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Re: [OM] Zooms at Dawn - the 50mm shootout - Teaser

Subject: Re: [OM] Zooms at Dawn - the 50mm shootout - Teaser
From: Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:09:40 -0500
>
> Since I'm not in the market for a 25/1.4 myself I didn't digest the
> comments in detail !
>

Well, I will have the 25/1.4 for tonight's event shoot.  Corey did volunteer
it to me and the lighting is more "dramatic" (darker) then previous years.

Last night I shot around 700 pictures, of which 2/3 or more were taken with
the L1. A few quick comments and observations:

1. The L1 is "LOUD" in comparison to the E-1, but not irritatingly so. It's
a "normal" camera in that regard. A couple times it did draw attention. The
E-1 never does in that environment.

2. The viewfinder is dismal, but we already established that. Even so, it
wasn't much of an issue because I had already learned to adapt and change my
shooting method with it. For some creative stuff where I was using the
50/1.4, I just switched to liveview.

3. The OIS image stabilization is effective, but not all the time. It's way
too easy to force the limits with it. There is just not enough range for the
corrective element to move. I've been too used to the stabilization in the
Minolta A1 which seems to have like 25% movement, whereas the OIS appears
less than 10%. I don't know the exact numbers, I'm just sharing my
impressions.

4. The Leica 14-50 lens absolutely rocks!  Even wide-open this lens performs
very well. I don't know how the technical specs define the lens as compared
to the 14-54, but the Leica has a look and glow which is much more "organic"
in nature. Actually, I found it a very good match to the OMZ 50/1.4 which
was used extensively on the E-1. Unless the buyer backs out, my 14-54 is now
sold. It's been a good ride and I'll always look on that lens with pride and
happiness, but the Leica is me. The Leica is more true to the OMZ lenses.
Bokeh is definitely more Leica-like, though, with evidence of plenty of
correction.

5. Handling of the L1 is a mixed bag. There is a slight hesitation with the
shutter-release which you don't notice unless you are flipping back and
forth with the E-1. Otherwise, the camera NEVER got in my way and it always
did exactly what I asked of it. The meter-mode switch is even more valuable
than I thought it would be. There were a couple times last night where the
lighting was such that the matrix metering was totally fooled and I had to
switch to either spot or averaging mode. With the L1, it was totally
painless, with the E-1, not so much. I ended up changing drive mode more
often then meter mode. Both evaluative (matrix) metering systems (E-1, L1)
were equally fooled by the lighting.

6. Aperture rings.... Heaven. As every lens used has an aperture ring, I was
able to shoot everything in an identical manner. I'm generally an Aperture
Priority kind of guy, so I'm adjusting the aperture by feel, more than by
thought. It's an instinct kind of thing. As I am going from one picture to
another I'm tuned into the lighting and the desired DoF and am just twisting
the aperture ring as I go without the camera even being to the eye. There is
that little nuance thing where the Leica's rings go backwards to the Olympus
rings, but surprisingly it wasn't much of an issue because I was down by the
lower-limits of the lens anyway so I could just jog the ring to a hard limit
and then back off from there. Again, this allows the camera to be totally
operated by feel. If I was in the mid-apertures, like an outdoor shoot,
adjust apertures between the Leica and Olympus lenses would be a little more
bothersome, but indoor work wasn't an issue.

7. Pattern noise. Occasionally the L1 would have pattern noise in the
images. I was shooting at ISO 800. As this was actually a pretty high RFI
environment, I think I see evidence of this happening when in close
proximity to wireless microphones and operating cellphones. Further testing
to follow... The E-1 is ultra consistent with noise at ISO 800, but the L1
is sometimes better, sometimes worse. But NR was turned off on both cameras.

8. Getting two cameras to match. I shot mostly JPEGs. There will be
portraits and group shots this afternoon which will be RAW, but for the
event itself, I'm using only JPEGs. Not an issue at all. Both cameras
produce excellent files. However, it was quite the adventure getting the
colorcasts and contrast to match. It has been said that the L1 has rather
conservative curves, and I'm going to echo that sentiment. White Balance of
"incadescent" was set for both cameras and was essentially a dead match. I
set up a custom "film mode" in the L1 where the contrast and saturation is
neutralized (and I'm using the off position on NR), but to get the E-1 to
match that, I had to back off the saturation from CS2 to CS1. Going through
an initial edit down last night showed me that the settings are close enough
that I had to look at the file-name to be sure which camera was used for
which shots.  Man, did I luck out there.... Amazingly, the noise level of
the E-1 was even a lot cleaner!!!!  Go figure, it's incredible how clean the
E-1 is when you dumb it down....

9. The E-1 has better shadows, the L1 has better highlights. At ISO 800, the
dynamic range of the L1 is limited, but the E-1 seems to have the same
dynamic range at 800 as it does at 100--just with more noise. The L1,
though, has a bottom limit to what is usable and the noise just goes
"digital" on you. We tested and saw exactly the same thing with the E-3.
Actually, with the exception of highlight handling, the L1 and the E-3
appear to be almost identical in noise and dynamic range traits.

10. Overall impressions - I'm pleased enough with this L1 experiment that it
will heavily influence my next camera purchase. I'm now just as likely to
buy a Panasonic as I would an Olympus digital camera, but my preference is
most definitely swinging towards a full-blown M-digital. Financially, it is
presently not an option, but the L1 bought me time anyway. I'm good now for
a while so I don't have to buy anything too fancy this year--maybe even next
year--we'll see. But when I do eventually buy my new pro-level digital kit
to replace the E-1/L1 combo, I'll be more inclined to go a totally different
route than the "Modal" control interface that is popular today.

11. I did also shoot quite a few pictures with the OM-3Ti last night.
Whimper.....

AG
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