Olympus 12/f:2 Photos

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Benjamin Marks

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What a great lens. On EP-2 with image stabilization.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6067/6097487900_8d3bd78985_b.jpg

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I took my M9 to NYC with the Olympus as a backup. Wound up using them about the same amount, to my surprise. The image stabilization in the Oly does wonders in NYC interior spaces like Grand Central Station (pictured above) and in the subway. The 12mm lens has a pull-forward-on-the-barrel toggle between manual and AF focusing, so you can zone focus if you want to. To me the images look a lot more like those from the 24mm lens it apes on the m-4/3 format than a 12mm lens like the CV version. I assume there is some software-driven black magic going on "under the hood" in the Oly to iron out distortion at the edges. I would choose this lens over the 12/5.6 from CV for use on the SP-2 any day. Finish on the lens is a nice brass -- feels heavy, not like the 17/2.8, which came with the camera and which I really don't use all that much. Seriously anticipating the 40/1.8. And this after swearing that legacy glass was all that I would need on the Olympus. Arg.
 
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Another from the same series -- can't recall now whether it is with the 12/2 and the Oly (lightly cropped) or the 25/2.8 Zeiss and the M9. There's probably an object lesson there if Flickr is your mode of display. . .

6097474414_794c339757_b.jpg
 
Just checked the EXIF data on Fluidr (great search engine, BTW). ISO is 1600, IS was on, BUT: it was the 20/1.7 not the 12/2 (me=such a dope). Should I remove it or leave it up?

Edit: leaving it up. But the 20 is a sweet lens too.

Edit (again): I should also say that the shots were handheld with the IS on. f:stop is about f:8 and chosen intentionally to isolate the relatively stationary couple from the commuters walking around them The nice thing about the Oly's IS is that you can make that choice and still hand-hold.
 
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Yeah. Price is obscene. But using Ben's crazy rationalization principle ("no gear acquisition ultimately regretted" or NGAUR), I am really enjoying using it.
 
Avotius said:
This looks like a pretty decent lens, but the price is outrageous.
Click to expand...

Is $800 outrageous for 24mm f/2 equivalent lens?
I don't think so. It'd be a $2600 lens if it bears the name Summicron or Distagon.

The only problem for me is that I don't have $800 lying around :(

Ben, I love that last shot.
 
Thanks, Will. The humbling thing is to search for Grand Central Station, in general, on flickr and see how many photographs are out there of that great space, all taken from exactly the same spot. It's like pictures of the Eiffel Tower: hard to do a new view. I managed, once, with the Brooklyn Bridge and a 15/4.5 Heliar. . . .it was a birthday gift for my father, who loved the Brooklyn Bridge and had all of these views of it around his home. I thought, "If I can show him something new, that'd be a rare thing." And I did. Wasn't easy though.
 
Yeah, wish I could afford one now, looks stellar! Also wish they came out with the $250 f2.8 plastic version for those of us that don't need f2.
 
Well Panasonic has the 14mm 2.5 which is close and decent in quality. Smaller and lighter than the 20mm even. Yeah its not 24...but 28 isn't too bad for the size.

I've used the 12mm f/2 on the e-pm1 briefly and it was definitely a great lens. I love the manual focus option instead of the endlessly spinning plastic ring.
 
Some people have written off the EP-2 with its 2X cropping.Would such a lens bring such a camera "back to life"? Is the sensor size a major problem?
 
Wish Oly would replace their mediocre 17mm with something more like this. 12mm is just too wide for me. I guess the Panasonic 14 would work, but it would be nice to have a really high quality lens in the 28-35 range and a wider aperture. Might bring me back to the m4/3 platform.
 
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