Panasonic macro 45mm

I am heading to Puerto Galera for a week of macro.

I will take my Olympus 60mm however the visibility is not always great there and when I went few years ago I had to shoot quite far for octopus even large ghost pipefish and no matter the technique I had some backscatter in the shots.

I am thinking of getting the pana 45mm in order to get closer. It should work at 3/4’of the olympus shooting distance and still give 1:1 macro.

I have heard though that there are some focus challenges with this lens especially on olympus bodies and that the manual focus is not so effective

Is anyone shooting with this lens and is able to help?

Thank you

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I've heard the 45mm is slow to focus. Look at the new Olympus 30mm f3.5 or the panasonic 30mm f2.8. Phil Rudin reviewed the Oly 30mm in UWP magazine. The Pany is reviewed here: http://www.reefwreckandcritter.com/blog/a-look-at-the-panasonic-30mm-macro-lens-underwater

I'm thinking of getting the 30mm f2.8 lens for exactly the reasons you state, however in my case it's shooting weedy sea dragons on a macro dive.

There is an analysis for the Pany lens on Photozone here: http://photozone.de/m43/982-pana30f28?start=1 Also one for the Oly 60mm, shows they are both sharp, with Panasonic possibly a bit sharper.

I have it and have no problems with the focus.

I use both the 45mm Pana Maco and the Zuiko 60mm Makro. The Zuiko focuses a bit faster when the lens is set to the Makro range by the switch on the objective.

For motives of the size of an octopus I prefer the Zuiko 12-40mm Pro behind the Zen DP170 over both Makro lenses.

I do not know exactly how the magnification of this lens at 40mm is in comparison to the 30mm Makro lenses (that is roughly equivalent to 40mm when it is behind a Planar Port), but the minimum focus distances of Pana 30mm is 11cm, Zuiko 30mm is 9,5cm and 12-40mm is 20cm (but the 12-40mm has to focus on the virtual image produced by the domeport, so one cannot compare directly) - for very small motives certainly the dedicated Makro lenses are the better choice (but then I would take 45mm or 60mm), but then you come very close and the visibility is not that much important, but when motives become somewhat larger definitely the 12-40mm Pro is the better choice...

Wolfgang

I have it and have no problems with the focus.

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I use both the 45mm Pana Maco and the Zuiko 60mm Makro. The Zuiko focuses a bit faster when the lens is set to the Makro range by the switch on the objective.

For motives of the size of an octopus I prefer the Zuiko 12-40mm Pro behind the Zen DP170 over both Makro lenses.

I do not know exactly how the magnification of this lens at 40mm is in comparison to the 30mm Makro lenses (that is roughly equivalent to 40mm when it is behind a Planar Port), but the minimum focus distances of Pana 30mm is 11cm, Zuiko 30mm is 9,5cm and 12-40mm is 20cm (but the 12-40mm has to focus on the virtual image produced by the domeport, so one cannot compare directly) - for very small motives certainly the dedicated Makro lenses are the better choice (but then I would take 45mm or 60mm), but then you come very close and the visibility is not that much important, but when motives become somewhat larger definitely the 12-40mm Pro is the better choice...

 

Wolfgang

When I said octopus I was referring to mimic le wonderpus size not a large octopus sorry for they confusion

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Just an addition:

of course the AF depends a lot on the housing - I use the OMD-EM5MII. With the 45mm Pana it can happen sometimes, that the AF does not work. This practically never happens with the Zuiko 60mm, when the switch on the lens is set to the makro range (the 45mm Pana does not have such a switch). => All in all the difference is there, but small...

The OMD-EM1MII, for comparison, has better AF than the OMD-EM5II. In addition the software allows to limit the AF distance range for every lens.

Using complete and exclusively the MF with both 45mm and 60mm is not practical in my hands: There are too many turns required to focus - I find this very amkward (I do not know whether it is possible to change the required turns for a given focus distance by the software to make it more effective, at least I do not know how this is done...). It is, however, very well possible to use a combination of MF/AF: First AF for the rough focusing (for instance with the video record button repogrammed) and then fine focusing manually...

Wolfgang

The 12-40mm will do 1:3 magnification and the 30mm macros will both do 1:1. I checked on the 60mm macro and in air with the switch activated the frame width captured is 140mm, too narrow for me, so I leave at full range. I'm looking at the 30mm because a weedy sea dragon is about 200-250mm long, way too long for the 60mm macro.

I have thought about whether you could add a wet wide lens to a 60mm macro port to shoot the occasional large subject, it's hard to find any specific information online.

Dave what camera have you got?

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The 12-40mm will do 1:3 magnification and the 30mm macros will both do 1:1. I checked on the 60mm macro and in air with the switch activated the frame width captured is 140mm, too narrow for me, so I leave at full range. I'm looking at the 30mm because a weedy sea dragon is about 200-250mm long, way too long for the 60mm macro.

 

I have thought about whether you could add a wet wide lens to a 60mm macro port to shoot the occasional large subject, it's hard to find any specific information online.

Shooting a leafy is not macro photography. I would probably use my 7-14 if I were to go back. Or I would house the 12-35

Chris mentioned the 12-40 as an option for what you're shooting, and I would agree. With the right port, you can focus really close; the lens also works well with a wet diopter.

Shooting a leafy is not macro photography. I would probably use my 7-14 if I were to go back. Or I would house the 12-35

No it's not macro, but a 30mm focal length is usable. Often there's not a lot of other subjects around for the likes of a 7-14mm on dives where you can find them readily and most subjects are best suited to macro. Backscatter is an ongoing battle in waters around Sydney, so I tend to use the 12-40mm on open ocean dives and the macro lens just inside the estuaries, unfortunately weedies are much easier to find just inside. But easier is a relative term, there's only one dive spot I'd call reliable for them, which is probably one of the best spots anywhere to see them.

I just managed to get some nice shots of a weedy with the 12-40mm last weekend, first time in 2 years of regular diving. (Just posted on Instagram yesterday. ) Certainly if I was just visiting I'd do at least some dives with the 12-40 specifically looking for them.

Hi Interceptor, take the Nauticam Wet Mate Domeport and you increase the field of you underwater at around 1,33 times. If you use it on the Olympus 60mm then you have underwater a 40mm Macro. The Wet Made Domeport is very small and has a 67mm thread.

I also have a GX7 I wonder if focus is better with Panasonic. The subjects I would like to cover range between 2 cm to 10 cm. The challenge are those 5 to 10 cm in low viz. In good viz I would just use the 60mm

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• i'd suggest the 45mm in low viz, as you can get closer to improve image quality