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The lens I've been waiting for, PL 50-200

Knorp

Well-known member
12-60 is a marvelous lens, just look out for decentered samples.
Decentered lenses seems to be an all too common issue with Panasonic.
I like f.i. the Summilux 12/1.4 a lot, but I'm holding off just because of this very reason.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
Mmm, the verdict is not what I hoped for.
Well the Olympus 40-150 is faster and obviously sharper in most situations. It is a bit more compact than the Olympus, but not much IMHO.

BUT the additional f-stop especially in the tele-range is of significant value since we have to deal with m43 sensor size, that finally makes the Olympus 2.8/40-150 the clear winner for me :cool:;):clap:

Another reason not to bother about the PanaLeica 50-200 anymore!
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Well the Olympus 40-150 is faster and obviously sharper in most situations. It is a bit more compact than the Olympus, but not much IMHO.

BUT the additional f-stop especially in the tele-range is of significant value since we have to deal with m43 sensor size, that finally makes the Olympus 2.8/40-150 the clear winner for me :cool:;):clap:

Another reason not to bother about the PanaLeica 50-200 anymore!
Those were my first thoughts as well, but then I thought:

- The PL is as long without a TC as the Zuiko with the 1.4x.
- By adding TCs to the PL, it will become a 70-280mm f/4-5.6 or 100-400mm f/5.6-8. There are no such options for the Zuiko.
- The PL offers dual IS on Panasonic bodies, the Zuiko relies completely on IBIS.
- While I agree that Zuiko is somewhat sharper and indeed has a slight aperture advantage at some focal lengths, my experience with the lens is that bokeh tends to be distracting with busy backgrounds when the main subject is too far away.
- Although the difference in size doesn't seem to be much, the bulky lens hood of the Zuiko makes the lens take up a lot of space in the camera bag.

They are clearly both great lenses, but for me as a travel photographer, the PL wins hands down due to the smaller size and longer reach. The fact that I tend to prefer the background rendering of Panasonic lenses compared to those from Zuiko helps also.
 

ptomsu

Workshop Member
Those were my first thoughts as well, but then I thought:

- The PL is as long without a TC as the Zuiko with the 1.4x.
- By adding TCs to the PL, it will become a 70-280mm f/4-5.6 or 100-400mm f/5.6-8. There are no such options for the Zuiko.
- The PL offers dual IS on Panasonic bodies, the Zuiko relies completely on IBIS.
- While I agree that Zuiko is somewhat sharper and indeed has a slight aperture advantage at some focal lengths, my experience with the lens is that bokeh tends to be distracting with busy backgrounds when the main subject is too far away.
- Although the difference in size doesn't seem to be much, the bulky lens hood of the Zuiko makes the lens take up a lot of space in the camera bag.

They are clearly both great lenses, but for me as a travel photographer, the PL wins hands down due to the smaller size and longer reach. The fact that I tend to prefer the background rendering of Panasonic lenses compared to those from Zuiko helps also.
How many tons of images should I send you that show the bokeh is really great from that lens? It depends how you use it and I doubt that a smaller aperture like the PL 50-200 lens would come close to this bokeh! It is a bit smaller for sure but the is not much difference. And the lens hood can be removed when it disturbed.

On paper the PL 50-200 is lighter and smaller, but in real use things turn often out to be very different.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
How many tons of images should I send you that show the bokeh is really great from that lens? It depends how you use it and I doubt that a smaller aperture like the PL 50-200 lens would come close to this bokeh! It is a bit smaller for sure but the is not much difference. And the lens hood can be removed when it disturbed.

On paper the PL 50-200 is lighter and smaller, but in real use things turn often out to be very different.
I owned the Zuiko for 6 months, and although most of the photos were fine, some were not, so I changed it for a used Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 and still I had enough money to buy the 12-35mm f/2.8 too. For me, that was a happy choice.
 

Knorp

Well-known member
Well the Olympus 40-150 is faster and obviously sharper in most situations. It is a bit more compact than the Olympus, but not much IMHO.

BUT the additional f-stop especially in the tele-range is of significant value since we have to deal with m43 sensor size, that finally makes the Olympus 2.8/40-150 the clear winner for me :cool:;):clap:

Another reason not to bother about the PanaLeica 50-200 anymore!
Absolutely, but for me after the Summilux 12/1.4 this is another sort of disappointment.
The one lens that seens to hold its ground is the Elmarit 200/2.8 ... :rolleyes:
 

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Absolutely, but for me after the Summilux 12/1.4 this is another sort of disappointment.
The one lens that seens to hold its ground is the Elmarit 200/2.8 ... :rolleyes:
Thanks Bart.
How does the Elmarit 200/2.8 + 1.4x TC compare to the Olympus 300/4.0 Pro? TIA.
 

bensonga

Well-known member
Recieved my PL 50-200 yesterday. I will try to take some photos with it on the G9 and post them here soon. I am very pleased with how compact the lens is. Like the PL 8–16 and 12-60, the build quality is very good.

My G85 and G9 (both with the battery grips attached) and these 3 lenses fit nicely in a mid-size camera bag.

Gary
 

bensonga

Well-known member
Apologies for not having anything more interesting to share than these test shots. SOOC JPG. ISO 200 at f8. No added sharpening. Resized to 2048 dpi on the long side.

G9 and PL 50-200 at 50mm, 100mm and 200mm.

Gary

50mm


100mm


200mm
 
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