Nanoha: Micro Four Thirds gets an "MPE-alike"

[ChrisLilley]

The Canon MPE-65 5x macro lens has, up to now, been a somewhat unique offering. Now Yasuhara has a prototype 'Nanoha' 5x magnification macro lens, for Micro Four Thirds and Sony "E" cameras. (Its not clear if this is 1x to 5x variable, or a fixed 5x, but the photo seems to show a "4x" which to me indicates a variable magnification). Its 'only' manual focus (of course) and has 10 elements in 7 groups.

There seem to be three led lights built into the front of the lens. Which may be handy as the front of the lens is quite big compared to the size of the front lens element, so it could be tricky to light around.

Edit: the lighting unit is removable, and the bare lens has a much smaller profile, see here.

Edit 2: the magnification is 4x to 5x and the working distance is 11mm at 5x, 19mm at 4x. See here.

Details here.


Photo credit: photorumors.com

Edit 3: add 'Nanoha' to subject line to make the thread easier to find

[Danny]

Very interesting thanks Chris. Using a Panasonic G2 these days and wondering where decent macro lenses were. Only a couple of choices at the moment, fully dedicated that is.

Theres a slight problem with the specs on this one though. Its that lens to subject distance I don't go for much. The Canon does a 5:1 at around 42- 45mm off memory. With the Panasonic 45-200mm and a Raynox DCR-250 we are getting around a 3.5:1......depending on the settings, in 35mm terms at a lens to subject distance of around 100-110mm and the quality is excellent.

With a stacked 50mm lens on the 45-200 its over 5:1 again depending on the settings in the camera and the quality is up there as well. Again at a good lens to subject distance.

That would be the only downfall I would have with that. But very interesting and well worth keeping an eye on.

Danny.

[rjlittlefield]

Its not clear if this is 1x to 5x variable, or a fixed 5x, but the photo seems to show a "4x" which to me indicates a variable magnification.

The specifications table at http://www.yasuhara.co.jp/nanoha/spec-e.html says "x5 to x4". If that's correct, the range is oddly limited.

--Rik

[ChrisR]

Obviously for a niche market. People who need things to be explained really well:

NANOHA has a small target holding adaptor named "target holder". You can attach small targets easily to the lens with this target holder.

[Pau]

Obviously for a niche market. People who need things to be explained really well:

NANOHA has a small target holding adaptor named "target holder". You can attach small targets easily to the lens with this target holder.

Oh, I understand!, the target holder is designed to hold the target

I dont know if they have good optical engineers, but not very good writers

Quote:
"NANOHA is the gate to the nanometer world"
This would be very good resolution

More seriously, no authomatic diaphragm, almost fixed magnification...perhaps an enlanger lens reversed on some extension tubes and a LED pocket flashlight would do the same at much lower price.

[AndrewC]

... but at least someone thinks it is worth the effort to try and develop this.

There was one compact camera in the last few years that would automatically focus on several different key objects in the frame and fire a "focus spread" you could then stack.

It does seem odd that with all the other features (in camera hdr, pano assist, etc) that we can get in cameras today, we don't get a focus bracketing feature for macro / close-up.

I (and many others) woold love to hack a smart phone to serially link to a camera and give this kind of control.

[Harold Gough]

It does seem odd that with all the other features (in camera hdr, pano assist, etc) that we can get in cameras today, we don't get a focus bracketing feature for macro / close-up.

Andrew,

In that AF is generally hardly a great success in the macro range, I think you are being highly optimistic

Harold

[AndrewC]

It does seem odd that with all the other features (in camera hdr, pano assist, etc) that we can get in cameras today, we don't get a focus bracketing feature for macro / close-up.

Andrew,

In that AF is generally hardly a great success in the macro range, I think you are being highly optimistic

Harold

... well that is why you would automatically focus bracket

For those brave souls with Canon compacts you can always try CHDK for which I think there is a focus bracket option.

[DQE]

"Aperture range: f/11 – f/32"

I wonder if that means nominal or effective aperture range?

[Harold Gough]

"Aperture range: f/11 – f/32"

I wonder if that means nominal or effective aperture range?

I'm curious as to why you ask this for a prime lens.

Harold

[DQE]

"Aperture range: f/11 – f/32"

I wonder if that means nominal or effective aperture range?

I'm curious as to why you ask this for a prime lens.

Harold

I was just thinking about the large difference between nominal apertures vs effective apertures for my MPE-65 lens, and wondering which type of spec this lens info provides. I would guess that it's the nominal apertures as that's most commonly used for most informational purposes.

In any event, I hope this new lens finds a good market within the macro community, both for the benefit of its intended users and to stimulate competition from the rest of the macro equipment community.

[Harold Gough]

I know that the MPE-65 is manual focus but what about the aperture setting? In other words, is that elecrically controlled, needing EOS connections?

Harold

[rjlittlefield]

I know that the MPE-65 is manual focus but what about the aperture setting? In other words, is that elecrically controlled, needing EOS connections?

Yes, the MP-E is electric, needing the EOS connections.

[quote="DQE""]"Aperture range: f/11 – f/32"

I wonder if that means nominal or effective aperture range?[/quote]
I hope it's effective. If it's nominal then the lens will never be sharp because at 4X-5X its effective aperture would then be f/55-f/192. I have shot at f/90 on an APS-C sensor, but it's not a pretty sight. I don't want to think about f/192.

--Rik

[Charles Krebs]

It is interesting.

Rik,

DQE" wrote:
"Aperture range: f/11 – f/32"

I wonder if that means nominal or effective aperture range?

I hope it's effective. If it's nominal then the lens will never be sharp because at 4X-5X its effective aperture would then be f/55-f/192. I have shot at f/90 on an APS-C sensor, but it's not a pretty sight. I don't want to think about f/192.

You would certainly think "effective". Seems like there would little point going through the effort to make a 7 group/10 element lens if those were the actual "nominal" apertures. (You could take blurry pictures with a lot less work )

If it is "effective" that would give it a pretty impressive nominal aperture, in the f/1.5 to f/1.8 range.

[rjlittlefield]

If it is "effective" that would give it a pretty impressive nominal aperture, in the f/1.5 to f/1.8 range.

I'm betting on f/2.2 = 11/(4+1) -- widest aperture at lowest magnification.

Yes, that's pretty good. Not quite as wide as the f/10 effective that you can get by putting a Nikon CFI60 10X NA 0.25 on a 100mm tube lens. But on the other hand it has a little more working distance and an adjustable aperture.

--Rik