My little SLR magic Hyperprime 12mm f/1.6 field test.


Ethic statement:
SLRmagic is a company located in Hong Kong. I know their manager Andrew very well and I know he is continually working to meet the customers demand for m43 lenses. He contacted me to ask me if I have time to review the latest 12mm f/1.6 Hyperprime lens. I accepted the offer but warned him that I will not hide any of the negative aspects of the lens (if I would find them).

Why I need that lens:
A friend of mine (Franco Maurina) invented a new kind of theatre. The theatre takes place in a complete dark and small room. That’s why I need a fast wide angle lens. And that’s where the Hyperprime 12mm f/1.6 lens is playing the main role along my Panasonic GH2 camera. I will post this video soon on youtube but in the meanwhile I posted a few image samples and first impressions.

Build quality:
I guess you have already read the other SLR magic reviews so you know that this is an all metal lens. So you will not be disappointed

The low distortion:
One of the main features of the lens is the low distortion. That’s something very important for me when shooting videos. You can easily correct photography distortion in post processing but you cannot do that (at least not easily) in video. I went to Vicenza, the city of the famous architect Palladio. I also toke some images a couple of days ago at a lake in the Dolomites. Click on pictures to enlarge the image:

As you see the lines are straight and there is almost no curvature on the towers or columns. I am pretty happy with the results.

The real highlight…The wide angle macro photography:
The real highlight of the lens is the fact that you can shoot macro with a wide angle lens. It’s something really unique and that opens new creative possibilities. You can get damn close to your object and at the same time have some background in your field. I toke some images at a chocolate event in Vicenza and some “frost” images on a lake in the Dolomites. The first images that you see here have all been taken at f/1.6 aperture:

What are my findings? The lens isn’t really sharp wide open (f/1.6). And I sometimes really didn’t know if the object I wanted to keep in focus was in focus or not. I miss the peaking function which is available on Sony NEX cameras to make it easier for me to check the in focus status. I hope Olympus and Panasonic will add that soon. The bokeh isn’t also very pleasant. It’s looks like “stretched”. Look the leaf or menu picture and watch the edges. If you stop down the aperture at f/2.8 images look much sharper:

The flare issue:
A real issue is the disturbing flare when shooting wide open f/1.6. You really cannot shot at f/1.6 when you have lights in frame. See the example below: The first image has been taken at f/1.6 and the second image at f/2.8.

My overall first impression:
For the video work I am doing now the flare issue is a huge problem. I have to stop down at f/2.8 to avoid the flare issue and that makes me almost impossible to use the lens because I need the full f/1.6! Andrew from SLR magic told me that the production version is less affected by that problem and I hope this is true. But never less I like the lens. First the distortion is very low for a wide angle lens. Second the macro capability on such a wide angle lens opens a new way of creative photography. It’s so funny to have it! You can take wide landscapes and at the same time take a close images of a tiny ant.

In summary buy that lens if:
- You shot video and need a fluid aperture ring.
- You shot video and need distortion free images (or if you take photos and don’t ant to spend time with Photoshop).
- You need a walk around wide angle lens that can also that super macro pics.
- You want to experience a new kind of macro photography (close object wide background!).
Don’t buy if:
- you expect a super nice bokeh at f/1.6 aperture
- you need a super sharp and non flaring lens at f/1.6 aperture.

P.S.: The lens should be available for preorder very soon! A technical review has been written by Photozone (Click here).

Other SLRmagic lenses for Micro Four Thirds:
SLR Magic 12-36×50 ED Straight Spotting Scope lens (w/ hand grip) is now available on eBay (Click here).
SLR magic 11mm f/1.4 lens you can preorder on eBay (Click here).
Toy Lens 26mm f/1.4 lens on eBay (Click here).
SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC lens on eBay (Click here).