any comparison with any other camera or lenses in my gear review. I wanted to see for myself is that 60mm F2.8 lens better than the 50mm F2 lens, in a controlled testing manner.

I was searching high and low for a small item suitable for macro shooting purpose. The only item I could find in such short period of time lying around my room was the Leica red dot pin which I have received for attending one of the Leica Store Malaysia function earlier this year. I have left the Red Dot pin unused and lying around collecting dust and rust, and it was about time to put it to some good use.

I set up the camera, Olympus OM-D E-M5 on a tripod. I fixed the lens focus to 1:2 magnification, and fine tuned the 60mm F2.8 to match as closely as I can to the ratio captured by the maximum magnification ratio of the 50mm F2 lens. The focus ring was then not touched anymore, and the tripod was moved toward or away from the subject, until the red dot appeared to be in perfect focus. Images were taken at F2.8, F5.6, F8 and F11, to test the variability of sharpness at different aperture values. The tripod was readjusted again, and similar set was taken three times, and the best of the bunch was selected for display in this blog. Same procedure was done for both the 50mm and 60mm lens. Camera was set to Aperture Priority mode, center weighted average metering, IS OFF, and use of Anti-Shock 2 sec delay to minimize shake. The light source was a single fluorescent tube from the ceiling.

The following are the comparison test results of 60mm F2.8 vs 50mm F2.0 macro lenses, taken at different aperture values.

I admit that this simple, very straight forward test is flawed in many levels, and should not be used as an ultimate reference to sharpness comparison between 60mm F2.8 macro and 50mm F2 macro lenses. The purpose of me doing this comparison was to have a rough indicator of how well the 60mm F2.8 stood against the old legendary 50mm F2 lens, partially because I did not believe my own eyes that the 60mm F2.8 lens in the first place could in any way outperform the 50mm F2 in terms of image quality. I acknowledge there are many ways that the test can be standardized and improved for better accuracy, but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. We shall leave the real tests to the pros (with the MTF chart plots and resolution chart tests with those definitive horizontal and vertical resolution lines). I just wanted a quick answer, hence the quick test.

My observations from the above side by side comparison:

1) At F2.8 and F5.6, the 60mm F2.8 lens is clearly the winner, showing greater details and sharpness. The 50mm F2 was not far behind, in fact it was only upon very close scrutiny that one can find any difference in terms of sharpness. My initial assumption while testing on the field shooting macro that, at F2.8 to F5.6, the 60mm F2.8 macro lens performed extremely well, even better than the 50mm F2 by slight margin, was proven true.

2) At F8 and F11, the 60mm F2.8 lens is no longer the winner, and it is clear that the 50mm F2 lens is sharper, but not by much. The difference between the two lenses at F8 is very small, but the 50mm F2 shows more finer details. At F11, however, it was very obvious that the 50mm F2 is the winner. For the 50mm F2 lens, the degradation of image sharpness was so gradual and minimal that even using the lens at narrower apertures, the sharpness produced is still very optimized. This is not the case for the 60mm F2.8 macro. Shooting with the 60mm F2.8 macro at F8 and above, there is a noticeable decline in sharpness, though in real world applications this should not be much of an issue. This finding also agrees strongly with the 1:1 full magnification images that I have taken at F/14 that was not as sharp as I have initially expected.

3) 60mm F2.8 has better micro contrast. The images taken with the 60mm F2.8 looked punchier and bolder, as if there was a "pop" quality.

4) Color output from both lenses were different. While the 50mm F2 macro was more neutral and balanced, the 60mm F2.8 was more vibrant and warmer. I suspect this was mainly due to the different coatings used on both lenses. The stark difference can be observed in how the red on the Leica pin was rendered.

The simple Leica Red Dot Comparison Test has confirmed my initial suspicions. Indeed, on the whole the 60mm F2.8 macro lens appears to be sharper than the 50mm F2 lens, but that amazing sharpness is limited to use of larger aperture openings. The punchier and higher contrast output of the 60mm F2.8 lens added to the impression that the 60mm F2.8 lens was indeed outperforming the 50mm F2 lens.

All things considered, it is very obvious that the 60mm F2.8 macro lens is possibly one of the sharpest macro lenses out there. I am expecting more reviews by other photographers comparing the M.Zuiko 60mm macro against great macro lenses from other manufacturers, and I am very confident that the 60mm macro lens will shine. Just keep an eye out for such comparisons soon.

For your pixel peeping pleasures, I have included the following items for your downloads:

60MM MACRO SHOOTING TEST

You can download the selected 10 full size JPEG images here (click)

LEICA RED DOT COMPARISON TEST

You can download the 60mm F2.8 vs 50mm F2 tests here (click)

I still have a lot more to say about the new M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 macro lens, and I have brought it out to another shooting session, this time, for general shooting with non-macro purposes Of course, there are some complains and issues with this lens, which I shall explore in the next blog entry of this review. I am working very hard to push out that entry soonest possible. 

If you have found the review useful, kindly purchase the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 Macro lens from B&H (click here). 

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to say something in the comment section on this blog entry, or email me directly at hamish7ian@gmail.com