[wim]

Canon 40mm is awesome. It is tiny, it is brutally sharp from wide open and it's cheap. It even focuses fast. Focal length is useful for pretty much everything and if you put all these together, you'll see it's something that will never let you down.

 

You point, it shoots. Simple as that. You will not be able to get away with using such a large aperture that everything apart from the subject blurs into nonexistence, no. You'll have to compose properly. It is absolutely awful to use a first because you can't be lazy and get away with it. You have to become a good photographer to use it to its near full. You have to move around. You have to see. You have to think and come up with ways to get rid of unwanted elements. And when you do it all, the results pay off for all the hard work. It rewards you generously. 

 

Or you can bring your favorite zoom lens and zoom in and out until you are pleased.

 

Being a full frame user does not mean you only like hilarously large lenses with light gathering capabilities that would give Stephen Hawking a boner. 40/2.8 is one of the best walkaround lenses made by anyone, ever.

 

A very close contender is the Fuji 27/2.8. Sigma 30/2.8 would be up there too but it inspires no confidence at all, being something made of such cheap plastics.

 

To stay native MFT, the Panny 20 F/1.7 is one of these great lenses too.

 

Kind regards, Wim

[JJ_SO]

I must say I had a good laugh . The usual comments, nay-saying and "equivalencing" comments cropped up, as expected.

 

Let me point you to a few reviews and pictures, for the 45 F/1.2 for now:

 

https://blog.mingthein.com/2017/10/26/re...-f1-2-pro/

and

http://pen3.de/blog/zuiko-ed-45mm-f12-pro/#

 

Cheerio!

Wim

 

Why should one waste time with reading about a flare magnet?

 

THAT was a good laugh, that picture.  :lol:

[davidmanze]

   I still can't quite come to terms with the fact that, you have all that body and grip with a decent size lens.......... and it looks great by the way especially in black!.......with all that technology...

 

 

                                         ........and all to make a tiny rectangle of light 17x13mm....

[wim]

   I still can't quite come to terms with the fact that, you have all that body and grip with a decent size lens.......... and it looks great by the way especially in black!.......with all that technology...

 

 

                                         ........and all to make a tiny rectangle of light 17x13mm....

 



 

It still is way, way smaller, and hence much more portable, than my 5D II with, e.g., the 85L, while, for all intents and purposes delivering more than enough IQ for what I need and want.

 

This is what it is all about in the end: different tools for different purposes, needs and wants.

I also find it quite funny that people talk about, e.g. , flare magnets, while, f.e, FF Nikkor lenses are known to be flare magnets as well. It is just a matter, in the end, about careful photography, rather than trying to get the best flares out of a lens .

 

I happen to have the Panasonic 7-14 F/4, which is "known" to give purple spots and such under specific circumstances. I can assure you that I have never seen any. Similarly, I have shot the Nikkor 14-24 F/2.8 for a while, on my 5D II for that matter, with G-adapter, and I have never encountered any problems either.

 

I feel sorry for those who have to zoom in on the faults rather than the positives of lenses and cameras, especially if they do not even have any experience shooting with said equipment. It does seem at times that somehow people need to justify their own choices for equipment by bashing the competition.

 

Do note that Klaus has indicated several times that his preference goes to MFT for personal shooting. Considering the number of camera/lens combination tested here, I reckon that must count for something <ROFL>.

 

Also note that I still shoot FF, and that I will not stop doing so. Again, different tools for different purposes/occasions.

 

Besides all this, looking at the rendering of the 45 Pro, it looks very similar to the 25 Pro, with very nice transitions from OOF to in focus areas, both in front of the focus plane and behind it, which, BTW, is very, very difficult to obtain from an optical design POV. This makes me an instant fan. Even the 50L or 85L do not render this nicely.

 

I will test one when I can get my hands on one, and will take it from there. Looking good, however .

 

Kind regards, Wim

[JJ_SO]

I first went to Olympus website, I think that was your originally posted link.

 

My comment about bokeh was based on the picture of the wedding couple in the grass (tried to link that picture, doesn't work), and the grass appeared to have double contours, making the background nervous - other lenses also do so, it's not easy to get a supersilky background and nearly bitingly sharpness, wide open in main focus plane. Sharpness is out of doubt - although I know how much can be done in post and don't knwo how much Olympus effectively did tot he very small pictures.

 

Now, Nikon being flare magnets doesn't exactly mean others have to do the same.

 

Also, out of 11 lenses for my Nikons, 3 are genuine, tendency decreasing - if someone likes a 14-24, drop me a PM, indoors it still is a cool lens. Same for the 85/1.4G. Both are sensitive to frontlight, yes, but to manage to fill 1/5 of the area with flare - it's a challenge even for them. At least such a multicolor flare which are very demanding to retouch. I cannot do it properly, only reducing it.

 

Landscape, as you said, one needs to be careful where to aim it at. The rest of my lenses will have a hard time to give me that kind of flare. And I didn't got the impression, the dog picture was in the gallery because someone wanted to show ugly flares? Maybe I'm wrong... I thought the dog was for the furr resolution.

 

Why do you develop such a defense reflex? Did you buy Olympus shares or are you employed by them? I'm really only asking, because we all (here and elsewhere) follow this reflex. To justifiy our investments, choices? I mean, it's obvious that each manufacturer has some weaker items in his portfolio. If you never take a picture of a dog in frontlight, you're pretty much done and would get an outstandingly sharp, rigid, weatherproof, fast lens, not too heavy for what it is. Things may have downsides, tools, too, so what - most of the time that doesn't make them worthless. But it's good to know about strengths and weaknesses.

[mike]

 

It still is way, way smaller, and hence much more portable, than my 5D II with, e.g., the 85L, while, for all intents and purposes delivering more than enough IQ for what I need and want.

 

This is what it is all about in the end: different tools for different purposes, needs and wants.

  .

 

Kind regards, Wim

 

Yes, in that small, and light bag I have 2xPen-F, Panny 20/1.7, Panny 35-100, Panny 12-32, and Panny 7-14/4. Let's not forget my tour guide book, extra batteries, and some other paraphernalia. Working out of a small bag like this shouldn't be underestimated wither.  BTW, I'm standing on a pyramid and glad I didn't have to carry my old setup to the top.

 


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[Brightcolours]

Of course a 5D mk whatever + 85mm f1.2 is heavier. It is after all a full sized DSLR with battery life to go with it, and a 42.5mm f0.6 MFT equivalent lens. Wanna have a guess at how big and heavy a 42.5mm f0.6 MFT lens will be?

 

What is true: different tools for different purposes, needs and wants. 

 

MFT with smaller aperture lenses to give a smaller and lighter set up, that makes sense. For bigger apertures, higher resolutions, one can choose different tools.

 

About the rendering:

http://www.getolympus.com/media/catalog/...ws8_18.jpg

http://www.getolympus.com/media/catalog/...ws9_12.jpg

http://www.getolympus.com/media/catalog/...s10_12.jpg

http://www.getolympus.com/media/catalog/...el_107.jpg

All not rendered all that nicely.

 

I don't know any relatively recent Nikkors that flare + veil that badly?

[Klaus]

The more I look at the sample the more I like the bokeh. 

 

About flare ... generally it is fairly well control with ultra-wide to wide angle lenses but it's really easy to produce with many tele lenses. Of course, that is of less relevance because you can usually keep the sun outside of your image field.

[thxbb12]

Despite this flare issue (where it remains to be seen if it cannot be produced with other lenses in the exact same situation), I really like the rendering of the lens wide-open.

Here is another gallery of photos, all shot at f1.2.

I find the bokeh very pleasing.

[Brightcolours]

In that gallery, the bokeh is indeed agreeable, it almost seems as if it is a different lens than the images from the Olympus web page.