Back more than a few years ago, when I first got into photography, I was a
big fan of Herbert Keppler. Never missed his column in the old Modern
Photography. Mr. Keppler was very enamoured at the time with the 28mm, 50mm,
100mm lens trio. Remember this was when zoom lens was still a dirty word
among serious photographers. Naturally I had to follow my hero's advice and
I purchased the 28mm and 100mm to supplement my 50mm.
I soon discovered two things. The 28mm and the 100mm did not match my way of
seeing. I found the 100mm to be just slightly too long or just slightly too
short. The solution for me was to replace the 100mm with the 85mm and 135mm.
This better matched my vision. I had the same experience with the 28mm.
Either too long or too short, so I solved that problem with the 24mm and the
35mm.
I've owned both the Zuiko 85mm f2.0 and the Zuiko 100mm f2.8 and found them
both to be very sharp and contrasty. I feel the 85mm has a slight edge at
close distances, but this would be expected because of the builtin close
focusing correction mechanism (floating elements). I would not, however, say
the 85mm is an inherently better lens optically. I would choose on the basis
of focal length. Also, don't forget that the 85mm is one stop faster, which
comes in handy in low light situations or for soft backgrounds in
portrature. Both the 100mm f2.8 and the 85mm f2.0 are excellent examples of
the lens makers art. Either way you can't go wrong as far as quality is
concerned.
Regards,
John Austin
Richard Dale wrote:
>Although I have used the 100 f2.8 for many years finding it my most used
>lens/focal length I have now decided to replace it with an 85 f2 (which I
>haven't taken delivery of yet).
>I found the only disadvantage with the 100 was that it was a too long for
>studio portraits. As they are very close together re. focal length I had
>intended selling the 100. I don't really like using a 50mm for portraits.
>Has anyone on the list had any experience in using both lenses, I assume
>the 85 f2 to be (probably slightly) superior in optical quality, is this
so?
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