When testing my two zooms for their macro capability, I forgot one of the basic principals of macro shooting.
Manual focus removes one of the many variables and it also guarantees the minimum focus distance is adhered to.
Tooling around in my in-laws garden last evening, I re-discovered this technique. Low light and a slight breeze required reduction of one of the afore mentioned variables (subject movement/own movement/AF jumping).
All images EM1 mk2 hand held at 1/30-90th (ISO 400-800) with the 12-40mm at 40mm and manually set minimum focus. A tripod would have offered better DOF, but I am still pleased with the high keeper rate.
Not a healthy bee. He was out too late and not moving well.
The point of focus is perhaps 2-3mm deep at f2.8
What value is a specialist macro lens?
60mm macro used much as above. This was about 2 inches across. This is not as close as the lens can focus, but it is as close as I could get hand held.