At 03:47 3/12/01, Andrew Dacey wondered:
Just curious why so many people mention the 40mm 2.0 as being up there
with the ultimates as far as the Zuiko collection is concerned.
Is it a rarity thing or a quality thing? Or just a "must own every
Zuiko" thing?
All of the above plus the heuristic for the ideal "standard" focal length
is one equal to the diagonal of the film frame. In the case of 35mm small
format, this is about 43.2mm. Of all the "standard" focal length lenses
for the OM system, this one is closest to that, with the traditional 50mm
"standard" being a bit long. The 50mm is a vestige of the Leica "A" which
was the first successfully marketed small format camera using "Edison size"
35mm cinema film, which is what we still use right down to the size, shape
and pitch of the sprocket holes. Thus, there is a mystique surrounding all
40-45mm lenses for any 35mm small format system.
I have a 40mm/2.8 Sonnar on my Rollei 35. The focal length has a very
natural perspective, the slight extra width in angle of view is handy, and
the DOF characteristics are very forgiving of focus error. You will find
quite a few RF's with fixed lenses, including some of the older Olympi,
have ~40mm lenses.
-- John
(who doesn't have a 40mm Zuiko for his OM's either)
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