I'm not sure that I buy it. We've been through this before, just scaling
down a 35mm design, with tight manufacturing tolerances, should
already do a
heck of a lot better than the M.Zuiko 17/2.8.
In fact, from what I've seen, almost every 35mm lens with the same
actual (or even smaller) focal length than the Oly 17mm trashes it
on all fronts of image quality, except perhaps resolution (Can't say,
there aren't 35mm sensors with the same pixel density, especially not in
any current digital rangefinders):
- Voigtlander 15mm and 12mm
- Nikkor 14-24/2.8
- Canon TS-E 17mm f/4
- Leica Tri-Elmar 16-18-21
- etc.
I would put money on the fact that the Color-Minotar on my minox will
also,
in absolute terms, beat it on all fronts. Hmm... If I only had the
equipment,
imagine how cool a M.Zuiko lens one could build by mounting the (tiny,
tiny)
35/2.8 from the minox on a M.Zuiko mount ring. Would make a great
small portrait
lens :-) I wish I had the equipment to play around with building
lenses like
these...
Anyway, I really am not convinced, the 17mm is a poor excuse of a
lens, based on
the results I have seen. Even more embarrassing that the Panasonic
20/1.7 is *so*
much better... And it's not even done with Leica.
I know I am hammering on about this, but it pains me so... This should
have been Zuiko's
finest hour, finally on a platform with no mechanical constraints.
Instead, they produced
probably the poorest prime lens I have ever seen.
D.
On 28 Sep 2009, at 9:20 AM, Andrew Fildes wrote:
> Oh yes, the Minotaur...Minoctar...whatever it was. Sharp as...
> But we're being a bit unfair perhaps there. Comparing it to the
> Panasonic 20mm is more reasonable, or even the centre of the old
> Zuiko 18mm f3.5 but it is an ultrawide - it's a hell of a lot easier
> to make a 35mm focal length lens with little or no aberration. That's
> one disadvantage of 4/3rds - to get even a moderately wide aspect you
> have to push the limits.
> Andrew Fildes
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