70-75 = 135mm [non macro] 1.4-1.8

[Jonathanp]

After shooting with the 85mm 1.4 on the D1X I would love a 70-75mm 1.4 or 1.8 from Olympus or Sigma, Anything down the pipe? I was not impressed [at all really] with the 25mm 1.4. It's a great lens at 699, but 999-1099 can it wasn't anything to write home about.

I am going to drop a letter to sigma/olympus requesting such a beast. If your going to reco the 35-100 F2 I know about it already and it's a zoom. I am looking for a lightweight fixed something like the 135mm I have with my OM. Any ideas?

[dougjgreen]

Nope, the best you can do is use one of the numerous fast, sharp legacy optics out there. I have a Nikkor 85mm f2 that's so small it makes a great street shooting lens. But it's also a bit long at 170mm equivalent on 4/3 There's a bit of a gap between some older fast 55-58mm lenses (I use a Pentax 55mm f1.8, and Konica made an excellent 57mm f1.4) and many vendors' fast 85mm lenses. In practice, I don't find this small gap to be a big problem, as my 55mm f1.8 is usually sufficiently long, and for those occassions when it's not, than the 85mm is often just what I was looking for.

If I were you, I'd go for one of the 55-58mm fast legacy manual focus lenses, as they are dirt cheap and there are very cheap adapters for them - but, you'll need to focus manually. Those lenses can be gotten for under $50.

[Paul Shields]

I'd like to see more primes too. I used the OM 135 f/2.8 a lot in my film days and it was a nice focal length. I think for Oly though the future is in zooms - and they are very nice zooms in the f/2 range. Just a bit expensive and heavy...