[Leica] Macro

[jbm at jbm.org (Jeff Moore)]

2010-07-14-08:18:58 Tina Manley:
> The M8 and M9 are not the best choices for macro photography, even with the
> Visoflex.  I've been looking for a cheap alternative to carry along just 
> for
> macro.

I know some people are going to jump up and down all over my head for
this one, but...  I think this is a place where the micro-4/3 cameras
can shine.

With an adapter, you can stick all sorts of glass you already own on
them.  Manual focus is fiddly for fast-moving, full-sized life -- a
nice M rangefinder is much better for that -- but I think focus on the
little rear screen of one of these cameras through the lens works
really well for macro and still setup photography.

Here's one place where I expect to hear the cries of derision: for
precisely placing focus on close-up things, and for seeing at least
some idea of how depth of field is working, I find the electro-screen
through-the-lens method actually a lot easier (and maybe this is
becaus of the current state of my eyes and eyeglasses) than trying to
nail perfect focus through even such an excellent manual-fucus machine
as an R8.  The instant manual-focus magnification feature (the
electronic equivalent of that flip-down magnifier in your twin-lens
reflex) really does the right thing, and the user interface for that
is pretty decent on the Panasonic DMC-GF1.

And a DMC-GF1 weighs a mere 10 ounces, and takes up very little space
in a bag.  If you can get close enough with one of the M lenses you'd
be taking anyway (remember the 1/2-frame crop, that gets you
effectively pretty close, especially with, say, the 75mm Summicron),
that's all the additional weight and bulk you need.  You just need the
body and an adapter:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=leica+adapter&ci=15293&N=4294205295+4291296566

If you need true really tight macro... do you still have your R glass?
Especially the 100 APO macro?  Get the R adapter and have at it.  But
stick that puppy in a tripod or monopod if you can, preferably
connecting it to a lens ring instead of the teeny light body stuck on
back.

If you want to save weight and try focusing M glass you'd be carrying
anyway unnaturally close, you might look into this (which I haven't
tried) along with the M adapter above:

http://cgi.ebay.com/macro-extension-tube-4-Panasonic-G1-G2-GH1-GF1-micro-43-/170483712000

Now... the sensor in one of these just ain't up to the quality of an
M8 or M9 sensor, especially at high ISOs.  There can be a kind of
mealy-looking quality.  But it's got to be better than the teeny
sensor on the point-and-shoot you saw recommended.

And this approach (manual focus on the rear screen) isn't ideal for
fast-moving subjects.  I don't know what your expected use is.

As for which body, it might be a tough call.  Because the Panasonic
DMC-GF1 is (IMO) superior in every aspect of the user interface where
there's a noticeable difference, and has a vastly better (higher-res,
less apparent noise) rear display.  And in this kind of camera you're
composing on, and for manual focus lenses focusing with, that rear
display.

But the current Olympus EP2 (and I assume EP1) has in-body image
stabilization, which might help save handheld pictures which would
otherwise succumb to some hand shake, and I understand thad the
Olympus bodies have a little less high-ISO noise than the Panasonic
ones.  And the Olympusses are a bit heavier.  So... on the Olympus,
godawful user interface: more inconvenient to pop in and out of
manual-focus magnification, really easy to change exposure offset
accidentally, no access to direct ISO and white-balance controls while
you're in the mode which allows you to move AF box [the latter only
important if you use an in-system AF lens], no screen which shows the
info I actually want to see and a full-size image, on and on...  but
possibly technically better pictures.  Sigh

All that aside, though, these make entirely decent (not up to M9, of
course, but far better than one of the little-finger-nail-sensor
cameras) pictures, weigh little, may be able to use lenses you already
own and possibly even already carry, which is a help for the aching
back and knees...

 -Jeff