Hi,
I compared the quality of the 35-70 mm F3.5-4.5 with the primes and in 99%
of the situations you won't see the difference (imho). Especially the
contrast of the slides taken with this lens is remarkable. A big advantage
of this lens compared to the 35-70 mm F3.6 is the close-focussing mechanism.
The major drawback is the dark viewfinder. The aperture is almost always
closed down to F4.5; only when the aperture is set to F3.5 the viewfinder
will be bright. So focussing with this lens is not very easy and for me the
reason to look for another zoom. I finally bought the Tokina ATX 35-70 mm
F2.8. This lens has about the same price as the Zuiko 35-70 mm F3.6, is very
well made and lacks the distortion and high price of the Zuiko 35-80 mm
F2.8.
But of course, nothing beats the 190 grams of the tiny Zuiko 35-70 mm
F3.5-4.5!
Then a word about the quality of the double digit OM's. My OM40 dates from
1988. I used it under many difficult situations: extreme cold and heat,
exposed it to dust and bumpy truck rides, dropped it many times and it still
works perfecty. Until now it never needed a clean-up! (Although it looks
terribly used...)
These pictures speak for themselves and are taken with the OM40:
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/photovoogt/nepal/thorungla.html - freezing
cold
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/photovoogt/china/deqen5.html - on a bumpy and
dusty truck
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/photovoogt/indonesia/snuitbeest.html - in the
rainforest
http://members.nbci.com/_XMCM/photovoogt/china/bij.html - and with perfect
TTL/OTF flash capabilities!
Of course, the look and feel of an single digit OM is much better, but you
don't make better pictures just with the look and feel...
Bye,
Erwin Voogt
Utrecht, The Netherlands
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