Playing with the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 Macro

Even since purchasing my Panasonic GF5 last winter, I’ve wanted a macro lens. Those who are familiar with the micro four thirds system know that there are only two macro lenses for it. The quite expensive Panasonic/Leica 45mm f/2.8, and the newer and slightly less expensive Olympus 60mm f/2.8. Currently, Olympus has some decently sized instant rebates on a large selection of lenses, including the 60mm f/2.8 macro, so I picked one up.

Above is a side by side comparison of the Panasonic Lumix 14-42mm, Olympus 60mm macro, and the Panasonic Lumix 45-175mm. In comparison to all the Panasonic lenses I have, the Olympus is quite narrow. This makes it look much longer in the product photos than it really is.

Below is a set of sample picture I took when playing around with the Olympus 60mm on my GF5. A few things to note, in several instances the GF5 had trouble getting the lens to focus (lots of back and forth focusing). I had better luck using manual focus mode. Additionally, the depth of field of the Olympus 60mm at f/2.8 isn’t very great. I ended up going into aperture priority mode to stop down to f/5 to get a reasonable DOF.

-John Havlik

[end of transmission, stay tuned]