One other factor... the 80mm needs to be used with the telescoping auto-tube
or the bellows, it has no full-length body. The minimal focusing is really
only to help fine-tune focus. Although optimized for 1:1 according to
Olympus, it probably would be OK at normal to 'infinity' distances. The
50/3.5 macro lens and the 50/2.0 macro lens work just fine at normal to
'infinity' distances, as well as being good at macro distances. The 135/4.5
works similarly to the 80mm lens, requiring either telescoping auto-tube or
bellows, but again it can focus to infinity in those mountings. The shorter
macro lenses - 38mm and 20mm are the ones I remember - need the bellows or
auto-tube and _cannot_ focus to infinity, as the bellow and auto-tube don't
get 'short' enough for that.
For a general purpose lens well suited to macro you should also consider the
various third-party 90mm lenses. I have the Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 and its
a very good lens at all focusing distances. Several list members have
various iterations of the Tamron 90mm macro (there are three or four
versions) and all seem to yield great results. A 90mm macro lens will allow
a greater camera-to-subject distance in macro ranges for the same image
magnification versus a 50mm macro lens. This can be handy as the lens front
to subject distance at maximum 1:2 magnification with a 50mm macro lens is
only a few inches. More standoff allows room for a flash to work, or lets
you keep your shadow out of the picture better.
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-'s of all sorts, and no OM-oney...
on 3/3/05 7:55 PM, Winsor Crosby at wincros@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Not dumb at all. The 80mm macro is a traditional macro which is
> corrected for best performance at close distances and on a tripod
> because of the slow speed. The 50/2, 50/3.5, and 90/2 macro lenses are
> more modern general use designs with a floating element near the back
> of the lens that provides optimum correction at different focus
> distances. Both the F2 lenses are excellent general use lenses as well
> as excellent macro lenses.
>
> Winsor
> Long Beach, California, USA
> On Mar 3, 2005, at 6:49 PM, Ali wrote:
>
>> Question regarding Zuiko Macro Lenses. Since I do not own one yet but
>> sort of keeping an eye out. Is a Macro strictly used for macro
>> work/close-ups or can the lens be used to take "normal" photos? For
>> example: Could I use an 80mm Macro in the place of a standard 50mm?
>> Might sound like a dumb question but I thought I would ask.
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