At 02:01 PM 6/13/2000 -0400, William Duprey wrote:
[snip]
>Now for the dumb questions...(weren't we all told there were no dumb ones?...i
>think they lied to us)...
>I have been looking at Popular Photography and have noticed that there aren't
>any ads for Zuiko lenses. I guess my first question is: are these proprietary
>lenses for OM bodies?
Yes. Zuiko (pronounced roughly "ZWEE-koh") lenses are made by Olympus only,
and are created for the OM-system. I don't own any other Oly products, but it
may be that "Zuiko" lenses also exist on other cameras made by Oly.
Apparently, a rough translation of Zuiko is "origin of light" (a nice touch
IMHO).
>Are there other lenses that can be used on my OM-PC?
Lots of third-party manufacturers make lenses for the OM mount.
>I assume also that the Zuiko is a premium brand lens?
Depends on who you ask.
As to price, the way many die-hard Olympians bitch, you'd think Olympus Zuiko
lenses for the OM System were more costly than platinum-iridium alloy
ounce-for-ounce, but really, Olympus zealots are blessed with lenses which are
middle-of-the-road in terms of prices for new lenses. Compare similar focal
lengths and maximum apertures in Olympus to those of Canon or Nikon, etc. If
anything, many of the Oly lenses look to my jaundiced eye like a bargain.
As to quality, again, bias comes into play. I'd be tempted to say that, across
the system as a whole, Zuikos are superb lenses, but of course owners of Nikon,
Canon, Pentax, etc. would beg to differ (and be quite happy to take a tire-iron
to me in a dark alley while they were "differing" with me). Many professionals
over the years have happily and successfully (not to mention profitably) used
OM System cameras with Zuiko lenses to take some amazing images. They stand up
well to comparisons with better-known names, and Oly has some true
world-leading lenses in their line-up. In certain niches, Oly's OM System has
no competitors (awesome macro line-up, for instance).
If you own an OM camera with a Zuiko lens, you have nothing to be ashamed about
and nothing to apologize for. The determining factor, of course, will
ultimately be the skill and care with which you craft your images. Assuming
your eye is up to the challenge, Zuikos won't let you down.
Garth
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