Olympus M43 ZD 60mm F/2.8 Macro review

Phil Rudin · Issue 69, Nov/Dec 2012 · pp. 26–28

Products mentioned: Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 60mm F/2.8 Macro, Panasonic-Leica 45mm Macro-Elmarit, Olympus 50mm F/2 macro, Olympus OMD E-M5, Nauticam NA-EM5 Housing, Nauticam Flat Port 72, Nauticam ED 12-50mm port, SubSee +5 and +10 magnifiers, Athena ARF-01 Ring-Flash, Inon Z-240 strobes

The Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 60mm F/2.6 Macro lens was formerly announced during the Photokina 2012 show and has been available in limited quantizes as of late September. The Olympus ZD 60mm is the second dedicated macro lens for the ever growing M43 camera segment. I did a review on the first M43 macro, “Mirrorless Macros” covering the Panasonic-Leica 45mm Macro-Elmarit for M43 in UWP#65 which can be found in the “Back Issues” section of this magazine. The ZD 60 macro is a very robust lens and Olympus second dust and splashproof (“weather- sealed”) lens for the M43. At 56 x 82mm the 60 macro is longer and thiner than the Panasonic 45 macro with a narrower 20 degree angle of view and full 1:1 magnification at a minimum focus distance of 18.80cm (7.4”). At 1:1 (life size) the image area covered is 17.3 x 13 mm or about 2:1 (twice life size) compared to a 35 mm macro lens at 1:1. This macro…