Olympus macro converter MCON-P02

Got myself a cheap "Marco Lens" solution. What I did was bought from Amazon Olympus macro converter MCON-P02, converts your normal Lens to "Marco" capable. It is a little adapter, literally take up no visible space in my bag, can transform any of my 3 tiny holy trinity into "Marco" Lens anytime, anywhere.

The "Marco" converter

With the step up/down ring

It can support 37mm and 46mm, because it comes with a step up/down ring, the converter itself is 46mm, the ring convert its to 37mm.
 

The front element

I own the Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens, It is great for portraits and even general photography. It's minimum focus distance is 50cm. That doesn't let you get close enough to an insect to take a good photo. Add the converter and you can get much closer, about 24cm. The converter makes the 45mm lens even more versatile.

Here are some sample shots I took with my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark 2 with Olympus 45mm f1.8 with the Olympus macro converter MCON-P02.

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Made in Japan

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Made in Japan

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on PRO1-D

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on PRO1-D

Olympus 45mm f1.8 with Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Lumix

Olympus 45mm f1.8 without Olympus Macro Converter MCON-P02 focus on Lumix

MCONs are fun to have, but it is not for serious Macro Photography, it is for those on budget and hardly take Macro photos.

The Holy Trinity of Micro Four Thirds Lens

The Holy Trinity of Micro Four Thirds Lens

Many photographers have heard of the “Holy Trinity” for various systems, when asked experienced photographer will say that lenses are a better investment than a new camera body.

Holy Trinity usually means a wide angle lens, a standard short portrait focal lens and a long/portraits focal lens which many blog site, many forums had deem are the Olympus 12mm f2.0 wide angle lens, Panasonic/Leica 25mm f1.4 lens and the Olympus 75mm f1.8 lens. As you can see these 3 lens are not cheap, the cheapest among is the Panasonic/Leica 25mm f1.4, Amazon selling USD $597.99, 2nd hand selling around $600 in Singapore Carousell.

My budget "Holy Trinity" lens are as follow:

• Wide angle 28mm equivalent: Panasonic 14mm f2.5 (Around $150*) Reviews
• Same viewing angle as the eye 50mm equivalent: Panasonic 25mm f1.7 (Around $200*) Reviews
• Portrait lens 90mm equivalent: Olympus 45mm f1.8 (Around $200* but I got it @ $180*) Reviews

*Note: All those 2nd hand price quoted can be found in Carousell Singapore.

My "Holy Trinity"

Tower of the Holy Trinity

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 The Portrait Lens

The Portrait Lens

Mighty tiny lens which many will describe when anyone see it, hold it and shoot with it. The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko looks like a metal lens, but it's made of plastic with a bright silver finish and the mount is made of metal. It is small enough that it can be slipped into a pocket when not in use.

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8

People who shoot with DSLR would be sucked into the obsession over larger aperture at one point. The lower the F-number, the drooling the lens would be. Fast lenses bring plenty of advantages to general photography situations, and the most important of all is the ability to gather more available ambient light to produce a much more natural, pleasing image. This is evidently useful when shooting under low light conditions, where higher shutter speed can be achieved with larger aperture opening, mainly is to freeze motions and to prevent hand shake blur.

The front view of 37mm

The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko is a very sharp lens, wide open at f1.8, the central region of the image is tack-sharp, there are not much difference in stopping down to f2.0, from f2.8 onwards the lens is as sharp as sharp gets. It is sharp all the way through to f16, where a slight hint of diffraction limiting is present, but it is still very sharp even at this aperture. At f22 there is only very slight softness across the frame. You’ve seen a lot of professional-level photos with sharply rendered subjects and artistic defocused backgrounds. This is the lens that will help you achieve the same kind of shots. It’s especially good for portraits, but also works well for stills, action and video.


The Olympus 45mm f1.8 m.Zuiko is really a mighty tiny lens. The 45mm f1.8 is an affordable fixed focal length prime lens that’s bright enough to excel in low-light interiors, fast enough for pro-quality action shots, and second to none when it comes to creating the lovely defocused background effects you want in your portraits.

The creamy bokeh

The Crop of the above photo

Photographers who shoot a lot of portraits and still-lives are always seeking good bokeh. Lenses with relatively shallow depth of field – like the 45mm – are especially well suited to capture the combination of tack-sharp subject and beautifully soft, defocused background that exemplifies bokeh. One of this lens’s most interesting features is the unique-to-Olympus Movie & Still Compatible mechanism, or MSC. This technology provides amazingly fast – and nearly silent – autofocus operation. You’ll really notice the benefit when you play back your HD video and the only thing you hear is the ambient background noise in the scene you were filming; what you won’t hear is the sound of the lens focusing. This lens is perfect for tracking action. With MSC and the super-bright f1.8 aperture, you can film a school play or indoor sporting event in low light and still get excellent results.


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


Test Photo shot with Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm f1.8 using Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II, first we test the sharpest that this lens can be.

45mm @ f1.8, Photo Mode Natural

Crop of the above original photo

See how sharp this lens is, under the right condition, it can give a sharp image. More of the photos as per below.

The liquid green

 

 

The Vegetable green

The Carrot orange

The mixture of colors

The mischievous

45mm @ f1.8

45mm @ f1.8

In short, it’s a great addition to your Olympus photographic system.

Another underrated gem Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 ASPH LUMIX G

Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 ASPH LUMIX G

Some people are disappointed by the aperture because of its only f2.5 which is slow for a prime lens. But the size and weight is number one (1), Japanese made product are well known in the world as reliability and quality. Although it is made mostly from plastic, but the mount is made in metal. The focus ring is smooth and easy to operate, auto focus is fast and accurate.

Panasonic 14mm f2.5

Front View

Panasonic 14mm produce relatively sharp wide open , the sharpness came from the center of the lens whereas the corner are softer. The lens can at times have heavy chromatic aberrations near the corners with back-lit objects The wide angle field of view forces you to get close to your subject and capture the context scene, once you are close enough, it produces a creamy shallow depth of field. 28mm wide angle really great for street shooting.

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

The test shot for the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 ASPH Lumix G.

14mm @ f2.8, Picture Mode: Natural

Crop from above picture

This lens really not bad, for the price and sharpness. Really small pancake size, drop in your pocket and off you explore the world. With sharp results and only slight issues with CA, the 14mm has produced a very nice walk-around lens because it’s so small and light, you won’t feel like you are carrying a full bag marching with you when you go out shooting. Especially after a long day of walking around, everyone will appreciate the weight they carry.

 Somemore photos from the 14mm.

14mm @ f2.5, Picture Mode Natural

14mm @ f2.5, Picture Mode Natural

Bokeh, nice and round

More bokeh, creamy round

14mm @ f2.8, Picture Mode Natural

14mm @ f2.5, Picture Mode Natural

I'm very satisfy with image quality of the lens, its sharp, be it f2.5 or f2.8, the fast focus although at the max aperture of f2.5, its move fast and lock on quickly. Most importantly, its cheap. Even you lost it, drop it or spoils it, doesn't matter, get another one and replace it without having heart pain. The 14mm is always on my E-M10 Mark II wherever I bring it out. One of my always must have to bring out favorite lens.

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