Reminder: Olympus Portrait lens is also coming soon!
Image courtesy: Techradar
UPDATE: You can preorder the lens at Amazon (Click here)
Today we had a great new Panasonic 12-35mm X lens announcement but you really don’t think that we can have a rest now 
After Techradar also Photographyblog today got the same Olympus teaser. The text really makes it easy to guess that they are talking about the new $799(?) 75mm f/1.8 lens. Stay tuned on 43rumors!!!
P.S.: Still I haven’t found any place where you can preorder the new Panasonic lens. I keep checking these search links at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
twoomy
2 years ago |Exciting! But the major retailers will probably be slow in putting up preorder links given the recent track record of most major camera companies. The Nikon D800 snafu and just about any high-end Pany product, we’ll be lucky if we see it available in the next 6-12 months. Hoping that the Oly EM5 will become mainstream soon, but even that seems slow.
sneye
2 years ago |It seems the 75 will come rather soon. Perhaps even next week?
The 12-35 is a very nice zoom which will make m4/3 even more attractive, but frankly it’s a bit boring to me. OTOH this 75 is delicious. At least for now.
tmrgrs
12 months ago |Pre-orders for the 75/1.8 will start later this week and availability is about a month away.
admin
12 months ago |Coming this week?
tmrgrs
12 months ago |Pre-orders will be taken at Olympus USA by the end of this week. Actual availability is uncertain but I’m guessing within a month. Widespread availability might be another month longer than that.
abucci
2 years ago |i still think the oly invite is for a 35RC digital rangefinder to take on the fuji x10
Miklos Rabi
2 years ago |http://www.flickr.com/photos/miklosrabi/6941497542/in/set-72157625085757906
John Krumm
2 years ago |DPR said the expected release date of the Panasonic 12-35 lens is sometime in August. These are pre-production samples being tested, so it seems unlikely you will see pre-orders being accepted for a while.
Bob B.
2 years ago |I agree with Sneye…
My Silver OM arrives today….I see what my next attachment MUST be!!!!!!!!!
I probably will not buy the new Panny zoom….but it that lens REALLY moves ALL MFT in a very forward direction!
bli
2 years ago |Congratulations! (I gave up waiting, and switched to black.)
Bob B.
2 years ago |I got VERY lucky. I gave up on the Olympus Store, Amazon and B&H…….
BLI
2 years ago |I ordered from the local store. The offer was €1299 including 12-50, the (battery) grip, an extra battery, and a “pro level” course (typically costs €150). Since they couldn’t deliver the battery, they reduced the price to €1244. They suggested 1-2 months before the silver would arrive…
DonTom
2 years ago |Olympus has employed some good marketers, much as we love to hate such folks. But with expected price so high on this lens, I’ll pass, and wait for a fast zoom. Don’t
mind waiting.
What about you Admin, any of the latest crop of gear going to be added to your personal arsenal?
JHCCAZ
2 years ago |The 75 1.8 looks like a nice fast lens, but I’d rarely use it for portraits – I’m not sure why that is the stated emphasis. The 45mm lens seems more appropriate for that. The 75 would be good for indoor event photos where one doesn’t need excessive telephoto – cover the stage from auditorium seating, or get individual actors/musicians in a smaller hall.
pfeddeh
2 years ago |+1
I don’t think people will like their portraits with this 75mm lens. Faces will probably become flat and tend to lack a natural ’3D’-effect.
Ulli
2 years ago |the effect you mean happens with real 135mm FL…75mm is still away from that
Raines
2 years ago |That is the old “best focal length” to do portraits, 150mm.
The point is to make the face as undistorted as possible, and that would do it. the Panasonic 20mm give head shot distortions, by giving people bigger noses etc. Also the bokeh will render beautifully. At least it should.
pfeddeh
2 years ago |75mm – on the long side
20mm – on the short side
45mm – perfect
Ulli
2 years ago |think out of the box, then you can do great portraits with almost any FL
JHCCAZ
2 years ago |Understand the argument fully, just don’t agree with your numbers. The “old best” focal length for 35mm camera portraits was more like 85mm to 105mm. 150mm tends to create a flatter “magnified” effect when viewing from original or closer distances.
The whole idea of achieving pleasing, life-like perspective is that the viewer sees the finished displayed photo at the same relative magnification vs. viewing distance as the original camera-to-subject distance – perhaps shaded just a bit to the tele side for portraits, perhaps a bit to the wide side for dramatic architectural shots.
So if the viewer is going to see a life-sized reproduced portrait print in a gallery, standing about 6 feet away, you want the original picture shot from about 6 or perhaps 8 feet away. Similarly, (and a more common scenario today) if the viewer will see a smaller (say 1/2 life-sized) image on a screen or in a magazine from about 3 feet away, the original picture should again be shot from about 6 feet and the viewing ratio still achieves “participant” perspective.
Now, if the viewer will see an even smaller final image from 2-3 feet away, then it is true that a longer original camera-to-subject distance and hence a longer focal length could apply – but small-image viewing is not very dramatic overall, and therefore the whole argument becomes less important.
I’m not knocking the 75mm (150mm “equivalent”) focal length, just saying that the 45mm should have been advertised for portraits first.
BLI
2 years ago |What do you mean by ‘The “old best” focal length’? When I bought my first SLR (ca 1972, or so), the 135mm was considered the standard portrait lens — I bought a Soligor 135mm lens.
Mr. Reeee
2 years ago |135mm was a standard telephoto focal length for film cameras. 150mm was quite uncommon.
bli
2 years ago |I used the 45 from the edge of the stage once; the singer was 4-5 m away — I would need the 75 to get head shots from that distance.
Ulli
2 years ago |a portrait lens is not just about head-and-shoulders
mx
2 years ago |I have 75/1.3 and it’s really great for portraits.
Yun
2 years ago |Yes , this is the lens I’m waiting .
Can’t wait for reviews on it . I wonder with Pana body capable to hold such long lens without Image Stabilization .
BillM
2 years ago |If that $799 price is close to accurate that would be fantastic, I was worried Oly might go for $1000+. I absolutely loved my Canon 135mm f/2L and this is only 15mm longer so I’m thinking it will still be a fantastic portrait lens as well as other long reaching big aperture needs
M43star
2 years ago |I find it odd to refer to 75mm lens as a portrait lens. 150mm equiv. is far beyond normal portrait FL. We already have 45mm which is a perfect portrait lens. Oly 75 is a low light telephoto lens but with no reliable trackig AF it falls short of being a sports lens… IMO, 45mm is more practical for portraits.
stimmer
2 years ago |Its the only option for micro 43 to get full body shallow depth of field. 45 is good for head and shoulders but doesn’t do everything you need.
Jesper
2 years ago |Any news regarding Panasonic G5?
Mar
2 years ago |Finally an interesting lens and not that overpriced f2.8 zoom crap from Panasonic with IQ of a better kit lens.
Why wouldn’t 75mm work for portaits? It’s wonderful for head shots and a lot of people use 70-200mm 2.8s for portaits.
45mm is pretty good too, but 75mm is going to make for a wonderful bokeh machine and it separates nicely from the 45mm.
Miklos Rabi
2 years ago |Could you please link a test photo made with the new Pana 12-35?
sgst
2 years ago |Nah an $800 non weather sealed lens that gives the same DOF as an f3.6 FF lens option is clearly a far better choice.I often wonder why Olympus has so many idiot fanboys compared to other brands.Gotta love a digital camera made to look like a 40yr old film camera lol
FT1 - probably fake rumor
2 years ago |There seems to be a new despotic trend for the use of Olympus primes:
Before you take stills with your new Olympus prime make sure that the intended use corresponds with the handbook.
75mm/f1.8 = use it as a special lens only for portraits in the studio.
Don’t use it for portraits at the beach, the sea, in the
mountains, stormy weather conditions or for other
purposes (no weather sealing!).
45mm/f1.8 = use it if you have no studio or if you are poor as a
church mouse. This is the portrait lens for the man in the
street. You are used to see life through plastic bags -
Don’t worry – keep singing in the rain.
17mm/f1.4 = dream of it – we will never launch this lens.
If you are the man in the street take the slow 17mm/f2.8
instead.
12mm/f2.0 = use this lens only for landscape and street
photography in bright sunshine (no weather sealing) or take
your shots from indoors through the window.
Warning: Never see the focal range as an instrument for individual creativity or as an alternative or enrichment to the existing slow zooms. We know how you have to get your best results.
JimD
12 months ago |You forgot that the old adage of using a lens of the same focal length as the diagonal of the sensor, has not been applied.
Therefore a 21mm is ‘de-rigueur’ for all street photography. So panys 20mm is not quite ‘IN’ (especially with e-m5 users). As we all know the 1mm difference is life and death in the handbook.
Nawaf
2 years ago |They should fulfill the E-M5 orders first before going ahead with the lens. Might be a while before it is available because of this reason. I need my body soon as I’m starting to buy stuff for my 7d
.
physica
2 years ago |I want it…. in Black ><" i hate silvery….
mooboy
2 years ago |That reminds me of the old Rolling Stones song: I see a silver lens – I want to paint it black…
Mar
2 years ago |Olympus says it’s being announced in 2 days (on Facebook).
Andi
2 years ago |Aus der Facebookseite “Olympus Deutschland, Österreich & Schweiz”
:”In 2 Tagen ist es soweit und das neue M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm 1:1.8. kommt für Euch auf den Markt. Perfekt für Portraitaufnahmen mit soviel Tiefenschäfe wie Du willst.
Seid ihr auch so gespannt wie wir?
Interessiert an Portraitaufnahmen mit Deiner neuen OM-D oder PEN? Dann kommt bald das perfekte Objektiv für Dich auf den Markt: das neue M. ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75 mm 1:1,8. Unsere Ingenieure sitzen zur Zeit noch am letzten Feinschliff um den vollen Nutzen aus dem Micro Four Thirds Standard herauszuholen. Dann kannst Du loslegen und hervorragende Aufnahmen machen, mit so viel Tiefenschärfe wie Du möchtest.”
http://www.facebook.com/#!/OlympusDACH