Some time in the past, after I reviewed an affordable shift lens, Pergear contacted me to overview a lens out there solely in Sony and Nikon mounts. I advised them I didn’t have cameras that may take the lens. Later, I discovered that they reissued their 60mm f/2.8 macro lens, Mark II.
I then wrote and inquired in the event that they had been considering my overview. Right here we’re! They despatched me the Pergear 60mm f/2.8 Macro Mark 2, Canon RF mount to overview. I want to level out on the outset that this isn’t a technical optical high quality overview, I’m merely not outfitted to do this. It’s a hands-on person overview.
Full disclosure: A pattern lens was supplied at no cost for the aim of this overview. This text additionally accommodates affiliate hyperlinks.
The lens arrived in a well-padded package deal. Eradicating the delivery bag and the internal foam padding revealed a well-made field containing the lens, a microfiber cleansing material, and in a small plastic bag what they referred to as the Focus Wrench.
I eliminated the lens from the field, feeling its heft and stable construct. The entrance and rear caps had been tightly in place. The main focus and f-stop scales had been simple to see in white in opposition to the black physique. I attempted the focusing ring and realized why they included the main focus wrench to assist rotate the ring. Each the focusing and f-stop rings are stiff and laborious to show. Listed below are some images of the outside of the lens and the package deal.
There have been no directions or some other paperwork within the field. The specs are on their web site, so I can’t repeat them right here once more except I’ve one thing so as to add, appropriate, or make clear. I additionally couldn’t discover any serial quantity on the lens or lens mount. It might be there and escaped my consideration, however I attempted laborious to search out it. No luck!
It’s out there from Amazon at a 15% low cost if you happen to use this hyperlink. The low cost can be utilized at checkout routinely. Or go to the Pergear web site, the place you should utilize the code 99K1V3BFDJYJ at checkout for a similar 15% low cost. It’s out there in Sony, Fuji, M43, L, and Canon RF mounts.
First Time on the Digital camera
I mounted the lens on my digicam to see the way it felt, and the additional weight of the steel development was noticeable. Not too heavy however heavier than my 18-150mm Canon RF lens. I additionally realized guide focusing with the stiff focusing ring could be tough when hand-holding the digicam. For my wants, this lens will go on a tripod-mounted digicam. The aperture ring doesn’t have click on stops however rotates easily with out clicking and with the identical stiffness because the focusing ring.
I got here near a flower, centered by shifting forwards and backwards, and clicked the shutter. Nothing! The shutter wouldn’t launch. I used to be puzzled and wrote to my contact at Pergear for clarification. After that, I searched on the Web and located the reply: I needed to change the setting to permit the shutter launch to work with no lens mounted.
Please make a remark of this. Because the lens has no electronics, the digicam doesn’t acknowledge it. Then I remembered having the identical downside with one other lens I reviewed. Forgetfulness goes with the age!
Report Retaining
A managed workflow turns into mandatory since this lens doesn’t transmit info just like the aperture, distance, or lens used. For every body, I have to file the lens-to-subject distance, focus ring place, the f-stop setting, and the body quantity. My protocol can be:
Take the image, preview it to point out the body quantity, and file the body within the digicam viewer utilizing my cellphone; it will file the body quantity. Observe that by taking an image of the lens exhibiting the main focus and aperture ring positions. I’ll add the lens and f-stop info utilizing a Lightroom plugin, LensTagger. (This plugin works!) The main focus distance info can be lacking in EXIF knowledge, however I can in all probability enter that into the label area.
Analysis Setting
For evaluating the macro pictures efficiency, I’ll use the next:
A Canon R7 32.5 MP APS-C CMOS sensor digicam. A sturdy tripod. Macro focusing rail. Cable or distant launch. A pair of LED mild panels as wanted. My good friend Dennis will take part in taking take a look at footage and writing his impressions; he’s very skilled in macro pictures.
Handheld Take a look at
I went out to the yard with the Pergear 60mm Macro lens mounted on the digicam. A lot of the flowers pale, however there have been nonetheless a number of. I took a collection of photographs of the spirea flowers. Handbook focusing with no focusing help, stiff focusing ring, and the light breeze resulted in a collection of images I’ll chorus from sharing. Manually passing the f/cease info to every body with the LensTagger plugin labored.
The stiff focusing ring made shortly adjusting the main focus a giant problem. My predominant exams can be finished on a tripod and primarily indoors. I’ll focus on close-up and macro pictures for testing, though the lens and its focal size are additionally appropriate for portraits.
On the Tripod, however Nonetheless Arduous
Taking pictures macro pictures is tough, particularly at life-size or twice the life-size. Any tiny motion, a bit of shake, begins shifting the picture within the rear viewer, making judging focus tough. Along with the magnified picture motion, the very shallow depth of area at shut focus distance provides to the issue. The stiff focus ring doesn’t assist in any respect.
I’ve a sturdy tripod and a superb ball head. However the focusing rail helped lower than I anticipated. Though it permits setting the main focus to 1:1 after which shifting the digicam forwards and backwards, it sounds simpler than finished!
Dennis commented on the unlucky design restriction by Canon; the designers couldn’t embody aperture management from the digicam. He mentioned utilizing a macro lens hand-held often requires using a flash to cease each the movement of the topic in addition to the movement of the digicam. An digital connection to the digicam permits the person to search out the topic with the lens aperture vast open, and transfer the digicam/lens to attain focus. The lens aperture closes to the specified f-stop to extend the depth of area when the shutter launch is pressed.
Getting Actual Shut
Taking pictures primarily at half the life-size to twice the life-size to check the shut focusing capability of the lens made it mandatory to search out appropriate topics. The distances marked on the lens confused me a bit of. When working with Dennis, we measured the space from the topic level in focus to match the indicated quantity, 0.62″, and determined that it mirrored the space from the topic to the sensor airplane. It isn’t the lens-to-subject distance, which is way nearer.
Among the many images is a penny on the desk that sat at a slight angle to the digicam. I photographed it at completely different f-stops to point out the change within the depth of area, albeit a tiny quantity. That’s much more seen within the watch mechanism Dennis photographed at completely different apertures. The main focus was set on the brass gear within the center, and the remainder of the innards got here into focus at smaller apertures.
Flowers are typically enjoyable to {photograph}, and I get pleasure from doing that. However at such shut vary, one shortly realizes that the petal edges will not be as sharp as they seem. After many makes an attempt, Dennis photographed a collection of flowers at completely different f-stops. The problem continues!
I continued the flower pictures experiments the following day however from a bit of larger distance. Nonetheless close-up however not life-size. That was a tad simpler. I even tried a rudimentary focus stacking and macro panoramic stitching.
Impressions
The lens appears to be well-built, with easy-to-read markings. The focusing and aperture rings are far too stiff and tough to make use of. A disconnected lens jogged my memory of the photographers of the previous taking guide notes of their settings and laborious to get used to at the moment. The Pergear 60mm Macro Mark II can get very near yield twice the life-size pictures. That comes at a slight price of decrease picture high quality if the aperture is stopped down to achieve further depth of area. The worth is engaging on the $199 record worth.
Potentialities
I’ll current many full-frame images within the gallery on the finish of the article. None of these pictures are edited or cropped.
Right here, I’ll current a number of that I chosen to edit to some extent. They may present how a lot unique captures might be improved. And these may even be additional edited. So, all isn’t misplaced on the lens.
Earlier than Modifying, the Watch Faces
Watch face, f/5.6 
Watch face, f/5.6 
Watch face, f/8 
Watch face, f/11 
Watch face, f/22
After Modifying, the Watch Faces
Watch face, f/5.6 
Watch face, f/5.6 
Watch face, f/8 
Watch face, f/11 
Watch face, f/22
Focus Stacking or Stitching
I experimented with rudimentary focus-staking by manually (in fact) altering the main focus between photographs. After positioning the digicam for a selected framing, I took a collection of 5 images, all at f/5.6, whereas shifting the main focus barely backward by eyeballing the centered level. I loaded them into Photoshop, auto-aligned the pictures, after which auto-blended them for the ultimate consequence. It was not too dangerous! Listed below are the originals and the main focus stacked consequence.
Stack picture 1
Stack picture 2 
Stack picture 3 
Stack picture 4 
Stack picture 5 
Focus-stacked end in Photoshop
I additionally took 4 images, barely shifting the digicam on the rail to at least one facet in between photographs. Then, I sewed the pictures right into a macro panorama and edited them in Lightroom with numerous instruments. Right here is the consequence, about 65 megapixels unique, down-sampled for this text:
4 vertical pictures stitched and cropped in Lightroom
Suggestions
Ease up on the ring rotations; with no autofocus, fast focusing can be an asset. The main focus wrench didn’t seem like it could assist a lot, so I didn’t stick it on the lens focus ring. As a replacement, a 2-3 inch screw-in rod could, simply could, assist with the focusing. That is an experimental lens for a lot of. If the worth is lowered to round $150-$175, it might change into an impulse buy for some customers.
Pattern Photographs
The pictures beneath represent a variety from among the many samples we’ve photographed. They aren’t edited or cropped however introduced of their unique import situations. There are minimal changes related to the digicam however to not the extent that they’d change the picture high quality. Use them for reference; they don’t seem to be aesthetically pleasing or icons of picture high quality.
I thank Pergear for offering the overview copy of the lens. I additionally thank my good friend Dennis for making a visit to take part within the testing course of. Like several device, a lens can produce completely different ends in completely different fingers. You could get a lot sharper outcomes. Who is aware of.
Who is aware of.
Penny at f/2.8 
Penny at f/4 
Penny at f/5.6
Penny at f/8 
Penny at f/11 
Penny at f/22 
Flowers at f/8 
Flowers at f/5.6 
Flowers at f/22 
Flowers at f/11
Watch mechanism at f/22 
Watch mechanism at f/11 
Watch mechanism at f/8 
Watch mechanism at f/5.6 
Watch mechanism at f/4 
Watch mechanism at f/2.8 
Flowers at f/5.6
Flowers at f/2.8 
Flowers at f/2.8 
Flowers at f/5.6 
Flowers at f/11
In regards to the writer: A. Cemal Ekin is a photographer based mostly in Warwick, Rhode Island who has been taking pictures for roughly 60 years. The opinions expressed on this article are solely these of the writer. Ekin retired as a professor of promoting emeritus from Windfall School in 2012 after 36 years of service there. Go to his web site right here. This text was additionally printed right here.
