I owned the 35-100 mk1 and the 12-35 mk1, they were used on a G80 and GX9.
The longer lens was very good for its entire focal range and the shorter one wasnt far behind.
They also worked with dual is on both cameras, but only version 1 the GX9. No real issues with either, I only sold them when the Olympus 12-100 appeared.
Prefer the one lens option and to be honest the 12-100 is slightly better. That is taking into account both lenses, about equal in the 35-100 range.
Thanks, The Oly 12-100mm looks like a chunk of money, which might be a little over the top for me an my butterflies!
The 35-100 f2.8 is probably a better lens than the 45-150mm but I don't think it would necessarily be better for your use. The wider maximum aperture is not an advantage when using close-up lenses as you'll be stopped down most of the time and the missing 50mm at the long end will cost you magnification and/or working distance. If you're happy with your results then stick with what you've got.
Cheers, im quite happy with my current results...but we are always looking for ways to improve. I should say that most of my butterfly images are close up rather than macro...if i want to shoot macro, i tend to use a different camera set up, to get much closer to smaller subjects. The G80/45-150mm/500D close up filter set up is good at 150mm, but not good enough for real marco images. The 2 Adonis Blue images i recently posted, were shot at 97mm, an although i cropped the closed wing image, i try not to crop most of my stuff. You are right, most of the time im shooting up to f/16 for open wings, then f/8 to f/11 for closed wings.
Hi ... have you thought about working out which is the best focal length for your macro work with your two close-up filters attached, then seeing if there is a prime lens available to suit? For example, I have a Raynox 250 that works well at 60mm, so use my 12-60 or 45-150. I may find I'll get better results with the Sigma 56 + Raynox. Just a thought. And BTW the Sigma 56mm f/1.4 is a super lens I'd find other uses for.
Thanks for your comment. The sweet spot for me, would be somewhere between 75 to 100mm, when i go from 100 to 150mm (for butterflies) things get much harder to achieve, what i want from my images. Zoom lenses work better for me (rather than primes). Ive often thought about the Oly 60mm macro, but it wouldnt give me enough focal range, for what im after. The sigma 56mm would frustrate me, an fall short of what im aiming for. I use both Raynox 250 an 150, but on another camera set up...Raynox lenses are great...but not for my butterfly images.
I've had the 35-100 ii for several years. One of my favourite lenses. I use it on my G80, but did also have it on the GX85 for a trio to San Francisco. I've have nothing but positive things to say about it, to the extent that I spent the last year saving up and have just bought the 12-35ii to partner it
I bought both lenses
second hand, too - it's the way to go!
Haven't really done any close-up wildlife with it, so not sure how it would fare for you. Perhaps I'll try and take something in the garden later!
Cheers for that, remember im always attaching a qaulity close up lens to any lens i use...without close up/achromat lenses i would probably need to go beyond 150mm, to get the same sort of results that im getting right now.
I originally had the Oly 12-100 when I bought my E-M1ii, and it was super on that body. But of course dual IS does not work if it’s fitted to a Lumix, plus to my perception there was a slight drop in quality - not totally surprising given it was optimised for Olympus. So I swapped it for the Leica 12-60 and sacrificed the extra 40mm. For reasons of lightness I have subsequently dropped to the “other” 12-60, with the same IQ at the expense of maximum aperture. Of course, all the above is just my opinion and feelings - others may have a different take on it.
Thanks, i think the Oly 12-100mm lens might not be best suited to my needs.
Experimented with the G80 and the 35-100ii in the garden just now. For macro the lens on its own simply doesn't focus close enough - although drop a Raynox on it and it works well. Really needed a tripod, but this was handheld. The close-up is cropped. I was just trying to illustrate the close focus distance of the lens .
The G80 was driving me mad - had the dreaded "please turn the camera off and on again" about eight times in the five minutes I was out in the garden. The camera used to do this a lot, but has been okay(ish) recently. As the on-off switch is broken I have to take the battery out to actually turn it off/on and then all the settings revert to something different. In a way I wish it would error like this all the time, then I'd feel better about throwing it out and buying a G9... The articulated screen hinge is broken, too, and is held in place by tape (the screen still articulates, but I can't open the bit on the side of the camera to give me access to whatever's in there - USB port, headphone socket, charger port... I don't know as I can't open it), so it's in pretty poor shape, but it still works most if the time...
Thanks for giving it a go(even with your temperamental G80)!!!...I always shoot handheld too, butterflies dont wait for setting up a tripod.
@Testudo Man
Further to my earlier post, have you considered the 12-100?
Its very good close up amd its in lens stabilisation is excellent.
Here's one hand held, not really my thing so someone with more experience would no doubt do better.
View attachment 363781
Cheers, thats a good Odonata/Dragonfly image...as ive said above, i just think the Oly 12-100mm might be over the top for my needs. I rarely shoot below 60mm zoom, an more often than not, im shooting between 75-100mm.
Male Adonis Blue Butterfly (2nd brood). No cropping. by Tort Man (out of hibernation!), on Flickr
Male Adonis Blue Butterfly (2nd brood). by Tort Man (out of hibernation!), on Flickr
Upper Settle from Watery Lane by Stephen Lee, on Flickr
