This lens provides a great combination of great optical performance, lightweight, compact design and value for money. 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.

With the appropriate adapter, one can mount regular four-thirds lenses on a micro four-thirds camera, making this an attractive option for macro shooters. It doesn't offer quite the same reproduction ratio (only 1:2 instead of full 1:1) but its performance, even wide open at ƒ/2, was extremely sharp. M.Zuiko 30mm f/3.5 E-M1, 1/40, f/8, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-M1, 1/80, f/5.6, ISO 640 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-M1, 1/320, f/3.5, ISO 400 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-M1, 1/60, f5.6, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-M1, 1/4, f/4, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-M1, 1/500, f/8, ISO 400 – M.Zuiko 30mm

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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 terms of depth of field, the macro 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.The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm f/2.8 Macro has a small 46mm filter thread, which does not rotate on focus. The maximum aperture is f/2.8 but once you enter the close-focus range, the “effective” f-number starts to drop gradually as the reproduction ratio increases, reaching f/5.6 at the close-focus point. This phenomenon is typical of macro lenses and your camera's built-in meter automatically takes this into account when calculating exposure. Optical Quality – Through the lens E-M1, 1/5, f/8, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 30mm E-P5, 1/60, f/7.1, ISO 400 – M.Zuiko 60mm

To my eye, the Olympus is ever so slightly sharper, but the differences are close enough that it’s really hard to say for sure that the Olympus is better here. Close focus test – Full image Lens configuration: 13 elements / 10 groups with 2 HR elements, 1 ED lens element and 1 E-HR element Another aspect to consider is optical stabilization: the Lumix G 30mm and Leica 45mm both have it, whereas the Olympus 60mm does not. Owners of Olympus bodies won’t mind about optical stabilization as their bodies already have it built-in, but it’s an important consideration for Panasonic body owners. To see how effective the stabilization was on the Lumix G 30mm, I tested it on an Olympus OMD EM1 and a Panasonic Lumix GX7. Between the two, the 60mm is more well-suited to a variety of subjects. The minimum focus distance of 19cm, combined with the 1:1 magnification ratio and 60mm focal length (120mm in 35mm terms) make it the perfect all-purpose macro solution for both animate and inanimate subjects because you can achieve a good level of magnification without getting so close that you’d risk scaring off the subject. E-M1, 5s, f/8, ISO 200 – M.Zuiko 60mm (minimum focus distance) – Bracelet Beyond my standard gear, I leverage a few other items to produce my macro images. For instance, when I am working with more skittish subjects like butterflies or dragonflies, I’ll pull out the M.Zuiko 40-150mm F2.8 PRO. While not really a “macro” lens, the 40-150 (80-300 FFE) has a short working distance that yields ≈1:4 magnification. Sometimes, I’ll even add the M.Zuiko MC-14 1.4x Teleconverter into the equation. The MC-14 is placed between the camera body and the 40-150mm PRO lens to extend reach (112-420mm FFE). Since it doesn’t increase the minimum focusing distance, the MC-14 gives the lens a slight magnification boost.

Other

Panasonic offers the Panasonic Leica Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 ASPH lens, which is the only other Panasonic or Olympus macro lens for Micro Four Thirds cameras. This lens also offers a 1:1 magnification. The biggest difference is of course the focal length, which is quite a bit less at 45mm. This means that you need to stand closer to your subjects compared to the M.Zuiko 60mm macro lens. Another noteworthy difference is that the Panasonic Leica 45mm macro is not advertised as weather sealed. The Olympus 60mm ƒ/2.8 lens offers a very light and portable macro solution, with excellent results for sharpness, and resistance to chromatic aberration, corner shading and distortion. It's also very competitively priced: there aren't many options in this category of lens, but for right now, with a lens this good, there don't need to be. 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.