Is it worth moving from Fuji to Olympus just for Macro Photography?

Uncle Fester said:
Thanks

I have watched some of Stewart Wood's YouTube videos and the fact that
he has switched to Olympus for Macro work is one of the things that prompted
me to start this thread.

I have no doubt that Olympus cameras and lenses are more than capable of taking
incredible macro photos - that is undeniable.

What I need to figure out, as a complete novice to all this, is whether it will
be easier for me to learn macro photography on an Olympus system rather than
Fuji or any other camera system.
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Its been an easy process to learn true macro photography with this setup. Previously i would take close up insect photography but within days i was getting what i feel is true macro photography.
Ie this shot. This fly was about half a cm i think. This was handheld with 90mm and 1.4tc. 15 shot stack , natural light.
52928145064_85c388b54e_o.jpeg
 
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That's a great photo - I'd love to be able to take something like that.

When you say a 15-shot stack, do you mean an in-camera stack?
 
peat said:
Yes that one was an inbody stack. I just use that and if it doesnt work i use helicon
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Thanks.

Is Helicon difficult to use?

One of the attractions of Olympus is the built-in stacking. I wasn't sure if having a stacking facility
in the camera would make something like Helicon redundant.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Thanks.

Is Helicon difficult to use?

One of the attractions of Olympus is the built-in stacking. I wasn't sure if having a stacking facility
in the camera would make something like Helicon redundant.
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It is very easy to use. Didnt take me anytime to start getting decent results out of it and i still dont do the two stage export to get the ultimate results. I like how you can easily make overrides on helicon thats very handy. Tbh i would say the majority of my stacks are helicon but they are all shot with the in body 15 shot method.
 
peat said:
It is very easy to use. Didnt take me anytime to start getting decent results out of it and i still dont do the two stage export to get the ultimate results. I like how you can easily make overrides on helicon thats very handy. Tbh i would say the majority of my stacks are helicon but they are all shot with the in body 15 shot method.
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Thanks.

So when you’re using Helicon, you’re taking the photos with cameras photo bracketing facility?

In that instance you don’t use the cameras photo stacking - is that right or have I misunderstood you?
 
Uncle Fester said:
Thanks.

So when you’re using Helicon, you’re taking the photos with cameras photo bracketing facility?

In that instance you don’t use the cameras photo stacking - is that right or have I misunderstood you?
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I can only reference the answer in terms of Olympus.

If you do in camera focus stacking, the camera will take (say 15 images in raw), and then perform an in camera process to produce the stacked final image ( of the 15 images ) as a jpeg.

However, it still records all the raw files taken to produce the jpeg stacked image.

Therefore you can then process them in say, Helicon, if you want.

Personally, I find the in camera stacking to work extremely good.
 
Denis99 said:
I can only reference the answer in terms of Olympus.

If you do in camera focus stacking, the camera will take (say 15 images in raw), and then perform an in camera process to produce the stacked final image ( of the 15 images ) as a jpeg.

However, it still records all the raw files taken to produce the jpeg stacked image.

Therefore you can then process them in say, Helicon, if you want.

Personally, I find the in camera stacking to work extremely good.
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Ah thanks - I wasn’t quite sure how it all worked.
 
Uncle Fester said:
I don’t think that Fuji cameras offer built in focus stacking but the more recent XT models do offer focus bracketing.
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Aah, ok. I'm not quite grasping this, sorry. So could the focus bracketing be used with Helicon as suggested above?
 
simon ess said:
Aah, ok. I'm not quite grasping this, sorry. So could the focus bracketing be used with Helicon as suggested above?
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I believe so, yes.

But I’m no expert.

This is the nub of my dilemma - stick with Fuji (I like the ergonomics of the cameras) and use something like Helicon.

Or move over to Olympus and have the option to focus stack in camera.
 
Uncle Fester said:
I didn't know that. How do I go about arranging a test drive?

I used several lenses on my Fuji (with extension tubes) as well as the 80mm Macro, but that's now gone - it was too heavy for me.

If I stick with Fuji I was thinking of getting the Laowa 60mm Macro.
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Don't forget the Laowa is a totally manual lens.
 
No. It just means that nothing on the lens is automatic.

Focus stacking, simply put, is a series of shots, focusing at different points along the length of the subject. When the source images are stacked, the subject will be in focus along its entire length.

A lot of people use a focusing rail, where the focus is set at the subject's closest point to the camera and the rail is moved, millimetres at a time, between shots until the entire length of the subject has been photographed. You don't have to go to a lot of expense on the software either.....

Some free focus stacking software are ImageJ, Hugin Tools, Picolay and Combine ZP1
 
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Fogey1 said:
No. It just means that nothing on the lens is automatic.

Focus stacking, simply put, is a series of shots, focusing at different points along the length of the subject. When the source images are stacked, the subject will be in focus along its entire length.

A lot of people use a focusing rail, where the focus is set at the subject's closest point to the camera and the rail is moved, millimetres at a time, between shots until the entire length of the subject has been photographed. You don't have to go to a lot of expense on the software either.....

Some free focus stacking software are ImageJ, Hugin tools, Picolay, and CombineZP1.
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Thanks, I appreciate the informative reply.

And thank you for that link - that website seems like a tremendous resource for macro photographers. I’ll spend
some time having a read there.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Does that mean I can’t focus bracket with it?

Do I need a lens capable of autofocus to focus bracket?
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This is my very first stacked macro. I used my basic Nikon D300 camera and kit lens with some extension tubes. I recycled a dead bee I found in the Annexe and, after blowing off the dust, practiced my photographic skills with focus stacking.

I used CombineZP for the software and this is a stack of six shots.

Dead bee.jpg

Try this tip to keep the insect still. Set the camera up on a flower, work surface or whatever, spray some sugared water on the baited area and wait for an insect to become interested. When they start feeding, start shooting. A remote shutter release is very handy for this.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Does that mean I can’t focus bracket with it?

Do I need a lens capable of autofocus to focus bracket?
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To be clear, you can manually focus bracket with any lens. However you cannot use the in camera bracketting (or stacking) unless it is an auto focus lens. On the olympus I had a feeling in camera stacking requires specific lenses as well although I could be wrong about that.
 
brman said:
To be clear, you can manually focus bracket with any lens. However you cannot use the in camera bracketting (or stacking) unless it is an auto focus lens. On the olympus I had a feeling in camera stacking requires specific lenses as well although I could be wrong about that.
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Thank you.

Just so I’m clear. If I’m using a manual lens, I will need to focus bracket by manually moving the lens either on a rail or by manually changing focus points.

If I’m using an autofocus lens (as long as it is compatible with the in camera bracketing/stacking) the camera will automatically change the focus points along the subject?

Presumably any make of camera if it has inbuilt focus bracketing will require a compatible autofocus lens to work this feature. So even if I stick with Fuji with in built bracketing and get the Laowa lens, I will have to manually adjust the focus points?
 
Uncle Fester said:
Thank you.

Just so I’m clear. If I’m using a manual lens, I will need to focus bracket by manually moving the lens either on a rail or by manually changing focus points.

If I’m using an autofocus lens (as long as it is compatible with the in camera bracketing/stacking) the camera will automatically change the focus points along the subject?

Presumably any make of camera if it has inbuilt focus bracketing will require a compatible autofocus lens to work this feature. So even if I stick with Fuji with in built bracketing and get the Laowa lens, I will have to manually adjust the focus points?
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Yes. I cannot be sure about every camera system but, based on how it all works, I believe that is correct.
 
Thank you.

I very appreciate all the replies I have had and I’m grateful for everyone’s patience.

As you can all tell this is very new to me and I’m still trying to grasp the basics.
 
So, I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but this might be a good time to repeat it.

I do wonder if you are overthinking the DOF and focus thing. At this stage you might want to just think about practicing technique. Don't worry about DOF or focus stacking.

It's in the nature of the beast that you will take many photos to get one keeper. I doubt that will change if you complicate it with focus stacking.

Once you have basic techniques nailed you can then consider all that stuff.

These are just my thoughts that I offer for consideration.

_dsf5534_51486717494_o (1).jpg
 
If you are wanting to move around and take macro photos on the move then i would say om and focus stack. I couldnt imagine all the faff will manually moving rails and tripods, no offence but that sounds like photography from the 1970s. That just sounds like extra pain and effort and time for no benefit.
why the om system works so well imo is a combination of
- the amazing IS which allows focus stacking handheld.
- The in body focus stacking which allows for an extremely easy way to get a good output but with the flexibility to manually adjust the stacking in post.
- the high iso photos clean up ridiculously well so shooting natural light gets good results
- flash sync can keep up and fire for all the stack handheld. Which is crazy. I am still learning this side though.
- when you get better at macro you can use focus bracketing which allows 99 shots for pro level macro shots.
- and the 90mm om macro lens is unmatched in my opinion.
 
simon ess said:
So, I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but this might be a good time to repeat it.

I do wonder if you are overthinking the DOF and focus thing. At this stage you might want to just think about practicing technique. Don't worry about DOF or focus stacking.

It's in the nature of the beast that you will take many photos to get one keeper. I doubt that will change if you complicate it with focus stacking.

Once you have basic techniques nailed you can then consider all that stuff.

These are just my thoughts that I offer for consideration.

View attachment 413948
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Thanks.

I appreciate your comments, and for its worth, I think you're right.

I know that I need to master basic techniques before I even consider photostacking.

I think my concerns are which system will make it easier to learn the basics - if indeed there is any difference between systems.
I don't to become invested in a system that isn't the optimum one for macrophotography.


peat said:
If you are wanting to move around and take macro photos on the move then i would say om and focus stack. I couldnt imagine all the faff will manually moving rails and tripods, no offence but that sounds like photography from the 1970s. That just sounds like extra pain and effort and time for no benefit.
why the om system works so well imo is a combination of
- the amazing IS which allows focus stacking handheld.
- The in body focus stacking which allows for an extremely easy way to get a good output but with the flexibility to manually adjust the stacking in post.
- the high iso photos clean up ridiculously well so shooting natural light gets good results
- flash sync can keep up and fire for all the stack handheld. Which is crazy. I am still learning this side though.
- when you get better at macro you can use focus bracketing which allows 99 shots for pro level macro shots.
- and the 90mm om macro lens is unmatched in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

You make an excellent case for the OM system.

I think I'm getting to the point where I need to make a decision and try some gear out rather than dither about.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Every post seems to push me closer to going to Olympus...
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I'm an unrepentant Fuji fan boy but, if I was starting from scratch with a strong urge to get into macro, I'd probably go with the Olympus.

I got into macro long before all this focus stacking malarkey.
 
Olympus 60mm macro is a very good value for money lens to get started.

Pair it with a Godox V860iii flash, and you will have a very capable macro set up.
 
Denis99 said:
Olympus 60mm macro is a very good value for money lens to get started.

Pair it with a Godox V860iii flash, and you will have a very capable macro set up.
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Thanks.

The 60mm Macro is definitely on my shopping list.

I have a Godox TT350 left over from my Fuji set up. I don’t know if it’s
compatible with the Olympus camera and even if it is, I don’t know
if it’s the good enough for macro work.
 
I had the 60mm before buying the 90mm macro.

You won’t go wrong with the 60mm, excellent value for the money.

I don’t think your Godox will work with the Olympus though.
 
Denis99 said:
I had the 60mm before buying the 90mm macro.

You won’t go wrong with the 60mm, excellent value for the money.

I don’t think your Godox will work with the Olympus though.
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Thanks.

Everyone seems to sing the praises of the 60mm so I’m sure I’ll be happy with it.

I’m sure you’re right about the TT350, but I’ll check it out to be sure. If it doesn’t
work, I’ll be on the lookout for a V860iii
 
A quick question for the 60mm owners.

Is this lens supplied with a lens hood?
 
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