under some water a lateral thinking idea

[jcuknz]

I have an OLympus EPL-1 which was quite cheap at the time and I remember when I first got it, some plain tube extension tubes along with a MFT to M42 adaptor i was able to get a very tight framing with my legacy 50mm lens.
That was with my Panasonic G3 so I repeated the exercise with the Oly.

Those are millimetre markings on my ruler. The camera was not quite square to the ruller hence the '10' is reaasonably sharp but the markings are Out of Focus

I think the netting which some oranges came in is a reasonable simulation of a coral formation though very hard to focus on so much easier with my Panasonic and its 10x zoom 1/10 handheld at 150mm angle of view. So the subject matter in one of my pyrex bowls with about an inch of water..


I started with the full set of extension rings 65mm but results very poor


So I took off the two smaller rings and just used the single long one 43mm


The message I get from all this is that the suggested rig is not the answer and to stick with The AF of my GH2 would be my choice though possibly more expensive than the $1000 suggested as an upper limit.

That you cannot beat AF and OIS for good images properly taken with a reasonably modern camera.

I will see what I get with a CU lens added to the zoom on the GH2 when I take it. [ My habits from bridge cameras dies hard ]

Typical of CU lens it is soft arong the edges but if the subject you want only occupies the centre then what does that matter Two dioptre at about 175 on the zoom.
Next adding a 16mm extension tube to the rig and able to use all 280mm zoom ... just to show I am learning and trying new things


So that is it, hope of interest so at least one person

[Shadowman]

I never considered my EPL-1 for macro, I tried the 14-42mm for some closeup work but it requires manual focus and the camera's manual focus system is a bit gritty. Nice efforts.

[jcuknz]

Thankyou John I focused by raising and lowering the tripod centre column but unfortunately focus changed as I tightened the lock screw

anyway next day, today, I have been playing further .... awhile back at Photonet somebody posted some shots they had taken with a 'cheap TV lens' ....at $35 on Amazon it was worth a punt and here I put it in front of 43mm extension



Earlier with 65 extension I dipped its end in the 'pool' before I even thought it might be in focus

Result is not wonderful but better than the 'thing on Mars' people are talking about



Neither shot cropped and ruler taken with Oly, set-up with GH2.

The TV lens is interesting in that while it focuses and has a diaphragm there are no markings so here I roughly openned it halfway by 'eye'. again focus by centre column

[IzzieK]

John...this is a good experiment for winter. My little dinette area will be perfect for this kind. Would you like to drop by and show me how you do these kind of photography? It looks wet!!

[Loose Canon]

Just have your Big Red Tub ready Izz!

[mknittle]

Just have your Big Red Tub ready Izz!

[jcuknz]

Izzie ..... 'wet' has at least two meanings Stupid and moisture saturated?

As in my photo in #3 you can see part of a set of extension tubes and a lens whose iris you can control .. problem is that often 'modern lens' are controlled by the camera and cannot be set manually ... in that situation you need to buy the more expensive 'Automatic extension tubes' .... I have both and here I am using just one [43mm extension] and the 'TV lens' has a manually adjusted iris. Previously working with my GH2 camera, or the Oly as well, I would work/have worked with my auto tubes .... makes life easier

The whole job is MUCH easier since we had TTL metering that I had with my old Pentax SLR and unlike when I started and learnt , and now forgotten, about the calculations needed to compensate for lens extension as one focuses closer.

FYI... if you have a 50mm lens and add 50mm extension tube each aperture is effectively two stops smaller f/5.6 becomes f/11. By focusing close you have doubled the focal length of the lens but the iris has remained the same ..... f-stop are a simple maths calculation which I never remember

One used to have to work this difference out when exposing [film/sensor] but TTL metering does it for us.

[jcuknz]

Izzie ..... 'wet' has at least two meanings Stupid and moisture saturated?

[jcuknz]

Izzie #4 Graham Stagecoach did a better set creation than me in the other thread

[IzzieK]

Izzie ..... 'wet' has at least two meanings Stupid and moisture saturated?

No...only one -- Terry (Loose Canon) inspired... -- you know his BRT specials.