Hi Johan,
I have recently picked one of these up and here are my initial thoughts.
The build quality on this lens is in a lower class to my 14-54mm. It lacks
the dust seals, a focus scale and the focus ring is textured plastic and not
rubber. Despite the lack of the focus scale it does have a magnification
scale. The mount is metal while the body is all plastic which gives the lens
a less substantial feel in the hand when unmounted. When mounted the balance
with an E-1 is good. It's not a small lens, about the same size as the 50mm
f2.0 OM Zuiko. The front element is deeply recessed and there appears to be
some internal movements as the lens go out to 1:1, which it does without
growing too much. At a slow turning pace it takes four full turns of the
focusing ring to go from infinity to 1:1. It takes a little less of you
twist rapidly (a trait that the other E lenses share). 1:1 is achieved at a
very short working distance with only a few centimeters from the front of
the lens body to the subject. Despite its slower f3.5 aperture manual
focusing with an E-1 is quite easy even in lower light, no doubt thanks to
the snappy screen in the E-1. This lens has 52mm filter threads so I have
not been able to mount my T10 to it directly but there doesn't appear to be
a vignetting issue in a hand held test. Results from the lens are sharp
throughout the focusing range in my use so far. I have done a few test pics
at 1:1 and I suspect there is a tiny amount of barrel distortion which
should be easily corrected in post if necessary. What I have not tried with
it so far is any headshots, its effective FOV puts it a little shy of
classic portrait FL but should be workable (I personally don't take people
pics often). A gripe that might come up in that use is the lack of a range
switch to limit the lens racking out to 1:1 if it goes hunting for focus in
lower light.
All in all a good light and not too pricey lens. I personally had been
hoping for a faster near standard prime instead of the budget macro lens to
be issued next. Sadly Sigma's 30mm f1.4 is not available for the E System
yet. That lens could be quite an interesting one to try out if they makes it
in the E mount ever. The bottom line for me is if you can't afford the 50mm
f2.0 DZ yet it is definitely worth a look. Oh and the manual does note that
some of the lens elements are only single coated (gasp! ;) , now where did I
put that metallic sharpie marker?
Dan S.
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Johan Malmstr ö m
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 3:58 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] [E] 35 mm macro
I've been using my small wide primes on my E-1 recently (last two days...)
and maybe maybe I have seen that the E-system is a everyday camera. So I'm
thinking of trying the 35 mm macro.
Anybody got it yet?
/ Johan
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