solisti
07-07-2010, 05:53 AM
I was looking for a macro lens and as an owner of an Olympus I really had two choices: 35mm/3.5 or the more expensive 50mm/2.0. As Jukka had earlier stated the 50mm is a must for underwater, but I took a quick look at my bank account and found that 35mm is far more suitable for my budget. A quick check from Ikelites pages also confirmed that I can use this lens with the same 6'' dome that also covers my 11-22mm.
Also the 35mm is 1:1 macro lens, as the 50mm is actually 1:2. This is somwhat balanced though underwater because with the 6'' dome you cant get 1:1 because the lens would be already focusing inside the dome. So as a pro I can get much closer and have much less particles between my lens and my subject, but as a con I really need to be almost touching the subject to get a good magnification (not a good idea if you are shooting something that moves....)
Another quick look at the bank account and I ordered the 35mm lens for somewhat 250 euros.
I got the lens on monday and after the kids were put to bed I took some quick test shots. Not too bad, light was already quite low so it was not ideal to try handheld macro shots, but I got some that were not totally awfull
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071004.jpg
The next morning I took the lens for a quick underwater trial on the way to work (still 2 weeks untill I have my holidays.. blaah...)
As I suspected the autofocus did struggle quite a lot in the shady areas, and sometimes it was almost impossible to get focus if the starting point for searching the focus was too far to begin with. Light ws not that bad, but there was also some haze in the water. A good fix for this was to first focus on something that had more contrast in it (like a water lilly) and then do the final focusing on the subject.
I'm quite pleased with the results on my first (and really quite rushed) trial.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071013.jpg
But does anyone know what this is? Fish eggs?
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071009.jpg
Also the 35mm is 1:1 macro lens, as the 50mm is actually 1:2. This is somwhat balanced though underwater because with the 6'' dome you cant get 1:1 because the lens would be already focusing inside the dome. So as a pro I can get much closer and have much less particles between my lens and my subject, but as a con I really need to be almost touching the subject to get a good magnification (not a good idea if you are shooting something that moves....)
Another quick look at the bank account and I ordered the 35mm lens for somewhat 250 euros.
I got the lens on monday and after the kids were put to bed I took some quick test shots. Not too bad, light was already quite low so it was not ideal to try handheld macro shots, but I got some that were not totally awfull
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071004.jpg
The next morning I took the lens for a quick underwater trial on the way to work (still 2 weeks untill I have my holidays.. blaah...)
As I suspected the autofocus did struggle quite a lot in the shady areas, and sometimes it was almost impossible to get focus if the starting point for searching the focus was too far to begin with. Light ws not that bad, but there was also some haze in the water. A good fix for this was to first focus on something that had more contrast in it (like a water lilly) and then do the final focusing on the subject.
I'm quite pleased with the results on my first (and really quite rushed) trial.
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071013.jpg
But does anyone know what this is? Fish eggs?
http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg27/solisti/vv07071009.jpg