Another Lens Option for Focusing on Composition With Micro 4/3

Olympus 15mm f8 "Body Cap" Lens

Image Source: www.amazon.com

 
I've posted some images that I've taken with the Holga 25mm f8 lens for Micro 4/3 recently. Today, I read a nice post by Ray_S on mu-43.com, where he shared several pictures he took in Philadelphia, using the new Olympus 15mm f8 "Body Cap" lens. Ray_S has listed copyright protection on his images, so I didn't repost any here (too bad, I'd say it's limiting his exposure, but that's not my call).
 
So, (Click Here) to see his images.
 
I really like the composition and look of some of these pictures. There's clearly some processing going on here that makes them look like HDR to me. A bit artificial looking, again in my opinion, but the lens clearly works pretty well.
 
The Olympus lens is a 15mm (30mm field of view equivalent on full-frame 35mm sensors), fixed aperture f8 lens. Just like the Holga, it is a slow lens (f8 requires quite a lot of light), and has a little bit of focus adjustment capability, but it's only rough. At 15mm focal length, focus is not much of an issue anyway - the depth of field is enormous. The Olympus lens is wider angle than the Holga, and I'd venture to say the optics are higher quality than the Holga (not a high bar). The other cool thing about the Olympus lens is that it's tiny. In fact, as the name indicates, you can use it as a body cap for your extra Micro 4/3 camera body; it's only 9mm (~1/3 of an inch) thick. It can also focus close-up, to a minimum distance of 30cm (12 inches).
 
The Olympus lens is more "expensive" than the $25 Holga, but at ~$55, it's hardly going to break the bank for anyone who can afford a Micro 4/3 camera body. My conclusion is that the Olympus Body Cap lens adds nicely to the goal of Micro 4/3 gear overall - compact, easy to use, good (not extraordinary) image quality. Maybe I'll try one.
 
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