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Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75 mm F1.8 Lens, Fast Fixed Focal Length, Suitable for All MFT Cameras (Olympus OM-D & PEN Models, Panasonic G Series), silver

£9.9£99Clearance
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Apochromatic lenses have special lens elements aspheric, extra-low dispersion etc. to minimize the problem, hence they usually cost more. I shot exclusively with the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 pancake lens for the first six months after I bought my E-M10. That Panasonic lens put my kit lens to shame in numerous ways. Sharpness topped the list of improvements the pancake lens offered, but autofocus was a close second.

I really like landscape shots taken with a telephoto lens. The M.Zuiko 75mm already has excellent sharpness at f/1.8 but it gets even better when stopped down. The sweet spot is around f/4 and f/5.6 but it remains very sharp up to f/11. After that, some diffraction will start to appear. The best sharpness is found at the centre but I find the performance at the corners excellent too and that’s why I like to use it for landscape work. (Since a zoom lens will give you more precision in framing your image, the Lumix 35-100 is also a valid option for telephoto landscape photography, also because you don’t really need the fast 1.8 aperture.) E-M1, 1/500, f/11, ISO 200 E-M1, 1/400, f/11, ISO 200 E-M1, 1/500, f/11, ISO 200 E-M1, 1/800, f/8, ISO 200 However if you are just looking for your first portrait lens to add to say, a standard zoom, then I would advise you to look more closely at the incredible value of the Olympus 45mm f/1.8. It is sharp, light and a lot cheaper than the 75mm. Plus I find the focal length much more useful in a wider range of situations.Levels of chromatic aberrations may be a little on the high side for some people's taste at apertures faster than f/2.8. Fringing just exceeds 0.9 pixel widths towards the edges of the frame at these fast apertures. With the aperture stopped down to between f/2.8 and f/16 fringing remains below half a pixel width towards the edges of the frame, which should pose few issues. This is certainly one of the genres that suits this lens the best, but the focal length might not satisfy everyone. 75mm gives you an equivalent focal length of 150mm on 35mm format which is longer than the usual portrait focal length (85 or 105). It works very well in large spaces but if you are in a small studio or restricted environment, you might have more trouble creating enough distance between you and your subject unless you are doing head shots. This is a valid point, especially if you are considering this lens as your only portrait lens. Imatest was only able to detect 0.9% pincushion distortion during testing, which is a very low level indeed. If absolutely straight lines are paramount, you'll be glad to know that the distortion pattern is uniform across the frame, which should make applying correction in image editing software afterwards a breeze.

Just bare this in mind if you are going to shoot in very high contrast conditions but I would not let it put you off what is otherwise a superb performing lens. The only ring you will find on the lens is the focus ring which is of course “fly by wire.” It is pleasant to use and very smooth. Out of the various electronic rings I’ve tried on many lenses, this is certainly one of my favourite for Micro Four Thirds. That said, I admit that I rarely focus manually with it. This is quite a common flaw in many of todays lenses and I am not usually put off by it as long as a lens doesn’t suffer too badly. Anyway, thanks for another great article, and I will make sure to continue reading your blog every now and then!

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That wide aperture also means that creative effects can be achieved when shooting wide open. Very shallow depth of field can be achieved, with out of focus areas being rendered smoothly. The drop off in focus is also pleasing and we can see this lens being very popular with those wanting to shoot portraits professionally.

As far as sharpness is concerned, this lens performs extremely well. Sharpness is already excellent in the centre of the frame at f/1.8 with good sharpness towards the edges of the frame at this aperture. Stopping down takes this lens into a league of its own. It is so sharp that you'll be hard pressed to see any difference in sharpness across the frame between f/2.8 and f/11. Knowing this, and knowing my potential subject matter, I went on the hunt at Christmas time for the ultimate portrait lens in the Micro 4/3 system. My hunt wasn’t as exhaustive as my current lens hunts, but that’s mostly because of the widespread love for the Olympus 75mm f/1.8. After seeing some incredible photos across the web, and after getting some encouragement from new colleagues, I expended my Christmas money on a piece of glass that cost more than my camera body itself. Unsurprisingly it does create very pleasing images of people. Below are a small sample of the types of pics I have got so far. I am not much of a “street photographer” but the focal length works nicely to grab interesting pictures without being overly intrusive. I am not the most experienced portrait photographer, but its something I would love to learn more on and improve. We use Imatest SFR (spatial frequency response) charts and analysis software to plot lens resolution at the center of the image frame, corners and mid-point distances, across the range of aperture settings and, with zoom lenses, at four different focal lengths. The tests also measure distortion and color fringing (chromatic aberration). The complementarity between sharpness and bokeh is confirmed once again, as well as my choice to rely on my mighty “Big Old Boy”. For me, the M.Zuiko 75mm f1.8 is the absolutely perfect fixed focal length photographic lens for live portraits, particularly to record the characters of the contemporary music scene, most of all jazz singers and players.Here’s a shot of my wife that I took which shows how sharp details such as eyelashes look when shooting portraits. I didn’t make any extra effort to get a really sharp shot here. This was how it came out when we were playing about taking pictures. Being an all-metal lens, the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 75mm f/1.8 naturally features a metal bayonet mount that allows it to be mounted to any Micro Four Thirds camera (but no “regular” Four Thirds DSLR, of course). Just bear in mind that a 75mm fixed focal length is not always easy to use. You can sometimes find yourself too close or not close enough to the action. Also, it doesn’t come with optical stabilisation, which can be a disadvantage for Panasonic Lumix users. Lateral chromatic aberrations, typically seen as blue or purple fringes along contrasty edges, are essentially a non-issue with this lens – the examples below show the worst-case scenario. Longitudinal chromatic aberration, also known as 'bokeh fringing' is a bit easier to spot, especially in photos taken at maximum aperture, but only if you are actively looking for it.

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