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Fun with the Olympus OMD

jonoslack

Active member
HI There
You should rather look at all the nice mft primes, like the Olympus 12mm, the Panasonic 20mm and 25mm, the Olympus 45mm and 75mm. They are light and sharp ande won't cost you as much as a Leica R lens, even second hand; for me these huge heavy zooms entirely defeat the purpose of getting a small and light mft camera. If one has that kind of legacy glas left orphan in a cupboard, then it makes sense and will be fun to get an adapter and try, but now that there are so many nice native lenses for the format they aren't worth buying, unless they are dirty cheap and you want some fun.
It depends entirely on where you're coming from. The small primes are lovely (I have some of them, but they don't get used too much)

I'm using the OMD as an alternative to an SLR - and the results are as good (or nearly as good) as anything I'm going to get this side of a full frame behemoth. I like to use telephoto lenses, and you have to bear in mind that if you put a 900gm 80-200 f4 Leica zoom on the camera, for everything except dof purposes you're getting a 160-400 f4 image stabilised zoom . . . . a 200-400 Nikon f4 zoom weighs 3.1/2 kg and costs about 8 times as much as a decent secondhand R lens (and I bet it isn't any better quality). As for the depth of field, at those focal lengths more is usually an advantage.

An OMD with the panny 12-35 f2.8 weighs 750 gms. a D800 with the Nikon 24-70 weighs nearly 3 times as much.


The small RF lenses of the M format makes more sense and there are some good small and light Voigtländer lenses around, or even M lenses. I had Contax G lenses left over from the film time and they are tack sharp and light too, but finicky to se. I don't have the same satisfaction out of my M lenses because they were faster and thus heavier, too heavy for the small mft bodies. I'll have to try them again on the OM-D to see how they will perform, but they were deceiving on the Pens and G3. They just produced ordinary results, without that wow factor they showed on film, to the point that I don't use them anymore, while I'm still using the Zeiss Contax G lenses (at least the two ones I can mount on the mft cameras) and love them.
Again - horses for courses - I have lots of M lenses . . .but no adapter for the OMD, because I'd rather use them on an M9. . . . and if I want to use fast primes on an OMD THEN I'll use the m4/3 lenses which are great and have AF as well.

So, for my purposes it's the long 'heavy' zooms which are often more relevant than the small light primes.

all the best
 

jonoslack

Active member
HI Matt
congratulations on your OMD - I hope you like it as much as we all seem to!

Oh, I agree that a large zoom defeats the purpose, and the major point of the OM-D over the M9 for me is the AF, but GAS is never about what makes sense. :ROTFL:
See my post above - it depends what your purpose is!

I, too, didn't have good luck with M lenses on my first m43 camera (E-P1). I also haven't gotten a good feel, despite the many images posted, for the quality of the longer m43 lenses. The long AF zooms seem ok. Perhaps its just that no one is as enthusiastic about them as Jono is about the Leica R glass. :rolleyes:
As I said above - I'm not very interested in putting M lenses on the OMD (and don't even have an adapter) - because there are good primes from panasonic and olympus which have AF . . . and I have an M9 to put the M lenses on. R lenses are quite a different kettle of fish - the 'peripheral' lenses are not too expensive, and they really are terribly good (the 60 elmarit macro is a stunner) with easy MF and good Image Stabilisation they make perfect sense as high quality telephotos on the OMD (and the heavy is relative here!).

I'm hoping that Leica bring out the fabled R solution - and then my R lenses will take on a new lease of life, but they haven't cost me a great deal, and I like using them.

. . . . Lovely shot too!

all the best
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Jono,

I suppose my real question is - why not the Panasonic or Olympus zooms? Even the very inexpensive 45-200 gives sharp results, and has AF. I suppose this question is odd from someone out of who's cold dead fingers you'd have to pry the 28 Cron, but what does the R zoom get you that you can't get in a lighter and cheaper package from the MFT manufacturers?

Granted, I've had the camera for less than a day, but mounting a 75 Cron on the OM-D feels front heavy and difficult to focus. Yes, I know, practice practice... :rolleyes:

Now an adapter for my Canon 400/5.6... that would be nice.:cool:

Best,

Matt

(BTW: have we settled on an abbreviation? Is it m43, MFT, u43, ??? I like the last one, but it's the most confusing )
 
B

brian1208

Guest
Now an adapter for my Canon 400/5.6... that would be nice
I recently got the Kipon EOS to m4/3rds adapter which lets me use my sigma 400 f5.6 (a poor man's canon f5.6L :) )

Works a treat and is hand-holdable with IS 1 enabled (although I prefer it off my monopod still)
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I'd say m43 is fine, but u43 is not correct, 43 seems better.

All the best.
Yeah, but I can't find the 'mu' key on my keyboard. Oh! Option-m!
[Valerie Harper] µ..µ..µ..
[Billy Crystal] I can't heeear you!
[VH] ..µ....µ!

Thank you!

Matt
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
I recently got the Kipon EOS to m4/3rds adapter which lets me use my sigma 400 f5.6 (a poor man's canon f5.6L :) )

Works a treat and is hand-holdable with IS 1 enabled (although I prefer it off my monopod still)
Oh, thank you! I always wanted an 800mm lens. :cool:

--Matt
 

jonoslack

Active member
Jono,

I suppose my real question is - why not the Panasonic or Olympus zooms? Even the very inexpensive 45-200 gives sharp results, and has AF. I suppose this question is odd from someone out of who's cold dead fingers you'd have to pry the 28 Cron, but what does the R zoom get you that you can't get in a lighter and cheaper package from the MFT manufacturers?
HI Matt

Well . . . I feel the results with the R lenses have an extra dimension to them (just like your 28 'cron), and I have no problem with MF for most of what I do. But sure - I also have some of the µ43 zooms as well, and as you say they're fine.

As for handling - you just get used to the fact that you're holding the lens with a body attached rather than the other way around!

all the best
 

Tesselator

New member
This disturbingly flame-like reflection is, creepily, at ground zero.
Panny 45-200 at 124mm f/7.1. Really, a pretty sharp lens. Plenty of purple fringing, but then it's a bright background.


Sorry about the branch....

-Matt
It sure is! It almost looks CG contrived to instill a sense of loathing and/or fear. Very strange! And I thought these things BEFORE I read your text or noticed your location. Weird indeed!
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
HI Matt

Well . . . I feel the results with the R lenses have an extra dimension to them (just like your 28 'cron), and I have no problem with MF for most of what I do. But sure - I also have some of the µ43 zooms as well, and as you say they're fine.

As for handling - you just get used to the fact that you're holding the lens with a body attached rather than the other way around!

all the best
Well, the results are a strong argument. I just figured out this morning how to turn the IBIS on while manually focussing, so THAT should help.:ROTFL:

Thanks again,

Matt
 
B

brian1208

Guest
An example of the EM5 with a sigma 400 f5.6 attached via the Kipon EOS to M4/3rd adapter. Grey sky (what else in the UK at the moment) and at fair range its one of the many small craft that fly into our local Hurn Airport.

Wide open, ISO 200 with 1/2000th sec shutter, cropped to around 1400pix on the longest side. I can't wait to get some sun to really give this combo a work out :)

Hand-held by the way

 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
First, I apologize for all the bricks in this post. From now on, nothing but cats and newsprint. I promise!

Well, the 75-300 is NOT an easy lens to use, but then, I've rarely gone past 200mm on FF. One problem is that it's difficult to tell poor optics from atmospheric disturbance. Looking at the bricks in a wall is one thing. A brick wall a kilometer distant on a hot day is another. I took out a 60 power spotting scope and looked via eyeball and, sure enough, the wall looked like someone had applied excessive noise reduction. Digital artifacts are leaking into reality?:bugeyes::eek:

Here is the building about a kilometer away at 75mm.



And here is a 100% crop (unsharpened) at 300mm. RAW, processed in Aperture. Yes, it was 1/200 second, but IBIS is supposed to be good for at least 10 stops, right?

But I swear, that very distinct smearing on the right hand column is visible through the spotting scope.


--Matt

Interesting Addendum: The smearing is MUCH worse on a tripod (Gitzo 3-series and Cube). IBIS turned off, 2 second delay. I guess the flexibility of the system is too much for 600mm effective, and hand-holding and IBIS works better! I've read that it's hard to get sharp 600mm shots even with good equipment and decent technique, so I'm not expecting miracles here.
 
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btrancho

New member
12-50mm - On Vanderbilt Ave. on my way back from picking up my Milich grip from John at his shop. (The latest version with the textured, slightly beefier grip.) This is a really sweet addition to my OMD. Makes it feel much more natural in my hand.

 

jonoslack

Active member
Interesting Addendum: The smearing is MUCH worse on a tripod (Gitzo 3-series and Cube). IBIS turned off, 2 second delay. I guess the flexibility of the system is too much for 600mm effective, and hand-holding and IBIS works better! I've read that it's hard to get sharp 600mm shots even with good equipment and decent technique, so I'm not expecting miracles here.
HI There Matt - on the other hand, that day you unexpectedly see a group of fox cubs playing, or a deer in the early morning mist, then you can probably put up with a slightly less than perfect image!

all the best
 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
HI There Matt - on the other hand, that day you unexpectedly see a group of fox cubs playing, or a deer in the early morning mist, then you can probably put up with a slightly less than perfect image!

all the best
Hi Jono,

I was about to delete my previous post, as it looks like everyone on this thread has moved well past resolving bricks on distant walls as a measure of photographic worth. Indeed, the "remote macro" capability as shown a few posts back with the 100-300 is mightily suggestive of better applications.

I'll have a few weeks on a nice quiet lake. We'll see how the loons do at sunset. Of course, I'll keep my eyes open for fox cubs, too. ;)

Best,

Matt
 
The Panasonic 100-300 @300 with IBIS only works reasonably well.
Following is a test shot, developed in LR4 with default setting and two 100% crops of the same.
Sorry but the bricks are mandatory in this case.:D


 

MGrayson

Subscriber and Workshop Member
Ario,

A mathematician was once asked what would happen if an inconsistency were ever found in mathematics (something like 1 = 2, which would immediately imply that all statements were both true and false). The famous response: "It would just go to show how useful an inconsistent system can be."

As Jono says above, the same is true of imperfect lenses.

--Matt
 
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