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Fun with 4/3rds cameras/ Image Thread

DHart

New member
Thanks, DHart. The last one is probably at f/4. It's cropped a bit, so the distance is longer than what it appears to be. The lens is amazingly sharp from f/2 to f/8, but also f/1.4 is very good. The contrast is much lower when shooting towards the sun, even when the sun is not in the frame. I'm looking for a shade. Will probably buy a generic one, since the original is difficult to find and a bit complicated with a step-up ring for each lens.
Ah yes, I discovered the lens hood dilemma right after I clicked the Buy Now button on eBay. I will use mine with backlit situations mostly and knew I would need a hood for sure. When I went to look for one I realized the problem of hard to find/very high cost. I was able to find a rubber one, however, for $55 which I considered a bargain vs $250 for a Zeiss metal one.

Colourwise, the GH1 and Zeiss lenses seems to be a perfect match. I don't do any adjustments whatsoever. The 50/1.4 is very good also, of course, and I plan to buy the 135mm f/2.8 as well. For wider lenses, there are more convenient alternatives around, particularly those from Voigtänder, and obviously the native m43 lenses.
I wound up going with a Canon new FD 50/1.4 and Voigt 35/1.2 aspherical for my other legacy lenses. The Canon is ho hum at 1.4 but very good at 2.0 to 8. Color with the Canon is colder than Zeiss. But I only shoot RAW and do all my color work in post. The 35/1.2 is ok at 1.2 but sharpens up very well at 2 to 5.6 very nicely. All of these are low contrast wide open, but that can be dealt with in post.

I found in comparing tests with these three legacy lenses to the 20/1.7 that the little Panny pancake is truly a stellar, must have lens. The sharpness on the little Panny is stunningly superior... Including wide open!
 

pollobarca

New member
Hullo to you all, I'm new to this thread having just obtained an Oly E-PL1. I am on the small sensor forum with my GX100.
I have had the camera two weeks now and enjoying it immensely, although a little perplexed about the RAW files not working in RawTherapee. Solved by converting them to DNG.
A first post- Bruxelles Grand Place using the E-Pl1 with the manfrotto mini.

I held the camera against a plastic screening using the Manfrotto mini and delayed exposure.

This camera is a replacemnt for my C5050Z, which died due to a bug crawling in and shorting things out...:bugeyes:

Best rgds to all
paul
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Is this a JPEG or a RAW? If RAW, ACR/Lightroom of something else? I do like the colour.

How would you compare the 85/1.4 with the Zuiko 100/2.8 or 85/2, if you have tested them on the G1H?
These are jpegs straight from the camera. The two portraits have no adjustments except sharpening for web, but even that is minimal. The Zeiss 85/1.4 is much sharper than the Zuiko 100/2.8, which I have used extensively. The Zuiko needs to be stopped down to at least f/4 and preferably f/5.6 to be really sharp.

The downside with the Zeiss is obviously the size and weight. Although it's not a particularly large lens, it's much bigger than either Zuiko, and it feels like it's made out of one massive chunk of glass. Zuiko 100/2 and 90/2 Makro would probably be closer in quality to the Zeiss, but also in size/weight, and they are very expensive, easily twice as much as I paid for the Zeiss.

The Zuiko 85/2 is an interesting alternative which I have almost bought on numerous occasions. Not as good as the Zeiss it seems, but much smaller, reasonably priced and a stop faster than the 100/2.8. Another lightweight alternative is the Pentax 77/1.8. It's an AF-lens, but better to focus manually than most other AF-lenses, and at just 270g, it's really lightweight. Rather expensive though, but then it's a better portrait lens than most others out there.
 
J

jamessp

Guest
I've been stalking this forum since thinking about a jump to m4/3 and I've really appreciated the images and thoughts of many people here in my decision to go small. I had been lugging around what felt like hundreds of pounds of Canon equipment and I just couldn't take it anymore (literally). So I dumped all my Canon gear to finance a GF1, 7-14, 20/1.7, Zeiss ZM 50/2, and a Contax G 90. Some shots by Ray Evans tipped me over the edge on the 90, and I love the shots taken by Louis Berk with his 7-14--they were superb enough to spend $600. Thanks guys! So the equipment trickled in during the past week and here's one I took today of my son with the Contax 90 off a gorillapod (love that the timer is easily accessible on the GF1).

 

DHart

New member
Just received this lens and today, beginning my testing with it. This image made with GH2, ISO 320, Zeiss C/Y 85/1.4 Planar T*, shot at f/1.4, the background is a wooded pergola and weed field on my rural property. I bought this lens specifically for shallow depth of focus still and motion portrait work. I think it's going to work well for me.



Here's the Voigtlander 35mm f/1.2 Aspherical, again, shot on the GH2, ISO 320, shot at f/1.2 with the same pergola background as the above image.



The post to the right side of the image is about 4.5 ft. away from her and that's a wisteria vine winding it's way around and up the post of the pergola.

Clearly, great subject isolation with major BG bokeh is easy to get with these fast lenses when shot wide open and close to minimum focal distance. Perfect receipe for the style of portraiture that I often do. My usual kit for portrait work is the 5DMkII with 70-200 f/2.8L, shot at f/2.8, so using this little GH2 kit is a real hoot for me! I'm likin' it! Not sure how my clients would respond to my use of such non-professional appearing gear, but the results are not bad.

These lenses are not at their best IQ as I used them, wide open, but I like the resulting look and for portraits, a little softness is often a more pleasing rendition.

I'm looking for a "painterly art" from these lenses, not ultimate sharpness.

Also, these were about a stop under-exposed (corrected in LR3 from RAW captures), which I have found the GH2 doesn't like... the built in metering of my GH2 tends to under-expose by about 1 stop. I've found that if I give the sensor an extra stop over what the meter says (depending on subject matter, of course), the IQ is noticibly improved.

Of course, IQ with both of these lenses improves significantly when shot at f/2, up to f/5.6.
 
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bcf

Member
The downside with the Zeiss is obviously the size and weight. Although it's not a particularly large lens, it's much bigger than either Zuiko, and it feels like it's made out of one massive chunk of glass.
I couldn't find the size of the Zeiss. How would you compare its size and weight with those of the Nikon 105/1.8, which I had briefly and fund too big for my taste?
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
I have both. The Nikkor is slightly larger, but not heavier. Not much anyway. I haven't tried it on the GH1 yet, but have the converter, so I'll give it a go for my next photo excursion. The Zeiss is probably a better allround lens. The Nikkor is at its best at portrait distances at large apertures (2.8 and larger). Stopped down more, these two lenses are so sharp you could cut stone with either.

The best allround telephoto lens for m43 would probably be the Pentax 70mm f/2.4, very compact and sharp all over. But it doesn't have an aperture ring, so can only be used wide open, and I can't really see Pentax joining the party here. That would be fun though; all the Limiteds in m43 mount :p

There's another candidate also: the Zeiss CY 85mm f/2.8. It's only 230g and apparently sharp as a tack. Seems to sell for $400 or less. I might have to buy one (and another dry cabinet... :rolleyes: ). Then there's the Nikkor 105mm f.2.5, a proven performer and available for small monies, even as low as $200.
 

DHart

New member
I'm not able to edit my post above, but I thought I might mention that this is the look of a woman whose son (Sgt. Elijah J. Rao, US Army) was killed in Afghanistan, by IED, a year ago. Google will lead you to much about Elijah. She is only now just starting to emerge, a little bit, back into life. His sudden and extremely violent loss has taken a heavy toll on her.
 
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