Lens and Test information
NOTE: Part two is mainly about the differences in the lenses and how it works for me. Part three has the comparison pictures so skip ahead if you don’t want to read about my decision to buy the lenses I owned. I’m not going to comment on the Olympus E420 itself.
What I’ve done is compare this prime lens with two zoom lenses, it isn’t entirely fair of course and comparisons like these are obviously unbalanced to a degree. What I’ve done is limit the two zoom lenses to the 25mm focal length in order to keep things balanced. The two zoom lenses are:
In terms of 35mm they equate to the numbers in the brackets. The sensor size for the 4/3rds system has a x2 magnification because it is 50% smaller than a 35mm film negative. For more information about 4/3rds click the
link.
Both lenses have a moving aperture and the f-stop moves in accordance when selecting the focal length. So of course while comparing Bokeh and making comparisons between lenses, the Leica lens will of course produce a greater depth of field because of its higher f-stop!
Now for me personally I have three favourite focal lengths, they are the 24mm, 50mm and 85mm (35mm actual lengths). The 4/3rds system at the moment doesn’t offer many prime lenses when compared to other camera systems. So I knowingly made this compromise because Olympus were offering such a small camera system and I was interested in the 12-60mm Zuiko lens (also small for a zoom lens) because it covered the three focal lengths I like to use the most.
The Zuiko lens itself is quite fast, covering f2.8 at the wide end and f4 on the long end. I could be quite happy to stay at the 12mm focal length using it like a prime, it might seem like a waste but when compared to the price of the Leica prime it was roughly the same and everything else the 12-60mm can do becomes a bonus. So I bought the 12-60mm knowing it would serve me well, until I shot in low light or with a small depth of field.
[...] Part Two (Lenses and Test Info) [...]
Panasonic/Leica 25mm Lens Overview « Jonathanjk’s Weblog
August 12, 2008 at 07:25