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A look at the Panasonic 30mm Macro Lens Underwater

1/7/2016

4 Comments

 
Saron Shrimp - Tulamben Bali - Copyright Jeff Mullins 2016Saron Shrimp - taken with an Olympus E-PL6 and Panasonic Lumix 30mm F2.8 ASPH MEGA O.I.S. Macro Lens
The  Panasonic LUMIX G MACRO 30mm f/2.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. Lens is designed for the micro four thirds range of camera's. So it fits directly to the complete range of Olympus PEN and OMD digital camera's, plus Panasonic Lumix camera's.
The lens was released in May 2015 without any fan-fare, it just quietly slipped into the market.
I often find myself in need of a lens for underwater use that allows me to take in a wider view than the other macro lenses available for the micro four thirds format, as I want to reduce the amount of water between the camera and the subject. The 30mm Panasonic Macro Lens has a much wider field of view (40 degrees) than either the Olympus 60mm Macro Lens (20 degrees) or the Leica 45mm Macro Lens (27 degrees), so I can photograph larger subjects without being too far back from the critters. But if I see something smaller that I want to photograph, I can get as close as 50mm from the lens to the subject, and get 1:1 reproduction ratio. Now that's a handy lens!
Then with the addition of a strong wet lens in front of the 30mm macro lens, I can also photograph really tiny subjects. Even adding more versatility during the same dive, if I then decide I'd like to shoot some video, the 30mm macro lens really shines, as I can hand hold the camera without any shake and have enough room in the frame for the critters to play, plus not have particles showing in the frames, as I am really close to the subject.
The 30mm Panasonic Macro Lens is sharp and focuses very fast, I'm super happy with my purchase. This lens also won't break the bank, I bought mine when it was on special for less than $300. I use it with the same short port that I utilise with my Leica 45mm Macro Lens, made by Zen for the Olympus Pen Housings, as the 30mm macro lens is the same length (within a couple of millmeters) as the 45mm Leica Macro Lens and fits perfectly in this port. Some Photos and a short video taken with my Olympus E-PL6 and the Panasonic 30mm Macro Lens are below.

Dragon Nudibranch - Tulamben Bali  - Copyright Jeff Mullins 2016
Dragon Nudibranch - taken with an Olympus E-PL6 and Panasonic Lumix 30mm F2.8 ASPH MEGA O.I.S. Macro Lens
Tozuma Shrimp - Tulamben Bali - Copyright Jeff Mullins 2016
Tozuma Shrimp - taken with an Olympus E-PL6 and Panasonic Lumix 30mm F2.8 ASPH MEGA O.I.S. Macro Lens
4 Comments
Chris Ross link
18/3/2017 09:37:58 am

I'm interested in a 30mm macro lens for same reasons you state. I have the 60mm macro and it regularly won't AF because it locks onto particles, when going from macro to fish range. MF is painfully slow, 3 full turns of focus ring to get from 1:1 out to about 1:4 bare, and way slower with the gearing of the focus ring, so just about unusable.

Was wondering if the Panasonic lens needs less turns to go from 1:1 to infinity?

Reply
Jeff Mullins
18/3/2017 03:54:24 pm

Hi Chris - The 30mm Panasonic Macro Lens has less turning than the 60mm Olympus Macro for manual focus. But you may find it difficult to find a manual focus ring for the 30mm Macro Panasonic? Personally I don't use the manual focus rings (although I do own one for the 60mm). If I have been focusing up-close (around 1:1) any camera will now have difficulty focusing on a further subject, as the camera needs to find an area of high contrast to focus on. For further subjects, I simply use the AF function and focus on something with plenty of contrast at approximately the same distance as the subject I want to focus on (the high contrast assists the speed of the AF function). Then frame the actual photo subject and refocus still using AF, the camera will now easily focus as the subject will be almost in focus already. When I want to go back to 1:1 or very close macro, I once again use AF on a subject with plenty of contrast at the approximate distance I want, then once focused, I select MF (I set my Fn button to toggle between AF/MF), then frame the actual photo subject. I then slowly move the camera closer or further away to 'see ' the actual focus point before shooting. This is all much quicker than turning the Manual Focus ring which is slow and difficult at 1:1 as the camera wobbles a bit while turning the dial.
Hope this helps?
Regards - Jeff Mullins

Reply
Anna
28/2/2020 11:44:49 pm

Hi. Thanks for posting. I have a pl-6 too and researching now for a macro lenses. I would prefer the 30 from Panasonic. I have olympus pt-ep10 housing and wondering if there is a focusing ring for this lens.
Did u use one?
Thanks in advance.
Anna

Reply
Jeff
12/8/2021 04:59:19 pm

Hi Anna, there is no manual focus ring for the Panasonic macro lens in the Olympus housing's. But I have described in the comment above yours how to handle manual focus with this or any other macro lens on Olympus Pen or OMD cameras.

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