Macro/close-up Filters for the Q2

[acg69]

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Chris -- First of all, stay safe going back home and thank you very much for your detailed answer!

Am I right in assuming that the ELPRO E52 comes with the 49 to 52 sep up ring, so if I get it I am good to go with the Q2? Also, do you have any experience with the Marumi filters? Thanks again!

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[PhotoCruiser]

Hi acg69,
thanks for the wishes, i could need them and by the way, same tpo you wherever you are!

No i don't have experience with Marumi filters, but some here have and they seem to be happy with them.
Let me see at home in a few hours if the step-up ring is included, if not just any not too thick step-up ring will be fine.
I probably bought mine directly at the Leica Shop, but let me verify that as i have a set of cheap step-up rings to attach the ring lamp and
i am not sure if ai have a special one for the ELPRO 52 or use one of the cheap ones.

Chris

 

 

 

[acg69]

Thanks again - I'll wait for you to get home and tell me. I am in Greece by the way, at home...:/ hence my "need" to get into macro a bit more than in the past:)

[T25UFO]

1 hour ago, acg69 said:

Thanks again - I'll wait for you to get home and tell me. I am in Greece by the way, at home...:/ hence my "need" to get into macro a bit more than in the past:)

I have the Elpro 52 set and it comes with 46mm and 49mm step rings.  It's fine on the Q2 but for initial focusing it's better to move the camera back and forth (on a tripod obviously) and then turn the focusing ring for critical focus.  Hope this helps.

[acg69]

4 minutes ago, T25UFO said:

I have the Elpro 52 set and it comes with 46mm and 49mm step rings.  It's fine on the Q2 but for initial focusing it's better to move the camera back and forth (on a tripod obviously) and then turn the focusing ring for critical focus.  Hope this helps.

thank you so much!

[PhotoCruiser]

Well, i know that they are disgusting, but that was the only real insect i could find dead in my garden.
I wish i could go out to take some pix of the awesome, colorful wildlife in Costa Rica, but Mr. COVID-19 make me self-quarantine.
So please forgive me the not very scientific photos, but they show the difference in focus distance, DOF and magnification.
All shot with Q2 and EL PRO 52 using the included step-down adapter ring7

28mm - Macro set to on - minimum focus distance from lens to subject was +/- 4 inch
 

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28mm - Macro set to on and EL PRO 52 - minimum focus distance from lens to subject was +/- 2 inch

 

Just to show that it was a small roach
Please note that the toothbursh is the one i use to clean the ventilation openings of my laptop and not my teeth ...
 

Edited April 2, 2020 by PhotoCruiser

[acg69]

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2 minutes ago, PhotoCruiser said:

Well, i know that they are disgusting, but that was the only real insect i could find dead in my garden.
I wish i could go out to take some pix of the awesome, colorful wildlife in Costa Rica, but Mr. COVID-19 make me self-quarantine.
So please forgive me the not very scientific photos, but they show the difference in focus distance, DOF and magnification.
All shot with Q2 and EL PRO 52 using the included step-down adapter ring7

28mm - M

You forgot to post the pics:)

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 2 Minuten schrieb acg69:

You forgot to post the pics:)

???
I see them in my post!

Does somebody else don't see the photos?

Chris

[PhotoCruiser]

Here a crop of the picture with the ELPRO52, i believe that the quality is more than good!
Razorsharp as a samurai sword but due the upload limitations considerable less quality s the original
 

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[PhotoCruiser]

Focus distance is ok for either dead and/or non hazardous creatures, for hazardous or life and shy creatures 2-4 inches is not really enough.
There a 60mm+ macro lens show the adavantage.

However, i am happy with the quality of the lens and for the expensive price you get:
- one ELPRO E52 lens
- one stepdown ring 52->49 mm tread
- one stepdown ring 52 -> 46mm tread
- one round, padded leather box with two compartments for the stepdown rings

Chris
 

 

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[acg69]

37 minutes ago, PhotoCruiser said:

Focus distance is ok for either dead and/or non hazardous creatures, for hazardous or life and shy creatures 2-4 inches is not really enough.
There a 60mm+ macro lens show the adavantage.

However, i am happy with the quality of the lens and for the expensive price you get:
- one ELPRO E52 lens
- one stepdown ring 52->49 mm tread
- one stepdown ring 52 -> 46mm tread
- one round, padded leather box with two compartments for the stepdown rings

Chris
 

 

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Wow! That is pretty intense indeed! Does the second picture show the minimum focusing distance with the filter on?

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 35 Minuten schrieb acg69:

Wow! That is pretty intense indeed! Does the second picture show the minimum focusing distance with the filter on?

Correct!
28mm and macro position = 4 inch minimum focus distance
28mm + ELPRO 52 = 2 inch minimum focus distance

For small critters it works fine, for bigger ones it's too near, either to spook them if alive,  or they spook you if the jump on your hand holding the camera 😅

Chris

Edited April 2, 2020 by PhotoCruiser

[TK!]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb PhotoCruiser:

Correct!
28mm and macro position = 4 inch minimum focus distance
28mm + ELPRO 52 = 2 inch minimum focus distance

For small critters it works fine, for bigger ones it's too near, either to spook them if alive,  or they spook you if the jump on your hand holding the camera 😅

Chris

I am confused, with macro it should be less?

Anyway in cm focus distance gets down from 17cm to 5cm. And no vignetting at all? You did not crop e.g. the foto with the nice tooth brush?

I am impressed.

Have a good trip back!

tk

 

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 11 Minuten schrieb TK!:

I am confused, with macro it should be less?
Anyway in cm focus distance gets down from 17cm to 5cm. And no vignetting at all? You did not crop e.g. the foto with the nice tooth brush?

I probably wrote unclear:
28mm, macro position = 4 inch minimum focus distance
28mm, macro position and ELPRO 52 = 2 inch minimum focus distance
I did not measured maximum distance going to infinite as i wanted maximum magnification
I either did not tested 28mm, normal position and ELPRO 52

No in macro position there is absolutely no vignetting

No crop on all photos, only the detail of the roach is cropped.

Chris

[TK!]

vor 10 Minuten schrieb PhotoCruiser:

I probably wrote unclear:
28mm, macro position = 4 inch minimum focus distance
28mm, macro position and ELPRO 52 = 2 inch minimum focus distance
I did not measured maximum distance going to infinite as i wanted maximum magnification
I either did not tested 28mm, normal position and ELPRO 52

No in macro position there is absolutely no vignetting

No crop on all photos, only the detail of the roach is cropped.

Chris

My fault, thanks

tk

[PhotoCruiser]

I took another series of pictures to verify the focus distance on a light background using a plastic spider.
The focus distance are:

No ELPRO 52
No macro position, 1.7 focus point -->  7.5 inch
No macro position, infinite focus  point-->  too far to measure
Macro position, 1.7 focus point -->  4 inch
Macro position, infinite focus point -->  10 inch

With ELPRO 52
No macro position, 1.7 focus point --> 3 inch
No macro position,  infinite focus point --> 5 inch

Macro position, 1.7 focus point--> 2 inch
Macro position, infinite focus point --> 3.5 inch

Unfortunately i discovered due the light and straight background that there:
a) is vignetting at 28mm
b) is cushion distortion

Vignetting has to be must be considered while taking the photo, f.e. using the crop function set to 35mm work almost perfectly.
The cushion distortion is much more difficult to remove, for photos with no clearly straight lines it's not visible.
However, optical quality is still superb, and Leica could enegneer a "ELPRO 49 Q" diopter designed for the Q/Q2 and it would
not vignette due the not anymore used stepdown ring and cushion distortion should disappear.

Generic diopters (as UW domes) are difficult beasts and to get the best image quality they need to be designed just for a give lens.

Chris
 

 

Macro on - ELPRO52 - infinite focus position --> cushion distortion and vignetting

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Macro on - ELPRO52 - 1.7 focus position --> cushion distortion and little little vignetting

Edited April 2, 2020 by PhotoCruiser

[TK!]

Still hard for me to find out about the practical relevance of such a closeup filter for me. Half the focus distance is giving me two times of picture resolution? Is this worth the effort (not thinking about money but being out in the field, screwing down the lens hood, screwing down my normal filter and screwing up the elpro 🙂 )

On the Leicapages I did not find a hint on the diopter of the Elpro 52. Anyway I found this interesting page http://fuzzcraft.com/achromats.html

tnx

tk

[PhotoCruiser]

vor 5 Stunden schrieb TK!:

Still hard for me to find out about the practical relevance of such a closeup filter for me.

Well, close up diopters are a quick and dirty solution to transform a lens in a more macro lens and i have it always in my photo bag.
There are diopters designed very well and give a good picture quality while others are just aweful, however the above depend on the lens they are screwed on.
The optical design of the lens may match the optical design of the diopter, or not...
I bought some years ago a cheap RAYNOX diopter for my Panasonic LX100 waht is my usual underwater camera and the RAYNOX is useless on this camera/lens.
I have a 500$ SUBSEE +10 diopter who get screwed outside of the LX100 housing and it works perfectly with a very good image quality.

One thing is clear, there is absolutely no equal or better screw-on solution,
for serious macro photography at least 60mm macro lens is needed and it's my belive/experience that 105mm is the point to start with,
longer is probably better for doing macro for moving critters.

Today the high resolution cameras and high quality lenses allow to crop and obtain a similar macro effect, but still, the best is a dedicated macro lens.

My dream team would be a SL2 with the right macro lens and as i do mostly critters i need that the lens has autofocus as manual focusing is virtually impossible.

I still have my Nikon D800 and the Nikon 105mm micro, a very nice combination and i took a lot of very nice and special photos,
but i guess the SL2 with a LEICA Macro lens would be another step ahead to get the best image quality available.

As underwater photographer i learned the hard way that Murphys law first let you decide to shoot f.e. wide and screw on a WA lens and the dome,
but once under water you encounter thousands of awesome and rare macro critters but have no way to photograph them resonable good.
On land photo excursions i usually carried 15mm diagonal fisheye, 24-70 and 105mm macro with me and was continously swapping lenses.
Now i am more than happy to have a small and fixed lens camera going back to the way i photographed when i started as kid aprox 45 years ago.

Leica did a awesome job including the very usable macro function on the Q/Q2, that makes this camera much more versatile!

Chris

 

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Hallo,

Look here: Leica Q

[TK!]

Some time ago I had a try with a ZÖRK Macroscope Typ 1 (MCS/1), http://www.zoerk.de/nv06-mac.html.

Freehand ooc-jpeg at minimal focus distance, unfortunately I do not remember this distance. Aperture is 2.8. Each box in the picture is about 0.5cm.

The Zörk comes with a dipoter of 12, the Leica Elpro 52 probably(?) with a diopter of 5. What does this imply? I must admit I do get the physics behind...

From your pictures I learned vignetting is there but not not as strong as with my Zörk. Moreover distortion is probably also better with the Elpro.

I was rather disappointed those days and never screwed it on again 🙂

- tk

 

 

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Edited April 5, 2020 by TK!

[nicci78]

Before COVID-19 lock down. I was starting to enjoy making macros with 300mm equivalent lens aka APO-Macro-Elmarit-R 100mm f/2.8 coupled with APO-Extender-R 50mm 2x mounted on Leica CL. It was excellent. I loved the range. 
I cannot find any useful reason to use 28mm lens with macro diopter... Everything has to be so close to the lens.