latebloomer Loc: Topeka, KS

I use my macro lenses mostly for macro and universal. This is about macro.

I need your wisdom, opinion, and advice, either positive or negative.
I am moving from my Nikon's (I have a 100mm Tokina macro I have been happy with.) to an Olympus OM D E M1 ii. I have good lenses for the Olympus including the 60 mm Tokina macro. I have been very happy with the 60mm. My favorite shooting is macro. I spend most of my time on macro photography indoors and outdoors, indoors more than outdoors. I do like 1 to 1. I am looking at the Olympus 30mm macro. Would you please tell me your opinions or thoughts about my purchasing the 30mm macro? I know it is very close to target.

Once again, that you for your valued advice.

Terry Sandlin

jcboy3

Very Short Working Distance.

The 30mm is a very good close focus lens (yes, it will shoot 1:1, but you have to get really close).

The 60mm is a very good macro lens.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

jcboy3 is correct. The "longer" working distance for the 60mm is just over 7". The 30mm will be even closer. Also, the 30mm is not weatherproof while the 60mm is weatherproof. The 30mm might be slightly the sharper lense and will have a slightly wider depth of focus at 1:1 due to focal length. For me, the longer working distance and weatherproofing means more than any slight increase in DOF or very slight increase in sharpness.

Naptown Gaijin

I have the Oly 60mm Macro and wouldn't have any other. That ability to get 1:1 from a longer lens to subect distance is real important.... I don't have to worry about camera/lens shadows on the subject, and if it it an insect it won't be as quick to scurry/fly away.
And you can't go wrong with Oly weathersealing. I also like the button on the barrel where you can select one of three focus ranges. Read up on it at dpreview.com or any of the other review sites.

aphelps Loc: Central Ohio

I second the vote for the oly 60 mm macro. Fine macro lens.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

My participation in this thread is only to give you advise. Use Olympus lenses with Olympus cameras for best results.
Use Olympus Workspace editing software for best colors when printing.

dbjazz Loc: Long Island, NY

I would go with the 60mm. With the 30mm, you have to get very close to the subject.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

The 60mm Olympus macro lens is excellent. You can,however, use all sorts of lenses for effect. There is a 15mm macro lens for Nikon that produces excellent photos (Laowa is the maker andThis lens can be adapted to m4/3 as it is manual) . As others have said the working distance is indeed affected. Changing the focal length also affects the perspective. Macro lenses have very little barrel or pincushion distortion and are good for copying art work. The 30mm might be excellent for this.

There is a e-book on wide angle macro which may still be available ( https://231128.e-junkie.com/product/1169158/Wide-Angle-Macro%3A-The-Essential-Guide-by-Paul-Harcourt-Davies-and-Clay-Bolt ).

Also see

https://www.imaging-resource.com/news/2013/07/16/wide-angle-macro-photography-close-ups-with-impact-part-1

https://okinawanaturephotography.com/the-art-of-wide-angle-macro-photography-by-shawn-miller/

I think reviewing the above sites will open your eyes to possibilities. I have considered the Laowa 25mm lens for 2-5X macros.

In summary all sorts of lenses can be used in macro photography. It is good to consider the possibilities.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I have the Panasonic Lumix G 30mm f/2.8 Macro. It is very sharp. It is the equivalent field of view of a 60mm lens on full frame. That is just a tad long for copy stand work, but close to the 55mm Micro Nikkors in my collection. If you use a copy stand, you'll want a 48" high column. They're pricey, unless you build your own.

I've found the lens to be invaluable for copying slides and negatives to digital images. You can do true 1:1 reproduction, which with the 17mm wide field of view at 1:1, is roughly a quarter of a 35mm slide!

The 30mm lens is NOT a good lens for photographing insects, spiders, and other creepy-crawlies. For that, you'll probably want the Olympus 60mm Macro.

Panasonic Leica has a 45mm f/2.8 DG Macro. It is very sharp, and will do double duty for head-and-shoulders portraits on occasion.

My son borrows my 30mm to use for full length to waist-up portraits. He also uses it for filmmaking with his GH4. I prefer my zooms for video.

With the 30mm, I have photographed coins, stamps, artwork, small items for parts catalogs, and used items to sell on eBay. When working close to 1:1, the challenge is lighting. It is very easy to shadow the subject with the lens, or get the lights in the wrong positions, causing flare. I haven't been able to find a lens hood for the 30mm, probably because you can't use one at 1:1 without creating unwanted shadows!

http://wrotniak.net/photo/m43/lenses.html — This is a fairly extensive list of well over 100 Micro 4/3 lenses from many manufacturers. It was updated on May 20, 2019.

JohnR Loc: The Gates of Hell

Great reply.

papaluv4gd Loc: durham,ct

I have both. Both are exquiset lenses. The 30mm requires you to get pretty close to the subject. I pretty much use the 60mm for 90% of my macro work. The 30mm works nicely on one of my e-m5 bodies. They are slightly smaller tham my e-m1's. That makes for a nice compact,easy to handle package.

jaredjacobson

I bought one of these about two weeks ago and it hasn't been off my camera since. It is a 60mm macro. Manual focus, but it renders beautifully, and is much cheaper than the Olympus.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07T5BNXR2?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

I decided to go with this over the almost equivalently priced Olympus 30mm because of the longer working distance and the fact that I already have 4 lenses within the 25 to 40mm range, plus a 45mm.