The world is full of dreary lenses. Most of the new ones, today, are refreshes of the old. So when Zeiss invited us to try something new, my interest was piqued. We, the Phoblographer members in attendance, were introduced to the New Zeiss Touit 32mm 1.8 and the 12mm f2.8, both rather clever lenses. However these lenses are for Sony NEX 7 and Fujifilm X Pro cameras, which I don’t own. Luckily Zeiss brought LensRentals along to loan me a Fujifilm XPro. While I am not a fan of the X Pro 1 personally, the Zeiss Touit 32mm f1.8 was rather nice.
Let’s see why.
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Since its inception, the Micro Four Thirds format has only had one option for a 35mm equivalent, the Olympus 17mm f2.8. While its performance greatly lacks behind Panasonic’s 20mm f1.7, this lens has been the budget friendly prime that many buyers opt to purchase in place of a kit zoom. Thankfully, Olympus has introduced a newer, more high performance 17mm to the mix, the Olympus 17mm f/1.8 M.ZUIKO lens.
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The Micro Four Thirds (MFT) format has grown quite a bit over the recent years. There are many factors that can be attributed to this growth but one of the most important factors has to be the selection of native lenses. Panasonic and Olympus lead the charge when it comes to supporting the format but many other lens manufactures have joined the party. One of the newer lens makers to dip their toe in the MFT market is Jackar Optical. Jackar, a Chinese lens maker, recently released a 34mm F1.8 prime lens for MFT and Sony’s NEX series of cameras. Will this lens get lost in the sea of MFT lenses, or will this low cost lens prove to be a hidden gem?
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At photokina 2012 in September of last year, SLR Magic showed off some of their latest lens designs for mirrorless systems. Among these was the 35mm T1.4 for Micro Four Thirds, Sony NEX and Fuji X. We have recently gotten hold of a review unit of this lens for the Micro Four Thirds system and I was able to spend some time with it and to collect some first impressions.
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If you’re a Canon or Nikon shooter, you have a pretty vast selection of lenses to choose from. Most people tend to gravitate towards lenses that are made by the same manufacturer as their body. When I first started shooting, I looked like a walking advertisement for Canon…they should have been paying me. Over time, I found that third party products can be just as good or better than the “brand name” products. Over the past year or so, I’ve developed a curiosity with Zeiss optics. I love the build quality and the attention to detail. The Distagon 35mm f/1.4 is truly a wonderful lens, but it’s out of most hobbyist’s price range. Luckily, Zeiss’ Planar T* 50mm f/1.4 is less than half of the price of its 35mm cousin.
So can the 50mm hang with the rest of Zeiss’ products? Let’s find out.
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Over the past two to three years, the Micro Four Thirds (M43) system has morphed from an uncertain new category into a serious alternative to consumer DSLRs. As this segment grows, manufactures, mainly Olympus and Panasonic, have started to provide users with more lens options, but more importantly, they are producing higher quality lenses. Because of the relatively small sensors size, M43 systems have to deal with a 2x crop factor. Because of this, Olympus and Panasonic have to produce very wide lenses to provide users with a field of view that is similar to what their used to using with SLRs (e.g. 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, etc.). In this review, we are going to compare two M43 wide angle primes, the Olympus 12mm f/2 and the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5.
