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The Dark Room -- Photo Editing and Picture Taking. Advice, tutorials, questions on all things photoshop, photo editing, and taking pictures of beads or glass.

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  #1  
Old 2013-09-25, 10:18pm
Laura B's Avatar
Laura B Laura B is offline
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Default Question about Olympus E-1

Hoping someone can help me.

I just acquired an Olympus E-1 with two lenses, a 14-42mm and a 40-150mm.

All I need the camera to do is take close up shots of jewelry.

When I try the 40-150, the camera wants me to be like 8 feet back before it will focus.

When I try the 14-42, I get okay focus, but I"m looking for really kick-ass close up photographs.

Am I out of luck without having a dedicated macro lens?

I admit the manual is intimidating. I will fool around with the camera more and try to figure out the manual, but I thought I could save myself a lot of heartache if someone can at least tell me if I'll be able to shoot close-up shots with either of these lenses and if so, which one and on what... um... are they called lengths?

Thanks in advance!
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  #2  
Old 2013-09-26, 1:44am
Alaska Alaska is offline
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Really wanted an E1 when they came out, but after the Canon's showed up the E1 was soon forgotten.

The least expensive route is to purchase a set of extension rings. They come in a set of 3 (in most cases) and will give your a variety of focal lengths depending on how many are used or in what combination.

Use that same setup with a variety of lens and it works well. The set is 12 mm, 20 mm and 36 mm. The E1 may be different than the Canon.



Check B&H Photo or other online photo shops.

Last edited by Alaska; 2013-09-26 at 1:58am.
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  #3  
Old 2013-09-26, 8:02am
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Laura B Laura B is offline
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Thanks.

I just inquired about an extension for my camera and here's the response I got:

"I would not recommend this extension to be used on your lenses. I don’t believe they have enough room at the back to avoid crunching glass elements. This extension is most commonly used with a dedicated macro lens."

The "this extension" is referring to an OLYMPUS DIGITAL EXTENSION TUBE EX-25/MACRO/EVOLT/FOUR THIRDS.

I'm totally confused.
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  #4  
Old 2013-09-26, 6:12pm
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Before you purchase anything, try working it out with the 14-42 mm lens. The "wideness" of this lens (as opposed to the "telephotoness " of the 40-150 mm lens) will let you get closer to your subject.

Adjust the lens so it is at the 42 mm length. Then focus on your subject using the manual focus and move the camera back and forth to help. Leave it in manual mode.

Set the camera exposure mode to aperture mode (A) and set it to f18. Depth-of-field (amount in focus) is an issue with close-up photography and this "high" number will help. The camera will calculate the proper shutter speed. It will probably be "slow" so you really need a tripod or some support for the camera for sharp pictures.

Then just push the button. Strongly recommend you use the self-timer mode. That way when you trigger the camera, it will wait for several seconds before taking the actual picture and give any jarring or vibrations to go away before it actually does the take.

Good luck and have lots of fun with it!
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Old 2013-09-26, 9:06pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fjbremer View Post
Before you purchase anything, try working it out with the 14-42 mm lens. The "wideness" of this lens (as opposed to the "telephotoness " of the 40-150 mm lens) will let you get closer to your subject.

Adjust the lens so it is at the 42 mm length. Then focus on your subject using the manual focus and move the camera back and forth to help. Leave it in manual mode.

Set the camera exposure mode to aperture mode (A) and set it to f18. Depth-of-field (amount in focus) is an issue with close-up photography and this "high" number will help. The camera will calculate the proper shutter speed. It will probably be "slow" so you really need a tripod or some support for the camera for sharp pictures.

Then just push the button. Strongly recommend you use the self-timer mode. That way when you trigger the camera, it will wait for several seconds before taking the actual picture and give any jarring or vibrations to go away before it actually does the take.

Good luck and have lots of fun with it!
Thanks! I definitely shoot with a tripod and self-timer, so I'm not afraid of small apertures and long times.

I will try what you suggest... 42mm. I will try to figure out how to use the manual focus (and then the thing that adjusts for my sucky eyesight).

I don't mind a ton of experimenting... I just want to know that it's not in vain. Like if someone says, "You'll never take a decent close-up shot with either one of those lenses." Then I may not be so inclined to invest a bunch of time trying.

So thanks for your help!
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  #6  
Old 2013-09-27, 7:06am
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The 14-42 should give you all the up close types of pictures you need for your glass work, you may have to manipulate pic (crop) with a photo touch up program a bit but the real thing is to get past learning curve with lens...

Just because you are at minimum focal length of lenses (not fully filling your view finder) does not mean you will not get detailed pictures of your beads... Its the Mega pixels capacity of camera that gives you the quality of your pics (and a little creative manipulations in photo editing software)....

Dale
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Last edited by Dale M.; 2013-09-27 at 7:12am.
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  #7  
Old 2013-09-27, 10:41am
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Laura B Laura B is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dale M. View Post
The 14-42 should give you all the up close types of pictures you need for your glass work, you may have to manipulate pic (crop) with a photo touch up program a bit but the real thing is to get past learning curve with lens...

Just because you are at minimum focal length of lenses (not fully filling your view finder) does not mean you will not get detailed pictures of your beads... Its the Mega pixels capacity of camera that gives you the quality of your pics (and a little creative manipulations in photo editing software)....

Dale
Thanks! I want it to be a case of user error rather than equipment failure, so it's encouraging to hear that it may be possible to get what I want with what I have.

I'm okay with not filling the picture frame with my item. I've been doing that with my Canon for years and I'm pretty handy with my photo editing software.

I was experimenting last night with both my old and my new camera.

Got excellent colors (and saturation) right away with my new camera but couldn't get the focus right. I'm guessing that's because I was shooting at the front flap of my light tent. I'm further guessing this means I'll have to remove the front flap of my light tent and back the camera up in order to get an in-focus shot. It's about 10 inches from the slit in light tent to the object I'm shooting. That may be too close for the new lens.

In comparison, my Canon has better focus but the colors were so washed out it was ridiculous.

I will continue experimenting. Thanks for the encouragement.
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