Initially disclosed as a growth announcement again in September 2022, OM Digital Options has now absolutely unveiled their subsequent OM System lens, the M.Zuiko 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO. The third macro lens of their Micro 4 Thirds system lineup, the 90mm F3.5 is each the longest focal size macro lens they’ve ever made, with a 180mm-eq. focal size, and likewise the primary Professional-series macro lens for OM System cameras.
OM Digital Options, or Olympus on the time, debuted the 60mm F2.8 Macro lens all the best way again in 2012. A reasonably specialised macro lens, it provided a 120mm-equivalent focal size and full 1:1 macro capabilities. And whereas not a “Zuiko Professional” collection lens — as that line wasn’t even a factor but (Olympus’s Micro 4 Thirds digicam system was nonetheless pretty new round that point) — it was one of many few Olympus lenses with a splashproof design. A number of Photokinas later, and Olympus launched the 30mm F3.5 Macro lens. This tiny, light-weight lens provided a 60mm-eq. focal size and a powerful 1.25x most magnification issue. Though, it does lack a number of of the bells and whistles of the longer 60mm lens.
However now, OM Digital Options has pulled out all of the stops for his or her most superior and highest-end macro lens thus far. Along with an extended focal size, the lens options much more highly effective macro capabilities, with as much as 2x magnification (4x in 35mm-eq.) or much more magnifying powers as much as 4x when mixed with OM’s 1.4x or 2x teleconverters. Additional, there’s on-board optical picture stabilization, IP53-rated weather-sealed building, AF/MF clutch with focus and magnification markings and rather more! At round $1500, it is undoubtedly a pro- and enthusiast-oriented lens, and one which’s rather more costly than their different two macro lenses. Nonetheless, it is their strongest and feature-rich macro lens, so if you happen to’ve been in search of the “final subject macro lens,” the brand new OM 90mm F3.5 Macro IS Professional lens has all of the packing containers checked.
I have been lucky to have an early take a look at OM’s newest lens, so along with a full rundown of options and specs, let’s additionally take a better look (no pun supposed) at how this new macro lens performs within the subject!
OM-1: 90mm, F14, 1/60s, ISO 200
Key Options & Specs
- 90mm telephoto macro lens (180mm in 35mm equivalence)
- F3.5-F22 aperture vary
- As much as 2x magnification (4x in 35mm eq); minimal focusing distance of simply 0.224m (8.8in)
- As much as 4x macro magnification (8x in 35mm eq) when utilizing 2x teleconverter
- Guide focus clutch with focusing distance and magnification markings
- Autofocus succesful throughout full focusing vary, even at macro distances
- IP53 climate sealing
- Lens IS with Sync IS compatibility with as much as 7 stops of stabilization
- Suitable with all OM System Cameras
- Weight: 453g (15.98 oz)
- Dimensions (D x L): 68.9mm x 136mm [2.7 in x 5.4 in]
- 62mm filter thread
- MSRP: $1499.99 US ($2049.99 CAD)
- Delivery: March ninth, 2023
Design and Dealing with
As with most Micro 4 Thirds lenses, the brand new OM 90mm F3.5 Macro is smaller and lighter than an equal lens for a full-frame system, such because the Canon EF 180mm F3.5L Macro lens, as an example. The OM 90mm Macro lens is available in at simply 453g, or proper at one pound. The lens has a reasonably skinny and slender tube-like form, with a reasonably lengthy barrel (a minimum of in comparison with OM’s earlier macro lenses) and a reasonably small diameter. The lens measures 136mm (5.35 in) in size and a diameter of simply 69.8mm (2.75 in). The 90mm lens has a filter thread of 62mm, which is similar filter dimension as a number of of their current Professional lenses, such because the 12-40mm F2.8 Professional II and all three of the F1.2 Professional primes — is useful if you wish to share filters.
Regardless of the bigger dimension of the lens in comparison with the Olympus 60mm Macro and particularly the 30mm F3.5 Macro, the brand new 90mm F3.5 nonetheless feels impressively compact and lightweight while you choose it up. The construct high quality is stable, identical to I’ve skilled with different Zuiko Professional lenses, however this lens would not really feel hefty in any respect — which is nice. Visually, too, the bigger dimension suits properly with OM’s higher-end cameras, such because the OM-1 or with my E-M1 II. The tiny 60mm macro lens is dwarfed by these cameras, whereas the 90mm balances rather well, each bodily and simply in look.
As a part of OM’s “Zuiko Professional” collection of lenses, the 90mm F3.5 Macro lens options the most effective of the most effective in relation to construct high quality and weather-sealing. The barrel and lens mount are made fully out of metallic, and the lens shares the identical spectacular IP53-rated weather-sealed building as their flagship OM-1 digicam. Although, after all, the lens will not be waterproof, the lens is securely sealed in opposition to moisture, mud and freezing temperatures all the way down to -10 levels C (14 levels F). The lens additionally has a fluorine coating on the entrance aspect for added safety and straightforward cleansing of mud, moisture and oils. Like their professional cameras, the 90mm Macro lens is designed with out of doors adventures in thoughts, irrespective of the climate circumstances.
Trying on the lens’s exterior options, one of the crucial notable options of the 90mm Macro lens is the big focusing ring and AF/MF clutch mechanism. Like most (however not all) of OM’s Professional-series lenses function a bodily clutch mechanism to toggle the lens backwards and forwards between autofocus and guide focus modes. Pulling the focusing ring again in the direction of the digicam engages guide focus mode and likewise reveals a focusing distance scale in addition to magnification components from 0.25x all the best way to 2x, which I discover very useful. Need to be sure to’re capturing at precisely 1x or 2x macro magnification, merely rotate the focusing ring to your required magnification setting and transfer the digicam backwards and forwards till you get your topic in focus. (Nonetheless, talking of autofocusing — which I will contact on extra additional down — AF does work all through the lens’s full focusing vary, even at macro distances!)
The 90mm macro lens additionally contains small panel of controls, together with a customizable lens operate button, a picture stabilization on/off swap and a three-way focus limiter swap. The main focus limiter swap enables you to dial in how a lot autofocus vary you will have, which relying in your capturing state of affairs, can assist velocity up AF efficiency. The slider swap has a place for full* focus vary (0.25m to infinity), a close-up vary of 0.25 to 0.5m (all the way down to 1x macro magnification), after which a fair higher-powered macro mode (“S Macro”) that allows you to autofocus all the way down to 2x magnification, or 0.224m (4x in 35mm-eq.).
(* Regular autofocusing vary is from 1x macro to infinity, or from 0.25m to infinity. You may want to modify into the “S Macro” mode if you wish to autofocus nearer than the 1x magnification degree.)
Now, by itself, the 90mm F3.5 Macro lens is an amazingly highly effective macro lens that allows you to get all the way down to 2x magnification. Nonetheless, if you’d like extra magnification, you possibly can add OM’s 1.4x or 2x teleconverters for even nearer focusing efficiency. With the MC-20 2x TC hooked up, you may get full 4x macro magnification for some excessive close-up capturing efficiency — and you continue to have autofocus performance.
The 90mm Macro lens additionally options built-in optical picture stabilization, making it one of many few OM or Olympus lenses to have OIS. Just like the 300mm F4 Professional and 12-100mm F4 Professional lenses, the 90mm Macro is appropriate with Sync IS, and the lens’s IS will work in tandem with the digicam’s body-based IS system for some spectacular stabilization efficiency. OM would not present a spec for the variety of stops of correction for the lens’s IS system alone, however along with a supported digicam physique, the 5-axis Sync IS is rated for as much as 7 stops of stabilization.
Within the subject, and particularly when focusing at macro distances, vibrations are extraordinarily noticeable, and when activated, the IS system does an unimaginable job and making a clean and regular view to assist compose and focus your pictures. Usually, with high-powered macro capturing, you really want to make use of a tripod, however the mixture of autofocus and wonderful picture stabilization with the OM System 90mm Macro lens actually makes it doable to shoot macro handheld. It is fairly spectacular.
OM-1: 90mm, F18, 1/60s, ISO 200, -0.3EV
Picture High quality
By way of the OM 90mm F3.5 Macro lens’s optical design, the lens contains a complete of 18 parts organized into 13 teams. The lens contains two Tremendous ED parts, 4 ED parts, one Tremendous HR and one HR lens. The array of ED and Tremendous ED glass parts assist suppress chromatic aberration and fringing, whereas the HR lens parts assist guarantee sharpness throughout the body and likewise assist scale back the dimensions of the lens. OMDS additionally states that the defocused areas and the bokeh of this lens are designed to have minimal coloration bleeding. The lens additionally options their ZERO (Zuiko Further-low Reflection Optical) coating to assist scale back ghosting and flare.
OM-1: 90mm, F5, 1/250s, ISO 200
Although I’ve solely had a brief period of time to check out the brand new 90mm Macro lens to date, the picture high quality I’ve seen from this lens is certainly spectacular — although given the wonderful legacy of earlier Zuiko Professional lenses, I wasn’t anticipating poor efficiency. Photos are extraordinarily sharp, each on the middle and within the corners — and even vast open. Regardless of being a macro lens, the 90mm F3.5 can work completely effectively as a standard brief telephoto lens, too.
OM-1: 90mm, F16, 1/60s, ISO 200
OM-1: 90mm, F3.5, 1/640s, ISO 200
When capturing macro pictures, you are most likely not going to shoot at F3.5, because the depth of subject will change into extremely shallow and you may solely get a tiny sliver of your topic in focus. Fortuitously, the 90mm works very effectively when used stopped down, even at very slender apertures, corresponding to F18, for instance. Often, stopping a lens finished that a lot, you possibly can expertise some diffraction-related softness that you just’d not see at wider apertures. This facet impact will also be extra noticeable on smaller sensor digicam techniques, however I’m very happy with the efficiency right here with this lens. I took some check macro pictures at F18, and the quantity of extremely superb element I might see within the ensuing pictures is excellent.
OM-1: 90mm, F18, 1/60s, ISO 200, -0.3EV
OM-1: 90mm, F18, 1/60s, ISO 200, -0.3EV
100% Crop
Focusing
I’ve talked about loads concerning the macro focusing capabilities of this lens already, however the 90mm F3.5 Macro lens will also be used for regular picture and video eventualities, too. The lens contains a high-speed focusing system with twin focusing teams which are pushed independently, which helps present quick and exact AF efficiency.
With autofocusing accessible for macro capturing, too, the lens is straightforward to make use of with OM/Olympus cameras that function in-camera Focus Stacking.
As talked about, the minimal focusing distance with regular autofocusing vary is 0.25m (9.84 in), however you possibly can focus barely nearer when switched into S Macro mode. Right here, you possibly can focus all the way down to 0.224m (8.82 in) for 2x macro magnification.
OM-1: 90mm, F16, 1/60s, ISO 200
Pricing & Availability
The OM System M.Zuiko Digital ED 90mm F3.5 Macro IS PRO will go on sale in March 2023 for $1,499.99 within the U.S. and $2,049.99 CAD.
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A full, in-depth assessment of the OM System 90mm F3.5 Macro IS Professional lens is within the works, so keep tuned for extra. For an preliminary sampling of extra real-world photographs, head over to our OM 90mm F3.5 Macro Gallery.
