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An exciting if not controversial Micro Four Thirds weatherproofed macro video-optimised power zoom kit lens from Olympus

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

The announcement today by Olympus of this new Micro Four Thirds system zoom lens is exciting because it is the 1st Micro Four Thirds lens to be weatherproofed and thus signals a long awaited weatherproofed high end Micro Four Thirds Olympus camera is on the way – assuming Olympus survives its current corporate turmoils.

The Olympus m.Zuiko digital ED 12-50mm f/3.5-6.3 EZ macro power-zoom video-optimised MSC lens.

But first, let’s deal with the controversial part – f/6.3 aperture at the long end:

let’s face it NONE of us want a lens with f/6.3 as it’s brightest aperture if we had a choice
but photography is all about compromise, especially when factoring in the following important characteristics:

price – this is extremely important in the mirrorless sector as most adopters would baulk at lens prices over $500
size – the whole point of mirrorless cameras is compact size so a large heavy lens would not suit most adopters
quality – the reason many choose Micro Four Thirds is that it gives great image quality for the size and optical quality is critical for success
convenience – adopters want an all-purpose lens they can take almost anywhere, even if it starts raining and use it for macro if need be
HD video – this has become increasingly important over the past few years, and this lens has been optimised to address this

so Olympus could have made this an f/2.8-4.5 lens but one or more of the above would have to be compromised and you would still need the 45mm f/1.8 lens.
in the end, perhaps the f/6.3 compromise is the easiest to manage as most adopters should have the affordable 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens as well to manage this issue.
perhaps a bigger compromise is the length of this lens at 83mm, it is the same as a 10x zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds – this may actually be more of a show-stopper for many!

Let’s have a look at some of the interesting features of this lens:

24-100mm field of view in 35mm camera terms – perfect for most people including travellers and nature photographers
weatherproofed – just what we have been waiting for – the past Four Thirds weatherproofed pro lenses were highly prized but were big, heavy and expensive (most were over $1200)
macro mode – allows macro to 0.72x in 35mm terms (ie. smallest area 36x48mm at close focus of 0.2m)
non-telescoping zoom – does not need to extend during shooting – zoom elements are contained within the lens barrel to make it easier to weatherproof
motorised zoom (power zoom) – zoom ring controls speed and direction of zoom for smooth zooming during video
faster, near silent autofocus – new linear MSC focus-drive mechanism enhanced by new linear motor for faster, smoother AF performance
superb optical design – 10 elements in 9 groups (Dual Super Aspherical, Aspherical x2, HR and ED Lenses) with a floating lens design which optimises internal lens element positioning which maximises zoom and focus performance at all capture distances.
circular diaphragm blades for nicer bokeh
small 52mm filter size – thus cheaper filters
light and reasonably compact – only 211g and measures a constant 57 x 83mm
AF lock setting – the L-Fn (Lens Function) button suspends the autofocusing operation temporarily to avoid unintended focusing on obstacles that appear suddenly between the camera and the subject.
reasonably affordable – estimated street price $US499

Olympus generally tend to judge the lens market quite well and assuming it is as good optically as we have come to expect from Olympus, I think this lens will find a lot of fans once they get over the f/6.3 psychological hurdle.

To me it makes a lot of sense as a general kit lens and gives users another very handy option indeed, and if they offset the f/6.3 issue with a 45mm f/1.8 portrait lens then they will have a very useful compact kit indeed.

On the other hand there will be a lot of users like me who just want the near impossible, a 12-50mm constant f/2.8 weatherproofed lens with macro in the same size lens but for $699 – that is just not likely to happen. Olympus do have the excellent 14-54mm f/2.8-3.5 Four Thirds lens but this is substantially bigger and heavier.

This would be a brilliant lens for the helmet-cam/body-cam sports videographer:

I could imagine a downhill snow ski videographer mounting a compact weatherproofed Micro Four Thirds camera with this lens onto his helmet to shoot some very exciting video sequences.

The f/6.3 aperture would not be an issue as he would be wanting a reasonable amount of depth of field.

The AF lock could be crucial so he could lock focus before he starts and know that all the motion is not going to upset the focus point, and AF on a rapidly moving camera is not going to be very successful anyway. I am assuming this L-Fn will operate like this as there is little detail regarding this function – of course, it may just be what it says, if you think someone is about to walk between you and the subject, you just press this button and AF is temporarily suspended to avoid change in focus. The question is for how long is AF suspended – until you take your finger off, for a specified time interval, or until you press it again?

The large power zoom ring would be very easy to operate with gloves so he could quickly adjust his field of view.

The weatherproofing obviously becomes a critical feature in such conditions.

So many great kit lenses for Micro Four Thirds users – kind of puts the kit lenses for entry level Canon dSLRs to shame in terms of optical quality and build quality – just head over to lens reviews on dpreview.com to compare the optical performances to see what I’m talking about.

Now, to eagerly await a weatherproof camera from Olympus to match the lens!

More info here.

See here for more Micro Four Thirds lenses.

Please Mr Olympus, can I have the Rokinon 85mm f/1.4 in a more compact, Micro Four Thirds autofocus version, if not, a 100mm f/2.0 would be brilliant.

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Tags: Four Thirds Micro, lens, Olympus

Olympus EC-20 teleconverter for macro use – 1st test images

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008

OK, the logical thing to do in the evening after buying the EC-20 2x teleconverter today (see my earlier post on its outdoor tests with the ZD 50-200mm to give 800mm reach) was to have a play and see how well it works with my lenses and Olympus Ring Flash.

The results are brilliant.

First, I re-checked its closest focus on the ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens and hand-held the Olympus Ring Flash on the lens. Using manual focus and then just moving in and out from the subject until it was in focus was not so easy whilst holding the flash too but you can do it.

Here is a shot of the Microsoft stickers on my laptop from 1.2m (I didn’t measure this, but it seemed like it was as Olympus states as the close focus for this lens). I have placed a ruler there and you can see the width is indeed ~36mm which is the same as a 35mm film width, hence the conventional statement that this offers 1:1 macro in 35mm terms with this configuration.

This was shot at lens aperture of f/5.6 and thus with the 2x TC, the effective aperture is f/11.

ZD50-200mm macro

The upper part of this image is blurred as I intentionally angled the lens to reduce reflections from the flash.

And here is a 100% crop of that image:

ZD 50-200mm macro crop

That is not a bad performance at all given we are 1.2m away!

NOW, let’s try it with one of the sharpest lenses out there, the Olympus ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro.

Obviously, the Ring Flash fits nicely on this lens as long as you bought the optional adapter.

One thing worth noting with this combination is that AF does not work for the shorter focus distances and you have to resort to MF, but that’s OK, that’s what I prefer anyway, and you still get AF confirm light in the viewfinder flashing when you have it exact.

Now for the test photo of the same subject as above but taken at f/8 (ie. f/16 effective with 2x TC):

ZD 50mm macro

The long edge of this image represents about 18mm so it is a 2:1 macro in 35mm terms and this combination thus offers twice the magnification as the 50-200mm + TC-20 combination, but of course the working distance is much closer.

and check out the 100% crop:

ZD 50mm macro crop

Amazingly, this teleconverter also works on my Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens although I’m not sure I would really want to use it that way but given I often only take 2 lenses on my outings, the 7-14mm and 50-200mm, and now the 2x TC, if I desperately needed that gap in my focal lengths, the TC with 7-14mm would give me a 14-28mm lens (ie. 28-56mm in 35mm terms), albeit at f/8 wide aperture.

Note, the Canon teleconverters ONLY work with certain lenses, usually the L series telephoto primes and zooms as well as the tilt-shift lenses.

I will have more of a play with the TC on the weekend, more fun

Posted in lenses, photography | 2 Responses »
Tags: lens, macro, Olympus, Olympus Ring Flash, teleconverter, ZD 50-200mm, ZD EC20

Correction – ZD 50-200mm SWD incompatible with Ring flash

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

In an earlier post about the wonderful Olympus ZD 50-200mm SWD lens, I wrote that it matched nicely with the Olympus Ring Flash for 1:2 macro photography at 1.2m working distance. (I have now amended this post).

BUT I had made a BIG assumption and not actually tested it out until tonight.

That assumption was that the compatibility of the Ring Flash attaching to the original ZD 50-200mm lens would extend to the new SWD version of the lens.

Alas, Olympus for some strange reason, decided to change the lens hood mount in the SWD version of this lens and thus the Ring Flash no longer mounts onto it but must be hand held in place.

This works, but is a bit unwieldy holding the camera, lens in one hand which also needs to press AF button and take photo whilst other hand holds the flash in place.

Looks like it may need some velcro to keep it in place if I can work out a suitable system, and it would be nice then to be able to use it on the 14-42mm kit lens in a similar manner too for wide angle creative portraits.

Fortunately, it seems the Macro Twin Flash still is compatible with the SWD lens.

Sorry if I have misinformed anyone but Olympus did not advertise this incompatibility either to my recollection but I did find a reference here.

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Tags: flash, lens, macro, Olympus, Olympus Ring Flash, telephoto, ZD 50-200mm

Extending the E510 – 800mm reach hand held – wow!

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

I dropped into my local shop today to help me solve a little dilemma.

Will the much touted new Olympus EC-20 2x teleconverter work well with my Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens, or will the image suffer or the AF take too long to work, and could I use it hand held at 800mm at ISO 400 in the shade?

Well, much to my and the salesman’s surprise, when I tried it out in the store and manage to rapidly focus it with AF on a man INSIDE a passing tram and take a reasonable image (although a little blurred on zooming in) of him at 1/50th sec at 800mm hand held, I knew this was going to be one brilliant combination and couldn’t resist it – so I bought it…. just don’t tell my wife!

Firstly, what would be reasonable shutter speeds to use at 800mm reach (ie. 200mm setting on the lens)?

I discovered that although I could take reasonable images at 1/50th sec very carefully hand held at 800mm with IS on, this was pushing the capability just a bit too much and much sharper results were attainable at 1/100th sec, but to be safe I decided to opt for Shutter speed priority exposure mode (the S on the exposure dial), and use 1/200th sec all the time at ISO 400.

So there I was in the city on a cold Winter’s day in fairly heavy overcast, sitting on a bench thinking, now what can I test this unique outfit on?

My shoelaces at 800mm focal length

If you havent guessed, these are the shoelaces I was wearing on my old sports shoes taken at about the 1.2m closest focus distance hand held & rather casually hand held at that!

Given the heavy shade I was in, the camera took this at wide open aperture (f/3.5) which makes it f/7 with the 2x teleconverter and 1/200th sec, ISO 400. As you can see the depth of field is extremely shallow – but that is 1:1 macro or near enough at about 1.2m focus distance and 800mm equivalent focal length reach. This image is not a crop, just resized for the web.

So off I went for a walk, and tried a few different style shots…

see here for these photos with comments on the bottom.

This is a really fun lens, although a bit big especially with the lens hood on (so I took it off walking in the city to avoid scaring people!).

Even into the light without a lens hood, flare was well controlled, image sharp, beautiful background bokeh and this can get you shots not possible before by allowing you to get closer images or to compress perspective to the extreme.

S-AF worked very fast and C-AF worked well once AF had been attained and you kept the subject on the AF point. C-AF does take a while to do the initial lock though, especially if you have changed focus distance considerably, eg. from a close up focus to a distance focus.

I am sure this will work admirably for surfing and wildlife and relatively stationery birds (birds in flight would really need the Olympus E3 body for a better reliability at capturing them).

BUT the important take away point is that this combination provides an extremely usable, portable, relatively light kit with still very good image quality at 800mm reach even in the shade.

What other camera lens combinations could achieve this super telephoto reach at effective aperture wider than f/8 so AF still works and under 3kg?

Olympus with Olympus ZD 70-300mm lens + EC-14 1.4x teleconverter = 840mm reach at f/8 but lower image quality.

Olympus with Olympus ZD 300mm f/2.8 + EC-14 = 840mm reach at f/4 but VERY expensive and big.

Canon APS-C dSLR (eg. 40D) + 300mm f/4L IS + 2x TC = 960mm reach at f/8 but that’s a bigger lens, white and Canon 2x TC’s image quality is not as good.

Canon APS-C dSLR (eg. 40D) + 400mm f/5.6L + 1.4x TC = 900mm reach at f/8 but that’s a bigger lens and no IS.

Canon APS-C dSLR (eg. 40D) + 400mm f/4L IS DO+ 1.4x TC = 900mm reach at f/5.6 but that’s a very expensive lens with DO aberrations.

Canon 1DMIII (1.3x crop) + 400mm f/5.6L + 1.4x TC = 728mm reach at f/8 but that’s a bigger lens and body and no IS, although you can increase ISO by 1-2 stops and you get 10fps.

Nikon DX camera + 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 + 1.4x TC = 840mm reach at f/8 but lower image quality and no IS.

Nikon DX camera + 300mm f/4 + 2x TC = 900mm reach at f/8 but lower image quality and no IS.

On a full frame dSLR, you would need a 400mm f/4 with 2x TC or a 800mm f/5.6 and these lenses are very big, heavy, and expensive.

This is one of the advantages of the Four Thirds system – telephoto reach with portability, and again highlights that sensor image quality is not the PRIME reason to buy into a camera system.

If it were, we would all be taking 8″ x 10″ film cameras to take social shots at parties – a ridiculous notion!

Posted in lenses, photography | 3 Responses »
Tags: E510, lens, Olympus, teleconverter, telephoto, ZD 50-200mm, ZD EC20

Olympus ZD 7-14mm f/4 lens

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

I have been lucky enough to have owned this unique lens for over a year now.

Olympus rate it as part of their super pro series and it is expensive, relatively big and heavy (780g) for a wide angle lens, weatherproof and as usual for Olympus pro lenses has a circular aperture diaphragm.

This lens is an amazing piece of work, feels well built and works very smoothly, although the large convex protuberant front lens makes one anxious that you will damage it if not being careful. But it does have a very nicely fitting metal lens cap which just slides on with precision and stays on.

This lens is approximately equivalent to a 14-28mm lens on a 35mm camera giving it the equal widest ultra wide zoom lens available for any digital SLR. The lens is not a circular fisheye but a rectilinear lens which means it will keep straight lines straight when they are parallel to the sensor plane.

It has close focus to 25cm (just under 10 inches) and when used at 7mm focal length at f/11, the depth of field includes 21-37cm when at closest focus, and an amazing 26cm to infinity depth of field when focused at 40cm.

For maximum resolution, it should probably be used at f/5.6 as diffraction impairs resolution of lenses on Four Thirds sensors at f/8 or smaller. So at focal length of 7mm and aperture of f/5.6 and a focus point set to 0.7m you should have depth of field from 40.5cm to infinity, still very impressive.

see Olympus specifications for this lens here.

When used on a camera body with IS built-in, is the ONLY ultra wide zoom digital SLR kit with image stabilisation capability. Now many will say that IS is not needed on a ultra wide angle lens but in practice, IS further pushes the creative boundaries that can be achieved with this lens as it can be hand held at shutter speeds down to 0.5sec at is widest zoom and still achieve sharp images.

Now why would anyone want to shoot hand held at 0.5sec?

Well it becomes VERY handy for a range of situations including:

allowing one to show water motion in streams and waterfalls
allowing one to blur out moving people to simplify a scene or concentrate attention to a single person in a crowd who is not moving
allow one to do night photography with available lighting

This image was taken hand held, above my head, in light rain (remember this lens is weatherproof), on a cold Melbourne night with IS on at 0.5 sec shutter speed!

BUT you say, you could do all this even better on a tripod?

Unfortunately, tripods are very difficult to use well with an ultrawide lens even if you took the trouble to bring one with you. Composing images with ultra wide lenses usually means camera position and angle is critical to good results and moving a mere inch or so makes a great difference. This becomes frustrating on a tripod, and often the tripod will not allow you to be positioned where you need it – either very close to the ground, above your head, through objects, or suspended over water fountains, etc.

Now, at these strange camera positions needed, Olympus makes your life MUCH easier by allowing you to avoid breaking your back or embarrassing yourself if you have a camera body with either a hinged live AF LCD view such as the Olympus E330, or a rotating LCD with non-realtime AF such as with the Olympus E3.

As I don’t own the E3, one of my favorite walk around outfits is the 7-14mm mounted on an E330 and the 50-200mm mounted on my E510 – these two kits combined make for a lot of creativity and just shear fun without being too much of a weight burden.

This combination of high quality ultrawide angle with image stabilisation down to 0.5sec hand held shutter speeds, ability to compose with camera in strange positions via LCD and weatherproofing all means that you have a unique tool that is ONLY possible with the Olympus Four Thirds system, and soon will also be possible with the Four Thirds Micro system with a silent camera body and movie mode hopefully up to 1200fps – now if you can’t get creative with this there is something wrong!

see some of my photos taken with the Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens

The main downside with this lens apart from expense, weight, size is that inability to use filters, although this is not a big issue as the convex front lens seems to create a polarising effect and this lens is not really designed for landscape panoramas with gradient filters (you would be better off trying the Olympus ZD 11-22mm for architecture and landscapes) but rather as a close up creative lens. In addition, you need to take care that light sources do not hit the front element which may cause potentially unwanted flare points.

If you can’t afford this lens, then Olympus are producing a consumer ultrawide zoom lens – the ZD 9-18mm which will give a 35mm coverage of ~18-36mm which will suit most people and will allow the use of filters for landscape work.

Be warned, this lens will not suit everyone – ultrawide angle lenses are HARD to use well – they are NOT really for getting everything to fit in such as panoramas, but are BEST used close to your main subject (often inches away) and making use of the ultrawide angle to exaggerate perspective, make use of lines, and emphasise your main subject.

One of the main problems with ultrawide photography is not getting everything in, but keeping distracting elements OUT, hence the need for very careful selection of camera position, angle and focal length. Elements in a photo that do not add to the photo only detract from it and should be removed from the composition, and this can be very hard with a ultrawide which tends to get everything relatively sharp due to its wide depth of field.

Furthermore, when used to image people, it will exaggerate features while making people either fat or thin depending on their position in the frame, the result is rarely flattering (see my comparison of lenses used in portraits) but can be very creative as shown in this image taken of statues only inches away:

One thing I would have loved to have been able to do is use the Olympus ring flash on it, but alas it doesn’t fit, although you can hand hold the ring flash next to the lens but this defeats the purpose of an encircling ring flash to give relatively shadowless images.

This is one fun lens to play with!

Posted in lenses | 5 Responses »
Tags: Four Thirds, lens, lenses, Olympus, wide angle, ZD 7-14mm, zoom lens

The Olympus ZD 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

I have had this lens for a couple of months now and I am extremely impressed with it.

In 35mm terms, this lens gives a telephoto reach of 100-400mm at f/2.8-3.5.

Now this image would have been even more dynamic if a 1.4x or 2x TC was used as well – next on my wish list!

Unlike my Canon gear, it gives me high optical quality zoom at wide aperture with 400mm telephoto reach in a nice relatively compact and light lens (although much bigger and heavier than many other Olympus lenses) with a nicely made lens hood which even has a nice touch of a sliding window so you can adjust a polariser filter if needed.

Of course, it is image stabilised when used on an IS camera body such as the Olympus E510/520/E3.

see my comparison of specifications of this lens with those offered for Canon and Nikon.

Despite its 1kg weight, I can carry it with only one finger on my Olympus E510 – something there is no chance I could do with on my Canon 1DMIII – which, although you wouldn’t do this routinely, points to how easy this is to carry for long periods despite its weight.

There are many things to like about this lens apart from its optical quality and telephoto reach:

it is weatherproof – this is a big issue to me as it often starts to drizzle rain on a walk and it is during these times the best photos can be had – not the time to put the camera away – it would be even better matched to the almost waterproof Olympus E3.

it has beautiful bokeh – very nice blurred background quality as a result of its circular aperture diaphragm that most Olympus ZD lenses also have, but is accentuated by the narrower depth of field of the telephoto end of this lens at wide apertures.

the background blurring capability allows the subject to be emphasised very nicely and thus it makes a fantastic portrait lens, especially at the longer focal lengths wide open.

see my comparison of background blurring capability of lenses for portraiture here.

it has a relatively short close focus of 1.2m for a lens of this class (most other full frame lenses of this reach would have a close focus more like 2.4m) which means you can use it for your portraits but perhaps just as importantly, it becomes a very nice long telephoto macro lens with a 1.2m working distance so you don’t scare critters such as dragon flies while still giving high quality 1:2 macro performance.

Flower in the shade, hand held at 200mm (400mm telephoto reach) with IS on.

I just discovered that whilst the original version of this lens can be matched very nicely with the Olympus macro flash system. Thus the Olympus ring flash bayonet mount fits on the lens hood mount of this lens perfectly and is powerful enough for the 1.2m working distance. This could be used for editorial/fashion style portraiture although be aware that at this distance you wont get nice big ring flash catchlights in the subjects eyes and if the subject is looking towards the camera, you will most likely get red eyes which will need removing later.
Be aware that the bayonet mount for the lens hood is different on the SWD version of this lens and thus you have to hand hold the ring flash in place – why did Olympus do this!!!
see compatibilities here.

and if this were not enough, the wide aperture and high quality allow you to combine this lens with either of the Olympus ZD teleconverters for surfing shots, wildlife, etc.

assuming you are using it on an IS-capable camera body, you have an image stabilised outfit with:

the 1.4x TC then gives you a 35mm equiv. telephoto reach of a 140-560mm f/3.9-4.9 lens.

the 2x TC gives you a 35mm equiv. telephoto reach of a 200-800mm f/5.6-7.0 lens – still very usable although you might be considering a tripod or monopod at the longer end.

for most people, this lens combined with the very nice Olympus ZD 12-60mm (ie. 24-120mm – or the cheaper ZD 14-54mm which covers 28-108mm) and perhaps a ZD 50mm f/2.0 macro for closer working distances and more compact outfit, maybe all they need for 95% of their purposes.

This is what makes the Four Thirds system so attractive – quality optics designed for the system, weatherproofing, circular diaphragms, built-in image stabilisation in the cameras and portability.

And hopefully soon, you will be able to use this lens via an adapter on new silent Four Thirds Micro bodies with movie capabilities (hopefully even 1200fps one day).

Finally, here are samples of some of my photos taken with this lens

I highly recommend this lens – its one most people who can afford it should strongly consider getting, in short, I love it!

If you can’t afford it or its size is an issue for backpacking or travel, then consider the lesser capable but cheaper and lighter Olympus ZD 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 ED lens which gives a telephoto reach of 140-600mm at f/4-5.6 although at lesser image quality and the smaller aperture means it will be less capable as a portrait lens or for mating with teleconverters, but you do get an amazing reach in only a 620g lens which will suit many people.

Of course, this doesn’t mean full frame Nikon or the Canon 1DMIII are not good, they just have different strengths such as less noise at high ISO, a little more dynamic range and, currently, faster burst rates of 6-10fps.

For instance you could buy a Canon 1DMIII and use a Canon EF 300mm f/4L IS lens to give you 390mm reach at f/4, and get away with 1-2 stops higher ISO, but it would be heavier and much more expensive package, and less versatile.

Feel free to add comments and a link to your photos with this lens (you may need to click on the post title to bring up the comments field).

Posted in lenses | 7 Responses »
Tags: Four Thirds, Four Thirds Micro, lens, macro, Olympus, portrait, telephoto, zoom lens