{"id":1369,"date":"2012-11-12T09:56:18","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T14:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=1369"},"modified":"2012-11-13T09:46:52","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T14:46:52","slug":"review-olympus-m-zuiko-60mm-f2-8-macro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/review-olympus-m-zuiko-60mm-f2-8-macro\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f\/2.8 Macro"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f\/2.8 Macro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quite a while back, Olympus hinted at their first true macro lens for Micro 4\/3…the 60mm f\/2.8. \u00a0It’s taken a while to come to market, but it finally saw official release this past September. \u00a0I was lucky enough to pick one up shortly thereafter. \u00a0Olympus priced this lens competitively, at $499, coming in well under the asking price for the other native macro lens for Micro 4\/3, the Panasonic Leica 45mm f\/2.8 OIS. \u00a0With a longer focal range, with equivalent field of view like that of a 120mm lens on full frame, the Olympus 60mm Macro will allow for a little longer working distance, which can be most welcome when shooting insects. \u00a0So how does the new Olympus stack up?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re not familiar with my reviews, I review from a real world shooting perspective. \u00a0You won\u2019t find lens charts or resolution numbers here. \u00a0There are plenty of other sites that cover those. \u00a0I review products on how they act for me as a photographic tool.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Around the Lens – Build Quality<\/h3>\n

Olympus has released a number of very high end prime lenses over the past two years, though construction between them is somewhat schizophrenic. \u00a0You have the high end silver\/champagne all metal construction of the 12mm f\/2 and 75mm f\/1.8, the still silver, but plastic construction of the 45mm f\/1.8, and now the still plastic, but black finished body of the 60mm f\/2.8 Macro. \u00a0The lens is long and skinny, roughly the same size as the M.Zuiko 12-50mm zoom, but thinner. \u00a0The lens is relatively lightweight, and feels great in the hand. \u00a0Despite its plastic build, the lens is solidly constructed. \u00a0There is zero flex anywhere on the lens body, and everything is tightly constructed. \u00a0The wide manual focus ring is well damped and feels really wonderful in the hand – probably the best of any of the Micro 4\/3 lenses.<\/p>\n

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The Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f\/2.8 Macro on the Olympus OM-D E-M5<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The lens is only the second Olympus lens to have weather sealing, allowing for inclement weather shooting when used with a camera like the Olympus OM-D E-M5 or the Panasonic GH3. \u00a0The lens uses internal focusing, so the length of the lens does not change during focusing, nor does the front element rotate. \u00a0This is a great feature to have in a macro lens.<\/p>\n

There is an interesting focus scale that appears as a moving orange line in a clear window on top of the lens (when mounted). \u00a0This scale is really only useful in the macro range, as beyond 0.4m, the line stays pegged on infinity. \u00a0Still, it’s a handy way to note the current magnification when shooting macro.<\/p>\n

Again, however, I must chastise Olympus about the lack of an included lens hood. \u00a0 Why Olympus insists on gouging the customer by making them pay extra for a hood is beyond me. \u00a0Panasonic includes hoods on all of their lenses, and at least Canon includes them on their high end glass. \u00a0Olympus doesn’t include them on ANY Micro 4\/3 lens. \u00a0The hood for the 60mm macro is a unique sliding design, but right now it’s not available from any retailer I’ve seen as of November 2012. \u00a0When available, it’ll set you back $50.<\/p>\n

Autofocus and Handling<\/h3>\n

The Olympus 60mm Macro features Olympus’ MSC autofocus motor, which allows for very quick and silent autofocus operation.<\/p>\n

Along the side of the lens is a focus limiter switch allowing you to select the macro range from 0.19m (1:1 magnification) to 0.4m, the whole focusing range from 1:1 to infinity, or the more ‘normal’ focus range from 0.4m to infinity. There is one more setting, which is spring loaded, marked “1:1.” \u00a0Flipping the dial to this will immediately bring focus to the 1:1 position, and then resettle in the 0.19m to 0.4m setting. \u00a0This is a great feature, allowing you to quickly go to 1:1 and then switch to manual focus, rather than rotating the manual focus ring many times to get to 1:1 magnification.<\/p>\n

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The Focus Limiter on the Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f\/2.8 Macro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When using the lens with the focus limiter set to engage the entire range, autofocus operations can slow down a bit, as the lens takes a fair bit of time to go through the entire range. \u00a0However, if your desired point of focus is close to where the lens is focused, the AF will lock on quickly. \u00a0However, I strongly recommend using the focus limiting switches, which drastically speed up AF operation on normal subject distances. \u00a0The ‘break point’ of 0.4m is also really nice, as you generally can shoot in 0.4m to infinity setting for almost all shooting except very close up work.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, the manual focus ring is beautifully damped, and fine-tuning focus with manual focus engaged is very precise. \u00a0However, in the macro range, it can often take MANY turns of the focus ring to move from, say, 1m to 1:1. \u00a0This is where that little 1:1 toggle switch comes in very handy.<\/p>\n

Next: Image Quality<\/a><\/h4>\n

Image Quality – Sharpness<\/h3>\n
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Spider Eating – Olympus 60mm f\/2.8 Macro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Image sharpness is a quality in a Macro lens that is more or less a foregone conclusion. \u00a0The vast majority of macro lenses are pretty sharp. \u00a0And in this realm, the Olympus doesn’t disappoint. \u00a0In the macro range, the lens is extremely sharp from corner to corner, and even maintains that blistering sharpness throughout most of the focus range, making it fantastic for a wide range of photographic pursuits. \u00a0Compared to the Panasonic Leica 45mm f\/2.8 Macro, I did some head<\/a>-to-head<\/a> comparisons about a month ago, and the Olympus 60mm f\/2.8 outclassed the PanaLeica in the sharpness department.<\/p>\n

However, at infinity focus, the jury is still out for me, as my copy of the lens seems to possibly have a slight decentering problem that only shows up on more distant subjects. \u00a0At longer distances, if focused with the focus point on the center or right side, the left side of the image is a little soft, even if focusing on a flat field. \u00a0It’s not terribly bad, and I honestly only noticed it in some test shots I was doing, rather than my daily shooting (as I tend to use this lens for macro and portrait work, so it was flawless in this situation). \u00a0It acts almost like a left edge field curvature, as the left side will sharpen up just fine if I focus with the focus point on the left side. \u00a0I will likely send my lens to Olympus to have this corrected at some point, but for the time being it doesn’t affect my use of the lens due to the subjects I shoot with it, and the limited cases it is visible. \u00a0I will update the review with my notes on this\u00a0after the lens has been looked at.<\/p>\n

Image Quality – Bokeh<\/h3>\n
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Leaf in Water – Olympus 60mm f\/2.8 Macro @ f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since macro shooting involves relatively shallow depth of field, and the other major use for a telephoto macro lens is portraiture, the quality of the out of focus areas is a rather important thing to note. \u00a0The Olympus 60mm f\/2.8 Macro doesn’t disappoint here. \u00a0It renders out of focus areas smoothly and evenly, with smooth flat specular highlights and practically zero chromatic aberration in the bokeh. \u00a0I have absolutely no complaints about the bokeh \u00a0of this lens.<\/p>\n

The lens has an aperture that maintains a constant f\/2.8 throughout the focusing range, and the blades will actually close a little to maintain that due to the internal focus design. \u00a0As such, you are shooting with partially closed aperture blades even wide open through most of the focusing range. \u00a0While this does make the specular highlights slightly less than perfectly circular, the curved blades means any out of focus highlights will remain generally circular throughout most of the aperture range as well.<\/p>\n

Image Quality – Color, Contrast, Chromatic Aberration and Distortion<\/h3>\n

To sum up the other qualities of this lens in a word: outstanding. \u00a0The Olympus 60mm Macro has very rich and vibrant color response and relatively high contrast, though not too high. \u00a0I think it hits my personal sweet spot in this respect. \u00a0There is extremely low chromatic aberration, with essentially zero lateral CA and only the very slightest hint of longitudinal (or bokeh) CA. \u00a0In most shooting, it’s invisible, though you can see a very slight magenta cast in front of a focus point and a very slight green cast behind if you’re shooting something like black text on white paper. \u00a0Otherwise, it’s invisible.<\/p>\n

There is no noticeable distortion, either in the macro range or in more general field use.<\/p>\n

Next: Conclusion and Sample Images<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

Pros<\/h4>\n