Exactly four years ago, I acquired Jan's OMZ 28/2 lens. This lens, as
you all know, is staggeringly good. The angels did sing, good. For the
semi-mortals, I consider the 28/2, 100/2 and 35-80/2.8 as the
enchilada platter of lenses for the OM system. (let me guess, Moose
doesn't like enchiladas?)
The problem comes in with the 28/2. While I absolutely love this lens,
and on film it has no equal--it is that good, on digital it has been
somewhat a disappointment. For one thing, I do like my 24/2.8 and
35/2.8 lenses so much that the 28/2 is kinda in the "hey, what about
me?" category when I'm packing my bag. But the other issue is that the
sensor-lens interaction has issues with the 28/2. In the case of the
4/3 bodies, it's a complete no-go because of the hot-spotting and in
the 6D it doesn't outperform either of the other two lenses and has
some distortions that are harder to clean up unless you are stopped
down.
On the 6D, At the normal apertures of F5.6-F8, there is nothing not to
like. At F4, it is right at the point where you can get away with it,
but you are balanced on the ragged edge. At F2-F2.8, it struggles
badly. On film, none of this is true and you can shoot it at pretty
much any aperture and get outstanding results, except at F2 when the
corners to fall apart a bit and vignetting is obvious, but still
comfortable.
I've backed off on shooting film this past year because of work
schedule, foot injury, a bit of dark-cloud mentality and of course the
presence of the 6D, but that is a temporary thing. And so is the 6D.
While I like the 6D for some stuff, it's definitely not a camera that
I'm keester over heels about. It's a good camera and everything, but
it just doesn't rock my world like the other cameras do.
So, all that said, here is the question. Do I keep the 28/2 for the
long view, knowing that my kit WILL eventually change? Or do I sell it
because it serves no real purpose in my kit at this time? Of course,
the risk is that the next FF digital camera will be better or worse
with the 28/2. I can't have a lens that is ONLY good on film bodies--I
need to carry just one set of lenses around that work on both formats.
(4/3 is specializing with kit zooms, macros and also the super-teles).
I know that I will never buy another 28/2 again if I sell this one,
but I'm not sure that it makes sense to sell it even though it isn't
one of my primary go-to lenses today. I'm very glad that I did buy it,
but not convinced that four years later I should keep it.
Maybe I should just glue it to a camera for a few weeks and shoot the
snot out of it.
AG Schnozz
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