At the close-focus point of 19cm (7.5in) the lens offers a maximum reproduction ratio of 1:1. This means that you can fill the frame with a subject that measures only 17.3x13mm – the same size as the active area of a Four Thirds sensor. Being a telemacro lens means that you get a reasonable working distance of about 10cm (4in) from the front element, even at maximum magnification (and quite a bit more when shooting at a reproduction ratio of 1:2 or 1:4). The photo below, which shows a close-up of a battered CompactFlash memory card, shows just how close you can get with a 1:1 macro lens on a Micro Four Thirds camera. The M.Zuiko 30mm and 60mm are both excellent products whose design, optical quality and performance are all in accordance with the ethos of the Micro Four Thirds system with a reasonable price tag to boot. However, there are a couple of clear advantages that come with owning the 60mm. All shots you see here are done with the Panasonic G5 handheld, so the camera is the same for all, but it does mean no stabilization for the Olympus lens. I find that the M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 is perfect for my type of photography, which tends to be of small animals – usually reptiles and amphibians. The Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro is my go-to lens for these subjects, and has been for many years. I’ve dragged it around the world and always find it very easy to use.

Since all three can reproduce the subject at 1:1, the choice of focal length depends on how close you’d like to be to your subject when shooting macro, and also how you’d like to use the lens in non-macro situations. Personally speaking I enjoyed the almost standard coverage of the Lumix G 30mm, as it allowed it to double-up as a more flexible general-purpose lens than the other two macro options, but of course you may prefer to have something longer. Here’s how it looks for my standard test scene compared to a 45mm lens.I don't tend to take table top type shots but on the creative side of things different angles and perspectives are often fun. You will notice that the distance from the subject makes a difference to the perspective you see in the final picture. Perspective is a function not of focal length but of distance to the subject and things that can give the same subject a different look relative to other things in the frame (if there are any) or even from one point on the subject to another are the angle you shoot from and the distance the shot is taken from. What you can do is either take the shot from close distance or from a greater distance and crop post capture. The two pictures, focusing from near and further away, can have quite different perspectives. Mounted on the Panasonic Lumix GX7, it’s easier to know when the lens stabilization is running or not. Set to Off in the menus (when I believe the body based stabilisation is also disabled), I found I could handhold fairly successfully at 1/15 or faster under the conditions of the day. With Stabilisation enabled (again the lens IS takes priority over the body based IS on the GX7), I achieved a similar result at 1/8, providing one stop of compensation in practice. The results at 1/4 and half a second using stabilization were fairly good, but not as crisp as the body-based IS on the Olympus OMD EM1 under the same conditions.

In short, the high magnification and large working distance of the 90mm f/3.5 Macro are two of its biggest strengths. I was able to use these features to capture images that would have been impossible with almost anything else on the market. Handling and Build The macro specifications are easy enough: the lens will provide a full 1:1 reproduction at its closest focus point of 7.5 inches (19 cm). The lens features a scale showing the active size of reproduction: as the lens is focused closer to its close-focusing distance (7.5 inches), a red marker on the reproduction scale moves closer to 1:1. It's a vertical scale, unlike most depth-of-field scales which show a readout from left to right. Previously, I have been working for years with the OM System M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 macro lens. At 1:1 magnification, this lens manages a working distance of 8.3 cm / 3.3 inches from the tip of the lens. Although this may sound almost as good as the new 90mm f/3.5 Macro, it’s a bit of an illusion. For lighting purposes, the 90mm lens is far easier to use with an on-camera speedlight, because the lens itself is longer. In other words, it has a much bigger “flash to subject” distance than a shorter macro lens. This offers more room for a larger diffuser, which improves the quality of my light substantially.In short, the OM System 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO is an exceptionally sharp, high-performing macro lens with great usability due to the large working distance. Once you adapt to the peculiarities of focusing with this lens, it’s hard to beat – and I’d say it’s stolen the crown as the ultimate macro lens for the Micro Four Thirds system. The autofocus speed on the Lumix G 30mm is fairly swift even when travelling through its entire range. Mounted on a Lumix GX7 body I felt the Lumix G 30mm focused a fraction faster and more confidently than it did on an Olympus OMD EM1, but there wasn’t much in it. There’s no focus-distance limiters on either the Lumix or Leica macro lenses, but the Olympus lets you choose between three ranges. Unfortunately, at the time of writing (December 2012) third-party lens manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron have only recently gotten on board the four-thirds train, so alternatives in the four-thirds macro market are a bit slim. In terms of aperture, all three of the macro lenses offer an f2.8 focal ratio, which means they can deliver the same amount of light. They also all employ seven-bladed aperture systems. In terms of depth of field, the lenses with the longer focal lengths will deliver a potentially shallower effect, which may sway your choice when shooting at normal distances, but in a macro environment, the depth of field is already so small you may prefer to have all the help you can get. To see the quality of the bokeh and the impact of the aperture as it closed, I shot this subject at a variety of apertures.

This little macro lens impresses with outstanding sharpness in the centre of the frame at maximum aperture, with clarity towards the edges of the frame being very good. Stopping down the aperture results in improved sharpness in the centre until f/4, and improved sharpness towards the edges of the frame until f/5.6. Diffraction starts to limit sharpness at smaller apertures, but clarity is still excellent across the frame down to f/8. So when choosing a macro lens, the focusing distance required to achieve 1:1 reproduction is an important factor to consider. The longer focal lengths generally allow you to achieve the maximum reproduction from further away, but you may not find their coverage as useful for general-use. Again I found it hard to shoot at 1:1 on the 30mm without dedicated macro lighting, but I did find it the most useful focal length of the three macros for general-purpose use. Here’s a few more examples taken close to the maximum reproduction. The 60mm has an aperture range of 2.8 to 22, which provides a little more flexibility than the 3.5 to 22 range of the 30mm.Here are my test shots from 1:1 magnification, plus extensive crops to show the sharpness. When you look at these crops, keep in mind that the ultra-thin depth of field makes the wider apertures “seem” blurrier than they are. In terms of sharpness, only pay attention to the in-focus regions. Usually, I don’t use the full power of the lens because 1:1 magnification is often overkill for my subjects. That’s why many of the sample photos in this articles are close-up photos rather than “true” macro photos with 1:1 magnification or greater. In any case, it’s a highly practical lens, and a great performer, as you’ll see in a moment. Another quirk about the focus limiting switch is that it also changes the maximum aperture. When switched to the macro position, the maximum aperture changes from f/3.5 to f/5.6. Macro lenses in general all have a narrower maximum aperture at their higher magnifications, but this is the first lens where I’ve seen it change so suddenly, rather than a gradual transition. OM-1 + OM 90mm F3.5 @ 90mm, ISO 100, 1/320, f/11.0 In particular, here are what my autofocus speed tests showed. I tested the focusing speed of both lenses from 1x to 0.5x magnification. After 10 replications with each test, the OM System 90mm f/3.5 Macro IS PRO grabbed focus in 5.8 seconds on average, while the 60mm f/2.8 grabbed focus in 5.2 seconds on average. (I also wonder if a newer copy of the 60mm would be even faster, since as I’ve said, mine has seen some things.)