Finally Olympus announced the new 75mm f/1.8 Micro Four Thirds lens. The announcement was first scheduled for last Tuesday but it had been delayed because of some lens firmware issues. And Olympus decided in very last minute to release it today 🙂 Keep watching this post for updates!
Preorders
Not available yet at Amazon (Click here). Should arrive soon!
Highlights
MTF curves offered by Olympus (Click here) show correction of astigmatism is almost perfect, the contrast (blue lines) is very high and very even center to corner, and that the resolution (red lines) is of similar rank. Image samples are available at Olympus Japan. The price in dollar is $899. But there seems to be a bit of confusion on the European price. 800 according to DSLRmagazine, 900 according to Quesabesde and 949 Euro according to Systemkameraforum. Same confusion in Japan…It’s also on Yodobashi for 99,000 yen and on Map Camera for 89,000 yen. I guess that’s why we had the not so correct rumor about the $799 price. Wrong prices are floating around the web 🙂
Here in short the lens specs:
• 75mm focal length (equivalent to 150mm in the 35mm film format)
• F1.8 aperture with circular blades
• 3 ED and 2 HR lens elements
• Premium multi-coating using Olympus ZERO lens coating technology
• High speed, silent focusing with MSC lens drive technology
• All metal barrel
• Precision manual focus ring
• Compatible with all Micro-Four Thirds standard mount cameras
• Portraiture, Fashion, Stage, Sports and low- light photography applications
• Expected availability in June/July 2012
Hands-on Previews and Image samples
Hands-on at Four Thirds User.
Image samples at Olympus Japan.
Hands-on by the finnish website Sulanto.
Press Release
Dpreview
Systemkameraforum (german). They actually say the price in Euro is 949! Hope it’s just a mistake.
Full Lens PDF at Olympus Australia
Techradar
Photographyblog
DSLRmagazine (google translation here)
Photoscala (german)
Poll
There are no reviews yet but the MTF curves promises that this is a very high quality lens. The only downsided are the price in USA which is $899 (no 1:! conversion rate with the European 799 Euro price) and the fact that you have to pay extra money for the metal hood. Here is the Question:
[poll id=”138″]
151 Responses
$900 USD… was a little higher (by about $100) than I would have liked 🙁
What happened to the $799 price tag????????????????
Gee….does that $900 include the lens hood and a $2 pouch?????????? Or are they extra again?
I think I may wait until the price drops a little on this one.
I always need to think about a hood when i see your name
It used to be 799$ ,..but an extra 50 $ for the bokeh and 50 $ for a shallow Dof ,..
I hope the FF Gestapo doesn’t hear this rumor,.and start to compare F1.8 against F3.5,..DoF
I don’t think those internet whiners have shot a real portrait in their life.
You should be stopping down to 4 or 5.6 make sure you have the whole face in focus.
Nobody wants a portrait where their nose is sharp but their eyes are soft.
And that’s exactly what will happen if you use Canon’s “grapefruit” 85mm f1.2 on FF wide open.
Well, if you’d focus on the nose in a portrait shot, yes the eyes would be soft. But one of the basic rules of portret photography is to focus on the eyes… A soft nose or hair, is a lot less annoying than soft eyes and can even contribute to the picture on some occasions.
If your subject is further away from you than a frame filling shot of her face, let’s say a full-body portrait, the 85mm f/1.2 will provide background blur that not many lenses can match.
It seems like an excellent lens, but it is way too expensive, Canon and Nikon make 85mm f/1.8 suitable for full frame, so more glass and more expensive to produce, at less than half that price tag… You can pay for build quality, but twice as much…?
Well, it’s metal construction, but still why it’s twice as expensive as Canikon 85mm 1.8?
It looks like I still need my E-M5 to come, yet. Looks good.
This is 4/3’s User hands on preview. http://fourthirds-user.com/2012/05/exclusive_handson_preview_of_the_new_olympus_mzuiko_75mm_f18.php
What I liked about Ians piece was the photograph with the lens mounted on the Silver E-P3, that white grip looks deplorable, any Black Silver combination after that will look sublime.
I wonder how much it will be for Australia!!! :/
I hope around the $800 mark.
It would more likely be at least $1000, especially with our dropping dollar value. You can blame them Greeks. 😉
What do the Greek economy have to do with American pricing. It’s beyond me.
If anything it would be in Europe where the influence of the Greek situation is be felt.
We (Europeans) will pay extra taxes because of the “Rescue Greece” operation.
I would think it perfectly normal for US prices to be higher than Euro prices. Now the only thinkg still crooked are UK pound prices. Allthough the pound is very close to the Euro these days.
Back whhen banks made their money from lending, relative currency values were based on trade. These days, all banks do is speculate on derivatives. The amounts are so large that iif a U.S. bank has a bad week, everything in Greece might get cheaper (or more expensive, depending on what currency they used to place their bet.) It is like a bad episode of ‘Star Trek’, only instead of gambling with our lives, they are gambling with our money.
I don’t know how this can be explained, but each time there is risk of Greece withdrawing from the Euro, our Australian dollar value drops & now AUS$1.00 = US$0.97, when our dollar was buying US$1.05 not long ago (about a month).
Announced as possibly being $999 in Australia.
I buy everything in Hong Kong and bring it to Australia anyway. I hate Australian prices.
It’d be a bugger if Gillard lowers (from $1000) the duty free threshold then. 😉
Harvey Norman is lobbying hard.
Yes, they would.
Look at the little line above the focus ring – do you think it might have that distance scale like the 12/2.0? That’d be cool!
Doesn’t look like it unfortunately… AND no included lens hood?
Don’t think so because this won’t have the push/pull auto/manual focus ring that the 12mm does.
If anything it’ll be a guide for a hood. But it looks like it won’t fit…? :/
Ah, yes, it probably is for the hood… speaking of which, the press release says it’s a friction-locking hood… Where exactly does it go? There’s no obvious groove for it.
–Update–
The hood has a little screw on the side that locks it on (as seen in the PDF mentioned above). That’s an odd way to go about it.
I have the hood for the 12mm, which has a similar screw based lock. First, I also thought that this is bad. In practice, however, it works quite well. The hood holds very firmly, whereas the bayonet-based lens hoods fall off too often.
actually olympus had that kind of locking mechanism for hood for om lenses. i have one for my 55mm/1.2
I have the same that does my 50/1.2 and 90/2 Zuikos
that hood for 55mm/1.2 is metal one, also have rubber one that has the same locking mechanism for om 35-70mm/3.6
those lens hood style are before your time 🙂
I don’t think so.
I got the chance to handle this beauty about a week ago (the Oly rep told me it was one of three in the US at the time). The fit and finish is remarkable. no distance scale though
Rob, is the front section fixed & do you know if this will take a lens hood?
Found my answer, Lens hood LH-61F (optional) which is a screw clamp on methed.
Is Olympus the only company that sells expensive lenses without hoods? It their management was in charge of Bentley, they would probably charge extra for the hubcaps.
I can’t belive the lens cap is optional. Does that mean there isn’t one with it?
Option is metal cap. kit cap is plastic.
so it DOES come with a hood?
I don’t think so.
Both cap and hood are optional, according to the release from Australia.
Thanks @Ross for the link!
http://www.olympus.com.au/getmedia/5f01d5f5-9221-4753-b93d-5452829c3244/PR1205003.pdf.aspx
Optional as is the lens cover. I think a generic one might get used instead by some.
Thanks, the supplied one is Lens Cap (LC-58E), & the optional version is Lens Cap (LC-61). Obviously, if you want a cool looking metal cap, then it is there if you want to pay for it.
It may be a cap to put over the lens hood when it is on the camera. So let’s see..$900 for the lens, $125 for the lens hood and $45 for the cap. LOL!
Japanese official price is 124950 yen which is same as panny 12-35mm F2.8. I guess market price will be similar to panny 12-35mm.
Tough decision: this nice prime lens or the new Panasonic zoom? Seems like I have to start building a bigger budget..,
Tobias, go over to a DOF calculator and start looking at the real difference between this lens and a 35-100/F2.8. You will quickly see that in practice, the zoom will give almost as good results for portraiture from 75-100mm…and gives a choice of focal length for composition.
I was interested in this 75mm until I did that exercise, it cured my GAS right off.
Not claiming that the Panasonic zoom will be as high quality IQ wise though, but for similar money, it will be a lot more versatile. And weather-sealed!
And much bigger and heavier with worse bokeh and iq….
Probably 2x the price too.
We don’t know that yet. Considering the first tests show the 12-35 to have better IQ than the 12/2…
Hmm, link please? I have not come across any website that has tested and compared the IQ of the 2 lenses. Granted, the zoom offers more versatility but 12/2 is more compact.
http://www.dslrmagazine.com/pruebas/pruebas-tecnicas/olympus-m.zuiko-digital-ed-12-mm-f-2-la-prueba.html
vs
http://www.dslrmagazine.com/pruebas/pruebas-tecnicas/panasonic-lumix-gx-vario-12-35-mm-f-2-8-asph-a-fondo.html
DonTom, go over to an exposure calculator and start looking at the real difference between f2.8 and f/1.8. You’ll discover that the f/1.8 lens is 1-1/3 stops faster, allowing you to use a higher shutter speed for action-stopping or a lower ISO for improved image quality. There’s more to photography than limiter depth of field, you know… err, I guess maybe you don’t…
Full PDF here on Oly Australia http://www.olympus.com.au/Learn—Explore/Latest-News/Fast-aperture-Telephoto-Prime-Lens.aspx
Hmm… $999 for Australia then, I guess.
here is Japanese web sample.
http://olympus-imaging.jp/product/dslr/mlens/75_18/sample/index.html
Well, if you do reprint the lens’s spec sheet, i don’t know why you don’t mention
– minimum focus distance
– filter thread size
– weight
Really, for a $900 lens you’d think they could list a few basic specs.
Looking at photos in the Aussie press release, the lens seems to use a 58mm filter.
I dont really get why this is good for portraits. At 75mm youd have to stand quite far away from the subject to get a good shot. I dont think ill be buying this one…
75mm (150mm equivalent focal length) is fairly close to a classic film era 135mm lens that were used as portrait lenses. It seems long to me, too, but that’s what’s being said. It will make a nice compact telephoto.
135mm and 180mm were both excellent for some kinds of portraits on 35mm SLRs – and they can be flattering for the subject.
Some professionals use 200 and 300mm lenses for portraits – though it does mean you need plenty of room to work.
Yes , true but there is a big difference between a 150mm and 200 or 300mm
I would have been interested in a focal lens between 240mm and 300mm
Harold
135mm and 180mm were both excellent for some kinds of portraits on 35mm SLRs – and they can be flattering for the subject.
Many professionals use Nikon’s 200mm and 300mm lenses for portraits – though it does mean you need plenty of room to work.
This and the 45mm would be a great combination for portraits.
+1
i never understood why people find distance a problem for portraits(unless you shoot in a toilet), I dont like being too close on the model, she might get distracted by my heavy breathing or bad mouth odor, also macrophotography is not comfortable if too close to flowers/insects, i hear nobody complaining using a long macro to create distance between you and that sexy Loxosceles Apache
I dont shoot models just family and friends!
A lens like this flattens out your subjects features, producing a flattering rendering and also isolate the subject from the background more than a shorter focal-length lens can. Plus with the f/1.8 aperture you can get some nice bokeh even with the MFT sensor. The shots on the Oly site show these strengths.
Can the bokeh not be achieved withe the panny 20 or 25?
The 20mm shot will include a lot of busy background features at reduced scale due to a very different perspective. Also the blurring power will be somewhat weaker due to a little more depth of focus.
The increased focal length of the lens lowers you DOF. So the 75mm f/1.8 has MUCH lower DOF than the 20mm or the 25mm even though the 25mm is an f/1.4 the 75mm is 3x that focal length. Look at the photos on the Oly website…it is pretty obvious that this lens is a bokeh monster for this MFT format.
The longer the telephoto…the lower the DOF.
Similarly, the wider angle a lens the more DOF.
Its basic physics..but I don’t have any idea why???? LOL!
dau…
4 main factors that effect DOF:
1. f/stop
2. focal length
3. sensor/film size for a given focal length
4. closeness to subject.
Hope that helps.
Only two things have direct effect:
From side of optics it’s the size of physical aperture/entry pupil of lens: Focal length divided by focal ratio. (longer focal length has bigger aperture for same f-ratio)
And then thing photograper can affect. Distance to target, foreground and background.
All I know if the sensor remains the same…let’s say MFT…a 25mm f/1.8 will have less effective DOF than a 75mm f/1.8 at the same aperture and distance.
+1
And the 25? Or the two noktons?
this is lens porn
Again (as with the Panny 12-35mm) I am tempted. However, I am a little disappointed about the missing lens hood (and I don’t like lens hoods which need to be screwed on anyways) and lens cap (which is less of a problem since you can buy very cheap caps of all sizes). Nonetheless, I will have to think it over. I still own a Minolta Rokkor 85/2.0, and it takes very good pictures on the E-M5. Unfortunately, it does not autofocus… 😉
The sample pics on the Olympus website look really good!
I am fine with the price, considering what I would imagine is a very high quality lens- but at that price they should really include the hood.
if the mtf graphics are true, it really comes close to the zd 150, both in resolution and contrast
+1
Yes , finally .
I need to go to shop to register my name for that great lens . Surely will easily out of stock .
dont think so as many m43 users seem to think that m43 lenses need to be cheap 🙂
I have the 12mm and additional metal lens cap and hood, the screw on hood is very good, it requires a half or one turn and I think is the best hood I’ve seen, the lens hood is great and covers a lot more than usual, makes it feel very safe. These lens though are getting out of my budget, might sell the 12mm and buy the 12-35 and be done with it, when I have enough disposable income again I’ll get the 35-100. Together with my 20mm f1.7 that’ll do 95% and do it well. I will wait another 6 months before buying the EM5, playing it safe.
No doubt the quality from this prime will be delicious, just like the 12mm, but I can’t keep wanting a new $1000 toy every 6 months.
Nice. So all the important primes are covered.
Excellent strategy Olympus, one step ahead of the competition.
I do not think so. they do not have a 40mm equivalent, or a 300m equivalent which are needed in the line up
harold
40mm? Panasonic 20mm
http://fourthirds-user.com/2012/05/exclusive_handson_preview_of_the_new_olympus_mzuiko_75mm_f18.php real life sample
“Because of priority of small and light weight recently, manufactures design a lens with acceptable level of vignetting We can compensate the lack of brightness in corners by digital processing”
Yeah! You too can now have a lens that vignettes -2EV, like the majority of FF lenses! And we’ll also sell you a mandatory lens hood for a ton of money!
As far as I understand the full quote quote, the 75/1.8 doesn’t vignette much, as otherwise the Bokeh would degrade in the corners:
“As you realised, this lens describes very beautiful bokeh, because it has been designed with ***as less vignetting as possible***. If you take night scene with spotlights in background, you can get almost perfect circle of the blurred spotlights as attached file shows. Because of priority of small and light weight recently, manufactures design a lens with acceptable level of vignetting We can compensate the lack of brightness in corners by digital processing, but ***the perfect circle of blurred spotlight can’t be got in this case***.”
Wow, that’s a hell of a misquote. If you had read that properly you’d know that hey were talking about how most lenses are designed for “acceptable vignetting”, while by comparison theirs is over-designed to create better bokeh.
But why let that get in the way of your unjustified whining…
Thanks for the link! So it seems to weigh 305 g. This is funny, since it is the same weight as that of the Minolta 85/2. Of course, you have to add the weight of the adapter…
They must be kidding!
At the German site Digitalkamera.de it say they want 80 Euros for the hood and 40 for the cap.
This is robbery and I don’t like it at all.
I always defended their higher prices in the recent past as i thought selling the FT camera far too cheap nearly killed them.
But 120 Euros for a hood and a cap? I’m lost for words!
____
Edit:
And don’t forget that this lens isn’t even sealed. What the hack are they thinking?!
Yeah it’s what Canon does all the time.
No kidding. Apparently Oly has no problem picking the pockets of their customers.
The Voigtländer Nokton 25mm includes a screw-on metal hood and TWO lens caps, one for the lens and a larger one for the hood!
I just bought a great little Voigtländer 75mm f2.5 Color Heliar lens and it includes a very nice screw-on metal lens hood and metal cap for $489 new. It’s a shame it’s been discontinued.
Yes this part is a total ripoff – and not environmentally friendly of Olympus either since there will be separate packaging for the hood and lens cap.
DonParrot
I totally agree.
I had intentions of buying this lens, not anymore.
lol the reason for not buying a lens is you have a problem with the hood and/or cap? come on!
Yea, I have problems with “sneaky marketing.” It’s not the money.
Why any maker of glass does not include a hood and cap has only one intention: create the illusion of a lower price point.
You do get the plastic lens cap, but if you want to look cool with the nice metal cap, then you pay for it. I don’t think a lens performance can be judged on a lens cap that is or isn’t supplied with it, as you seem to be doing. You mustn’t have a need for a quality lens if this is your response.
I’m pretty happy with my oly 45 for portraits .. now that macro lens they were talking about……
the precision manual focus ring is a superb addition that works brilliantly on the 12 and is sorely missing on the (admittedly very competitively priced) 45
It’s up on Kakaku now:
http://kakaku.com/item/K0000380214/
Only one store listed now, July delivery stated. Just a tad less than 90,000 yen? I don’t believe that.
Can’t edit for some reason.
It’s also on Yodobashi for 99,000 yen:
http://www.yodobashi.com/%E3%82%AA%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%82%B9-M-ZUIKO-DIGITALED-75mm-F1-8-M-%E3%82%BA%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%87%E3%82%B8%E3%82%BF%E3%83%AB-ED-75mm-F1-8-%E3%83%9E%E3%82%A4%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AD%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA/pd/100000001001530197/
And Map Camera for 89,000 yen:
http://www.mapcamera.com/item/itemDetail/?mapCode=4545350041496
So same price as a Canon 135/2, but at least Canon includes a hood.
yes, but Olympus has released a “150mm f1.8” – so a much better deal than that small, dark, Canon… 😉
I think the price is ridiculous so no.
The Japanese prices aren’t strange at all. Map Camera and Fujiya Camera don’t offer points, so they are almost always 10% cheaper than Yodobashi and Bic Camera. Nothing unusual here.
Only strange in the sense that it would be cheaper for us to reverse-import the lens from the USA considering the current state of the yen. The 12-35 however, is slightly cheaper in the home market than abroad (and will be markedly so a year after the GH3 kit is released).
I reverse imported the Panny 100-300 and saved 25%, even after shipping via Amazon. Weird.
When did Olympus release 150mm f1.8?
while stuffing the pocket for the lens, we say that Goethe on his deathbed, “Licht, mehr Licht”
Panasonic 35-100f2.8 is so much more appealing than this and about the same price. Am sure some will be happy with a 1.8 150mm prime, but its use for many will be minimal.
lol how can you speak for others, did we choose you to become our voice???? lots of shooters are specialized single FL addicts
Like I say, minimal
Single FL addicts…LOL…count me in.
Will it come in black, to match the E-M5, as well?
no it won’t
Such a shame! It would look gorgeous with a black omd. Why Olympus, why?
I don’t understand who thought that releasing lenses in silver only was a good idea.
I think I figured it out. Olympus is color coding lenses depending on what sort of lens it it.
High Quality Prime: Silver
Weathersealed: Black
Standard Zooms: Black and Silver
It’s as logical as anything else. 😉
I hope you’re wrong…high quality primes should be black in my dictionary…I mean, if they *also* offer silver, awesome, but they should definitely offer them in black…i mean, expensive lenses are generally used by serious users, and most serious users i believe would agree that black is less intrusive, visible, etc…which only helps working…
I wish I were wrong, but look at the lenses:
12mm – Silver
45mm – Silver
75mm – Silver
12-50mm – Black
60mm macro – Black
Not liking the trend… 🙁
Sad but true.
I guess it is simpler:
Delicate = silver
Weather sealed = black
Kit Zooms = both colors
Well, the expensive Canons are white and them folk are pretty proud of that.
Admin.
I think it would be sensible to have four option in these polls about buying these lenses.
That plain “No” is maybe too generic to generate usefull information: After all it’s quite different situation if someone doesn’t buy because of price being simply out of reach and not buying because of lacking need for particular product. (like not doing photography needing that kind lens)
Of course also that could be abused by people ranting that even highest quality lenses should be free…
I still don’t understand why it isn’t sealed. Well, I would in the case of a lens such as the 45 1.8 as the costs for the seasling would add some 10 or 20 percent to its total price. But for a lens in the price range of the 75 1.8…?! Come on! This is HG or SHG territory!!
This is one of these stupid strategic Oly decisions making even the blood pressure of Oly die-hards such as me rise to unknown heights.
I think the general purpose of this lens (portrait, stage, indoor sports) does not really justify the need for weather sealing…
It’s probably not a lens for taking on a Mount Everest climb, maybe not even for hiking and traveling and such.
I may be wrong, of course.
>the costs for the seasling would add some 10 or 20 percent to its total price
Wow, rubber O-ring suppliers in Japan must be run by the Yakuza.
Olympus has a history of stupid strategy decisions, starting with the stubborn PEN-only product strategy, until it came to an end with the EM-5.
@mahler
their strategy was to work with the technology and their resources at the time to produce products that would give them the best growth in market share and profitability possible in a changing difficult market.They have largely succeeded….
With the PEN they successfully tapped and created the market in “camera joshi”, if the E-M5 had been introduced 3 years ago it wouldn’t of been as successful as it is today…
Apologize much?
Mahler is correct. Oly certainly could have released an OMD a couple of years ago, even if it was based on one of their 4/3 Exxx bodies with the VF2 built-in. Why they didn’t is a complete mystery, except that maybe they thought it would take sales from their neglected 4/3 camera line? Who knows?
Olympus seems to have a recent history of inconsistent and confusing product lines. I’m not too familiar with Oly film cameras (I have an OM lens, nice!), so can’t say how far back this goes.
As far as the PENs go, they released SEVEN models of essentially the same camera, with the same sensor with only minor cosmetic differences, minor tweaks and performance improvements, with features distributed in odd and inconsistent ways. Only one PEN model has been discontinued, the 1st generation EP1. The EPL1, EPL2 and EP2 are STILL listed as current models on the Oly web site. You can buy a new EPL1 for $149 these days.
Thankfully, they HAVE released the OMD… late as it is… and most of their recent lens releases at least try to come close to the justly earned reputation of Zuiko lenses of the past. I hope they do better and release products with more clarity.
Although, paying extra for $100 lens hoods and $50 lens caps for $1000 lenses isn’t a very good start… 🙁
Panasonic certainly tapped the camer joshi with the GF3. But that doesn’t count because…
A. It’s a Panasonic
B. It has a built-in popup flash instead of a hotshoe. What self-respecting kawaii chisai camera-joshi doesn’t ALWAYS carry a remotely triggerable Metz flash in their purse? I mean, REALLY… 😉
Excellent news for the system. Let’s hope this one turns out to be as good as the charts show. Now, let’s hear some new camera rumors ;).
Feels like all the oly lenses up to now are designed with silver E-PX in mind. except the 12-50 which is the kit for E-M5…
soo nice yet sooo expensive. not to mention the ridiculous price for the hood/cap. no, thank you oly. panny 35-100 on the other hand…:)
Nice, but it isn’t going to be replacing my OM Zuiko 180mm f2.
180mm is great for portraiture with a lens with nice bokeh. Anyone who doubts should give it a try. Great for sneaking shots of people unawares for that un-posed look.
Price of the OM Zuiko 180mm f2 on the second-hand market???
I moved from legacy 4/3 to m.4/3 to get away from the SHG lens-lust.
Crap.
This lens will break my heart. So beautiful as an object, so little for me to do with it. Sorry Oly, I’ll skip this one. It’s not you, it’s me.
LOL
Well this is the next one on my list. It will take some time to save up for this one but from the photos and test specs, it looks worth it.
That bokeh makes me feel all funny inside.
Too bad I’ve never gone much past 100mm in my shooting.
I am wondering.. if Oly will not (or can not) make many of these.
If so, then I can understand the price tag.
If they can make abundant amount of these lenses at launch, $799 will make whole lot more sense as that $100 difference will bring them more profit with more willing customers.
However, probably that is not the case..
So price it $100 more than most customers are willing to pay, and target top 5% customers who are willing to pay that extra $100 to get it early, and produce just enough quantity for that top 5%.
Down the road.. as the production of these lenses start to pick up speed.. gradually lower the price (or initiate promotional discount) to $799 and fish rest of the willing customers.
In other word.. I will have to wait till X-mas..
Looks like a great m43 lens, but I don’t get all the comparisons between this and the unreleased 35-100/2.8. Those that speculate the 35-100 will be anywhere near the price of the 75/1.8 are completely delusional. The 12-35 is $1300, no way the 35-100 comes in at that price when you look at what others charge for 70-200/2.8 lenses. It will probably be in the $1600 range, more glass means more money.
The 75 will be sharper than any zoom, faster f1.8, better contrast and better bokeh/DOF. Good primes easily top high zooms in sharpness and contrast. This lens will be a hit, the early photos looks really good. Olympus is trying to push m43 past APS-c with a great sensor, nice JPEG engine since most shooters don’t spend a lot of time processing RAW’s and high quality glass. I wish Sony had the same strategy with Nex since I own a Nex (better IMHO with legacy glass) and a OMD.
Where do you get the assumption that the 35-100 will have less contrast and a worse bokeh (quality)? The faster lens and DOF flexibility is a given on the prime but the 35-100 gives you 60+ more focal lengths to work with, OIS, will be splash proof and dust proof and and Panny will include a damn lens hood. WTH is Olympus doing leaving a lens hood that out on their expensive lenses and then charging a premium price for the hood?
Its a simple fact – every good prime bests the zooms in contrast, sharpness – the 75mm lens is a couple stops faster than the 35-100 which will allow for shallower DOF and the samples show some nice round bokeh. I bought the Canon 70-200 mkII and it was inferior to my 135/2 and my cheap 85/1.8 so I returned it – and that’s considered by many to be the sharpest 70-200 zoom on the market.
If you want a zoom, then the 35-100 is your lens. I personally would rather adapt a 4/3 Olympus lens over forking out $1600 for the Panasonic. This one is $1200 new, under $1000 on ebay:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/527566-REG/Olympus_261015_50_200mm_f_2_8_3_5_ED_SWD.html
I have the EM5 so I really don’t care about OIS. I buy the $10 lens hoods off ebay. I hate the fact Olympus doesn’t include them either, but its not that big of a deal. That smooth, round bokeh is a bigger deal than a lens hood, and this lens delivers. And it looks like my guess was right, the zoom is going to hit at about $1600. I posted that before that post popped up, damn I’m good. :o)
now THATS a sharp lens. The Pany 12-35 had me excited and this…not so much. having seen a few samples from both, I have completely reversed my opinion.
I think this lens is just too long. The whole point of M4/3 is supposed to be the small-size. There are very few instances where you are going to be able to only bring just that lens, and not have at least one more for practicality. If you want to schlep lenses, then you’re reducing the value over standard SLR kits. I know, the m4/3 is still smaller, but lugging crap around, is lugging crap around.
If the lens were closer to 75-85mm in 35mm film equivalent, then you’d have a GREAT portrait lens. But 150mm? Sorry, not seeing it.
whats with the silver lens trend olympus is on?
I would like to get a tiny but sharp 100mm f1.8 or f2 lens from Oly or Pana. I am a big fan of the Canon EF200mmf2LISUSM lens and I’d like to have a similar lens for my EM5.
I think this 150mm equivalent lens is an outstanding lens optically but it is not my prefered focal length(Iwant 200mm equivalent lens and 100mm equivelent lens) and I dont think I will get it soon.
I wonder that these lens is bigger and more heavy then the Pentax FA 77/ 1,8 with the same f-stop but for KB…
Over all I like the retro look, seems to be well build!
A macro with a 120 FOV equivalent , a “portrait lens ” with a 150 mm FOV equivalent ( oly ad even labels it as designed for studio portraiture ), hmmm I wonder what will come next …
maybe a 225mm FOV for equivalent …
weird weird marketing
but the lens nice finish should bring some nice sales for some gear geeks
Harold
It’s booootiful! Not much useful along with the 45mm though, I believe. Between the two, that humble workhorse looks preferrable to me in most ways.