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[OM] Re: Zuiko 100mm F2 + 2X-A teleconvertor

Subject: [OM] Re: Zuiko 100mm F2 + 2X-A teleconvertor
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:12:17 -0800
Johnny Johnson wrote:

>At 08:59 PM 1/15/2006, Michael Wong wrote:
>
>  
>
>>It seems I should keep my Zuiko 200mm F4 MC.
>>    
>>
>
>Hi folks,
>
>Since Michael brought up the 200mm, f4 -
>
>Are all silver nosed copies single coated?
>
Not necessarily.

>Are all multi-coated copies marked "MC"?
>  
>
Not necessarily.

The cosmetic change from silver to black nose happened, unfortunately, 
to occur in roughly the same time frame as the move from single to multi 
coated. However, there are many documented cases of silver nosed MC 
lenses and black nosed SC lenses from this period.

The absolute most reliable indicator is whether there is a letter and 
period preceeding the "ZUIKO" on the front ring. In the case of the 
200/4, an E.ZUIKO is SC and a plain ZUIKO is MC, whether or not it aslo 
says MC.

>I have a silver nosed 200mm, f4 that I never really used when I was 
>shooting film.  Now I've become one of those anal, pixel peeping, 
>landscape shooters that Moose described the other day and I've been 
>playing around with some primes to take on the upcoming trip to the 
>Southwest.  
>
Do a bit of pixel peeping myself....

>I'd been thinking of carrying a three lens kit in the 
>backpack consisting of a 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4, and a ~105mm f2.8 
>(Kiron).  While shooting some test images with those lenses I decided 
>to drag out the 200mm to see how it would do on a digital body and I 
>was pleasantly surprised.  In the center it was sharp, had good 
>contrast, and showed very little CA.  
>
I'm not sure where folks may get the idea that the 200/4 is a less than 
good lens. Optically, it is really first rate. However, on Oly bodies, 
it has vibration issues that it shares with some other teles and mid 
zooms. If you look at Gary's tests, you will see lots of mediocre to 
poor results, for both SC and MC versions, in his tests with OM-1 
mounted on tripod, but with no vibration damping by hands, beanbag, etc. 
When he tested the same MC lens with mirror & aperture prefire AND a 
tele lens support, it suddenly is a very good lens, center and edge.

Of course, shooting on a DSLR, there is no aperture stop down mechanism 
to cause vibration and the camera is much more massive than an OM body, 
so there may be no vibration issue at all.

The SC and MC versions differ only in coating, I believe, so the only 
differences should be flare performance and maybe a tiny difference in 
contrast. Sharpness should be much the same.

>It may become part of the kit 
>if, in later testing, the edges/corners also prove to be reasonably 
>sharp.  A couple of other pluses are that it has a built-in hood and 
>the 55mm filter thread is the same as the 50mm f1.4 I'll be carrying 
>so I won't need to pack another set of filters.
>  
>
Unless you have a very unusual 50/1.4, it is 49mm filter. The 200/5 is 
also an excellent lens, and a personal favorite, and takes 49mm filters. 
And then you've got the 52mm thread on the Kiron...

Moose


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