Micro 4/3 Your Treasured M43 'Sleeper Lens"?

[Jan Steinman]

I went back and re-read the initial message, and I'm still not certain what is meant by "sleeper lens."

But a seldom-seen lens that I often carry with me for "opportunistic" use is the OM Zuiko 500mm ƒ/8 Reflex. It's small and light enough to fit in my "bum bag," and so I'm rarely without it. This means I'm ready if a super-tele opportunity comes up unexpectedly.

People generally don't lug a 500mm refracting lens around with them, unless they are setting out to shoot wildfile. And most mirror lenses are the pits — or, they're big and heavy.

But I find this Olympus mirror to be near the top of all mirror lenses I've read about, and it is certainly the best of all I've personally tried. (And I've kissed a lot of frogs!)

On µ4/3rds, it's a bit long for most use, so I tend to use it with a focal reducer, for 350mm ƒ/5.6.

If life gives you lemons, make lemonaid! Or donutaid.

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With the E-M1.2's great IBIS, it's even good on the deck of a moving boat.

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Sharp enough, if you can get the damn thing focused properly! (The vignetting is due to the Fotodiox Baveyes focal reducer.)

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With a fairly close focus, it actually makes a decent candid portrait lens!

 

[JensM]

I went back and re-read the initial message, and I'm still not certain what is meant by "sleeper lens."

But a seldom-seen lens that I often carry with me for "opportunistic" use is the OM Zuiko 500mm ƒ/8 Reflex. It's small and light enough to fit in my "bum bag," and so I'm rarely without it. This means I'm ready if a super-tele opportunity comes up unexpectedly.

Good one, it is one of the few conversions I have thought seriously about. Still, hadn't thought about focal reducer, nor IBIS, so a blinding flash of the obvious happened over here.

It makes even better sense with those supplements.

 

[Jan Steinman]

… hadn't thought about… IBIS…

The Olympus E-M1 Mark II IBIS is incredibly good with this lens!

I travel on ferries often, and will often use this lens as a stabilized spotting scope, half-pressing the shutter long enough to read the registry info on boats, for example, without even taking a shot.

I do not recommend the Fotodiox Baveyes focal reducer, used on the ketch shot. It was all I had at the time. Much better is the Metabones Speedbooster Ultra (of course), but I find the Viltrox Mount Adapter EF-M2 II focal reducer to be 85% as good as the Metabones at 25% of the price. It takes a really good adapted lens to see the difference.

An older version of the Viltrox is available that will not work with non-electronic lenses without taping its contacts off. So be sure to get the "II" version if you don't want to mess with that. Or if you're willing, perhaps you can get a better price on the older one. I think their glass is the same.

 

[Giiba]

Not sure if it a 'sleeper', but the most surprising lens, I think, is the Olympus 30/3.5.

I bought it cause it was cheap, but I've been thoroughly charmed by it since. I hear so little about it and it certainly isn't the sexiest spec, but it has a wonderful rendition and is super flexible.

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[ac12]

Mine is the Panasonic-Lumix 12-60.
Much less $$$ than the Panasonic-Leica 12-60.
Relatively small and light, makes a perfect light travel lens. And I take it for casual photo walks.

My second lens is what @John King mentioned, the 14-42EZ.
With my EM10-mk2, it makes a nice compact kit that fits into a small camera bag, that none of my other interchangeable lens cameras will fit into. I use it when I WANT a compact lens. Otherwise I don't use it much, as I HATE using the Electronic Zoom. I've never gotten along with EZ lenses and camera.

 

[davidzvi]

Pan 14 is my favorite but already mentioned.
The Pan 45-200 and the original Pan 14-140 have also been mentioned.
But the O14-42 II R hasn't.

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[agentlossing]

I’ve seen this lens show up from time to time on used sites. Always wondered how it actually did. Doesn’t get a lot of attention it seems.

It has a bit of distortion, but not much... not super sharp but contrasty and punchy. Tiny, somewhat loud focus motor, but endearing.

 

[scottR]

Funny enough for me it's the P20 1.7 ..and having bought all the expensive premium lenses I have realised the so-called kit lenses are Good enough for the sensor size M4/3rds ..for my shooting I can honestly

see no difference

 

[John King]

Pan 14 is my favorite but already mentioned.
The Pan 45-200 and the original Pan 14-140 have also been mentioned.
But the O14-42 II R hasn't.
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A vastly underrated lens, David.

The detail in your cat's iris is superb, and the detail with lack of distortion in your building photo is remarkable. I've seen far more expensive lenses give results that were nowhere near as good in any respect.

Well done.

 

[JensM]

But the O14-42 II R hasn't.
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Hmm, may keep one of those, then, it can go into the kit lens collection. Current inventory is three, and that is after selling two. Shots taken with any of those, Nil...

 

[John King]

Hmm, may keep one of those, then, it can go into the kit lens collection. Current inventory is three, and that is after selling two. Shots taken with any of those, Nil...

Jens, some of the very best photos I have taken in over 60 years have been taken with my E-510 and its two humble "plastic" kit lenses - 14-42 ED and 40-150 ED.

Back in 2007, who was putting ED elements in kit lenses?
Other than Olympus, that is.

They would hold their own against pretty well anything made by anyone else.
Their HG and SHG lenses were, and are, stunning, even by today's standards. My FTs 11-22 and 14-54 MkII are every bit as good as my 8-25 and 12-100.

 

[JensM]

My FTs 11-22 and 14-54 MkII are every bit as good as my 8-25 and 12-100.

Those are on my horizon, due to you singing their praises earlier.

I probably should stop mucking about, and actually pick up the needed card readers for CF and/or XD cards, so that I can get around to spin up the E-400 and the E-410. I have a set of the later kit lenses (14-42/40-140) as well as an older 14-140, that one is a proper beast, which I plan to sell.

Doh, I will rummage through some of the odd sort bins, when I type about it, I may actually have such readers from earlier.

 

[John King]

Those are on my horizon, due to you singing their praises earlier.

I probably should stop mucking about, and actually pick up the needed card readers for CF and/or XD cards, so that I can get around to spin up the E-400 and the E-410. I have a set of the later kit lenses (14-42/40-140) as well as an older 14-140, that one is a proper beast, which I plan to sell.

I've got a small box full of them. Pity that you are not closer ...

Doh, I will rummage through some of the odd sort bins, when I type about it, I may actually have such readers from earlier.

All my current built in and two of three portable card readers will also read pretty much anything, including SD, CF and xD. The micro-SD slots are flakey, so better off using a micro-SD to SD adapter.

I've also got a few xD cards that live in my dual slot cameras. Both my E-30 and E-510 have dual slots!! Take up to 2 GB xD cards, plus the main CF cards. Useful "in-camera" storage ...

 

[John King]

Interestingly, I have just discovered that my multi-card readers will not read SD cards using the OTG cable from my Lenovo Yoga YT 706F.

The single SD card reader works perfectly.

 

[JensM]

I've got a small box full of them. Pity that you are not closer ...

All my current built in and two of three portable card readers will also read pretty much anything, including SD, CF and xD. The micro-SD slots are flakey, so better off using a micro-SD to SD adapter.

I've also got a few xD cards that live in my dual slot cameras. Both my E-30 and E-510 have dual slots!! Take up to 2 GB xD cards, plus the main CF cards. Useful "in-camera" storage ...

One of my el cheapo acquisitions, a Oly Mju 850 SW, was primarily bought due to it coming with a XD card adapter for Micro SDs, and I also hooked a 2GB XD card for not much after trawling the classified for some decent 8GB CFs to no avail. I was stupid enough to just off-load all of my CFs out along with the Canon 50D. Had 8-10 of them, mostly in the working range of the Olys, 2- 4 and 8Gbs.

Would have been gold to have them for the Olys now.

 

[John King]

One of my el cheapo acquisitions, a Oly Mju 850 SW, was primarily bought due to it coming with a XD card adapter for Micro SDs, and I also hooked a 2GB XD card for not much after trawling the classified for some decent 8GB CFs to no avail. I was stupid enough to just off-load all of my CFs out along with the Canon 50D. Had 8-10 of them, mostly in the working range of the Olys, 2- 4 and 8Gbs.

Would have been gold to have them for the Olys now.

I've got a whole lot of CF cards, from 32 MB (!) up to 8 GB, but also have three camera bodies that use them.

 

[drd1135]

The Oly 17 1.8. I really like the size and the MF clutch. I know some complain about it optically but I’ve always liked my results.

 

[John King]

The Oly 17 1.8. I really like the size and the MF clutch. I know some complain about it optically but I’ve always liked my results.

Steve, I think that it was the f/2.8 17 that some complained about, IIRC.

 

[DeeJayK]

Steve, I think that it was the f/2.8 17 that some complained about, IIRC.

I think Steve's right that some folks (MTF aficionados?) frown upon the O17/1.8.

That said, I agree that it's probably my favorite lens to use.

- K

 

[davidzvi]

The Oly 17 1.8. I really like the size and the MF clutch. I know some complain about it optically but I’ve always liked my results.

Steve, I think that it was the f/2.8 17 that some complained about, IIRC.

I think Steve's right that some folks (MTF aficionados?) frown upon the O17/1.8.

That said, I agree that it's probably my favorite lens to use.

- K

Actually, all 3 of you are correct. The f/2.8 gets the most complaints. But the f/1.8 gets complaints when people compare it to the PL15. Personally, I prefer the P14 over the O17 f/2.8 as a tiny prime and the O17 f/1.8 over the PL15 for a reason I've never really been able to put my finger on. I even prefer the P14 over the PL15.