Help!!

sepplett

While this post will surely show my inexperience, I am stuck with Macro. I CAN NOT seem to get those close macro shots to save my life. I seem to have a dysfunction with the function on my camera and it is driving me NUTS! With my old camera, my non auto focus camera, I did fine, with my new spiffy, almost better than s**, camera, I can't do it!

Please help!!! I really really need some help!!:bow

JustPlainMe

sepplett wrote:

While this post will surely show my inexperience, I am stuck with Macro. I CAN NOT seem to get those close macro shots to save my life. I seem to have a dysfunction with the function on my camera and it is driving me NUTS! With my old camera, my non auto focus camera, I did fine, with my new spiffy, almost better than s**, camera, I can't do it!

Please help!!! I really really need some help!!

Someone here will probably be able to correct my response if I say something incorrect, but I had a similar problem when I went to a dSLR. I used to be able to get really sharp macro shots with my macro function on my old point-and-shoot ZLR.

Did you have a point-and-shoot before? I had a Fuji S6000 that did macro and superzoom just fine. Because I didn't change out lenses, I didn't quite understand how they work.

A nice fellow at my camera class (the place wher e I bought my camera gave me free classes) explained how the lenses work.

On my kit lens, the lens says "0.38m/1.3ft MACRO" and my telephoto (75-300) says "1.5m/4.9ft MACRO." That means that with the first lens, I have to be 1.3 feet from my subject in order to be able to focus. Then I can zoom in as far as I want to for whatever macro that lens is capable of.

My telephoto lens requires me to be about 5 feet from my subject, but then I can zoom in all the way to 300mm and get some decent shots. Not true, compelling macro, but still up close.

Does this help you at all? I miss my ZLR for that reason, I could get about an inch from my subject and focus. But I've learned to appreciate the pros and cons of the dSLR and will just have to wait to buy a good macro lens. Other folks might have better ideas for how to "fake" macro shots without macro lenses. I've heard about extension tubes but I'm not sure what they do or how they work. I'm not there yet!

Sarah

sepplett

JustPlainMe wrote:

Someone here will probably be able to correct my response if I say something incorrect, but I had a similar problem when I went to a dSLR. I used to be able to get really sharp macro shots with my macro function on my old point-and-shoot ZLR.

Did you have a point-and-shoot before? I had a Fuji S6000 that did macro and superzoom just fine. Because I didn't change out lenses, I didn't quite understand how they work.

A nice fellow at my camera class (the place wher e I bought my camera gave me free classes) explained how the lenses work.

On my kit lens, the lens says "0.38m/1.3ft MACRO" and my telephoto (75-300) says "1.5m/4.9ft MACRO." That means that with the first lens, I have to be 1.3 feet from my subject in order to be able to focus. Then I can zoom in as far as I want to for whatever macro that lens is capable of.

My telephoto lens requires me to be about 5 feet from my subject, but then I can zoom in all the way to 300mm and get some decent shots. Not true, compelling macro, but still up close.

Does this help you at all? I miss my ZLR for that reason, I could get about an inch from my subject and focus. But I've learned to appreciate the pros and cons of the dSLR and will just have to wait to buy a good macro lens. Other folks might have better ideas for how to "fake" macro shots without macro lenses. I've heard about extension tubes but I'm not sure what they do or how they work. I'm not there yet!


Sarah

Sarah,

That does help, at least my brain understands it, I will have to play with the camera lenses to apply it though. My biggest problem has been the focus, so now I will try what you suggest and go from there.

I am taking a class Wednesday put on by the reps from Olympus so I will be sure to get them to answer that in more detail. Silly me didn't even think of the class before I posted. But since my camera is still new, I am so anxious to get going and I used to love my macro abilities before!

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it!:D

JustPlainMe

Stephanie,

You're welcome! Focus is exactly the problem I had at first. I didn't understand why I couldn't get as close to the subject as I could with my old camera. I'd be a foot away and no matter what I did, it was blurry. Then I backed up and voila! everything was crystal-clear.

Hope you enjoy your class!

Sarah

sepplett

JustPlainMe wrote:

Stephanie,

You're welcome! Focus is exactly the problem I had at first. I didn't understand why I couldn't get as close to the subject as I could with my old camera. I'd be a foot away and no matter what I did, it was blurry. Then I backed up and voila! everything was crystal-clear.

Hope you enjoy your class!

Sarah

Thanks Sarah! I am hoping to get a lot of knowledge on my equipment from the class!

silversx80

Out of curiosity, what lens(es) do you have for your E-620?

One of the best lenses I got for my E-410 (and soon to be E-620) is the 35mm Macro. It shoots 1:1, meaning that whatever you're taking a picture of (in focus at max magnification) is the same size on the sensor. That's 2X magnification with the crop-factor. The downside is that you have to be about 6 inches from the subject.

Anyway, the lens retails ~$230, but I picked up a refurbished/factory-demo version for about $170. Here are a couple examples:

sepplett

Silver,

Thanks for the advise. I currently have only my kit lenses. I am looking for other lenses and will check out your suggestion on the Macro lens.

Stephanie