This article features some photographs captured with the M.Zuiko 75-300 f/4.8-6.7 II with a Kenko 16 mm M4/3 extension tube. It is getting late in our season to photograph insects and flowers, but I thought this would be an interesting final field test of the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II telephoto zoom lens. Given the risks, I have not used my camera gear in any indoor, public venues since February.

NOTE: Click on images to enlarge.

Unfortunately our backyard doesn’t have many flowers in bloom in late September. I had to make due with what I could find for subject matter.

The M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II has a fairly long minimum focusing distance when used fully extended. So, it may not be the best lens to use with extension tubes for macro-type photography if your goal is to get in as tight as possible.

Using a 16 mm extension tube does shorten the minimum focusing distance to a reasonable degree which helps to get more of the subject in a composition.

For a small investment adding an extension tube extends the functionality of the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II. Occasionally I compose photographs from the backside view of a blossom. The change in perspective can create some interesting images.

Luckily there ate still a few bees in our backyard, allowing me some photographic opportunities.

When using a 16 mm extension tube, auto-focus was still pretty fast and accurate with the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II. I did have to become accustomed to the shorter minimum shooting distance created by the extension tube.

I must admit it felt a bit odd using an extension tube and still being somewhat distant from a subject. This was a function of me shooting with the lens fully extended. As noted in my earlier articles, using a variable aperture lens wide open and when fully extended, is typically when it is the most challenged optically. I continued this approach when using an extension tube.

It didn’t take too long before I decided to try a Pro Capture H run in conjunction with using the 16 mm extension tube. The next three photographs are from the same Pro Capture H run.

Overall my 16 mm Kenko M4/3 Extension Tube worked well with the M.Zuiko 75-300 mm f/4.8-6.7 II telephoto zoom lens. I did have a couple of times when the lens hunted a bit. This was likely due to me miscalculating my minimum focusing distance with the 16 mm extension tube. It is more distant with this lens than with other lenses I’ve used in the past.

Technical Note

Photographs were captured hand-held using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Images were produced from RAW files using my standard process. Many photographs were cropped, with the degree of cropping noted in the EXIF data. I used my standard Olympus Pro Capture H settings for some of the images in this article. Pre-shutter Frames and Frame Count Limiter were both set to 15. I shot using a frame rate of 60 frames-per-second.

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