Panasonic Leica 15mm f1.7 user review

For a short trip I decided to try the Panasonic Leica 15mm f1.7 which I had rented from lensrentals.com. This was one of many lenses I rented from them over the course of the year (inc. the Oly 40-150mm f2.8 PRO). I always found this lens interesting as my most commonly used lens is the Panasonic 20mm f1.7 but sometimes that can be a little tight so I thought the potential of those extra 5mm (10mm depending on who you ask) sounded interesting.

The lens itself is a lovely little piece of metal and glass. Definitely feels like a premium product, it also surprised me just how small it was. It fits nicely on the Olympus EM5 and wasn’t really any more obtrusive than the 20mm f1.7.

Overall I found it to be a really great general purpose lens. A 30mm equivalent fov in 35mm to some people may sound odd but for me, personally, it is a great compromise allowing nice wide scenic pictures but also useful for people pics. As this was a bit of a social outing that fitted perfectly as I could carry it everywhere without issue.

It’s low-light capability with an f1.7 aperture was also very handy in the evenings. There were some amazing sunsets over the lake and this lens worked perfectly the ISO could be kept relatively low.

I would recommend this lens to those looking for something a little wider but still useful for things other than landscapes. It is a step up in image quality wise from any of the kit zooms. I do feel though that the Leica brand does add a bit to the price. I have always loved the colors from these Panasonic Leica partnerships but it wouldn’t hurt if it was more in the $350-$400 region rather than $500. Following renting this it is on the shortlist of lenses I would like to own… just have to find renting lenses and put the money towards buying!!

Nikon 35mm f/1.8 G FX AF-S Real World Review

After a VERY long debate with myself over whether to get a 35mm from Nikon, Sigma or Tamron, I finally took the plunge with the Nikon. The reasons for which I will go into in a little more detail below.

For a long time my lens line up for my Nikon Df was made up of a 24-85mm, 50mm 1.8D and an 85mm 1.8G. The zoom is a pretty decent compromise and performs admirably considering its low cost (pretty sure I picked one up for under £200) but it does fall down fairly quickly in low light. Its zoom range is flexible and and its great having an affordable zoom with 24mm at the wide end. It has proved a suitable travel lens these last couple of years but I have always wanted something wider than the 50mm with a wide aperture.

Over the last however many months I have deliberated over the main options available in the 35mm focal length. There are a good number of options (I discounted the Nikon 1.4 on the grounds of costs) which I have summarized my very simplified thoughts below:

1. Nikon 35mm f2

   1. older

   2. slower to focus

   3. small and light

2. Sigma 35mm 1.4

   1. sharp

   2. wide aperture

   3. more expensive and heavy

   4. biggest concern with reports of hit and miss in terms of AF performance, which in turn could impact resale value

3. Tamron 35mm 1.8

   1. new which has pros and cons

   2. VC (image stabilization) which could help with low light, hand held shots

   3. similar to the Sigma weights quite a lot due to the VC I presume as it doesn’t have the 1.4 of the Sigma

So having thought about all of the above and being reminded whilst using a Tamron 15-30mm 2.8 that for travel purposes there is a limit I am willing to tolerate in terms of weight. I just like lenses that have excellent IQ without too much weight. That point is entirely subjective, I understand that. But as a result I finally decided to go with the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 G FX AF-S due to the following:

1. Good value – price vs performance seemed the nicest balance of the options

2. Great IQ – seems to match up close enough to the Sigma that I wouldn’t notice the difference, whereas the weight i would notice.

3. Low weight – at 305g

I have been using it for a few months now and I can confirm that it’s a great performer. I have always really liked the 28mm-40mm focal lengths. 35mm I find just about right for a lot of my general travel pics. It is definitely a bit on the short side for anything in the distance but it is just wide enough to work well with general travel, architecture and people pics. I took it on a recent work trip to San Francisco and I was somewhat excited at the chance to give it a go on The Golden Gate bridge… thankfully our meetings finished at around 4pm so we managed to walk from Pier 39 out to the bridge as the sunset which was perfect time for some pics. As it was a work trip I wasn’t exactly going to be lugging around a tripod so I had to do my best handheld. Thankfully the Df’s ISO flexibility helps with this but I tried to keep it as low as possible whilst still getting acceptably sharp images.

I also had the chance before heading to the airport to literally run through the USS Pampanito (SS-383) which was another quick test of the lens in low light. It worked really well and the 35mm focal length was just about right in that tight space. A wider 24 or 20 would have been interesting but the 35mm did the trick perfectly well.

Overall I found the IQ of this thing to be top notch. It is interesting though, as I love the images it produces but I would not describe it as super sharp. Which I am completely ok with. I know in this modern day of age where we can zoom in to see every pixel that many care about ultimate IQ/sharpness. I would rather have lenses that create images with character, and for me the 35mm definitely does the job. It is definitely not as sharp as the 85mm 1.8G for example, but that is to be expected.

The build quality of this thing is also more than adequate. Ok, it’s not as solid as old Nikon’s or the modern Sigma ART lenses but the benefit of its plastic build is it is light enough to carry without noticing. So for me, the compromise is more than adequate.

It’s Auto Focus (AF) performance is really good, even in low light and is probably the quickest of my lenses to focus on single point AF. I haven’t really tried it with continuous AF but would expect similar results to what I would get with any other modern Nikon. It’s just at this wider focal length I just would never really need to use C-AF.

Overall I would thoroughly recommend this lens to anyone looking for a balance of price + weight + image quality. It has been exactly what I need – a lens that I can keep on my Df 80% of the time and use it for the majority of my travel photography without turning my camera into a monster. For me, it has always been that mix of quality and weight. It’s one of the reasons I still love using my Olympus EM5 for certain situations (mainly social photographs at parties and whatnot with a 20mm 1.7) and the same goes for this lens. It is so easy with FX for things to bloat and you end up with 24-70mm 2.8’s and 70-200mm 2.8’s and whilst they make complete sense for pros they just don’t make sense for my particular style where I just like having nice memories of my travels and the people in my life.

The wonderful thing about all this is that in this era of photography, you cant really go wrong. Any of these lenses from Nikon, Sigma and Tamron can create fantastic images… it’s all about what you do with them.

Olympus 75mm f1.8 real world review

Having owned the Olympus 75mm f1.8 for around 4 months now, I thought I would right a short review covering my experiences to date using this out and about in the real world in the hope it may benefit someone considering getting hold of one of these.

I have lusted after this lens for some time as it seems to be regarded as one of, if not the sharpest lens in the m43 stable. But I was always concerned that the longer focal length might be a bit unsuitable for the types of things I photograph. Then late last year in anticipation of a trip to Andalucia I decided to bight the bullet and picked up a new one from Campkins Cameras in Cambridge for £735. A lot of money, but I thought if I didn’t love it, then I could always eBay it following the holiday without too great a loss.

First impressions on opening the box and picking up the lens is that it is SOLID. Amazing build quality, all metal and the front element is beautiful. I picked up a Sigma 58mm UV filter at the time as it would be fairly traumatizing damaging the front of this thing. The only downside as many will have already noted is it does not come with a lens hood and the plastic lens cover is not exactly on the premium side. Particularly knowing they sell the nice metal cap and lens hood. At £735, that seems a bit cheap not to include a hood of some description, even a plastic one.

Once attached to the Olympus OM-D EM5 (with additional grip) the whole things feels weighty and absolutely solid. I would say without the grip it feels a little unbalanced and definitely benefits from the additional grip if you have it. On the smaller m43 bodies I imagine this would be even further pronounced.

Shot at ISO 1600 at f1.8 gave impressive picture quality in low light. Perfect for the dimly lit lizard enclosures at Faunia in Madrid. I found limiting it to 1600 gave great quality, any higher and I noticed a fairly considerable deterioration in quality.

I took a few pics when I got it home and the image quality seemed very good, but I did immediately find the focal length a challenge within the close confines of my living room. But not to worry, this wasn’t what I bought it for (being honest, I wasn’t entirely sure exactly what purpose I did buy it for).

Shot at ISO 200, f6.3 and 1/4000 second shutter speed.
It can make for an interesting landscape lens. Useful to be able to get closer and forces you to think more creatively. Also creates beautifully sharp images.

So in saying that, and having used this lens reasonably extensively over the last few months, I would say the types of photography I personally have found it most interesting to use would be for landscapes (bear with me) and people pics, portraits and candids.

Emperor Penguins shot at ISO 500, 1/200 second shutter speed at f1.8.

Its just one of those lenses that is so enjoyable to use, you find yourself trying to engineer opportunities for it. At a 35mm equivalent focal length of 150mm it is a short telephoto which wouldn’t be immediatly obvious as useful for landscapes. But whilst in Spain, I found it created an interesting effect when used with middle distance landscapes, flattening the image and producing what felt like (to me) a pleasing photograph. A couple of examples are provided below from Scotland and Spain.

The view across to Arran from Seamill Hydro on the west coast, shot wide open at f1.8 which if I am honest, I didn’t really intend and probably would have benefited from something around f2.8-f4. But it still created a very nice image. It was just before New Year and the weather in that part of the world was fairly dramatic about 3pm in the afternoon.

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.

One of the places where this lens absolutely excelled and allowed me to capture many shots I wouldn’t have been able to get anywhere near with any of my other lenses was the day we went to Faunia in Madrid, a sizable wildlife park which has a number of indoor exhibits. The 75mm focal length combined with the f1.8 aperture worked brilliantly to get closer to these animals whilst still being able to shoot at relatively low ISO’s and fast-ish shutter speeds. I found during this that sticking at ISO 1600 or below worked best. At 3200 things got a little more noisy than I would have liked. But I really was absolutely thrilled with the way it worked in this situation. Combined with the EM5 it nailed focus pretty much every time and the clarity in the photos I absolutely loved.

One observation I would make is that for portraiture whilst out and about, its probably a little long to be as practically useful as say, a lens in the 42.5mm-45mm (85mm-90mm in 35mm FOV) region. Those lenses (I have owned both the Olympus 45mm f1.8 and the Panasonic Leica 45mm f2.8) feel just about perfect to be useful day to day for grabbing some outstanding portraits without having to consciously disappear off about 20 yards back to get the picture you want. I am not saying in a studio where you know the distances you are working with that this wouldn’t be perfect for portraiture. Its just when you are out and about and you want a lens that allows you to be able to grab moments as they happen, the 75mm feels like you have to be more prepared and in position than the likes of the 20mm and 45mm lenses which I also own.

Overall though I would say if you have the budget, I would wholeheartedly recommend this lens. It has a variety of uses (which I am still learning) and you find yourself being more creative in an attempt to find suitable uses for it. It is beautifully constructed, feels solid and works beautifully with the EM5. I am looking forward to my next trip to Duxford to see what I can do with it there!

Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO user review

Thought I would right a short review of my recent experience with the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO on a recent trip to Costa Rica.

I rented it from lensrentals.com and cant recommend those guys highly enough. Rented 3 or 4 lenses from them this year and the process is absolutely flawless. Received the lens on the Friday and had it for 10 days which cost around $160 inc postage and insurance (which included a 15% discount). I also rented the 1.4 TC but actually found not much use for it on this particular trip so I won’t be covering that here.

Size & weight

At 880g it is definitely one of the largest native lenses for m43 and attached to my Olympus EM5 (mark 1) it makes quite a weighty bit of kit! If I am honest, it felt fine on a trip like this but on a purely practical level it is one lens that feels a little like it negates some of the benefits of size and weight that makes m43 so appealing. In fairness though, if you consider that coupling this with the EM5 plus battery grip you actually get a fairly unique setup for this type of trip which for me, justifies the weight. One thing I was acutely aware of was how much rain we might get in Costa Rica in October and I was not wrong. The EM5 plus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO was a perfect solution based on the options I had available to me as it gives you a weather-sealed body and lens which was perfect as I could use it in the rain and not worry too much about it damaging either the camera or lens.

Image quality

I loved the sharpness and colors of the images you get with this lens. Particularly with shots where subject separation is desired. In Costa Rica there were numerous chances to capture all sorts of animals and insects. The snake above was a personal favorite. I cant remember exactly the type of snake but it was only about a foot long and apparently would poo on you as a defense mechanism which I would say is one of the less scary snakes you will come across. To get that shot I waited patiently for it to stick its tongue out and captured a few of them. The green background of the jungle below gives it a nice contrast.

I have previously used the likes of the 75mm 1.8 and the Panasonic Leica 45mm f2.8 Elmarit and I love the rendering of both those lenses (the Elmarit has something really nice about it that is hard to quantify) and I would say this would be pretty close to equal to the quality of either of those. The downside obviously being the weight and the upside being the flexible focal length which proved invaluable in a place where the animals move quickly and are often at very different distances.

Below are a series of White-headed Capuchin monkeys. There was a load of them as we walked through the national part in Manuel Antonio and they were pretty inquisitive, which made them very easy to capture.

I also sometimes like using longer focal lengths for landscapes as they can provide quite an interesting look and feel, making a scene appear more compressed than it would with a wide angle. The below was taken on a boat transfer across the Arenal Lake on our way up into the Cloud Forrest.

Low light

On one night during our stay in Monteverde we went on a night hike. That is definitely one of those things that you sign up for thinking “that sounds like fun”… but then when you are actually traipsing through the forest in absolute darkness with rain coming down you may question that decision! But in reality it was actually a lot of fun. Plus you are with a guide who you are perhaps too reliant on to make sure nothing untowards happens.

On the hike we saw a number of animals and insects. We did see some sloths from a pretty solid distance but none of those pics were particularly exciting so I will leave them out. The EM5 coupled with the 40-150mm f2.8 worked really well all things considered. I have always found around ISO 1600 is around the limit for me in low light. Above that and the grain starts to get a bit obtrusive. So the below were all shot around ISO 1000 or thereabouts. This lens is perfect for these types of things as they give you a fair bit of reach but also a very reasonable minimum focus distance so you can get some great detail shots. Below are a few of a couple of tarantula and another strange insect that I cant recall its name.

Fast action

Below is a shot of a hummingbird feeding. I should say that on this day it was pouring with rain and there was hardly any light. If you combine that with the speed of a hummingbird you have yourself a bit of a challenging situation!! But I got a couple of passable pics when cropped. Not my finest, but passable online. I would say the biggest issue with this type of thing is the contrast detect AF vs phase. The other component that makes these things difficult with the EM5 is the evf blackout between shots which makes tracking that little bit harder. So overall, I think most people know that super fast action is still not quite the forte of contrast detect m43 compared with phase detect on something like my Nikon Df. But with a but of patience its entirely workable.

Manual focus clutch

A good thing to be aware of when you buy this lens is the manual focus clutch mechanism that allows you to quickly switch to MF. The reason I say it is important as it is surprisingly easy to knock it into MF without realizing and if you are new to the lens you actually think the AF may have failed on you!! I did exactly this on our first day out. I tried everything I could think of to try and work out why AF wasn’t working. I then contacted Lensrentals to ask for advice and they were quite to respond with the clutch most likely being the cause of the problem. Considering I do have the 12-50 which has a similar method to switch between the ways of zooming and macro mode I should have thought of that… but i didn’t.

On a lighter note – top tip

If you ever find yourself in Manuel Antonio National Park and a guide tells you to be careful of your possessions whilst on the beach. And there guidance is not because of humans, but Raccoons! Apparently you shouldn’t take any food into the park if you intend to leave your bag unattended. Below shows what happens if you do happen to leave your stuff… the Raccoons WILL take it. They were very clever and would literally just walk off with peoples stuff as they chased after them. Mildly amusing when it’s not you it’s happening to.

Conclusion

Overall I was quite impressed with the end results from the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 PRO. Whilst it does significantly increase the weight of your gear, the focal length and constant aperture make it a worthwhile investment. I would however caveat that in my case where I was happy to rent it for this particular occasion but at its current price around $1300 I won’t be buying one purely because for that money, I wouldn’t get enough use out of it. But I continue to believe m43 is a wonderful compromise and really enjoyed using this alongside my Nikon Df with 24-85mm for the more wide stuff. The two complimented each other nicely and it would have been a very different story if I had tried to bring along an equivalent weather-sealed lens for the Df!

Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8 real world review

Following on from my recent Olympus 75mm f1.8 review, I thought I would do something similar with the Panasonic Leica DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f/2.8.

I picked up this lens around the summer of 2013 in Campkins Cameras in Cambridge. I actually managed to grab what I felt was a pretty impressive bargain. They had it second hand in absolute mint condition for £219.99, which when I saw it, I thought it had the wrong price on it. But I went in and checked and all was as it should be so I thought at that price, I somewhat planned to buy it and just put it straight on eBay.

But getting it home, I attached it to my EM5 and had a play around. Macro has never interested me and I will be absolutely honest that I have zero expertise in that particular area but having a play around with it with focus set to ‘full’ I was absolutely amazed at the detail it could capture. With a minimum focusing distance of 15cm, it allows you to get incredibly close to things and it will still focus. Focus is pretty fast, a slight bit faster than the Panasonic 20mm f1.7.

My initial impressions were favourable, but I was really hoping I wouldn’t like it and it would make it easy for me to sell. That was not to be the case…

Over summer I had a fair few BBQ’s and the like and I took it along to one I think the day I got the lens. Sitting outside as the sun set, I took some photos and there was something magical about them. I couldn’t quite explain it, but the characteristics of this lens are very pleasing to my eye. They have a beautiful clarity and you get enough background blur for it to make a surprisingly useful portrait lens. Below are some of the pics from that evening which should hopefully show you what I am talking about.

So over the course of summer, I used it extensively and loved everything I got with it. I actually did own the Olympus 45mm f1.8 which on paper should be better for portraiture and general photography with the only area where the Panasonic Leica’s should excel would be at macro. But in reality, I never really loved the output from the Oly 45mm, something about it, the background blur was almost too smooth and it just lacked character. I wanted to love it as it gets such rave reviews but I just never felt it. Also the Panasonic Leica does feel a lot more solid and a lot less plastic than the Oly, but I realise that to buy new, the Panasonic Leica is at least twice as expensive so it would be expected that it should be a bit better built.

Another place that I found it a great asset was at the airshows I visit at Duxford which is very close to Cambridge where I live. The 90mm equivalent focal length was perfect for the aircraft on the ground and I was amazed at the sharpness you could get out of this thing. Again, I had historically just used the Panasonic 100-300mm f4.0-5.6 exclusively with the occasional use of the 12-50mm for when they got a bit close. But the Panasonic just has a lovely way of rendering colour. Below you can see some samples which again, hopefully illustrate my point.

As the year has went on I have found more and more uses for this thing and actually its my second most used lens after the 20mm f1.7. After acquiring the Olympus 75mm f1.8 I expected that to replace the 45mm as my most loved lens but actually it hasn’t. It’s a lovely piece of glass but the 150mm equivalent focal length is just a bit too long to find regular effective uses for it. But the 90mm equivalent feels just right. You can keep it on the camera and be reasonably sure it will suit most purposes that I need.

It’s also pretty impressive for wildlife shots at reasonably close proximity. We visited a wildlife park and got some nice shots, I particularly like the Iguana you see below. At f2.8 its not as effective as the Oly in low light (obviously) but the EM5’s ISO performance allows it to be used reasonably well in most situations. The Iguana shot really does show the detail this thing can capture.

It is even a lot of fun using it for landscapes, below are some samples I got in Southwold, St Ives and Alozaina in Andalusia. Again, the level of detail it can capture is pretty spectacular and I actually really enjoy landscape photography with longer focal lengths. Can produce a lot more interesting image within my style of photography.

And this brings me to the end of this short review. Hopefully if you are in the market for one of the 45mm (or 42.5mm) lenses this might be useful. I think the Panasonic Leica is possibly often overlooked as it people commonly believe the Oly 45mm to be far better value for money. But the Panasonic is most definitely worth a look as I hope these photos attest.