my observations on everything right and wrong with the world - starting with myself.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
So I got a new-to-me lens for my SLR today. I've been interested in macrophotography for a while now so I finally traded my EX-25 extension tube for a true macro lens, the ZD 35mm 3.5 macro. With the Olympus 4/3 system 2:1 FOV crop, effectively, this becomes a 70mm lens for me, so it is actually a great prime lens - good for portraits and everyday photography.
Anyway, I took some quick shots and after seeing the images, I was amazed. This lens is sharp. tack sharp. cracking sharp.
Here's an example of our bird - I was probably an inch away from his head:
...and here's a 100% crop of a small area:
Here's another:
I always thought my kit lenses were already pretty sharp, but after seeing these shots, I'll have to revise my opinion.
Anyway, I've been using a 50mm F2.0 Yashica lens as my everyday lens, but since focus was manual, I probably only got 20% of my pictures in focus...not only that, the 50mm length was a bit long for my taste for shots that weren't strict portraits. Now, with my 35mm macro, I've got an autofocus prime lens in an ideal focal length that's tack sharp!
...and, in the true spirit of my gear acquisition, I didn't pay full price for the lens - I got it used from B&H and I traded my EX-25 tube to fund the lens. Now, other than my Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card and a flash TTL cord that I technically got for free (thank you, Sandisk rebate!), everything in my kit is secondhand.
Anyway, I took some quick shots and after seeing the images, I was amazed. This lens is sharp. tack sharp. cracking sharp.
Here's an example of our bird - I was probably an inch away from his head:
...and here's a 100% crop of a small area:
Here's another:
I always thought my kit lenses were already pretty sharp, but after seeing these shots, I'll have to revise my opinion.
Anyway, I've been using a 50mm F2.0 Yashica lens as my everyday lens, but since focus was manual, I probably only got 20% of my pictures in focus...not only that, the 50mm length was a bit long for my taste for shots that weren't strict portraits. Now, with my 35mm macro, I've got an autofocus prime lens in an ideal focal length that's tack sharp!
...and, in the true spirit of my gear acquisition, I didn't pay full price for the lens - I got it used from B&H and I traded my EX-25 tube to fund the lens. Now, other than my Sandisk Extreme III 8GB card and a flash TTL cord that I technically got for free (thank you, Sandisk rebate!), everything in my kit is secondhand.
