Mike Hatam
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Olympus Zuiko 21mm f3.5
Here's my next Zuiko test report - the Oly Zuiko 21/3.5.
A few notes about the Zuiko 21/3.5:
The lens is extremely small and light. It is about one-thrid the length of the Zeiss 21, and about one-fifth the weight. You have to hold one of these in your hands to realize how incredibly small and light it is.
The lens has a "FOV button", but the adapter essentially holds it in the "stop-down" position, so it's less useful on the Canon body (using a cameraquest adapter). So you use the apeture ring to open up the lens, focus, and then stop back down.
The lens requires an adapter to be used with EOS bodies. I used the cameraquest adapter for my testing. It's an exceptional adapter, and the lens easily slides in-and-out of the adapter, so you can use a single adapter for multiple lenses.
OK, enough about the lens, now let's talk about the testing...
Testing Methodology
In order to accurately test these lenses, Jack and I spent three months acquiring as many copies as possible Overall, we ended up testing 12 copies of this lens, and I currently have 6 in my posession.
Next, we needed competition for this lens. We choose the "king" - the Zeiss 21/2.8 (we only had one copy, but it's an excellent copy), and Guy Mancuso's famous copy of the Sigma 20/1.8. Some of you will remember about 5 months ago Guy posted comparisions between his Sigma 20/1.8 and his Zeiss 21, and the Sigma was amazing. It fell slightly short, but really held it's own.
All shots were taken on my 1DsII at f8, tripod mounted, mirror lock-up, and timed release. All focusing was manually performed (except the Sigma 20, which was auto-focused) using an Angle-C finder. Multiple shots were taken of each image (re-focusing between each shot), and the best shot was used in the comparison. Basic processing was performed in RSE - white-balance and exposure were normalized, sharpening was set to 0, and "extract detail" was set to 20.
Notes about the test images:
The top image shows the whole scene. Then you will see 3 100% crops. Top-left is the Sigma 20/1.8, top right is the Zuiko 21/3.5, and bottom center is the Zeiss 21.
http://www.thehatams.com/Images/21mm-Test1.jpg
Commentary:
This is perhaps the sharpest copy of the Sigma on the planet, so for the Zuiko to beat it is quite a feat. And it does beat it.
Here's how I assess the various attributes:
Sharpness: The Zeiss is best, followed very closely by the Zuiko, and then a big drop-off to the famous Sigma.
CA: The Zeiss is best, followed closely by the Zuiko, and then the Sigma.
Distortion: The Zuiko wins here - it has significantly less distortion than the Size. The Sigma trails behind both.
Light fall-off: The Zeiss wins this one. The Zuiko has noticable light fall-off. The Sigma has the most fall-off.
So there are trades between the lenses. The Zeiss is the sharpest (by a narrow margin), has more distortion, and less light fall-off. The Zuiko is very close in sharpness, has slightly more CA, much less distortion, and more light fall-off.
Since light fall-off is easier to correct in photoshop than distortion, the trades that the Zuiko offers are very attractive.
Bottom line - the Zeiss is still the best, but the Zuiko is an incredible performer, especially when you consider cost, size and weight.
When we began acquiring the Zuiko 21/3.5, based on Jack's speculation that it might be a good performer on the Canon sensor, I was very skeptical. The Zeiss is such an awesome lens - how could anything so small and cheap come close? Well, I'm now convinced. The Zuiko is simply a tremendous performer in a tiny package - it will go everywhere with me.
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