Introduce a cheap and good Mirco Four Third Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 ASPH LUMIX G

When I was looking for a wide-angle prime lens, first thing came to my mind is Olympus 25mm f1.8 this one is topped on my list. Olympus Singapore is selling $598, street price in other camera shop is selling around $550, 2nd hand is selling around $350 - $400 in clubsnap. The price is ok if you compare with Sony prime lens, lets see the Sony line up, the SEL range equivalent to the M43 are the 16mm and 20mm but they are of f2.8, cost around $399 and $349. The lower f factor prime lens are 28mm f2.0, 50mm f1.8 and the Zesis 24mm f1.8, except for the 50mm, the rest are expensive. Done comparing with Sony. Lets get back to Micro 4/3.

Panasonic 25mm f1.7

Olympus and Panasonic are both a Micro 4/3, so when I was researching the price, I was surprise that Panasonic cost only fraction of Olympus!! Official Panasonic selling $349, anyway I got it at $200 brand new from someone in carousell Singapore.


With the cheap price you would not expect Leica-like quality in terms of build, the lens is make of matte black plastic that is well assembled and shows no flimsiness or creaking. With plastic exterior, rear ends is a metal mount. Focus is internal, so the length of the lens won’t change during focusing. The lens is so light you will have to check if it’s actually mounted on your camera.


Panasonic gives a nice hood and we will definitely need it. To install the hood you have to remove the decorative ring on the lens, the hood is reversible so it will not occupy that much more space in the bag, and the cap is of the center pinch type, so you will be able to easily fit it on the lens even when the hood is on.

Front View

The Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 features a fast and fairly quiet lens motor, and can focus as close as 0.25m. Focus is acquired nearly instantly on my Olympus OM-D E-M10 II, even in lower light. The lens is rather quiet when focusing, but it isn’t completely silent, some soft clicking sounds can be heard from the lens, which may be audible on video if shooting in quiet rooms, but otherwise will not be a distraction.

Hear a lot that the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 produces images with good sharpness at most working apertures, including at f/1.7. For shooting shots of people or closer subjects, you’ll find the lens can render high levels of resolution, though it falls a bit short of the very best optics here. Sample of the photos as below shot from my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II with the Panasonic 25mm f1.7 lens.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.
  

25mm @ f1.7 Aperture Priority, Enhance picture style

Crop of the above picture

Sharpness is pretty good at f/1.7 because it doesn’t seem to improve too much upon stopping down. Slight increase in sharpness can be seen at f/2.8 and f/4 and this shows predominantly even sharpness across the frame, with some minor softening in the corners.  While there are certainly sharper lenses around, the 25mm f/1.7 is going to give you plenty of resolution in most any situation. Lets sum all up, for a very sensible sum of money, Panasonic offers you a lens with good albeit not outstanding optics, what’s more important is it manages to avoid any image resolution flaws.

Bokeh!!

25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural

25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural

25mm @ f1.7, Picture Mode Natural

The Panasonic 25mm f1.7 prime lens produces very sharp images with very nice bokeh, but not very creamy tho. It focuses quickly and accurately and and despite it’s low price, it hangs with the equivalent product from Olympus. It’s a great bargain and would make a great addition to any kit lens, specially for anyone on a budget. It will be my 50mm equivalent everyday lens.

Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ

Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm F3.5-5.6 on OM-D E-M10 Mark II

When was the last time you heard people praising the kit lens, for their sharpness, the stunning colors and overall image quality? Kit lens is something most people would not stay with very long after they bought their first system camera, many looking for options to upgrade to L Lens from Canon, Zesis/G Master Lens from Sony or even Olympus Pro Zoom/Prime lenses. Well you cannot blame them, most of the kit lens bundle together with entry level camera and some of the mid-level to higher level APS-C DSLR cameras performing less than mediocre.


But I can tell you that not for the case of Olympus kit lens, at first I was skeptic when friends using the Olympus commending about it and to be honest before I bought my OM-D E-M10 Mark II, I was already looking at the Pro zoom lens and Prime lens to replace the kit lens. When I got the OM-D E-M10 Mark II on a Saturday morning, I was together with my family. We are going "kai kai" with the kiddos, so I thought I just use first, maybe next week change the kit lens.


After a long day out with the kiddos, and massive shooting with them, I was speechless. They are so good (a bit slow on focusing) that I thought the shop had mistakenly given me a more premium type of zoom lens. I check and recheck and read the description on the lens itself!! Well, pictures really show more than a thousand words.


All of the test shots were captured with the Olympus M.Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ pancake kit lens using Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, shooting in JPEG Large Fine only, I used aperture priority exposure modes and the Natural picture style for the first 2 photos and Enhance picture style for the other 2 photos.


I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless.

Natural picture style, 18mm @ f5.6, Aperture Priority

Crop of the above original photos

Enhance picture style, 14mm @ f10, Aperture Priority

Corp of the above original photo

Look at the sharpness, you no need any pro lens to do that. Olympus kit lens can do the job nicely. Olympus 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 EZ is so good, right out of box, even better than my Sony A350 kit lens 18-70mm f3.5-5.6 when I first purchase it in 2008.


Test Shots

HDB Flats

Bus stop

The Intern

The Canteen

Work Place

Lego Nexo Knights

Marche Green Cows

Winner

Beginners, amateurs or even pros of photography, when you first got your camera system, and the kit lens bundles with the camera, did your friends started to psycho you on how the kit lens suck and they even how-lian (show off) you images from their higher grade lenses. They went on and on to you how sharp their lenses were, and how they can produce more "pro" look, which you know that your lousy kit lens cannot. Then you start to loose interest in using the kit lens, and march to the camera store to buy that Pro and Premium Zoom lens that you had been poison to, so that you can do what your peers can do? Give it a try first, shoot it for a week or two then decide whether to upgrade or hold. I'm still holding it, didn't get any Pro zoom lens yet, only 2 prime lens and they are very cheap to begin with. Will do a review with test shots on the 2 prime lens.



Next article will do a review/test shots on one of the budget Prime lens. So see you all next week

My New Mirrorless Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

 Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

Reading reviews upon reviews of different brands of Mirror-less camera, finding one that does not burn a hole in your pocket, must have similar features that are found on my Sony A350 DSLR, like having Super SteadyShot in-camera body image stabilization (offers from 2.5 to 3.5 stops of compensation). This feature is very important to me, it really helps me reduce blur image when handheld. Many bad photos that appear to be out of focus or blur are actually caused by camera shake. Sony seems to have upgraded their Super SteadyShot (Approx. 2.5 EV - 4.5 EV decrease in shutter speed). And SSS only available for their full fledged DSLR A Mount Series. But I do not want another bigger and heavier DSLR, my A350 is already very heavy liao and together with the SAL16-50mm f2.8, weighting like a ton.

Shortlisted a few of the Mirror-less, Sony A6300 and Sony A6000, but both models don't have the Super SteadyShot. A7II had sensor shift something like SSS, but it's a full frame and the cost!!! Fuji film X-T10 which my friend recommend me, had the retro looks, but no image stabilization.

I'm reviewing base on real world hands on, as a tools. There will be no charts or numbers, I find them pointless if you don't understand. To be honest, I don't.

Finally Olympus OM-D series caught my eyes.

The Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II launched in August 2015 is the only entry class Mirror-less Interchangeable Lens Camera with 5-axis image stabilization. Replacing Olympus OM-D E-M10, having most features of both E-M5 Mark II and E-M1. The E-M10 Mark II also uses the similar 16-megapixel image sensor and processing engine Truepic 7 as the E-M5 Mark II. And what's caught my eyes is the reminisce of my dad's Olympus OM-1 camera. He loves to take pictures of us, and always bring it with him whenever we went out to the beach and parks as it is quite nimble to use. And that camera was always imprint in my memories.

Do they looks alike?

Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II

 

Olympus OM-1

Let's talk about the E-M10 Mark II, design looks retro like the older model of OM 1 series, which is available in both all black and silver/black. E-M10 Mark 2 has many big dials on the top, reminds of the older days film cameras. The body is a mix of poly-carbonate and metal, with a metal internal frame covered by body of mixed materials. A leather-textured surface is layered onto the metal exterior for design full of sophistication. This classic style is the very same that Olympus has been using on interchangeable lens cameras since the beginning. Small enough to carry with you, and with a stylish design that you want to carry it around everywhere.

The OM-D words

Those big big dials

E-M10 Mark II's mark

The main features of the OM-D E-M10 Mark II: 5-axis image stabilisation, AF Targeting Pad, Large Electronic ViewFinder, Creative Photo Functions, Build-in WIFI

pitch (1), yaw (2), horizontal and vertical translation (3/4) and rotation (5) by moving its sensor.

Nightscapes: Roll

The E-M10 Mark II uses in-body image stabilization for compensating for camera roll that tends to occur when shooting nightscapes. (Roll cannot be compensated for on competitor interchangeable lens cameras with in-lens image stabilization)

Macro: Shift

Shift tends to occur during macro shooting. With the E-M10 Mark II, shift is reduced for beautiful macro photos. (Shift cannot be compensated for on a competitor interchangeable lens camera with general in-lens image stabilization)

Telephoto: Angular shake

Angular shake tends to occur during telephoto shooting. With the E-M10 Mark II, beautiful photos with virtually no angular shake are possible even during telephoto shooting.

Single-handed: Angular shake, roll

When shooting with a single hand, angular shake and roll occur more easily. However, angular shake and roll can drastically be reduced when shooting with the E-M10 Mark II.

AF Targeting Pad

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II is equipped with AF Targeting Pad, so you can simply touch the subject on the rear monitor to instantly snap a photo of the subject or you can trace your thumb along the rear monitor while looking through the viewfinder to quickly set a focus point, after the AF position is determined, press the shutter button halfway to focus. With a short shooting time lag and quick touch response, you can always capture the moment you're waiting for. Olympus AF system has been known to be super fast and accurate and this continues in the E-M10 Mark II.

The touch screen

 Large, Easy-to-see Electronic Viewfinder

 The E-M10 Mark II comes with a large, easy-to-see electronic viewfinder with 100% field of view. With this, you can shoot while confirming what the finished photo will look like. OLED electronic viewfinder provides high-resolution at 2.36 million dots. The 100% field of view display is larger than that of same-class interchangeable lens cameras. The optical viewfinder on most SLR cameras makes it difficult to see in dark situations, but the electronic viewfinder on the E-M10 Mark II gives you clear vision even in dark areas. Because the viewfinder optimizes brightness no matter what lens is attached, you can shoot night scenes exactly as you want. You can shoot while confirming the brightness, colour balance, and vividness in the viewfinder. This helpful function is not available in an optical viewfinder found on DSLRs.

Inside of the electronic view finder

Creative Photo Functions

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II is packed with functions for capturing creative photos. Capture the rich personality hidden in normal, everyday scenes. Art Filters expand your artistic expressions. Add creative Filters to both movies and still images. Art Effects give a further level of depth to the appeal of Art Filters. You can create more stand-out pictures that match your shooting intentions and enjoy easily capturing creative expressions that go beyond your imagination. Photo Story lets you capture multiple images of the same scene in a single photo to tell a story. Using touch operations on the rear monitor, you can change the composition, add accents to colors, and combine multiple photos to create a single work of art.

The Menu

This OM-D E-M10 Mark II is equipped with Live Bulb so you can create works of art by drawing light trails with a penlight, etc. You can confirm your progress on the rear monitor, making the process easier. For scenes that get too bright overall when using Live Bulb, you can use Live Composite, which merges images using just the newly bright areas for beautiful light trails. As with Live Bulb, you can confirm your progress on the LCD monitor.

WIFI

The OM-D E-M10 Mark II has built-in Wi-Fi for easy connection to a smartphone. With this feature you can quickly share images stored on the camera. You can also control the camera, add location information acquired on the smartphone to images, and apply Art Filters to recorded images.

With the 14-42mm kit lens

Final Thought

I'm definitely did not regret getting the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, it is lighter, smaller and can take sharp pictures of my kids and stuffs. Although it is small, but it fits nicely on my hand, handling it just feel like any other DSLR. The griping design of the camera body is truly ingenious, using your right thumb and the last 3 fingers to support the body, while your index finger is free to snap away on the shutter button. Using 1 hand to compose, focus and snap, it's so effortlessly. Maybe it's time for my Sony A350 DSLR to be retired in my dry cabinet for the time being. Don't get me wrong, the Sony A350 of it's age still can work wonders, still produces stunning pictures, just that it did not really fit into the new photographic world of weight, size and speed.


Next article I will do a review/test shots on the Olympus M.ZUIKO Digital ED 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 EZ pancake kit lens, so see you next week.

New Camera, new system, new life

Hi people, sure a long long time since I update on my blog. Life always get busier and many many commitment to fulfill.

Change of jobs, change of house, have more kids, earning a living in Singapore is not simple. Every things needs money to survive. after little Wayne had reach 1 years old, his little brother little Wallace came to this world. With 2 babies, really had the nightly father duty of making milks every few hours. Thats the experience that no money can buy and a very tiring one,

Changes are inevitable, so does this blog, there will be changes coming up soon. I also change my DSLR system, from Sony A350 which have been with me around 8 years, time to upgrade to new technology, new kind of DSLR, they call it DMLR (Digital Mirror-less Lens Reflex)...hahaha

After numerous of reading thru reviews,  Sony, Olympus, Fuji, Panasonic, Nikon, Canon, exclude both Nikon and Canon, sorry, i dun really like (Nikon and Canon). Sony has the most advance Tech in their cameras, world's fastest AF (0.05 sec), auto focus with the world’s most (425) phase-detection AF points, and 4K recording. But do you know, Sony lens are also expensive? I had been using their Alpha System for 8 Years, and their normal cheaper lens are also more expensive then others. Not to say those pro lens which can cost you arms and legs.

In the end, settle with Olympus OM-D system, although they are bit outdated on megapixels, but are you sure you going to develop sure a big poster? The most we develop are 4R or 8R max, where 4R are 1200x1800 Pixels @ 300PPI or 8R are 2400x3000 Pixels @ 300PPI. Olympus/Panasonic Micro four third system had been around since 2008, the technology they use for are mirror-less interchangeable lens digital cameras, camcorders and lenses. More info can be found on http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/index.html

 I will do a product intro on the next post and some thoughts of the product I use.