Hi -- I just got an Olympus B-Macro converter lens for my 600L and have a few questions about using it.

1. The box says it's for IS-3 (I assume this is a film camera)-- Did they send me the right lens? It does fit my 55mm step-up ring. 2. They included a little chart showing an F-stop=11 for ISO=100 (the 600L equivalent). How would I make that F-stop setting? 3. They also included a plastic diffuser. Does that mean that the flash needs to be used for most/all photos? 4. Should the camera be put into the Macro mode?

Any other hints would also be appreciated. Cheers, Steve

-- Steve Parker (scparker@pacbell.net), June 05, 1999

Answers

1) Yup, that's the right one, they "borrowed" the product from their IS-3 lineup. (It's a really great-quality macro converter: Multi- element lens, much better optically than the cheapie macro filters.) 2) Don't worry about the f-stop, they're basically saying to use a small aperture to help depth of field. In the D-600, you don't have control over the aperture, so just use lots of light (probably won't help anyway) and don't expect a lot of DOF. 3) No, not at all, but you probably *will* want to use a tripod or copy stand, to hold the camera steady. The diffuser is there to *let* you use the flash, not because you *have* to... 4) Depends on the distance you're focusing at. - The camera will let you know whether it can focus or not (provided there's enough light for it to focus, anyway). If you're in Macro mode but too far, or non-macro mode but too close, the focus light will just blink. Switch back and forth as needed. (I use my D-600L all the time with macro attachments on it, just switch back & forth from macro to normal as needed.) Only other tips I have are that you'll get more depth of field with the lens at the wide-angle end, but also more perspective distortion. The telephoto end trades off DOF for less distortion and a greater working distance. Experiment a lot - the "film" is free!

Good luck!

-- Dave Etchells (web@imaging-resource.com), June 09, 1999.