review: Olympus M.Zuiko 30mm macro

2024.12.25 (updated : 2024.12.27)

The Olympus M.Zuiko 30mm f/3.5 macro lens for the micro-four-thirds mount is an interchangeable lens that complements a 60mm lens with a macro switch that people rave about. I went with this 30mm model instead, because I figured it offered a useful walk-around focal length as a second lens to my M.Zuiko 9-18mm every-day-carry.

I barely held onto this lens for six weeks. In short, it has design problems that limit its use beyond the point that I wanted to own it.

There were two "deal-breakers" for me: problems that I couldn't overlook. The lens front-focuses, which makes macro work very difficult when using the viewfinder in manual or auto-focus mode. Secondly, there is a lot of glare even when the lens has a hood or a polarizer in front of it. I have no idea how that's possible, the front element isn't really that large but it's quite pronounced.

sample images

The photo above shows a combo of difficult auto-focus precision and the rather weak macro effect.

Fairly decent clarity and 3D rendering to this one, and the one below.

Interestingly, it was capable of nice landscape photos under ideal situations.

(But the photo with all the glare was the very next photo I took.)

This would prove to be my favorite photo with this lens. The focus isn't quite right, however. Which brings me to:

front-focusing

Here are some examples of the front-focusing issue.

glare

I love flare. This is something else.

build and use

This is a classic plastic lens. Handling is uninspiring, with very light construction and a texture to the focus ring that feels cheap. The lens has a metal lens mount, however. And I must say that the thing is as light as any lens I've ever used. And the auto-focus is as fast as it gets. The accessory ring is a small 46mm, which will contain the costs of filters.

conclusion

I don't have a lot more to say. Buying this lens only to return it in six weeks was pretty dumb, I should have looked into it some more before doing so. If I were to do this again I would try an inexpensive macro such as this TTArtisans 40mm*. It has a metal body and completely avoids the glare problem.

I do not recommend this Olympus lens.

*(Affiliate link to a product I haven't tried.)

rand()m quote

I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness... The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.

—Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World (1995)