I agree, the extreme edges of the Panny Leica 45mm are not great but 95% of the frame is much better than most lenses.
The unique qualities of the lens appeals to me and I wouldn't hesitate to own both the Panny and Oly 45mm although probably I would go for the longer Oly.
if the 60 f/2.8 macro is similar money to 45 f/1.8 - which I don't beleive btw - then I'm in like Flynn. If it's more like 75 f/1.8 money, then I'll look at something like a Tamron SP 90 f/2.8 macro with aperture ring, for next to nothing these days.
I am thinking maybe I should just get the Acratech plate. Any thoughts or opinions from anyone about a camera plate?
Are you sure that is an OM-D plate. I think it's for OM film cameras; nothing to say it's for E-M5.
Anyway at 33% less than RRS price, I'll buy the Acratech any day as they are very good quality.
update: this plate is is not for the E-M5, but you can use the plate #2162 that is a universal plate and it will work fine.
I just ordered one from the Australian distributor. No idea when a E-M5 plate will be available.
Edgar Maguyon wrote:
Ya...haha..cant say I didn't try
But if anywhere, FM is the place where there would be MF lens lovers...but I see your point; maybe not m43 though.
A video forum on the other hand...majority of video heads prefer the feel of real MF lenses for focusing and pulls, rather than clutch.
Right you are, only from what I've seen, the EM-5 doesn't seem terribly popular with the so called "video heads" due to lack of 24/25P, bit rate etc I guess.
Not a bad camera in the slightest, but for those enthusiast and professional film makers who would be the group most likely to have a collection of MF glass for video work, I think its just not going to be a first choice in camera.
Still though, it does make no sense why legacy glass can work for stills when you input the focal length for the IS system manually yet for video it can't for some reason, even though the IBIS obviously works just fine with native glass.
Quite the mystery and one I would have to guess could be corrected sooner or later, and its an issue I have done my part in contacting Olympus to ask for.
I hope they will be able to make the camera a bit better suited for your specific needs ASAP
Sorry ... I think you are right. The price should be the same though.
Pixel Perfect wrote:
Are you sure that is an OM-D plate. I think it's for OM film cameras; nothing to say it's for E-M5.
Anyway at 33% less than RRS price, I'll buy the Acratech any day as they are very good quality.
update: this plate is is not for the E-M5, but you can use the plate #2162 that is a universal plate and it will work fine.
I just ordered one from the Australian distributor. No idea when a E-M5 plate will be available.
I suppose Jordan could probably provide the most useful info on the 45's as I believe he owns and enjoys both of them.
My question for him would be, assuming we are using an EM-5, and the OIS on the Panny lens isn't important, as it could be perhaps on a Panny body, is there ever a time where he would prefer to shoot with the Panny over the Oly for non-macro shooting and if so, why ?
If you want to shoot macro, then the 1.8 is obviously out, end of story, but in terms of general shooting, portraits etc, is there any advantages to the 45 2.8 and its way of rendering that would make one choose it.
I didn't own them both at the same time, but as a non macro shooter, found the 45 2.8 to be rather unremarkable for its $600+ price tag.
I thought it was a bit slow to focus, and honestly not that optically great, surprisingly being about on par with my 45-200 at f4, and the 45-200 isn't known as a stellar lens either.
For me it was basically nothing more than a 1 stop faster, slow to focus, Leica branded lens and just wasn't worth the money.
I got the 45 1.8 later and found that lens much faster to focus, over a stop faster, sharper, especially wide open and it was hundreds cheaper so for my non-macro needs it was case closed.
Just the same, I'd be interested to hear some other accounts of the 45mm, in the event my own copy wasn't really representative to what the lens can do.
Agreed. The 45/1.8 is only half the price of the 45/2.8 if you buy it from eBay. I love a nice background blur and there is just no contest between an f1.8 and a slower lens. I placed an order for the Panny-Leica 25/1.4 for the same reason - nice bokeh and sharpness. And I hope to eventually add the 75/1.8 to my setup, and maybe also the 12/2 before the end of the year. For macro I am planning to get the 60/2.8 as soon as anyone is taking pre-orders.
Again, really depends what you're planning to shoot.
I think the Panny 45 makes a better walk around lens if you're remotely interested in doing macro style shots.
If you're doing just portraits that day or indoors or low light or you want low contrast thinner DoF on a mid distance subject, the Oly 45 makes more sense.
They both AF pretty quickly although I hear the Oly 45 is faster. If you're looking for ultimate central to border image quality with the flexibility to do macro, the Panny is better and sharper. Most importantly, it's Bokeh CA is astonishingly minimal. Pretty amazing for a $600 AF lens.
No, I am sorry we don’t have a camera specific plate for the
Olympus OM-D. But, we do have generic plates. We have
P/N 2128 for a ¼-20 or P/N 2129 for the 3/8-16. Hope this helps.
Have a great day!
Sincerely,
Chrys
Acratech, Inc
bobbytan wrote:
Sorry ... I think you are right. The price should be the same though.
It should be very easy to make a plate for the EM-5, especially with the horizontal handgrip I think
The design of the add on grips bottom plate would make for a natural means to add a couple of edges for an anti twist aspect and then all you really need is a simple notch in the L aspect, which would go around the EM-5 strap lug and you'd be in business.
I'm working on a DIY one using a 90 degree corner bracket, two old quick release dovetail plates and some JB Weld.
Figure shouldn't cost me more than about $5 and hopefully will prove to be every bit as low profile and practical, if not more so, than spending well over $100 for one the name brand ones
Can you apply a Dramatic Tone filter after you take a RAW in camera? I don't think I saw it RAW edit options. I know you can do it in the Olympus software.
As an owner of both the PL 45/2.8 Macro and the 45/1.8, I can impart my thoughts.
It was asked if I choose the PL 45 over the 45/1.8 for anything other than macro, and the answer is no. I will certainly use the PL 45 in non-macro situations, and prior to getting the 45/1.8, I used it a lot more that way. However, I generally only put the 45/2.8 in my bag if I think there may be closeup/macro shooting possible that day. Then, I generally leave the 45/1.8 at home and use the PL 45 for anything I need for that day. It does a very nice job. However, when I'm shooting portraits or any other general purpose stuff, I choose the 45/1.8 every time. It's smaller, lighter, much faster to focus, gives greater background separation when needed, of course is faster, and still focuses pretty closely.
The PL 45/2.8 has a little more saturated color, of course is great for closeup and has IS on non Olympus bodies.
I use both pretty regularly, though the 45/1.8 a lot more. So far in 2012, I've got 1104 photos from the Leica 45/2.8 macro and 2388 shots from the Oly 45/1.8, so a little more than twice the use. 280 of the PL 45 shots were when I was doing shot after shot after shot of water droplet photos.
I can't wait to get my hands on the 60/2.8 macro but no one is staking pre-orders. I can spend hours at the Botanic Gardens shooting flowers, ladybugs and dragonflies. Is there an extender from Olympus or Panasonic? An m4/3 1.5x TC would be sweet.
The autofocus is very fast, and virtually noiseless. I have compared the focus speed with the Panasonic-Leica 45mm f/2.8 macro lens on a Panasonic GH2 camera, and found that in generous lightning, the Olympus lens focused a tad bit faster. In low light, though, the Panasonic lens focused faster, which surprised me.
I think we are going to be forced to buy these modern, but crappy, clutch-focus, plastic, lightweight, flimsy, overpriced, expensive, native lenses, if we want Video-IBIS
Edgar Maguyon wrote:
I think we are going to be forced to buy these modern, but crappy, clutch-focus, plastic, lightweight, flimsy, overpriced, expensive, native lenses, if we want Video-IBIS
Edgar, I get it...you want IBIS in video with adapted lenses. I think we all do, but you are harping on it like it is the most important thing for a system to do (is there any system with a decent video system that does this?) Considering the wide variety of great native lenses, it's something that I think most people can live with. Plus, if you're doing professional video work, you're probably using a tripod anyway, aren't you?
Is Olympus holding a gun to your head?