Going to 4/3 for creative expansion

[sean_buerger]

Dear Camels,

the last few months I've been going into myself to find out what I actually want in a digital camera. I'm a Nikon user on film and digital. While my D200 has it's pros, I also feel that it limits creatively with its weight, size and clumsiness (in some ways).

I really do not like the implementation of live view on the D300. I find that the D300 offers a lot of improvements over the D200, but those improvements are not that relevant to the way I use my dSLR.

My choice will be the Olympus 420 or the Panasonic L10. Unfortunately Olympus is rather slow introducing the 420 in Singapore. They're still selling the 410 here. We do have the previous Panasonic in the house (not owned by me), which is a nice enough camera. But the new one is a bit smaller, which makes it my choice. Even on the old Panasonic the live view implementation is very much suited for my use.

I will keep the lens selection pretty small for the beginning, as I don't see it as a replacement to the D200 first. Rather I will use it for specific stuff. One use will be as my daily companion instead of a digital compact. The other use will be (not extreme) macro and close up photography, which is what I would call my recreational past time.

So - long story - I'm looking for three lenses:

-1- Leica 1,4 25mm
-2- Olympus 2,8 25mm (pancake)
-3- Olympus 2,0 50mm (macro)

I'm sure all three lenses are fine pieces of glass. I'm not sure whether the Leica is really necessary, as it appears to be on the heavy side. I read that it is a 10 element aspherical lens. This amount of correction seems a bit excessive to me, but would perhaps lead to less distortion and better colour correction. I would assume though, that the Olympus pancake might have better out-of-focus blur, as it appears to be a much more simple design.

Presumably the 2,0 50mm macro lens is very sharp indeed. Looks like they use that one as a standard lens for dpreview 4/3 cam reviews. So it won't be bad at all.

So, if any of you have any of those lenses, I'd love to hear some comments. Or if you feel like it, you can point me to other lenses, which are worth considering as a small - but select - 4/3 startup kit.

Do those lenses that I've mentioned have rounded aperture blades? I'm rather particular on out-of-focus blur. I find also that my Nikkor lenses are weaker in colour separation of cold colours, compared to older Zeiss Jena lenses that I used on film (135 & 120 format).

Ah, I'm so longwinded. Love to see some hints, tips or pictures if you like...

Thanks a lot. Sean.

[Raist3d]

sorry I missed this post earlier. Sounds like you are shooting for primes- a sensible choice now that I am also appreciating that a bit more, though 4/3rds is a system still built more on zoom than primes but there are some for sure.

On the pancake- yes, get it for the size. Keep in mind this is considered a "standard grade" lens in 4/3rds though standard lens in 4/3rds is often medium or medium to high elsewhere. It's actually still pretty good, has some CA's at wide angle in some situations.

- The Leica- well the main thing on that Leica is the speed. Also remember 4/3rds runs about 2 stops of DOF of difference longer between full frame and about 1 stop (or was it 2/3rds?) with APS-C (Nikon D200/D300). So for shallow DOF, an F1.4 would be what an F2.8 gives you in full frame or F2.0 in APS-C.

I am pretty sure that Leica is a fine piece of glass and performs pretty good. To me the main reason to get it would be low light work.

- The F2.0 50mm- this is one of the sharpest and best lenses 4/3rds has and one of the best in the market of digital from what I have seen. It's great for portraits and it's relatively fast. I would say this + pancake can still give you a fairly "mobile" solution.

I don't know about the bokeh / aperture circular or not particulars off top of my head, I think all three are circular but I could be wrong. Some of the landscape shots I have posted recently have been all pancake shots.

I would say, start out with the pancake + F2.0, and if you need more low light work then consider that Leica.

You may also want to get an good all-rounder with zoom, if you do zooms. In that case the 14-54 would be my recommendation for affordability and quality + size.

- Raist

[craftysnapper]

Sean a couple from this morning taken with the E-420 and ZD 50mm Macro.

[sean_buerger]

Thanks for your suggestions and wonderful pix! You cannot believe how I appreciate how this particular colour comes out on the flower shots!

The decision making process is done on my side as well. I will go with the Panasonic cam, the Leica 25mm lens and the Olympus 50mm macro for starters.

Thanks! Sean.

[dzundel]

Sounds like you made an excellent choice!

I think you'll definitely be more than happy with that setup!

[sean_buerger]

Hello Camels,

my kit is complete for now! Yes, I could not resist the temptation of the pancake, haha. That little lens is a very useful addition, as the Leica 25mm is really bulky and heavy! So this is how the kit looks like (see below).

The camera is really a joy to use. The live view system is really very fluid and natural. Altogether the ease-of-use is excellent. The prime lenses with the camera produce pictures of outstanding clarity. And all this comes in a small and very light package (especially with the pancake).

Will post more stuff here. Cheers, Sean.

[sean_buerger]

Ok,

David vs Goliath!

time to compare detail resolution of the Panasonic DMC L10 & Pancake Olympus 2,8 25mm lens with my Nikon D200 & Nikkor AIS 2,0 24mm. The screenshot shows a detail of 200% mag near the frame edge at F02,8 & F0,40.

Impressive results of the tiny combination! Sean.

[sean_buerger]

So, let's compare the Panasonic DMC L10 & Olympus MACRO vs Nikon D200 & Voigtlaender 1,4 58mm. It's the same scene as above. All pictures are shot in RAW using the same RAW converter and settings for both cameras.

The beauty here is that with the Pansonic I will focus the lens with liveview and shoot within a few minutes. The D200 doesn't provide that luxury and doesn't have an AF that is accurate enough for lens comparisons. I calibrated the viewfinder myself on the D200 and use an angle magnifier on it to achieve more accurate manual focusing. Even so, several shots have to be done to optimize the focusing in little steps - tedious!

With the 4/3 system there are obviously no worries with lens quality and camera detail resolution, even though a smaller sensor is in use! Great stuff!

Cheers, Sean.

[sean_buerger]

Let's take a look at the 3,8..5,6 14..50mm Kit Lens. The crops are 200% mag all shot wide open. The zoom lens behaves typically, by delivering sharp performance on the wide angle side and somewhat dropping at the long end.

The zoom lens makes for good wide angle shots, not so much on the long end. At 50mm you have only F08,0 for good sharpness. At F11,0 diffraction cuts in.

Cheers, Sean.

[sean_buerger]

I mentioned earlier, that we have a Panasonic DMC L1 in the house. That one came with the 2,8..3,5 14..50mm zoom lens. This lens is pretty good, but behaves differently. The lens is rather soft at the wide side, recovers quickly and remains good until the long end.

Crops under similar conditions as above. Sean.