Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 30mm F3.5 Macro Lens

[@marksuddaby7566]

Thank you for your video you e just made my mind up I wanted a dedicated macro the 60mm but I’m now gonna get the30mm as it’s more versatile thanks again.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

It's good as a walk-around lens, more so imo than the 60mm. Glad the video helped Mark!

[@peter-muller]

Never heard of focus stacking before. Thank you for this informative contribution.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

It is a very useful method of increasing depth of field Peter, well worth investigating. Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@peter-muller]

@@photographyforenjoyment You're the best. keep up the good works.

[@barryelliott4176]

Great honest video, thanks

[@photographyforenjoyment]

You are very welcome Barry! Thanks for commenting 👍

[@stevek.456]

Interesting video, I hadn't really seen the point of focus stacking before, but the tank photo nailed it, enjoying your videos I like your easy style.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@74leogambo]

Lucky enough to pick one of these up off Amazon during black Friday sale for £96 initial shots are very pleasing, so much so I'm now questioning do I need my Panasonic 25 f1.7, great review / opinion

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Hey Leo, that was a really good buy! I guess the question is whether you would miss the f1.7 over the f3.5? Thank you for the kind words

[@hugomartinsphoto]

great insights! thank you for the video

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you so much for watching and commenting Hugo!

[@hugomartinsphoto]

@@photographyforenjoyment my pleasure!

[@Jarrych83]

For hiking, I use this lens and the oly 40-150 f4 R for telephoto. If I'm in some weirder lighting, it struggles with focus hunting. I'm using an em10 iv, so it relies on contrast detection and it's not as much of an issue in general. For non-macro use, the colors and contrast are wonderful, but I've been disappointed a few times when shooting very dark subjects. The example was black alpacas and even with appropriate exposure, detail was just too lost to be usable. However, for non-macro specific use, I'll use a 1/8 black diffusion filter on this boy and it softens those black and contrasts and really makes a wonderful effect for general shooting outdoors. Love the lens and, for me, the close focal distance isn't an issue. Very minor actual negatives and the rest is personal preference. Oh, and despite the moderate aperture, I've been able to use it for lovely event shots in somewhat dim interiors. With my em10 iv, i was using iso around 1600 and 2000 and it captured such nice light and detail overall.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Hello Tim and thanks for such a detailed comment. I had the 40-150 myself and regretted selling it more or less straight away! Your use of the black diffusion filter on the 30mm is interesting. As I have one on order I may experiment with that combo myself! Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@Jarrych83]

Definitely. This is an interesting lens and I definitely went with a very light diffusion filter for the sake of not killing the macro uses. And I wish the build quality on the 40-150 was better, but damn if it isn't a solid performer. It handles light really well. I ended up using that for the alpacas, as it was what I had with me at the time, and I did an amazing job handling the light in the fluffy edges of the fur.@@photographyforenjoyment

[@FoivosLoxias]

My favorite lens. I use it with a Lumix GX-9. Thank you for the review.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thank you Foivos, having seen your images on Instagram I can see why you like this lens so much - they are excellent!

[@Enrique-the-photographer]

Nice to see you again Alan, great and informative video, and like Nick said, your “opinion” is a very good review. I don’t shoot a lot of macro, but for the rare occasion I got Fuji’s XF60mm and at Nick’s suggestion I got Fuji’s 11mm extension tube and it works great, but as you mentioned, I can’t get get very close to the subject because I’ll either spook it away or I’ll block the light with the camera (or with my big head). I always hear people mention Fuji colors and I agree, I’m very satisfied with the results, but from the images that you just shared, Olympus is no slouch, beautiful colors. My favorite photo is the nine-shot focus stack that looks like an extraterrestrial's eye, great job. The only thing that I will criticize about your images at the Japanese garden is the absence of iguanas in the shots, everyone knows that iguanas are a great complement to any photo. Be well and stay safe.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Enrique, you always make me smile with your comments! As for Iguanas, I would have run a mile if one had popped it's head out from a bush in the Japanese garden 😱. I'm very happy with the colours from Olympus, and focus stacking (so far) seems an absolute joy.

[@Enrique-the-photographer]

@@photographyforenjoyment I’m glad that I make you smile Alan, it would be terrible if you blocked me from your channel because of my long and crazy comments. I forgot to ask you if you did the focus stacking with Affinity Photo or an in camera feature, you really did a great and seamless job.

[@duringthemeanwhilst]

lovely lens and a comprehensive (yes, it is a) review - nice one Alan :-) those Olympus colours are to die for aren't they - lovely. I think all of us forget how capable macro lenses are as a general use lens. my Nikkor makes for a really good portrait lens with lovely bokeh on the D700 (less so when adapted to my Fujifilm gear sadly) and a short telephoto too.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Thanks Nick, yes the colours really impress me, I'm super happy with the lens.

[@NicDade]

I agree with you about the 60mm lens. It's field of view is narrow and none of the background can be seen. The Olympus 30/3.5 is my "just in case" macro lens. It's so small and light it's easy to keep in the bottom of a bag (and a tiny tripod too). And the results are great. I wish they would make an even wider angle macro too. Maybe on day I'll find a used manual focus one for sale. But I do enjoy automatic stacking in-camera.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Yes Nic, its diminutive size was the reason for me buying it and as I dont do enough 'serious' macro work I couldn't justify the 60mm

[@MartinJSmithPhotographyUK]

Hi Alan I'm new to your channel, I started with the 30mm but found you had to get to close to the subject so traded it in for the 60mm a much more versatile lens.Thanks for sharing.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

Hello Martin and thanks for both watching and commenting. Yes, I agree entirely with you when it comes to lens to subject-distance. I'm sure any serious macro enthusiast would agree, but for me I like the 30mm for general subject matter with the ability to capture a close-up shot when I spot something of interest.

[@MartinJSmithPhotographyUK]

To follow on I should have said I enjoy doing macro and have you tried the 100-400mm for macro. If you have a look at my channel I did a video on using both lenses for macro.

[@ericlundquist3466]

The 90mm does the same thing when you miss focus. There's a lot of wait as it searches . It's the downside of auto focus vs. manual in macro.

[@photographyforenjoyment]

I am just thankful for focus stacking!

[@TC_Conner]

That’s a really nice lens Alan. I need to start using my tripod when I’m taking macros, even with IS on my lenses I still get camera shake when shooting handheld. Do you use a tripod for your macro shots? 💜💜

[@photographyforenjoyment]

If I'm out and about TC, I rarely take a tripod with me unless it's for a specific shot/location. So the shots you have seen in this video were all handheld (apart from the stacked ones), but bear in mind there was little (if any) breeze and that I was able to use high shutter speeds as well. Also, one of the advantages of M43 is an inherently greater depth of field than with FF cameras, so critical focusing is just a wee bit easier! The story will be much different in lower lighting on windy days!

[@TC_Conner]

@@photographyforenjoyment I'm pretty sure some of my motor skills have deteriorated due to the dreaded aging process! 😩

[@photographyforenjoyment]

@@TC_Conner I find that hard to believe TC, your guitar playing says to me you have good control

[@TC_Conner]

@@photographyforenjoyment Strumming a guitar and holding perfectly still to take a photo are two completely different things! Lol!!