Photographic Lenses II

• see also my notes:

  • lenses

  • super wide angle lenses on digital

  • super tele

  • portrait lens

  • perspective control

  • travel

  • macro

  • image stabiliser

  • Olympus OM lenses on digital

  • E330 lenstests 1

  • Canon 1DIII L series lenses vs Olympus lens tests

  • digital cameras and focusing

  • Olympus E digital

  • Nikon

  • Canon

• online discussions:

  • on the issue of prime lenses availability for dSLRs
  • http://bythom.com/lensrefresh.htm - Nikon lenses - what's needed

• online reviews:

  • http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/ 

• online image examples:

  • Photosig's member photos by lens used 

Introduction:

• remember, all Olympus lenses have image stabiliser by virtue of the in-camera image stabiliser.

Lenses for the casual user:

• casual users usually cannot afford expensive lenses and do not want lots of lenses or large lenses

• thus 2 or 3 compact lenses with image stabiliser (IS or VR) functionality is the way to go for these users to give a 35mm equivalent range of 28-300mm.

Lenses for the advanced amateur:

• advanced photographers will be happy to give up the compact, light size for improved image quality, wider & longer focal lengths and faster apertures, but would still prefer all to be with image stabiliser functionality without professional prices (ie. $A800-$A1400 per lens).

Lenses for the professionals:

• professional photographers need a few highest quality zoom lenses to cover 16-400mm, but would still prefer all to be with image stabiliser functionality.

Although I have given Olympus a few green advantage points for their superb lenses, Canon & Nikon dSLR bodies have the advantage at high ISO with their lower noise and also in some cases such as the Canon 1D, faster burst rates and improved AF. To offset this, the Olympus telephoto lenses are more readily hand-held & portable, and often 1 stop faster for effective focal length magnification.

I believe the in-camera image stabiliser is the way of the future as it works on all lenses and can be turned off if not required without the disadvantages of leaving extra optical elements to degrade the image. Here Olympus has a significant advantage, especially with the Olympus E3 with its 5EV IS.