One of our number recently raised with me (amongst other things) the question of macro lenses for the Olympus system.

I do indeed have such a lens, but confess to having woefully underutilised it. I decided it was time to take my beloved fisheye from the front of the E-M5 and give my macro lens a go.

I had forgotten, however, that macro photography is a very specific skill set which will atrophy if not practiced. I also forgot that when you try to take photos of plants outdoors, that will trigger the wind to start blowing immediately. Still, in the bright light of lunch time, 1/4000th of a second was enough to compensate.

I've never been as smitten with my Olympus 60mm macro lens as I was with my long-since-long-term-lent-to-a-friend Canon 60mm. In reality the Canon on an APS-C body was an effective 96mm. 60mm on the Micro 4/3 format's 2* crop is an effective 120mm, which I've always thought to be a tad long for macro work. However I didn't want to buy the Oly 30mm, which is constrained to f/4. I've been spoilt by the at least f/2.8 on almost all of my Olympus lenses and like a passenger who has flown Business Class, it's impossible to go back.

I think I may have underrated this lens. In the full sized image it has even captured the hair on the bee's legs and the wide open aperture has given quite a nice soft, silky backdrop in my humble. I need to use it more often. It's a question of finding the time, and no lens can help with that.

(Oh, for those wondering, it's a purple Agapanthus. They bloom here in the early summer, which of course it is here. Later in the season they start to droop, and at that stage they're a pain in the backside to drive past when they're alongside your driveway for obvious reasons.)