Lens reviews (Olympus 75mm, Nokton 17.5mm, Tokina 300mm and more…)
It’s weekend time and I am on the way on a long one day trip. Before to go I link you to a list of new lens test….enjoy!
Olympus 75mm:
First impression report at Admiringlight: “It’s not perfect, but it’s darn, darn good. The lens is well built and feels great in the hand, and autofocus is very fast. I was even able to use C-AF to pretty good effect with this lens. Bokeh is nice and the images are quite sharp.”
Another brief review with images at Pattayadays.
Ryan: “I was lent the 75mm lens so I used it in low light applications (at a wedding specifically) to see how it did in low light. If you’d like to use it you certainly may (Video on Vimeo).”
Preorders and price check at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Panasonic 12-35mm X:
Frugalfilmmakers reviewed the Lumix X 12-35 F2.8 I.O.S.
Preorders and price check at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Nokton 17.5mm:
Complete Nokton 17.5mm lens test at Lepidi.
Tokina 300mm:
Tokina 300mm f/6.3 Mirror Lens for Micro Four Thirds at Luminous Landscape.
Review at Camerastuffreview (Translation here).
Pentax 110:
Use Pentax-110 24mm Lenses On Micro 4/3 Cameras (Diyphotography).
Samyang fisheye:
Samyang 7.5mm f/3.5 UMC Fisheye Lens Review at ePhotozine.
By the way, Samyang will also (very likely) announce new m43 lenses with at photokina. The current fisheye links:
In USA it’s named Rokinon 7.5mm and you find it on eBay (Click here), Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
In Europe it’s named Samyang 7.5mm and you find it on eBay (Click here), Amazon (Click here),
In UK it’s named Walimex and you find it on eBay (Click here) and Amazon UK (Click here).
dau
10 months ago |Regarding the pany 12-35, it would be interesting to compare the stabilistaion mounted on the em5 with the ois on and in body stabilisation off, and vice versa…
mooboy
10 months ago |I recall in a different post some users had tried that, and the consensus (from 2 users on and not a controlled test) was that the Panasonic inbuilt stabilisation was easily superior. I’m hoping I can pick this lens up on my next jaunt through hk.
BB
10 months ago |NO, NO, NO and NO.
The Panasonic OIS is always inferior to the OMD 5 Axis stabilization.
The OMD is next generation technology. Panasonic’s OIS simply cannot compete.
dau
10 months ago |But aparently the ois in this new lens has been updated from previous versions. Theyre now calling it power ois. Incidently, ois was superior to the pen body stabilisation, its only since the em5 came out that oly has had the edge. Anyway it would be interesting to compare the two is all im saying…
The Master
10 months ago |I wonder how the 75 1.8 stacks up against the run of the mill 85 1.8 lenses for 3-400 bucks from Canikon and what not. Or, I wonder if anyone has compared it to the Pentax 75 1.8 Limited, which is more in the price range, although none of them AF with M4/3 bodies. I doubt it is made as stout as the Pentax though. I guess my point is that 75-85 is a pretty easy focal lenght to make well and most camera makers make them for half the price of the Oly, so is this another example of Oly hosing it’s customers?
Jordan S (Admiring Light)
10 months ago |I’ll be doing a head to head with the 75/1.8 vs the Rokinon 85/1.4 after I finish my in depth review, which will be sometime this coming week.
jevfp
10 months ago |I would love to see someone make a comparison review with other system,.such as an APS-C ,both Canon -Nikon [7D+100mm F/2.8 or - D7000+100mm zeiss macro f2] against Olympus OM-D +75mm
both system will have the same FoV =150mm and very close DoF F1.8 on 43 sensor >< F2.8 on APS-c
BLI
10 months ago |For indoor event shooting, the light gathering possibilities of aperture 1.8 of the Oly lens is, of course, superior to that of the 100/2.8 you refer to. The DOF thing is another matter. From my experience with the 45/1.8, I suspect that the 75mm has to be stopped down to 2.8-3.2 to make the nose tip reasonably sharp when the iris is in focus.
Mymaco
10 months ago |It depends on the subject distance: if it’s a full body portrait there’s no problem at 1.8. If you are taking a close up portrait, 2.2 lets you put the subject face on focus. And I assure you that the lens is sharp as a razor, no need to stop it down. It’s not a must-buy, but it’s a must-try
BLI
10 months ago |The stopping down is to get useful DOF, not because the lens is “poor”.
Mymaco
10 months ago |I know Bli, I apologize:my reply was somehow confused. Again,at 2.2 the full face of the subject (let’s say from 1,5 mts away) is focused on. The razor sharp comment was for those readers doubting about the quality of this lens, and I invite them to try it since it’s really amazing.
BLI
10 months ago |(No reason to apologize
). Robin Wong has a pic using the 75/1.8 at 1.8 (facial) where a vein in the eye ball is pin sharp, and the eyelash is slightly out of focus. So the DOF is relatively narrow at 1.8 and close up.
Mymaco
10 months ago |Bli, I remember that image and I can say that he took the picture from the minimum distance. I have shot portraits from more or less q meter and a half away, 3/4 frontal (not to the subject looking directly towards me), and nose, eyes, mouth, visible ear are all focused. Less than half forhead and the further eye were out of focus. Nonethless, the pic was amazing and also the subject was amazed of the result. (if I zoom in his iris I could see the reflection of my gf sitting in front of him: details are impressive even in OOC Jpegs)
The Real Stig
10 months ago |.
The Real Stig
10 months ago |Since the lens is only “quite sharp” what sort of performance does a lens have to have to be ‘very sharp’ or better? Same for bokeh, what does a lens need to be better than ‘nice’.
Jordan S.
10 months ago |You’re reading a bit much into that statement. I’m always very careful with wording on a first impressions post to not go overboard until I’ve had a chance to shoot with a lens for an extended period of time…I don’t want to heap praise on something and then have to retract it in my full review.
After now shooting with it much more…well, it’s better than ‘quite sharp’. My full review is coming soon.
TheEye
10 months ago |Non of the FF lenses are designed to have an 0.015 mm airy disc. Hence they won’t match the resolution or sharpness of a lens designed with such a small circle of confusion when used on a (m)4/3 body. An exception may be some FF macro lenses.
Patrick
10 months ago |Not quite true. I tried different lenses, and these three are pin sharp:
Zeiss Planar 50/1.8 MM (a Contax/Yashica kit lens)
Zeiss Planar 100/2.0 (this is *not* the Macro version)
Canon FD 300 F4 L
Of course, YMMV as you need to find a good copy, but these work fine for me.
I am highly sceptical about a Canons super fast glass. I have an FD 55/1.2 AL and while it is reasonably sharp wide open, contrast is so low that hair, for instance, looks awful.
Erwin Puts measured very high resolution with this lens though, so maybe my copy is bad.
TheEye
10 months ago |There are always exceptions to the rule! Good for you if you found some of them.
Bart
10 months ago |Not only macro lenses, but also higher quality tele lenses that were expected to be used with a teleconverter for example.
Nick
10 months ago |Half the price? Have you seen the price of the Pentax 77/f1.8 Ltd?
jackyhong
10 months ago |I have test the Leica 75mm summilux f1.4 test with the GH2,welcome to visit it!
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/hong0901g/article?mid=745&l=f&fid=10
Uberzone
10 months ago |I would like to know how the Canon nFD 85mm 1.2 compares as they are both similarly priced.
jevfp
10 months ago |I dont think the canon Fd 85mm f/1.2 will have have a chance to overcome the sharpness of the new Oly 75mm F/1.8. I used to have The Canon Fd 85mm F/1.2,.is very soft at wide open,.i need to had to use F4 to get the sharp image,.even Canon Fd at F2.8 is softer than my Carl zeiss ZF at F/1.4,.and this ,.Olympus 75 is even sharper at wide open F/1.8 than my Carl Zeiss at F/4
just check the blurred index on slr gear below link,;
http://www.slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/1521/cat/14
the sharpness at wide open,.is as good or maybe even better,than Canon 300mm =8000$ or Canon 400mm = 13000$,.
its sharper than,Nikon canon, Zeiss or even Leica
Yun
10 months ago |Would like to see more reviews on 75mm F1.8 from my favourite sites , DigRev , Lenstip & Ephotozine & DP .
The 75mm F1.8 is the lens that I currently mount in my GX all the time .
Love that focal length . I need another 150mm with similar aperature , hope this time will come from Pana , of course with Leica branded .
ssgreenley
10 months ago |This confuses me. Why do you want to see reviews for a lens you already own? Also, if if you keep it mounted all the time, why are you hoping for the exact same lens from Panny? Are you unhappy with it and want validation? I don’t understand. :/
dau
10 months ago |A panny version would have ois, so would be better for his gx1.
Im also sure hes not the first person to want to read a review of something that cost the buyer a fair amont of money. There ma be something in the review that you werent aware of, or just for interests sake alone…