This M.Zuiko 60mm macro review article shares a wide selection of handheld macro  images along with some commentary about this wonderful, little lens. This is a hands-on review. You won’t see images of boring test charts or have to read a regurgitation of lens specifications. The focus of this M.Zuiko 60mm macro review is to illustrate what can be created with this lens when shooting handheld. There is a selection of images throughout the article, as well as a sampling of photographs at the end. EXIF data is supplied for all of the images. NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Nikon 1 J5 + 1 ..read more

This article features a selection of praying mantis at night test images that were captured handheld using in-camera focus stacking and the M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Sometimes Mother Nature provides a photographic test opportunity which represents a significant challenge. Such was the case yesterday night when a praying mantis decided to perch on the glass panel of my kitchen’s patio door. NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 macro, f/3.2, 1/20, ISO-3200, handheld in-camera focus stacking, full frame capture, out-of-camera jpeg adjusted in post The moment th ..read more

Yesterday I took some time to do a handheld HDR macro test using some of the flowers in my yard as subjects. Like many photographers I enjoy macro photography of flowers. I’m often out at open garden events and other locations in bright, harsh sunlight… which is far from ideal. I’ve been wondering for a while now if I could use the in-camera HDR function of my E-M1X to help deal with harsh lighting conditions. I spent a little over an hour in my yard yesterday, sitting on my trusty stool, photographing various blossoms handheld. With each subject blossom I began with a handheld macro capture u ..read more

This article features a selection  of uncropped flower macro images which were recently captured handheld at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington Ontario. As photographers we typically compose our images to avoid any kind of cropping if at all possible. This helps ensure that we can get as many pixels as possible on our subject matter. Some photographic genres are more difficult than others when it comes to capturing full frames, and avoiding any cropping. Handheld in-field macro photography can be tricky at times. NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 ma ..read more

This article features some close up images of frogs captured handheld with 2 extension tubes and the M.Zuiko PRO 40-150 mm f/2.8 zoom lens. As photographers we sometimes only consider a macro lens when planning to do some close up or macro photography. We forget that fitting a good quality zoom lens with extension tubes can create a very flexible and capable set-up for close up photography. NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Using extension tubes with a zoom lens may not allow us to create true 1:1 macro photographs. Depending on the subject matter and shooting distances we still may be able t ..read more

Before investing in camera gear it is critical that we have a clear understanding of our shooting style, as this helps us avoid making gear purchase mistakes. In a previous article, I recently let readers know that I would not be purchasing the M.Zuiko PRO 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS lens. I received a few emails from readers requesting more information and explanation. The fundamental reason that the M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 PRO Macro IS lens doesn’t make sense for me is that my shooting style would not allow me to fully utilize the potential of that lens. There is no logical  reason for me to invest ..read more

OM Systems has introduced the M.Zuiko 90mm macro f/3.5 lens which features IS Sync, focus limiter, and the ability to accept teleconverters. Since I won’t be doing a review of this lens or purchasing one in the future, I thought readers would like access to some early information on this lens. Here is a link to the product page on the OM Systems website. Here are some links to some YouTube reviews. Jimmy Chang Gavin Hoey for Adorama B&H Peter Forsgard Coffee with the Cla(i)res Here are some links to some online written reviews of the M.Zuiko 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS lens. Imaging Resource Photo ..read more

This article features a selection of handheld focus stacked HHFS frog images that were captured at the Royal Botanical Gardens using an M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. As noted in a previous article, my E-M1X was set to 10 focus stacked frames with a focus differential of 4. NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2.8 macro, f/2.8, 1/30 ISO-200, handheld in-camera focus stacking, cropped to 2772 pixels on the width, subject distance 720 mm Since captive frogs in public display cases tend to be fairly static, I decided to use my E-M1X’s in-camera focus stacking capability ..read more

This article discusses using slow shutter speeds with handheld focus stacking (HHFS), and shares some new macro snake images captured with shutter speeds from 1/20 to 1/4 of a second. Yesterday I visited a special frog display at the Royal Botanical Gardens… which also happened to have a trio of water snakes in one of the exhibits. The event gave me the opportunity to get some practice time in doing handheld in-camera macro focus stacking. I should mention that the frog display at the Royal Botanical was very busy as there was a “PD” day for the area school board that day. As a result all of t ..read more

This article discusses handheld macro photography and why I prefer using my Olympus E-M1X and M.Zuiko 60 mm macro lens over the full frame gear I owned in the past. As regular readers know, I very much dislike using a tripod and only do so when it’s absolutely necessary. In the past when I tried to create handheld macro images with my full frame equipment I would very seldom get any useable images. I simply could not hold my full frame equipment steady enough. It was an exercise in frustration. My full frame gear always seemed to get in the way of my creativity. OM-D E-M1X + M.Zuiko 60 mm f/2 ..read more