[philzucker]

Today looking at some freshly planted flowers in my garden and with fine spring weather around the 04 wide angle lens sprang to my mind - with its capability to focus fairly closely and with its maximum magnification of 0,15. But wait - what does that seemingly low maximum magnification mean used with a tiny sensor like the Q7's? It means that at minimum focusing distance an object that's merely 32 millimeters wide will fill the frame with the Q7/04. That's even closer than you'll get with a 1:1 macro lens on a full frame body, and not that far away from my K5-II with its 1:1 Tamron 90mm which yields - as the size of the sensor suggests - a full frame with an object approx. 24 mm wide,

So with the 04 we already do have a real macro lens at hand and don't have to wait for the recently announced one! ;-)

And here some spring blossom shots to prove it - some of them done at minimum focusing distance (with some exceptions I only photographed very tiny blossoms).

This will become a magnolia bloom soon (cropped at the sides):




A bunch of pink daisies (mildly cropped):




One of those pink daisies closer, at minimum focusing distance (uncropped):




An equally small and very colorful primrose (cropped):




A different type of pink daisy (very mildly cropped at left and on top):




Now let's move indoors for two final shots. First is an almost wilted tulip in its last stage of blooming (cropped):




And finally a violet, very tiny flower (about 18 mm wide, but shot at an angle here) - again taken at almost the minimum focusing distance (uncropped):




All shots taken with the Q7/04 on a tripod; a macro extension arm was used to get near to the flowers and to finely regulate the distance - nice thing about the Q7 is that it weighs very little, so it's very easy to adjust and fasten the macro setup at the wildest angles without any problems (my much heavier K5-II/90mm macro combo is not that easy to handle with the same setup). Focus was adjusted using maximum focus assist (6x on the Q7) and focus peaking. ISO 100 was used for all save the last - here I upped ISO a tiny bit to 125 to compensate for some light underexposure (it was inside and not well lit, so shutter speed was with 2 seconds already at its longest).

Hope you like them!

Phil

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Last edited by philzucker; 03-11-2014 at 03:09 PM. Reason: Spelling error; identification of flower on pic #4.

[monochrome]

Oh my!! Wonderful. I have to try that!!

[dms]

With the small sensor the depth of field is amazing! Nothing like what I would have expected in close ups.

[Vince_Lux]

Great picutures.

I have put my macro lens via adaptor on the Q and was quite pleased with it, however the issue was stabilizing the set up. On my DSLR I use it mounted on a tripod and a focus rail, however I have to attach the camera since the lens has no tripod foot and nor does my adaptor. Not clear if I will go for an adaptor with foot or a Manfrotto 293 long lens support to solve this. At this moment I will be limited to a bean bag or hand held.

I'll do some tests with my Pentax-02, with min focus distance 0.3 m, max. magnification 1:16.6, that should give similar results.

[philzucker]

Oh my!! Wonderful. I have to try that!!

You certainly have to. Thanks for your comment!

---------- Post added 03-12-2014 at 01:04 PM ----------

With the small sensor the depth of field is amazing! Nothing like what I would have expected in close ups.

It really is nice. Not that you wouldn't get similar DOF results with a stopped down macro lens on an APS-C or FF body. But it's nice to know that the 04 is capable enough to produce results like this.

---------- Post added 03-12-2014 at 01:17 PM ----------

Great picutures.

I have put my macro lens via adaptor on the Q and was quite pleased with it, however the issue was stabilizing the set up. On my DSLR I use it mounted on a tripod and a focus rail, however I have to attach the camera since the lens has no tripod foot and nor does my adaptor. Not clear if I will go for an adaptor with foot or a Manfrotto 293 long lens support to solve this. At this moment I will be limited to a bean bag or hand held.

I'll do some tests with my Pentax-02, with min focus distance 0.3 m, max. magnification 1:16.6, that should give similar results.

Thanks!

Yes, the issue with stabilization is a serious one, especially whith a macro arm or/and a macro rail. That's what I like about the Q with a standard lens - it weighs almost nothing, and any tripod setup becomes rock solid with it.

BTW: You won't get the same magnification with the 02. The 04 has one of around 1:7 compared to the 02's 1:16. But at least you'll have a more comfortable working distance with the 02@15mm.

[Na Horuk]

Wow, really great colours and detail! You sure did get up close!

[crewl1]

Great results! Maybe I shouldn't have sold my 04 so soon...

[barondla]

Great results philzucker. The toy Wide deserves some love and you have shown the way. Super images.

Had to return my 04 to its orginal unmodified state, before trying your macro method. Took a little time to reinstall the original aperture. Ready now.

The #04 Toy Wide gives a wide background when used as macro. This includes a lot more of the environment vs the 100 & 200 macro. A nice additional artistic choice.

Thanks
barondla

crewl1, at least it won't cost much to add another 04 to the collection.

[crewl1]

crewl1, at least it won't cost much to add another 04 to the collection.

True that. And here I was thinking I could slim down my collection

[philzucker]

Wow, really great colours and detail! You sure did get up close!

Thanks! Glad you like them.

---------- Post added 03-24-2014 at 09:07 AM ----------

Great results! Maybe I shouldn't have sold my 04 so soon...

Thanks - and yes, maybe you shouldn't have. ;-) The 04 is not a toy lens IMO but more kind of a slow lens - that refers not only to its slow aperture, but also to the manual focusing and care you have to use to get the best results. It sure has some barrel distortion that close up, but you don't notice it with subjects like these. And it can be easily corrected, if you want to - same goes for the edge and corner CA.

---------- Post added 03-24-2014 at 09:09 AM ----------

Great results philzucker. The toy Wide deserves some love and you have shown the way. Super images.

Had to return my 04 to its orginal unmodified state, before trying your macro method. Took a little time to reinstall the origial aperture. Ready now.

The #04 Toy Wide gives a wide background when used as macro. This includes a lot more of the environment vs the 100 & 200 macro. A nice additional artistic choice.

Yes, the 04 can work quite well and is an interesting alternative for macro work.

I didn't know one could modify the 04 - what exactly did you do? Or do you have any pointers to a thread in this forum discussing that?

Thanks!
Phil

[barondla]

Thanks! Glad you like them.

---------- Post added 03-24-2014 at 09:07 AM ----------



Thanks - and yes, maybe you shouldn't have. ;-) The 04 is not a toy lens IMO but more kind of a slow lens - that refers not only to its slow aperture, but also to the manual focusing and care you have to use to get the best results. It sure has some barrel distortion that close up, but you don't notice it with subjects like these. And it can be easily corrected, if you want to - same goes for the edge and corner CA.

---------- Post added 03-24-2014 at 09:09 AM ----------



Yes, the 04 can work quite well and is an interesting alternative for macro work.

I didn't know one could modify the 04 - what exactly did you do? Or do you have any pointers to a thread in this forum discussing that?

Thanks!
Phil

Some of us were trying for a faster wideangle lens. Took the 04 apart, removed the aperture "tape" and put a bigger opening in (~f4). This gave a very glowy, soft image. Think Lomo, Lensbaby, or Mount Shield like. Posted a few pics under love for toy wide or something like that.

If you take the lens apart mark all parts so they align when returning back to normal. Helicoids are a b... other wise.
thanks
barondla

[Vince_Lux]

I quite liked the 02 result




Last one slightly cropped (was a reflex)

[digital029art]

Great use of the close capabilities of the 04 !! I find it to be a decent lens, albeit it does show significant distortion dealing with straight lines (guess that's the "toy" part), but that's irrelevant for macros.

BTW I LOVE the focus keeper ring from K10Perry ! All the toy lenses need one!!