OMDS 90mm f3.5 macro lens - micro-four-thirds system

[dancingcat]

The OMDS M.Zuiko 90mm f3.5 macro pro lens is launched today - much YouTube marketing stuff but no transmission profiles that I could find.  For Oly shooters, this lens seems to be best for visible macro field work, or just normal mid telephoto as this is micro-four-thirds and 35mm equiv is 180mm - claims you can do handheld focus stacking in camera, but we shall see.  Probably really good for UVIVF at night outside.  It accepts Oly 1.5 and 2.0 teleconverters and STF-8 ring flash.  Claims about 10 cm (4 in) minimum focus distance.  I will bet that it doesn't pass UV, but will see when it comes next month.  I did order it as I do a lot of flower closups in the visible for teaching.  Nice thing is that the filter size is 62mm, which is the hot mirror size I already have for my normal vis photo zoom lens.  More when it comes.

[dabateman]

Yes I saw this today too with interest.  But outside my current budget. 

Its capable of 2:1 with autofocus, might be the only lens that can do that. Its said to hit 4:1 with the 2x teleconverter. 

I look forward to your tests,  I would be shocked if it passes UV, as the 60mm doesn't.  But you don't know until you test it.

 

[enricosavazzi]

There is already a discussion going on at photomacrography.net, centering on macro capabilities of course: http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=45673&p=287098#p287098

 

The optical scheme with 18 elements in 13 groups makes it extremely unlikely that it will be useful in UV imaging. But I also have one on pre-order, so that is one of the things I can check once I get it (not for a few weeks, so don't hold your breath).

[dancingcat]

There was a note on one of the YouTube things this morning that the 90mm works with any Oly camera which can do in-camera stacking, so ok with the EM1 mk2 and mk3 anyway, as well as with the OMDS bodies.  I use the Mk2 so will test with that.

[dabateman]

55 minutes ago, dancingcat said:

There was a note on one of the YouTube things this morning that the 90mm works with any Oly camera which can do in-camera stacking, so ok with the EM1 mk2 and mk3 anyway, as well as with the OMDS bodies.  I use the Mk2 so will test with that.

You will need to install the newest firmware version 3.7 for the mk2 here:

https://dl01.olympus-imaging.com/ww/ud2/ENU/0001/1250/index37a.html

 

The mk1 was not updated.  But I have the firmware hack installed to do focus stacking and bracketing with any lens.

[Wayne Harridge]

On 2/9/2023 at 10:09 AM, dabateman said:

The mk1 was not updated.  But I have the firmware hack installed to do focus stacking and bracketing with any lens.

 

Do you have any details about this focus hack, like where to get it and does it do focus stacking with Olympus Zuiko 4/3 lenses?

[dabateman]

On 2/25/2023 at 6:07 AM, Wayne Harridge said:

 

Do you have any details about this focus hack, like where to get it and does it do focus stacking with Olympus Zuiko 4/3 lenses?

The focus hack will not work with four thirds lenses,  as the adapter reports them correctly as four thirds lenses.  Even my cheap Chinese adapters report them correctly.  For the hack to work they need to be reported as micro four thirds lenses.

So my Sigma 150mm f2.8 four thirds macro lens will not work,  but my EF-mount Sigma 180mm f2.8 macro lens on Metabones adapter does work. Its simulated as a Panasonic lens in the Exif data.

 

The hacked firmware might be downloaded here:

https://www.mu-43.com/threads/modified-firmware-looking-for-users.99804/

 

[enricosavazzi]

My M.Zuiko 90 mm macro arrived this morning, so I will soon start with the testing. I have several questions about this lens that can be answered by testing, but are not addressed by any of the reviews I have seen so far. Eventually I will publish my review on my web site (www.savazzi.net).

 

This also means that I might be able to answer questions about this lens, if UVP members have any.

[enricosavazzi]

My review of the M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro: https://www.savazzi.net/photography/omsys90macro.html

 

It is not yet public (in the sense that it is not indexed in the sitemap, nor linked to by other pages) and a few things may still change, but by and large it is done.

[dabateman]

17 hours ago, enricosavazzi said:

My review of the M.Zuiko 90 mm f/3.5 Macro IS Pro: https://www.savazzi.net/photography/omsys90macro.html

 

It is not yet public (in the sense that it is not indexed in the sitemap, nor linked to by other pages) and a few things may still change, but by and large it is done.

Excellent detailed review. I will need to reread it a couple of times.

Did you test the resolution of the lens at 1x with all of the different focus limiter settings?  As you concluded that these are different.  Its possible the middle focus limiter setting will be the sharpest for 1x imaging, as its using a different aperture and focal length than 1x imaging  with the  2x setting (S macro). 

I think testing 1x at each of the 3 different focus limiters settings will help to determine the actual focal length of the lens at each setting and maybe the actual aperture. 

Like a zoom lens my gut says that the focal length will be wider at each setting to allow for better imaging. But I might be completely wrong. 

[enricosavazzi]

On 3/5/2023 at 2:43 PM, dabateman said:

[...] Did you test the resolution of the lens at 1x with all of the different focus limiter settings? [...]

Only hours ago I added MTF graphs of the lens in a few different conditions, including 1x in S Macro and 1x in non-S Macro focus ranges. They are different, so S Macro is doing something more than just setting different limits for focus and nominal aperture. Contrary to what I expected, MTF is better in the S Macro range in spite of the added aperture penalty. I changed the review to comply with this. This is just an example of cases when reasoning can get it wrong.

 

The 0.25 m-0.5 m range seems to be only a subset of the 0.25 m-∞ range. There do not seem to be changes in nominal aperture, MTF or anything else between these two settings.

[dabateman]

8 hours ago, enricosavazzi said:

Only hours ago I added MTF graphs of the lens in a few different conditions, including 1x in S Macro and 1x in non-S Macro focus ranges. They are different, so S Macro is doing something more than just setting different limits for focus and nominal aperture. Contrary to what I expected, MTF is better in the S Macro range in spite of the added aperture penalty. I changed the review to comply with this. This is just an example of cases when reasoning can get it wrong.

 

The 0.25 m-0.5 m range seems to be only a subset of the 0.25 m-∞ range. There do not seem to be changes in nominal aperture, MTF or anything else between these two settings.

Very interesting.  So you can skip the middle setting,  use macro for 2x to 0.25x and the other setting for portraits or whatever. 

 

I can't afford it now,  but something I will pay attention to.  I did just get a cheap older Sigma 105mm f2.8 DG macro lens, not the newer Hsm OS version in EF-MOUNT.  So will have to play with that. My reasoning is to use it on both Olympus cameras with firmware hack and Gfx camera with Fringer pro adapter.  Should be fun but the autofocus is reported to be slow and loud. 

[enricosavazzi]

The 0.25 m-0.5 m range can still be useful to limit the amount of AF hunting back and forth when it does not get focus right on the first try (no macro lens seems immune to this, probably because neither phase nor contrast AF are much help when the image is massively out of focus). Other than that, yes, it does not seem to change the optics performance with respect to the 0.25 m-∞ range.

[aphalo]

Enrico, many thanks for the first useful review of this lens I have read! As I see what looks like visibly improved resolution with the 60mm Macro when using the 80 MPix sensor-shift mode on the OM-1, I wonder if you have tested/could test the resolution of the new 90 mm using this high resolution sensor-shift mode.

[enricosavazzi]

Some more tests of the OM System 90 mm macro: https://savazzi.net/photography/olympus-macro-lenses.html

This time a comparison with the Olympus 60 mm and 30 mm macro, all at 1x (plus some extra bonus, like a Hi Res test of the 90 mm at 2x).

 

Some of the page contents can still change.