OM system 90mm macro announced

[ChrisRoss 150]

Available March, price is $1499 AUD, as far as I can tell.  Reviews are starting to appear for example:

Hands-on with OM System’s new high-end 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO lens (imaging-resource.com)

 

[makar0n 69]

1 hour ago, ChrisRoss said:

Available March, price is $1499 AUD, as far as I can tell.  Reviews are starting to appear for example:

Hands-on with OM System’s new high-end 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO lens (imaging-resource.com)

 

That is some excellent news!
Now I am just curious which  port size will it fit xD

Edited February 8 by makar0n

[Alex_Mustard 0]

Around £1300 GBP here in the UK

 

[ChrisRoss 150]

So far the features from the review I linked are that the AF seems very good and lens is very sharp. 

The 2x magnification requires you to move the focus limiter switch to S macro position.  Might be an issue if you wanted to use the lens for 2x magnification UW.  Hopefully that could be programmed to a function button?? 

They also noted that performance at f18 was very impressive not exhibiting diffraction softening that would be expected.  Perhaps this is a software tweak to increase sharpening that is baked into the image?

Focus distance is 250mm at 1x and 224mm at 2x giving 94mm working distance at 1 x and  68mm at 2x.  Seems like quite a good working distance at 2x magnification.

The price is actually $1499 USD so a fairly pricey lens.

I am thinking I'll be getting one for land based use as I do a lot of land based macro and focus stacking.  I'll see what it takes to get one UW, I'm wondering if Nauticam will provide a mechanism to activate 2x in the port.

 

[Davide DB 583]

It seems a terrific lens. You get what you paid for.

No mention of programing magnification to a Fn button so far.

This is the best review so far.

 

 

[makar0n 69]

Preorders are open it seems, at least on the Germ site. 1499 Euro.

https://shop.olympus.eu/de_DE/objektive/om-d-pen-objektive/m-zuiko-digital-ed-90mm-f3-5-macro-is-pro

UK as well, 1299 squid:

https://shop.olympus.eu/en_GB/lenses/om-d-pen-lenses/m-zuiko-digital-ed-90mm-f3-5-macro-is-pro

Shipping 28/02/2023 supposedly...

 

Guess if that focus limiter cannot be somehow emulated via Fn button, the port is going to be pricey.....

[Interceptor121 842]

2 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

Available March, price is $1499 AUD, as far as I can tell.  Reviews are starting to appear for example:

Hands-on with OM System’s new high-end 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO lens (imaging-resource.com)

 

Interesting lens. It will require a long flat port. 

135 - 25 = 115 mm

65 flat port plus 20mm extension plus 30mm extension

Not sure about the flexibility of this set up compared to a 60mm plus cmc-1 for sure the optical quality will be better as the 60mm at f/11 is not great

[ChrisRoss 150]

A review from DPreview is on line, they report lens is sharp across the frame wide open.  AF is said to be very snappy on OM-1 in macro range.

They advise the lens can be used with 1.4x and 2x converters.  which opens up the potential for 2.8x   and even 4x macro with decent working distances.  Though using UW would be quite challenging to say the least.

DPReview TV: OM System 90mm F3.5 Macro IS Pro Review: Digital Photography Review

[Interceptor121 842]

2 hours ago, ChrisRoss said:

A review from DPreview is on line, they report lens is sharp across the frame wide open.  AF is said to be very snappy on OM-1 in macro range.

They advise the lens can be used with 1.4x and 2x converters.  which opens up the potential for 2.8x   and even 4x macro with decent working distances.  Though using UW would be quite challenging to say the least.

DPReview TV: OM System 90mm F3.5 Macro IS Pro Review: Digital Photography Review

Less favourable from lenstip

https://www.lenstip.com/644.1-Lens_review-OM_System_M.Zuiko_Digital_ED_90_mm_f_3.5_Macro_IS_PRO.htm

I do agree they could have made the lens a bit faster MFT starts to be diffraction limited at f/11 this is an issue of the format however you rather take depth of field than blur

[JayceeB 54]

This lens looks very large.  OM-1 + 90mm is approaching the same size and weight as an A7RV + 90mm.  

A7RV 723 grams (with battery)

90mm 602 grams 79mm x 131mm

 

OM-1 599 grams (with battery)

90mm 453 grams 70mm x 136mm

[Davide DB 583]

This lens is 180 mm to be fair

[troporobo 251]

It looks like a great lens, for sure.  Possibly difficult to use UW but if a port emerges then it could produce images that are difficult with other solutions.  I would surely appreciate the additional working distance and much better IS compared to my tiny 60mm macro lens. I’ve always felt that Olympus’ IS is the edge that other manufacturers haven’t beat (yet).  

[JayceeB 54]

7 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

This lens is 180 mm to be fair

Point taken.  I guess I was just a bit shocked to see it compared to the 60mm.

[Interceptor121 842]

4 hours ago, Davide DB said:

This lens is 180 mm to be fair

No the lens is still 90mm 3.5 a lens is what it is

 

[hyp 115]

It's a 90mm macro with 2x magnification, used on the cameras it's designed to be used for images will look like they were taken with a 180mm lens on FF (and if you believe in macro equivalence magnification also goes up to 4x). Do with that what you may, fact is no other lens like that exists for any other system. I'm confident Nauticam will release a port with a gear similar to the 12-50 gear that enables the macro mode on that lens. Most other housing manufacturers probably won't. I'm also sure that to bring this beast underwater will probably cost around 2500€/$ for just port and lens, so no matter how amazing it is, I will never be able to afford it.

[ChrisRoss 150]

21 hours ago, Interceptor121 said:

Less favourable from lenstip

https://www.lenstip.com/644.1-Lens_review-OM_System_M.Zuiko_Digital_ED_90_mm_f_3.5_Macro_IS_PRO.htm

I do agree they could have made the lens a bit faster MFT starts to be diffraction limited at f/11 this is an issue of the format however you rather take depth of field than blur

Seems quite pedantic to me, first he says OM should make smaller compact lenses then in the next breath says they should all be faster lenses.  Unfortunately fast lenses will be bigger and more expensive so limit their market .  

As for the complaints about effective aperture sure you could build a faster lens but using those apertures at 1.0x you get miniscule depth of field and will be stopping down anyway.   The review is all playing with numbers, while DPreview shows some sample shots and says he likes the results.  On the AF front While it takes time to go from infinity to 1:1, but how often do you actually do that?  Just click back, MF to approximately right focus then use AF and my 60mm macro snaps in if it has something with contrast to work with, I expect this would be the same.

[Interceptor121 842]

15 minutes ago, ChrisRoss said:

Seems quite pedantic to me, first he says OM should make smaller compact lenses then in the next breath says they should all be faster lenses.  Unfortunately fast lenses will be bigger and more expensive so limit their market .  

As for the complaints about effective aperture sure you could build a faster lens but using those apertures at 1.0x you get miniscule depth of field and will be stopping down anyway.   The review is all playing with numbers, while DPreview shows some sample shots and says he likes the results.  On the AF front While it takes time to go from infinity to 1:1, but how often do you actually do that?  Just click back, MF to approximately right focus then use AF and my 60mm macro snaps in if it has something with contrast to work with, I expect this would be the same.

The point is that at f/3.5 the lens is limited and overall the level of sharpness that comes out is not amazing

There are some limitations of the sensor size when you go past f/10 so I think the point of lenstip is that this is not a very sharp lens however there is no other lens like this so the question is more how does it compare to non native lenses or to using close up lenses

[hyp 115]

How is f3.5 limiting. You will be stopped down for DoF anyway. 

[Interceptor121 842]

How is f3.5 limiting. You will be stopped down for DoF anyway. 

Normally a lens achieves the best performance a few stops down from wide open
However MFT already starts to suffer at f/8 so this means this lens will not be as sharp as others
Looking at their tests they are correct the lens stops at 70 lpmm which is not a lot considering the maximum at sensor level is 150 lpmm
At the end you need depth of field so this will drop further down


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[hyp 115]

And yet you will still be stopped down to f8 or even f11 because sufficient DoF always beats marginal sharpness loss because of diffraction which really only is visible on test charts at f8 but becomes a real problem at f16 or so. 

[Interceptor121 842]

And yet you will still be stopped down to f8 or even f11 because sufficient DoF always beats marginal sharpness loss because of diffraction which really only is visible on test charts at f8 but becomes a real problem at f16 or so. 

There is a complex situation with digital cameras with small pixels
Diffraction limits the MFT sensor from f/11 however resolution drop starts earlier
Generally at current megapixel count lenses peak between f/2.8 and f/5.6 depending on how wide the lens goes
At f/16 looking at lenstip charts you have around 1.4 megapixels resolution which is really low
You also have to consider that topside you can use in some use cases focus stacking shooting at peak resolution
Ultimately I personally think a shorter lens and a wet lens is more suited to underwater use costs less and is more flexible


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Architeuthis 179]

The Lenstip reviews show, the sharpness of the 90mm OM macro lens is totally comparable with other, very good, macro lenses (tested on different cameras/sensors, that are, however in a similar pixel density rage):

https://www.lenstip.com/644.4-Lens_review-OM_System_M.Zuiko_Digital_ED_90_mm_f_3.5_Macro_IS_PRO_Image_resolution.html

https://www.lenstip.com/356.4-Lens_review-Olympus_M.Zuiko_Digital_60_mm_f_2.8_ED_Macro_Image_resolution.html

https://www.lenstip.com/561.4-Lens_review-Sony_FE_90_mm_f_2.8_Macro_G_OSS_Image_resolution.html

Clearly diffraction becomes more and more of a problem, the smaller the aperture becomes. At an aperture value of e.g. f 11, what would be a typical value for macro the center resolution is approx 55 lines/mm (resolution for Zuiko 60mm macro is approx. 50 lines/mm, measured on the EPL-1 camera). A MFT sized crop from the Sony A7RII (camera taken for the review) with the Sony 90mm macro taken at f 11would yield the same DOF as an image taken with the OM 90mm macro on, e.g. EM5II (camera taken for the review), with a center resolution of 50 lines/mm (= essentially the same).

=> No matter what the Lenstip reviewer is writing in the comments section, the lens is a very good one...

=> I believe that the 90mm macro lens is a long awaited extension of the repertoire in the MFT system, as it provides an extra long working distance at 1:1. Even 2:1 magnification without diopter is possible, but feasible to me only when Nauticam come out with  a special port that allows to switch on/off macro mode UW, as Hyp suggests (otherwise I personally will prefer a flip diopter, like I am using now with Zuiko 60mm and Pana 45mm). I am eager to hear what people say, when they test 1.4x or 2x TCs with the lens in practice (resolution in the review is still >40 lines/mm with 2x TC), but I wonder whether this long focal lengths are useful UW (surely for very special occasions only, where very high magnifications at relative long working distances are useful (e.g. clownfish eggs))...

Open apertures as f 2.8 or f 3.5 may be an advantage in special cases only, e.g. artistic purpose or when using focus stacking (maybe the new stacked sensor cameras will make this technique versatile for static UW objects)...

 

Wolfgang

[Interceptor121 842]

The Lenstip reviews show, the sharpness of the 90mm OM macro lens is totally comparable with other, very good, macro lenses (tested on different cameras/sensors, that are, however in a similar pixel density rage):
https://www.lenstip.com/644.4-Lens_review-OM_System_M.Zuiko_Digital_ED_90_mm_f_3.5_Macro_IS_PRO_Image_resolution.html
https://www.lenstip.com/356.4-Lens_review-Olympus_M.Zuiko_Digital_60_mm_f_2.8_ED_Macro_Image_resolution.html
https://www.lenstip.com/561.4-Lens_review-Sony_FE_90_mm_f_2.8_Macro_G_OSS_Image_resolution.html
Clearly diffraction becomes more and more of a problem, the smaller the aperture becomes. At an aperture value of e.g. f 11, what would be a typical value for macro the center resolution is approx 55 lines/mm (resolution for Zuiko 60mm macro is approx. 50 lines/mm, measured on the EPL-1 camera). A MFT sized crop from the Sony A7RII (camera taken for the review) with the Sony 90mm macro taken at f 11would yield the same DOF as an image taken with the OM 90mm macro on, e.g. EM5II (camera taken for the review), with a center resolution of 50 lines/mm (= essentially the same).
=> No matter what the Lenstip reviewer is writing in the comments section, the lens is a very good one...
=> I believe that the 90mm macro lens is a long awaited extension of the repertoire in the MFT system, as it provides an extra long working distance at 1:1. Even 2:1 magnification without diopter is possible, but feasible to me only when Nauticam come out with  a special port that allows to switch on/off macro mode UW, as Hyp suggests (otherwise I personally will prefer a flip diopter, like I am using now with Zuiko 60mm and Pana 45mm). I am eager to hear what people say, when they test 1.4x or 2x TCs with the lens in practice (resolution in the review is still >40 lines/mm with 2x TC), but I wonder whether this long focal lengths are useful UW (surely for very special occasions only, where very high magnifications at relative long working distances are useful (e.g. clownfish eggs))...
Open apertures as f 2.8 or f 3.5 may be an advantage in special cases only, e.g. artistic purpose or when using focus stacking (maybe the new stacked sensor cameras will make this technique versatile for static UW objects)...
 
Wolfgang

The 60mm is a lens that wasn’t doing particularly well stopped down
If you look at dpreview sample gallery all the shots are at f/10 or below which is under diffraction limit
Lets see if there is a special port for underwater but this is going to be a niche product


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Architeuthis 179]

1 hour ago, Interceptor121 said:

The 60mm is a lens that wasn’t doing particularly well stopped down
If you look at dpreview sample gallery all the shots are at f/10 or below which is under diffraction limit
Lets see if there is a special port for underwater but this is going to be a niche product


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree, stopping down reduces sharpness and this is a problem. This is due to diffraction that, at a given focal length is the same for all lenses at a given f number (just determined by the ratio circumference/area of the aperture, the circumference being the part producing the diffraction). In my UW photos I personally notice diffraction to detoriate IQ of my photos significantly starting from f 12 to f 14. Therefore, I try not to go beyond f 11. For me, f 11 is the aperture of choice and sometimes I go as fa as f 9. Wider open the area in focus may be even sharper (in theory it is certainly), but DOF is just too small and this ruins the photo. Of course this is a personal, subjective, measure and others may have different preferences...

I also agree that the 90mm macro (at least UW) is a nice product, not well suited for standard macro, certainly not fish portrait (unless the portraied fish are really small ). It is, however, these nice products that are the salt in the soup, make a system attractive for us and make us happily lugging around tons of gear. It seems that, unfortunately, most companies produce tons of almost redundant lenses in the standard range each type competing with the others, but increasingly avoid to develop these precious nice products...

 

Wolfgang

 

Edited February 11 by Architeuthis

[Davide DB 583]

19 minutes ago, Architeuthis said:

It is, however, these nice products that are the salt in the soup, make a system attractive for us and make us happily lugging around tons of gear. It seems that, unfortunately, most companies produce tons of almost redundant lenses in the standard range each type competing with the others, but increasingly avoid to develop these precious nice products...

Yes, think about EMWL or Yaowa probe lens. Very niche but amazing products.

Off topic: 8mm fisheye was one of the first lens Pana added to the M43 line. After so many years we are still waiting for a native fisheye on Sony line.