Olympus 60mm Macro am I expecting too much

[Paul80]

Hi all

I am in a bit of a quandary regarding my Olympus 60mm Macro

Looking at the results posted on this forum most of you are getting pin sharp results, but mine is not giving me that degree of satisfaction, so I set about doing some tests.

Images below were with the lens mounted on my Lumix GX7 which was mounted on a heavy Tripod and a cable release was used to trigger the camera, all Image Stabilisation was turned off and the camera was set to A mode with ISO set to 200.

First set of photos are one each at f2.8, f4, f5.6, f8, f11, f16 & F22

the final shot is a 10 image stack all shot at f8 with the focus walked through on a focusing rail.

It might be my eyes as I am not convinced my new glasses are as good as they could be but do they look as sharp as they should be or do I have a suspect lens.

Thanks for any input and help with this

Paul

Images below

f2.8

View attachment 413742

f4

View attachment 413743

f5.6

View attachment 413744

f8

View attachment 413745

f11

View attachment 413746

f16

View attachment 413747

f22

View attachment 413748

10 Image f8 Stack

View attachment 413749

 

[DeeJayK]

Hi Paul,

Let me preface this by saying that I'm no macro expert, nor do I have any personal experience with the O60 and I'm also not much of a pixel-peeper. Given all that, I'm probably not the best resource to answer this question. However, even when looking at the zoomed images my eyes don't perceive any issues with the sharpness.

Do you have another lens that you can create a similar set of shots to allow some A-B comparison?

 

[ronk]

Actually, may be my glasses too, but they look pretty sharp to me. Now if you decide you don't want the lens...

 

[Speedliner]

Seem sharp to me.

 

[ManofKent]

A touch softer at f16 and f22 but that's to be expected. Otherwise they look pretty sharp to me

 

[Paul80]

Thanks guys, Hoped it might just be me and my dodgy eyes.

Will now stop worrying and just enjoy the lens.

And stop going to Specsavers for my glasses,

Paul

 

[Tapper]

IvanK, can you do a direct comparison thread sometime with images to show the difference between the ZD 50 and the 60? Thanks.

EDIT: Read about ZD50, these are not great specs for insects. Not true 1:1.

• ZD 50 Closest focusing distance: 9.45 inches

• Maximum image magnification: 0.52x

Paul80, these seem pretty sharp to me as well. But I did not look at 100% (is that available on Photobucket?). Maybe try a more flat plane to plane angle so the DOF doesn't blur so much out and see what you think.

 

[barry]

Istm your picture could use more lighting.

Barry

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Thanks guys, Hoped it might just be me and my dodgy eyes.

Will now stop worrying and just enjoy the lens.

And stop going to Specsavers for my glasses,

Paul

My wife is having second thoughts about her Specsavers glasses. That reminds me, I'm overdue for my eye check up etc.

I think those photos are just what I would expect from the M.ZD60 macro lens. I like mine & I think those photos are fine.

 

[Ross the fiddler]

That lens requires the EX25 with it for it to be able to go to 1:1 magnification (or close to it).

 

[Paul80]

Istm your picture could use more lighting.

Barry

Istm ?????

 

[DeeJayK]

Istm ?????

It Seems To Me...I had to look it up.

 

[Paul80]

Thanks

It was not supposed to be properly lit, it was sat on my desk lit from a side window.

I was just checking focus and sharpness, better lighting could mask any deficiency so I deliberately went with the flat lighting.

Paul

 

[Ross the fiddler]

Thanks

It was not supposed to be properly lit, it was sat on my desk lit from a side window.

I was just checking focus and sharpness, better lighting could mask any deficiency so I deliberately went with the flat lighting.

Paul

Actually, I rather liked the lighting for the medal. It added character to the image(s).