Zuiko 45 f/1.8 MFT lens: wow!

[gobs]

Part 1

 

I’ve got it!

After playing around with my cool Zuiko 12-50 zoom kit lens for some months, I felt I “need” to go a bit “crisper” for my street pics.

For street photography with my 135 film gear, I used to shoot with 50mm and 90mm focal lenses. They suit me both…

By chance, I found a second hand Zuiko 45 f/1.8 lens in AV-Camera store in BKK:

 

Like new in original box for 7000 Bahts delivered by EMS to my door. The original blue protecting tape was even untouched in place, and M. Mana offered me a 30 day no hassle warranty! Great deal as usual with AV-Camera, a great photography shop I can only recommend.

The lens is very small and the build quality is not at the top of the top: light and plastic feeling (as my zoom kit lens). However everything seems sturdy enough, mount is firm and no play anywhere. For the price, so far so good…

Errrrmmmm... One more time, for some first pics, while framing in the VF my fingers were searching the aperture ring on the lens. Digital they say. You know: di-gi-tal!

 

As expected, the 45 f/1.8 lens delivers a lot.

 

Pigeons shot at f/2.8 during a street walk. No editing…

Nice tree background (bokeh) sending pigeons well forward and nice tonal rendition with good contrast. Very vivid pic.

 

Crop of the above. Nice resolution and great colours on feathers and head.

 

Next...

 

 

[gobs]

Part 2

 

A « stolen » street portrait against strong light shot at f/2.8. No editing…

Good resilience to flare. Details on the pic are nice, contrast is good : the shirt, hat and glasses are well defined. Tonalities are well desplayed too.

 

Crop of the above. Sharp and precised lens : eye-glasses, hat and skin show a nice rendition.

 

Next...

[gobs]

Part 3

 

A flower in my garden at f/1.8 (full open). Colours and levels have been edited to my taste…

Shallow DOF and « vanished » background, though a concrete wall stands in shadow behind the flower at about 1 meter.

 

Crop of the above. Good sharpness in the center though the lens was full open. Even the small hairs on the pistil (right?) are sharp enough…

 

 

At the end, yes, as said Fractured Rabbit, the Zuiko 45 f/1.8 is a great MFT lens. And plenty of expected uses for me, especially for street pics.

To complement my set, I’m now waiting for a second hand Zuiko 25 f/1.8 to pop out

 

Well all this IMHO, of course.

 

Thanks for your reading.

Ray

[MJP]

Yup. Zuiko is something of legend.

[FracturedRabbit]

I did offer you mine (which I eventually sold for 5,500 baht). It's a great lens  and excellent value. I have now stepped up to the Nocticron 42.5 F1.2 which is bigger, much more expensive; but staggeringly good.

 

OL276212 by Spike Tennyson, on Flickr

 

 

Probably the best MFT lens. The Olympus Zuiko 75mm F1.8 runs a close second IMHO, with the 45mm not far behind.

 

 

[gobs]

Thanks for your comments, guys!

 

Nice you upgraded your gear, FR. Glad for you...

Enjoy!

 

[gobs]

More about the 45 f/1.8 Zuiko lens

Part 1

 

Yes, a bit more because I'm really blown out!

After some first handlings, I wanted to know what this lens gives on street at f/1.8 in day light where one has to decide quickly. And though f/1.8 is not its best performance area for that, the Zuiko works very good thanks for part to its fast and acurate autofocus when coupled with my EM-5.

 

Note: following pics came straight out from my Oly EM-5 JPEG engine. No post-editing or added artifice at all.

 

Full real life pic at f/1.8.

A food seller in a CNX suburb:

As far as I can see, no vignetting in this bright pic. Nice contrast on the subject despite this overlit background. The subject pops out the nicely blurred background, and though the shallow DOF, the focus is fading very smoothly, gently modeling the rear head and hair while putting the face very in front at first eye-catch…

Colours are crisp but not overly saturated and are full of smooth middletones.

 

100% crop of the same pic in the center at f/1.8:

Sharp enough, isn’t it ? Skin, traits, eyes, tones : everyrthing is really here and nicely rendered. Stopped down by 2 stops, micro-contrast and sharpness increase a bit more as expected…

 

Another 100% crop on the edge down the same pic :

Good sharpness  here too (not the extreme corners, I admit, but then). Fabric details, colours, shape and material give a realistic feeling touch…

 

Wow!

 

 

[gobs]

More...

Part 2

 

Another full real life pic at f/1.8.

Same suburb in front of a bank branch:

No visible vignetting again, and no apparent distortion. Light blue and light gray colours don’t seem to darken in the corners and straight lines close to the edges seem to stay  straight enough. Good and smooth colours rendition as a whole, good colours contrast and nice detailed materials.

Thanks to the contrast and the sharpness, the in-focus dark subject pops out the light coloured background…

 

I’m impressed with this 45 lens even at f/1.8. I know, I know, I already said it

But from my modest enthousiast hobbyist’s point of view, what we get in « real life » with this Zuiko lens is really outstanding. No worry at all at use. Just shoot and shoot again !

Amazing for a MFT format. I suppose full 30x40 (12 x16) prints from the above pics would come beautifully…

 

Waiting for night shots, now.

 

All this IMHO, of course !

 

Ray

[tifino]

I still have my Zuiko lenses - a 24, an 35, a 50, and 75-150mm

 

- these complemented my Tamron family; of which I now only have the 500mm Cat, a 38-100mm, and the Adaptall Doubler.

 

All these lenses were for my Olympus OM10, an OM4, and OM2, all of which I still have...

 

... trouble is in this digital world, and now that Kodachrome technology has gone west,

they lay silently in their ol' faithful aluminium case coffin.

 

...if only someone could come up with a CCD Imaging Adaptor retrofit for their backplates, to give all a new lease of life. 

The OffTheFilm sensor of these Olympus's would love it for sure

 

 

I'm resisting the purchase of a full blown digital camera...

 

 

 

[FracturedRabbit]

Be like Gobs and get a digital body and an adapter and you can use all these lenses again!

[gobs]

On 16/09/2016 at 11:33 PM, tifino said:

I still have my Zuiko lenses - a 24, an 35, a 50, and 75-150mm

 

...

 

I'm resisting the purchase of a full blown digital camera...

 

Hi tifino,

As FR says above, you may have a try with a second hand MFT body and then have the use of your set with a proper adapter.

As a note, expect about 10000 Bahts (sometime less). Not a hudge investment for a first test...

 

I did the plunge about 4 months ago and I'm more than happy to be able to use my vintage lenses. Furthermore, I discovered digital photography with dedicated lenses and it's a lot of fun.

If you know film photography you'll be at ease with DP. Just some time to spend at first to adjust oneself to the handling of the so many available features...

 

For info, have a look here:

And here:

Try it, I think you won't regret it

Cheers

 

Though there are several options to carry vintage lenses, I think MFT is the cheapest way to play with.