Swedish Rally Championship, Photographed on Micro 4/3 by Lars Martensson

 

Image Source: http://www.mu-43.com/showthread.php?p=535446#post535446

Swedish photographer Lars Martensson made the image above with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1, Micro 4/3 camera, and Olympus 17mm lens. He didn't say whether it was the original Oly 17mm f2.8, a much-maligned but probably very capable lens, or the newer f1.8 lens (which gets great reviews).

(Click Here) to see all of the pictures Lars posted on mu-43.com.

(Click Here) to see Lars Martensson's web page.

I appreciate a photographer who can put a wide angle lens to good use in an event like this. Martensson also used a 300mm lens on an Olympus E-M5, but I think his wide angle usage adds significantly to the series. My first thought would be to grab a telephoto, and I may bring something wider to shoot the crowd, drivers up close, etc. That would be conventional. Lars shows us how to do that, and still make some unique images using the wide angle lens.

As I've mentioned, I've made the decision to add Micro 4/3 back into my active kit very soon. Just waiting on delivery of my new DMC-GX7.

DMC-365.blogspot.com

 

A Deeper Look at the New Olympus 17mm f1.8 Micro 4/3 Lens

Ming Thein (blog.mingthein.com) has done a very nice write-up on the new Olympus 17mm f1.8 lens. I covered the announcement of this exciting new lens a few days ago.
 
Unfortunately, Ming copyright protects all of his images, so rather than using one of his excellent images, I grabbed this one (also nice) from photoxels.com:
 

Shot With Olympus 17mm f1.8 Lens

Image Source: http://www.photoxels.com/photography/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/olympus-m-zuiko-17mm-f1.8-low-light-photo-pa170026_Art.jpg

 
Ming compares the new lens to two existing ones: the Olympus 17mm f2.8 and the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7. I have the 20mm f1.7, and it's an amazing little lens. However, Ming's article brings out one very important feature of the new Olympus lens that really has me interested - a real depth of field scale! More on that later.
 
Ming says that the Olympus 17mm f1.8 is built similarly to the new Olympus 75mm f1.8, that is, it's one of their premium lenses, with no plastic construction. I can say that the 75mm is built very nicely, and feels great in the hand. Ming also says the expensive Olympus accessory hood is poorly designed, and makes it hard to remove the lens cap.
 
Focus is reportedly "very, very fast," even when compared to the Lumix 20mm lens. I have never felt that the 20mm is slow to focus, but I have read it in other places. Focus speed is not enough to interest me in the new lens
 
The new Olympus lens focuses to a minimum of 25 cm.
 
Ming reports that the field of view difference between the Lumix 20mm and Olympus 17mm f1.8 is nearly negligible; from that standpoint it makes me think that it's not worth adding the Olympus lens to my kit.
 
However, as I mentioned above, the fact that the 17mm has a depth of field scale may change all that. You see, none of my Micro 4/3 lenses have any type of focus scale or depth of field indicator on the lens body. Importantly, you also cannot trust the scale on lenses adapted to Micro 4/3 from other mounts; they are usually not correct. This means that doing zone focus manually (where I use a set f-stop and manual focus to allow for very quick shooting on the street) is impossible, other than a trick for setting hyperfocal distance. This is a major drawback, as I love to use a small aperture (usually f8), and manually focus to get a very large range of distances in focus. I also like to use the depth of field scale to tell me how far away the minimum point of clear focus will be. With my Leica, for example, I can look down and tell myself mentally "anything beyond 8 feet is mine." This new Olympus lens will make that possible on a Micro 4/3 body. Therefore, I've got to give this lens a try.
 
The new lens is reportedly going to be priced at around $500, and should be available in the US in December.
 
(Click Here) to read Ming's full review.
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com
 
The new Oly lens is not yet on Amazon. Here's a link to the very nice Lumix 20mm f1.7:
 
 

New Olympus 17mm f1.8 Lens for Micro 4/3

 

New Olympus 17mm f1.8 for Micro 4/3

Image Source: http://www.olympus.co.uk/site/en/c/cameras_accessories/pen_om_d_cameras_accessories/pen_om_d_lenses_adapters/m_zuiko_digital_17mm_1_1_8/index.html

 
Olympus has announced a new 17mm f1.8 lens for Micro 4/3 cameras. This is a welcome addition to the Micro 4/3 world, giving an equivalent field of view to the 35mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera. This is a classic focal length, and comes in second only to 50mm field of view as a "standard" lens.
 
(Click Here) to read about it on ePhotoZine.
 
The new lens features Olympus new "ZERO" low reflection lens coatings, and a quick focus mechanism. I have never tried this, but the description says that you slide the focus ring to get approximately in focus, then twist it (like a normal focus ring) to dial in with precision. To me, this sounds like replacing one motion with two, and doesn't sound fast. On the other hand, if your manual focus ring requires a lot of turns to cover the focus range, perhaps this approach is faster.
 
So what does this lens compete with? First in my mind is the Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7. The field of view is slightly different, but not that much. The Panasonic lens is a jewel - tiny, fast, sharp. Otherwise, there's the older Olympus 17mm f2.8 lens. I have never used one, but it sure doesn't get good reviews online. Now, take that with a grain of salt. I bet it's a quite useable lens, just not a premium model like the newly announced 17mm f1.8.
 
As with all Olympus lenses, there is no in-lens optical stabilization; Olympus builds that into their camera bodies. The Lumix lens doesn't have stabilization either, and in my opinion it's not needed at this focal length, as long as you have a fast aperture (like f1.7 or 1.8).
 
Based on the new Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens that I have recently purchased, I would predict that this premium lens from Olympus will be a real winner.
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com
 
 
DMC-365.blogspot.com