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[OM] OM Lenses tested on E-1 (pictures!)

Subject: [OM] OM Lenses tested on E-1 (pictures!)
From: Peter Klein <pklein@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 21:18:54 -0800
OK, gang, I've tested all my OM Zuiko lenses on the E-1 at all 
apertures.  I shot the back of an old LP record album at about 1.2 meters, 
filling the frame in the long dimension. I've cropped fortune-cookie-sized 
strips at the center and edge for each lens and aperture, and posted them 
on quick and dirty Web pages.

I've found that a test like this gives a pretty good idea of how a lens 
will perform.  With the caveat that the performance at normal shooting 
distances is often a bit better than these close-in shots.

Here are the links.  Note, each page is a bit over 1 meg.

50/1.4 and 50/1.8, compared with 14-54 Digital Zuiko zoom at 54mm:
Image center: http://www.2alpha.com/~pklein/e1-om-center/50center.html
Image edge:  http://www.2alpha.com/~pklein/e1-om-edge/50edge.html

100/2.8, also 28/2.8 compared with 14-54 Digital Zuiko zoom at 25mm:
Image center: http://www.2alpha.com/~pklein/e1-om-center/100-28center.html
Image edge:  http://www.2alpha.com/~pklein/e1-om-edge/100-28edge.html

Some observations:

Note that all the tested lenses are multicoated.  Both the 50mm lenses say 
"Japan" on the front ring, but they are not the very latest models labeled 
"Made in Japan."

- The 50/1.8 at 1.8 is much better than the 50/1.4 at either f/1.4 or 
2.  This advantage holds until they become similar at f/5.6 and 
smaller.  Thus, the 50/1.8 is a better choice unless you need f/1.4.
- The 50/1.8 at 1.8 is very close to the 14-54 at 54mm wide open at f/3.5.
- The 50/1.8 is really a great lens.  Which means the 50/2 Digital must be 
amazing.
- I also tested a single-coated 50/3.5 OM Macro. But I'd left sharpening on 
in the camera, so I did not post those shots.  The results appear to be as 
good or better than the 50/1.8 at all comparable apertures.

- Surprisingly The 28/2.8 is noticeably better than the 14-54 at 25mm, at 
most stops.
- The 100/2.8 is quite usable at all stops, only a little soft at 
f/2.8.  It's an effective 200/2.8!

- All the lenses get quite a bit worse at f/16 and f/22, and you can see 
the effects at f/11.  Diffraction is very real.  :-)  For brevity, I did 
not include f/22 in the Web pages.

All the OM lenses underexpose a bit at the extreme one or two wide 
apertures, and get progressively brighter as you stop down.  The midrange 
is reasonably consistent on some lenses, and then it gets at the narrowest 
aperture or two. Each lens does it a little bit differently. There is also 
some color shift wide open. The illumination (a desk lamp) may have varied 
from lens to lens, so don't use these images to determine light falloff.

EXIF information should be intact in each individual image.  I shot with 
sharpening at the lowest setting, contrast and saturation at normal 
defaults, center-weighed metering, and white balance at 3000K 
(tungsten).  None of the images were sharpened, just cropped to fit the Web 
pages.

I won't be able to leave this stuff up on my site indefinitely.  If anyone 
has the space to archive it and would like to do so, please let me know.

--Peter


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