Olympus MCON 35 MACRO LENS

With many thanks to my friend Werner Aguilar in Georgia, a MCON-35 Macro Extension Lens has joined my growing collection of E-10 accessories.

Like everything else in the E-10 line, it is very well crafted. On first examination, I thought this was just a large, well made diopter, but it's not. Information in the data sheet describes as 2 elements in 2 groups.

Since the MCON must be attached directly to the E-10 lens, you cannot use a filter between the E-10 and the MCON. Not to worry however, the front of the macro adapter is threaded to accept 72mm filters or accessories (like a ring light).

	Here is what you get for you money. The MCON-35, front and rear lens caps, a case and a single page, multi language instruction sheet.

There isn't much to attaching the MCON to the camera, just screw it into the 62mm filter thread of the E-10 lens. Next, set the camera to use the macro lens from the menu as described on page 134 of the E-10 book. This really just disables the IR focus feature. You do not have to press the macro button on the side of the camera and turn the main jog dial to select macro mode. In fact, after some experimentation, it doesn't seem to matter one way or the other.

The operating range of the MCON is from 4.7 inches to 13.8 inches and unlike most of the other extension lenses, it can be used over the full range of the zoom.

Zoom	Focal Point	Working Distance	Working Area
WIDE	Infinity	18.8 Inches 45 cm	13.1 X 9.9 Inches 333 X 251 mm
WIDE	Close-up	4.7 Inches 12 cm	5.8 X 4.3 Inches 147 X 110 mm
TELE	Infinity	13.8 Inches 35 cm	3.4 X 2.6 Inches 86 X 65 mm
TELE	Close-up	4.7 Inches 12 cm	1.9 X 1.5 Inches 49 X 37 mm

While shooting the sample images, I found that I was most comfortable focusing manually. With the short depth of field in macro shots, it would be easy for the auto focus to pick up a vertical edge on the front or back of the subject and leave the other side out of focus. A helpful tool is a little white paper target with a few black lines, attached to the end of a soda straw or piece of stiff wire. You can hold the target someplace near 2/5 of the way into the subject depth, focus and remove the target. This will give you the maximum depth of field. Of course try to use a higher f-stop too.

If you photograph small products, insects, flowers, or whatever, the MCON-35 will be a valuable accessory. My friends at Norman Camera generally have them in stock as product code 200694.

	This Dime is 7/10 of an inch in diameter, and the pewter dragon is just over an inch long. Check out other MCON sample images.