New to photography: Affordable equipment for Macro Photography with Olympus PEN E-PL2

[xhatox]

Hello everyone,

I am new to photography, and noticed your forum when I was searching for answers to a question I have had for a couple of weeks now.

After seeing some amazing photos and getting a good price on an Olympus PEN E-PL2, I realized that I am unable to take extreme closeups. While I am 100% happy with the camera itself, I would like to take macro photos of items the size of small pieces of chocolate, AAA batteries, buttons etc.

The issue I am facing is that the lenses seem so expensive. Honestly, I do not know much about photography, and after searching the past two weeks, I hope a camera expert on this forum can offer some good suggestions.

Right now I have two lenses: the kit lens which is a 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 II, 0.25m/0.82 ft Olympus lens and a 40-150mm 1:4-5.6, 0.90m/2.96 ft Olympus lens that the seller kindly gave me for free.

I have been trying to find affordable/cheap equipment, but feel overwhelmed.

I have been looking at density filters, but a lot of the filters that are listed as fitting the E-PL2 state "37mm"/the 14-42mm lens, but I don't understand where this number comes from or what it means. There are some positive reviews for macro filters, but again, I don't know anything about photography so have no idea what fits. I also noticed that there are macro converters (ie. Olympus MCON-P02 is the only one I can figure out that works for the E-PL2, but the reviews state it doesn't add much extra zoom) as well as more affordable macro lenses (Holga and Vivitar for example).

Are the macro filters comparable to macro converters, and are affordable macro lenses any better than those? Which is the best of the three? How can I tell which filter, converter, or lenses will work with my camera?

Is there anything good that is also affordable (under $100) for taking photos of still objects around the size of a piece of chocolate? I will be using the photos on the computer, not printing them, if that matters.

I really love my camera. Can you please share what you would do/buy if you were going to use an Olympus PEN E-PL2 to take macro photos but only had a limited budget for supplies?

Thank you!

 

[SnappingShark]

I would honestly save a little and get the 60mm f/2.8 macro lens which is $449 on Amazon right now - and if you find it pre owned somewhere, probably a bit cheaper than that.

 

[xhatox]

I would honestly save a little and get the 60mm f/2.8 macro lens which is $449 on Amazon right now - and if you find it pre owned somewhere, probably a bit cheaper than that.

Thank you for your suggestion BrightbyNature. Unfortunately, my budget is set at around $100 or less so I cannot afford an expensive (to me) lens for probably around 6 months...

 

[SnappingShark]

2 macro converters under $70

Macro Converter (MCON-P01) - Lens Converters - Lens Accessories - Accessories | Olympus
and
Macro Converter (MCON-P02) - Lens Converters - Lens Accessories - Accessories | Olympus

Both for the 14-42, which you have.

I say in terms of best, second best and last, I would say macro lens, converter, filter. But that's just me. Good luck. I still say save up

 

[xhatox]

2 macro converters under $70

Macro Converter (MCON-P01) - Lens Converters - Lens Accessories - Accessories | Olympus
and
Macro Converter (MCON-P02) - Lens Converters - Lens Accessories - Accessories | Olympus

Both for the 14-42, which you have.

I say in terms of best, second best and last, I would say macro lens, converter, filter. But that's just me. Good luck. I still say save up

Thank you again BrightbyNature! I read that the MCON-P02 does not provide much zoom on the kit lens. Do you know if this is true? Would it be acceptable/work to use a cheaper brand macro lens (such as Vivitar or Holga) and the Macro converter on that lens?

 

[Ron Evers]

I suggest you purchase a Raynox DCR 150 that will clip onto the end of your 40-150 for very good close-up shots. See this link:

Raynox DCR 150 | eBay

It is a quality converter lens used by many folk for close focusing.

 

[jaomul]

I recommend also trying to pick up Olympus 12-50 m4/3rds kit lens. I got mine for 100 Euro whick is about 150 dollars or less. It is in my opinion a very underestimated lens with a very good macro function.

 

[gsgary]

Something like this with and adapter to fit your Olympus pen
Pentax Asahi Super-Multi-Coated Macro-Takumar 50mm F/4.0 M42 screw-mount lens | eBay

 

[bigal1000]

I would honestly save a little and get the 60mm f/2.8 macro lens which is $449 on Amazon right now - and if you find it pre owned somewhere, probably a bit cheaper than that.

Thank you for your suggestion BrightbyNature. Unfortunately, my budget is set at around $100 or less so I cannot afford an expensive (to me) lens for probably around 6 months...

Wait the 6 months "good things come to those who wait", you are not going to get anything decent for that budget. Don't be in a big rush !!!

 

[Ysarex]

One of the advantages of a mirrorless camera like the Olympus you picked up is that you can mount just about anything in the way of lenses because of the camera's short flange distance.

I recently picked up a Fuji mirrorless and likewise wanted to be able to do an occasional macro photo. It's not real important to me though and so I didn't want to spend $$$$ on a macro lens. Here's what I did:

First you need a used enlarging lens (I already had one):
Nikon El Nikkor 50mm F 2 8 Enlarging Lens 50 2 8 | eBay
Enlarging lenses make excellent macro lenses. When I used to shoot studio product we just assumed: grab an enlarging lens for this shot. Because of the deflation in darkroom use enlarging lenses that used to cost hundreds of dollars are now on ebay for $25.00 (see example above). So don't cheap out and buy one for $10.00; get a Nikkor, Rodenstock or Schneider lens.

Second you'll need this:
M42 Lens to Micro 4 3 M43 Adjustable Focusing Helicoid Adapter EPL5 EP3 EPM2 EP5 | eBay
That's a mount adapter for your camera. This one is a little pricey because it provides helical focusing. You'll need to be able to focus the enlarger lens which lacks a helical focus capability.

Next you'll have two small adapter problems. That mount adapter is standard M42 and any enlarging lens you buy will be M39. Here's that fix (in your budget):
Amazon.com : Fotodiox 07LAm39m42 Lens Mount Adapter, M39 to M42 (39MM - 42MM Thread) Adapter for Leica, Canon, Nikon, Carl Zeiss, Pentax, Leica : Camera Lens Adapters : Camera & Photo

And finally the lens will not come to infinity focus and may not get you as close as you like in some cases but that's an easy fix as well and in budget:
http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Macro...extension+tube
In my case the #1 ring was all it took to get close enough so that I can use my Rodagon enlarging lens from infinity focus right down into the 1:1 macro range. If I want to get closer I just swap out the #1 and #2 ring.

The advantage of this method beyond price is no compromise in performance. I get results every bit as good as if I sprung for the $900.00 Fuji macro. The disadvantage is you have a manual focus lens which if your on a tripod is no big deal. In macro work manual focus is often preferred.

Here's an example of what my camera-mounted enlarging lens can do.

Joe