[ Technical ] - Users' Review of Lenses for the Four Thirds' Platform

[microcosm]

Lens/Make/Model : 12-60mm SWD Zuiko Digital Lens
Cost when bought : About S$1320

Your Thoughts : This has got to be the most versatile lens and the best tool for the photojournalist. At a focal length of 12-60mm (24-120mm in 135 format), this range covers all that is needed. And with the new 50-200SWD, two lens basically covered a range of 24-400mm. What more can we ask for? Some have commented about the softness at the edge of this lens at wide open, but can be solved when the aperture is closed down to f5.6 and you get superb sharpness. Colours are good with this lens and it faithfully captures the contrast and colours of the subject. With relatively little effort in Photoshop or RAW conversion software, one can easily bring out the best colours from this lens. One thing to note, as with all ultra wides, placing a human subject close to the edge might see pretty severe perspective distortion, so bear this in mind while shooting, especially when covering weddings. One more thing is, when shooting straight lines in cases like architecture, you will notice the barrel distortion which can be quite severe in some shooting angles. This can be easily corrected in post processing.

Conclusion : This is one lens that I will highly recommend to anyone, though it is a little high on the price side. For me, it has replaced both the ZD11-22mm and the ZD14-54mm which is sitting comfortably on my E-1 in the showcase at home. Considering that it is one-lens-for-two, this is a good buy.

Rating : 9 out of 10 stars, for the softness at the edges when wide open at 12mm, and the barrel distortion.

 

[dorts]

Lens/Make/Model : Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm f4.0-5.6
Cost when bought : S$530

Your Thoughts : Was really excited when I first got this lens. It was a lens I've been longing for and I am not disappointed by it's performance at all.

First timers will find it hard to use initially, because of it's long focal length. This lens is best used in good light with a good shutter speed, since handshake will be very evident. IS helps, but up to a certain extent only. (I don't use a tripod regularly)

Images that come out and wonderful for it's price, with it being slightly sharper than the ZD 40-150mm. It is best stopped down to around f/8 @ 300mm where it will be sharpest. Slightly soft @ 300mm, f/5.6, but not worrying. Bokeh is good, similar to the 40-150mm IMO. It's weight and size is definitely an advantage, since it can be hand holdable with a good shutter speed. This is the best part.

It can also snap macro pictures, which is really nice, of course with a good shutter speed again. But when switched to MF for 0.5X magnification, it's quite hard to get a correct focus when handheld. Tripod would do the trick.

The handling of the lens is pretty good, although the zoom is slightly tight, and manual focus is not as smooth and good as the HG lenses. But I can't complain really. Well balanced on my E-3, but slightly unbalanced on the E-510. Well-built and I feel that I can knock it on someone's head and it won't break. :bsmilie: Built is slightly better than 40-150mm, but cannot beat HG/SHG lenses of course!

Now for the bad part. The lens likes to hunt in low light, which I do not recommend you to use in. It likes to go back and forth when @ 300mm as well, sometimes causing me to lose my shot. AF speed is slightly slower than 40-150mm, but acceptable for a Standard Grade lens. I would love a faster aperture too, since f/5.6 @ 300mm is slow, really. Get the ZD 50-200mm SWD if you want a faster lens, both aperture and AF speed.

Conclusion : I would recommend this lens to all those who are on a budget but require the reach. Not for those who want a low light lens at all, but good for those who are nature lovers who are always in the sun. At this price, I can't really complain, so I'll just enjoy it!

Rating : Lightweight bazooka at a relatively cheap price! Shoot birds and animals now! 8/10. :thumbsup:

 

[headfonz]

Lens/Make/Model : Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f2.8-4 SWD
Cost when bought : $1,325

Your Thoughts : I decided on the 4/3 system based on 2 main considerations: weight and lens quality. Close to a year after i got myself the E510, I decided to invest in a wide angle lens to complete my range. I finally decided on the 12-60 instead of the 11-22 because i would rather carry 1 single heavy lens than 2 lighter lens (11-22 + 14-54).

Angle of view is excellent for walkabouts and now this lens hardly comes off my camera except when i need specialised lenses (macro). Angle of view of 84 to 20 (3 degrees narrower than the 11-22 and 3 degrees narrower than the 14-54) is a nice range for general shooting and the sharpness of this lens is very good.

I don't shoot much buildings so the barrel distortion at wide angles doesn't bother me.

Build quality is typical Zuiko excellence. The manual focus ring is just nice and is a big improvement over the focus-by-wire lenses. The zoom ring isn't as smooth as I would like, esp when zoom from the 35mm towards the 60mm end where there is a slight jerk.

Conclusion : Excellent all-rounder with great image quality for hobbyists. A little on the costly side but worth every cent. Good upgrade option for those wanting to replace the standard kit lenses

Rating : 9.5 out of 10 stars (-0.5 for the zoom ring)

 

[microcosm]

Just a quickie with the 7-14mm f4 SHG Ultra Wide angle lens.

My recent assignment for a client in Singapore Airport Terminal Three covering for magazine and web feature. Click HERE for the link to that page for my client.

Let the pictures do the talking. LOL. Commercial shoot, so nothing artistic to scream about. The 7-14mm allowed me to shoot in tight spaces. That was critical for the client. The fisheye would have caused too much distortion for the client's liking.

 

[drakon09]

Lens/Make/Model : Zuiko Digital 25mm f2.8 (note: firmware version 0.9)
Price when bought : N.A.


Your Thoughts :
Well, this review is quite long overdue, but hey, here it is! The pancake I used was a firmware version 0.9 sample courtesy of Olympus SG. First off, given the 50mm EFL, this is one lens you either love or hate. Personally I like 50mm EFL. It allows you to compose with your eyes, so for the beginner, you learn how to see the final image. It is refreshing even for seasoned users, you re-learn how to see things again, good for the jaded shooter.

This lens is small, I mean really small. For those who own the EX-25 extension tube; it's smaller than even that! Paired with an E-410, it is a pairing you can carry just about forever.

Build quality is pretty decent, although since it's so small and compact, it's bound to feel more solidly built as compared to the rest of the Standard Grade lenses. Lens mount is metal.

Resolves fine detail well enough; it should, since it's a prime, standard grade notwithstanding. Paired with the E-410.

Slight fringing at the corners, though you can't really see from the above sample; at 100% you can see that at the crescent and star atop the minaret. But nothing you will notice in prints; it's just something for the pixel-peepers.

This is the lens paired with the E-300. Flickr screwed up the rendering somewhat though; the original is slightly more contrasty... (then again I haven't been processing monochromes for so long I can't help thinking there's some user error here...)

This shows how the lens renders bokeh wide open. Paired with the E-3.


Conclusion : Given what the lens can do together with its compactness, I'd say the lens is tons worth more than what you'll be paying for it (and it's cheap to boot!). But again it's going to be one that you'll love or hate, given its 50mm EFL.


Rating : 9/10 (as compared to the rest of the SG lenses); 7.5/10 when compared with the HG/SHG lenses. High marks for compactness and relative image quality. Marks lost because of absolute image quality, when compared to the HG/SHG range. But the image quality is more than acceptable; personally, I would gladly accept the slight drop in absolute IQ for the compactness, especially if I'm taking to the streets.

 

[microcosm]

ADD ON to the 50-200SWD lens review :

Took the 50-200 SWD out for a spin at the races to see how the lens will track in continuous focusing mode (and play with the AF as well)... and this combo with the E-3 did not disappoint. The tracking is pretty constant and fast and the lens feels a lot faster than the earlier model. The fatter body also allows better handling in my case, and I love how the lens feels in my hands in long duration shooting.

No problems tracking fast bikes on the track close up, I had pretty good usability (80%) from the photos. Those that was out of focus was probably due to handshake or focusing off because of obstructing objects between subject and lens, which is my fault with where I placed myself.

Location is the new racing circuit at Tuas.

Here are some photos to share. All shot on E-3 with 50-200 SWD, F5.6 variable shutter speeds from 1/250-1/640 seconds, ISO800 (favourite setting for the grit). Someone commented, and made me laugh, when he said I am a "dirty old man"... referring to the noise and "dirt" on my photos. We did a A3 size print and it turned out pretty darn good.

Mascot at the race for Team PGO, Taiwanese Racing Scooter.

Racer taking a break...

 

[microcosm]

Overall, I am more than happy with both the C-AF mode with the new lens as well as the mechanical focusing, which is hyper fast now since it is more predictable than it was in the past. This is one lens to seriously consider. The faster SWD motor is the draw in marketing, but for me, it is the mechanical focusing that does it for me. Absolutely wonderful piece of glass.

 

[brandoneu]

Lens/Make/Model : eg. 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 Zuiko Digital Lens (SWD version)
Cost when bought : usd 989 [the cheapest i could find other than adorama and b&h] but after adding shipping costs and aussie import tax of 10 percent... boy its expensive!

all pics taken with iso 400 with lens wide open at the melbourne zoo

Your Thoughts : a nice upgrade from the kit 40-150 lens.. i was influenced to purchase it after having a look at this thread.. well done guys! it is heavier than most normal lenses, but it is what you would expect from a high quality zoom. i've used it with the e510, and the IS really makes my shots worth it. i'd probably get even nicer pics if i have an E3.

Conclusion : i would highly recommend this lens to any olympus user who would like to improve on their telephoto photography. it has sharp and fast focusing, which makes me a total believer of SWD (Supersonic Wave drive). well worth the money despite being quite expensive (i'm still a student!!). zoom ring is a little on the stiff side, but its alright with me.

Rating : get it if u can, its awesome ! 9.0/10

 

[weekh]

Lens: Zuiko Digital ED 40-150mm F4.0-5.6
Cost: $150 (2nd hand, in minty condition with 10 months warranty)

Lightweight! Good optics and value for money!

 

[Alphonse]

Lens/Make/Model : Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm f4.0-5.6
Cost when bought : S$515 (internet store includes shipping)

Your Thoughts : This is the lens I longed and aim for. When I deliberately chose my DSLR with one lens kit instead of two(40-150mm).

I owned a fujifilm s6500fd before which give me 300mm(35mm equivalent) distant and i always want something that is further when this 70-300mm(140-600mm 35mm equivalent) caught my eye immediately.

Images that I took were great enough for it's price and grade! The weight is fantastic (680g) that is why I chose this lens than a 50-200mm(weak arm cannot handle that weight well) when it's fit on my E510.

The con of course is the slow aperture f4-5.6 which can only great to take bright day when hand held. Another shortfall is people tends to put the lens hood lock backwards with the lens when unused, but when you need to remove/unlock the hood you will always accidently turn the internal focus motor which make u feel uncomfortable(thinking whether you are spoiling the motor).

Conclusion : I would highly recommend this lens to all those who started DSLR and looking for a tele photo lens. Price is good for it's great range(600mm 35mm equivalent that is really very far!), yet the only con i can think of is the slow aperture especially when full zoom (f5.6)

Rating : Lightweight Tele zoom at a reasonable price. 9/10.

 

[ttiongch]

Lens/Make/Model : Panasonic Leica 14-150mm F/3.5-5.6 Lens
Cost when bought : S$1990

At 14mm

At 150mm

At 150mm

At 69mm

Size comparison of the 3 lenses

Your Thoughts : This lens has a 10.7x zoom. It's really unbelievable to see such a sharpness, contrast and vibrant colours produced from this lens throughout the whole 10.7x zoom. However, barrel distortion can be seen at 14mm.

Physically, it's heavier than the 14-54 and slightly lighter than the 12-60. It's fatter than the other two lenses, and its zoom-ring and the focus-ring are placed awkwardly, which makes the handling less desirable for an olympus user with small hands.
The Mega O.I.S is redundant on my E-510, which already has a built-in IS.

Conclusion : Due to the price, I would not recommend this lens to anyone who is not as crazy as me. Nevertheless, if you don't mind its price and its smaller aperture of F/3.5-5.6, the versatility and image quality will definitely enhance your traveling photos.

Rating : 7/10. 1.5 point from the price, 1 point from the aperture, 0.5 point from the handling.

 

[microcosm]

A gentle note to all :

Please kindly refrain from making comments within this thread, instead, start a new thread and point to this REVIEWS ONLY page so that non-frequent forumers can easily go through the images and individual lens review. I am sure we will not want to confuse non-Four Third regulars since we "love all, serve all" right? :bsmilie:

Sorry I had to remove all chats within these pages, I am sure after so long, you guys got the answers for the questions that you have posted. So all is good yeah?

Many thanks for your understanding and cooperation...

 

[xlakedaemon]

Lens/Make/Model : 50-500 Sigma F4-6.3 EX DG/HSM
Cost when bought : About S$1800

Focal Length: 50mm

Focal Length: 500mm

Focal Length: 300mm

Focal Length: 200mm

Your Thoughts: When I found out about this lens, I could not wait to get my hands on it. 500mm worth of focal length and on a fourthirds mount, that’s 1000mm on a 35mm by comparison! Nothing else could be so affordable and give you such range!

I went to do my initial recce at the shop. The moment I touched it, I knew it was a solid lens. The finishing is superb and very professional. The structure of the lens is well constructed and it feels like it can handle any rough situation. I read somewhere how an owner left it on top of his car roof, drove off unknowingly and it fell on the road. Thinking something would be broken, the final check was everything was alright except for the chip in the paint works. That’s pretty tough for a lens.

This lens is meant for outdoors ranging from the mid morning to the late afternoon or very bright indoor environment as the aperature is small to begin with. The only compensation to give is to increase the ISO. At full focal length, the shutter speed has to be pretty high in order to take steady pictures. The in-built IS of some Oly cameras does help but do note that after the firmware upgrade, you have to personally input the focal length in order for the IS to work on third party lens. If not, the IS will not work on the lens at all. For best results, monopod or tripod is a must. The sharpness is pretty good at all focal lengths except that it tends to be a bit soft towards the 500mm.

The only gripe I have about this lens is the weight which is about 1.8kg. You have to be careful when you mount it to the camera body, or rather the body is actually being mounted on the lens when you are using the camera sling. This is because the full weight of the lens is exerting its full weight on the mount.

Photos are not cropped and unedited, only reduced resolution.

Conclusion: This is a very versatile outdoor lens with a focal range from 50-500mm. You dun have to change lens when you have this. A must have for nature lover and sports photographer.

Rating: Maybe I am biased, but I would give it a 9 out of 10 star. I love this lens! The minus 1 star is for the weight.

 

[sk_2]

Lens/Make/Model : Panasonic L 1 kit lens aka leica D 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 w/ OIS
Cost : i ¢ome, i $ee, i $urrended.





My Thoughts : Pimp factor, bragging right.... the famous L word,
for some reasons,
race queens goes ga ga over HUGE glass element upfront :lovegrin:


In lens anti_shake device give a old body instant upgrade !

Conclusion : the images speak for itself.

Rating : i'll skimp on fancy restuarant meal for the rest of the year, TWO THUMBS UP ^ ^

so meow ~
hmm.... my boy thinks otherwise ( @#$%^&* ) what ! no Pizza, Burger or Fried Chickies ?

 

[spidey89]

Lens/Make/Model : 300mm f2.8 Zuiko Digital
Cost when bought : Gssoh's Lens,thanks a lot for letting us have a feel and test of the lens!

Sample Images

300mm f2.8

300mm f2.8 With EC-20 (Also belongs to Gssoh's,thanks again!!)

My Thoughts : Alright....this Godzilla of a lens,one word.....wow.....seriously,it's no joke,about the same weight as the 90-250mm lens,not for the faint hearted....a solidly built and robust lens,very nice to use and heavy too...Used with E-1,With E-1 or E-3,the combo looks pretty good,with cameras like 410 and 420,even 510 and 520,from the front,really can't see the body behind the lens,113mm diameter front.seriously,this is what I thought,seriously amazing 5mins plus experience (too tired to really handhold shoot)

Conclusion : Again,another heck of a crazy priced lens,but none the less,a master piece,hence the price...Amazing piece of glass that I again would love to have,but given the choice,I would rather have the zooming capability of 90-250 but that's another story.Sharpness wise is really very very sharp.I am seriously impressed and I'm sure many others are too.In my opnion,good for birding,wildlife,probably fixed location street and candid shooting but kinda overkill.But definatly good for wildlife and birding.Seriously a huge thanks to Gssoh for letting us at the outing have a shot at this lens.

Rating : Again,another 9 out of 10 for this lens,again for same reason as my review on the 90-250 lens,the weight issue,but for a lens of this capability,it is worth every dollar.As what Gssoh and I agree,it is light for a 600mm equivalent lens,with EC-20,it's a super light 1200mm equivalent lens.

 

[marky]

Lens/Make/Model : Zuiko Digital ED 7-14mm F4
Cost when bought : 2nd Hand

Your Thoughts : This is one of the lens i longed to get after the 35-100mm F2.0 lens. Was deciding either the 9-18mm or 7-14mm when i saw someone selling it for 2nd hand and decided to get it. After owning a FE 8mm lens, it was relatively easy for me to get used to this lens. As you can see from the above photo, there is not much distortion in it. The built for this lens is abit bulky. Can't wait to try out human portraits using this lens..

Conclusion : Its a great lens, price is a little on the high side but then again where can you get a UWA other than the 9-18mm lens?

Rating : 9/10. The only thing that bothers me a little is the front element, other than that i love this lens.

 

[headfonz]

Lens/Make/Model: Sigma 150mm/f2.8 APO Macro DG EX HSM
Cost when bought : $760 (2nd hand)

Your Thoughts: After 1 year with the Sigma 105/f2.8, which is an excellent lens, i decided to upgrade to the Sigma 150/f2.8 for 2 main reasons:

1 - Shallower DOF @ longer focal length for clean backgrounds for nature macros
2 - Tripod collar for ease of composition when switching orientations without too much movement when shooting skittish subjects

The Sigma 150/f2.8 met both expectations well and for its price point, it has exceeded my expectations.

Build quality is solid and the lens operation is easier compared to the Sigma 105/2.8. the HSM drive allows full-time manual focusing and focusing ring is well dampened and smooth. The matte EX finishing is nice to the touch but is not as good as the HG ZD lenses.

Being a macro lens, focusing speed is slow but precise and the focus limiter is handy when using AF. The HSM motor is very quiet in operation.

This lens is much heavier than the Sigma 105/f2.8 and is best suited for tripod use. My field macro setup - E510 + EX25 + Sigma 150/f2.8 + Wimberley F2 bracket + FL36R + Canon off-shoe cord 2 weighs quite a bit so handheld shooting is limited to a short time.

Conclusion : Performs exactly as I expected it to be, good build quality (except finishing). Weight may be an issue so a tripod is necessary for this lens.

Rating : 8.5 out of 10 stars (-0.5 for weight, -1.0 for EX finishing) [/QUOTE]

 

[microcosm]

Lens/Make/Model: M ZUIKO 17mm f2.8 pancake lens (prime lens)
Cost when bought : Came as a kit lens with the Olympus E-P1

Image of lens with the E-P1

Low light / high ISO performance of the lens

Your Thoughts: Kit lens, we always think little of kit lens. They sort of "comes free" with the camera body since they are bundled and sold cheap. But not for the 17mm f2.8 pancake. I have been waiting for two years since I first spoke to Olympus Shanghai when I worked with them for their Chinese catalogue shoot and another book that was published for Zuiko Digital lenses.

The 17mm focal length, which is equivalent to 34mm on the 135 format is an excellent focal length for street photography. Not too wide, not too tight. A "standard lens view" with a little on the side to capture the subject-to-environment information. This makes this lens a valuable tool for the street photographer. A f2.8mm aperture means that this lens can thus be (1) made cheaply (2) made light. The last thing I want is for a huge lens that gets everyone's attention.

This is a CDAF enabled lens, which means this lens was designed primarily to work well with CDAF focusing system which is different from lenses like, say 12-60mm SWD which is a phase shift design. Of course, the latter is used on flagship full fledge DSLR body for super fast operations and reliability (considering there are 11 cross points AF on the E3, making it 44 points of AF in total). The CDAF works on a totally different technology. Optimised for the Live View shooter.

Downside to this lens is that it is an 11 contact point micro Four Thirds lens, and there are currently no adapter for this lens to be used on regular Four Thirds camera. So only half my dream came true. The 17mm pancake finally came, but not for my E3, but on the E-P1, which thankfully is a capable camera.

Only thing I wish on this lens was a distance marker so that I can use hyperfocusing for street shooting, but not really a problem since with familiarity, these things can be sorted out easily.

Now, where is the other pancake I asked for? The 10mm? Still waiting, Olympus, still waiting.

Conclusion : Performs exactly as I expected it to be, the superb street shooter's lens.

Rating : 9 out of 10!!! Superb lens for its price. (Standard Grade Lens)

 

[vyeow]

Lens/Make/Model: Olympus 70-300mm f4.0-5.6
Cost when bought : AUD$549

@ 300mm f5.6

Your Thoughts: After using my E-3 with the 12-60mm SWD lens for a long period of time, i realised that i was missing out on many photo opportunities which called for longer zoom lens. Unable to justify the cost of the 50-200mm SWD, the natural choice was to go for the standard 70-300mm.
The build quality is solid and almost physically the same size as the 12-60mm SWD but with 5x the zoom.
At longer lengths, the focussing speed really starts to become slow (sometimes getting lost), and loses some of it's sharpness (need to stop down the aperture a few values for better results)

Conclusion: Great to have a 140-600mm equiv. lens in the palm of your hand for those outdoor shots

Rating: 8/10 Great value for money

 

[headfonz]

Kudos to microcosm for organising this outing and making the 2 Godzillas available for user testing. Thanks to Olympus Image Singapore for the lenses.

Zuiko Digital High Grade vs Super High Grade Telephoto Lens Comparison


Background on E-system Lenses on the lenses in the E-system. There are 3 grades of lenses, Standard Grade lenses are lightweight and compact lenses for the consumer market. The High Grade lenses are professional grade lenses featuring rugged weather-sealed build quality and fast apertures. The Super High Grade series are similar to the HG, but are specialized lenses with constant apertures. More can be found here: http://asia.olympus-imaging.com/products/dslr/lenses/

The purpose of this field comparison is to compare the image quality of the ZD 50-200mm/f2.8-3.5 SWD (S$1.6k street) of the High Grade series with a 1.4x teleconvertor (S$700 street) versus the flagship telephoto zoom lens in the E-system, the Super High Grade godzilla; ZD 90-250mm/f2.8 (S$9.5k street) The lenses are compared at f5.

Camera and settings
E30, ISO 1250, AWB, Single Pt AF+S, Noise Filter -1, Sharpness -1, Contrast +1, Saturation 0. Superfine JPEG + RAW recording.

Full sized pics available in image link.

The shots were taken at around 1540hrs, cool weather and overcast day with low clouds.

Camera JPEGS Comparison

Left Image: ZD50-200+EC14 (70-280mm/f4-5) @ 283mm, f4.9, 1/100 Right Image: ZD90-250 @ 250mm, f5, 1/60