They finally listened >> New 25mm f2.8 lens

Olympus just announced a Zuiko 25mm f2.8.

This is the best news I have heard about anything technical in a long time.

Here are the details:

http://fourthirdsphoto.com/preview/e-420_10.php

Estimated street proce is about $200!

That is good news. I have the Leica 25 1.4.

Wonder when it will be available?

dpreview.com says availability will be May.

Thanks for the link, Ted. Makes the E-line even more attractive. I just googled the lens and found a press announcement for Germany along with the coming E-420. The kit price of the E-420 with the 25mm lens will be about 699 Euro, the same as the body with the usual double lens kit. So we might get an idea about the price.

Lens availability is April.

 

UK price is 189.99 pounds

Out of curiousity, what is it about a 50mm/35mm format equiv. lens with a none-to-fast f/stop of f/2.8 that strikes you as a technical tour du force? There are certainly major aspects of 35mm-SLR-style digital SLRs that are marked improvements over film cameras- slow-assed normal lenses aren't one of them. Why not a small, relatively fast fixed focal length wide angle lens?

 

 

On the plus side for Olympus, my store has received the E-420. This is the compact DLSR Olympus should have been selling from the beginning launch of its E-DSLR line. The E-420 finally shows the small-size benefit that can be acheived by designing an APS-sensored line from the ground up.

 

 

A negative for Olympus- for reasons passing understanding, my store is carrying the E-3. The inelegant E-3 is almost exactly the same size and weight as Nikon's D-300, has a small, dim viewfinder and lacks the D300's resolution and low-light performance. I'm unclear what took Olympus so many years to bring such an irrelevant camera to market.

Eric, the E420 be popular today for the same reason the Nikon FM3a was with it's slow-assed 45mm f2.8 pancake Nikkor. It was a lot of fun to carry something that small around. It (the FM3a) isn't anymore because I have not bought a roll of film since 2005.

Small light, thin. Not a bad travel companion.

It is an incredibly small lens...but I can't help thinking about my F. zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lenses...that are 1.2" thick...a whoping increase of .3" for 1 1/3 stops more light gathering.

I think that's a very attractive combo. Now, if they had been able to squeeze Image Stabilization into the new 420 body, while retaining the size/weight/shape of the 410, I would be completely sold and would order one as soon as it became available.

 

Oh well... it's a step in the right direction! The 420 (or the 410) with that sweet little lens really does remind me a lot of my classic Nikons.

Just my dream made true. I'll buy one the first day they are on the shops. My favourite lens in

35mm photography is the 50mm one. Great!. Thanks, Olympus.

Jeez, and people scoffed at me when I suggested Oly should put out a more compact body with a pancake lens on it last year.

For all those gripes that it isn't faster a little wake up. E-system flange to sensor 38.5 mm, thus the standard angle lens is forced to be a retrofocus design. Combine that with a fast lens and you get a Leica 25mm f1.4 size lens, IOW a large, heavy, expensive monster. If you really need the lens speed, well then no, the Olympus isn't the answer. Go buy the Leica. Everything in cameras including DSLRs is a trade off.

 

Now, that being said, technology marches on. Who knows for sure, but I just bet the R&D departments of N, C, O, P, and S are working feverishly on small, light, fast lens designs so that the whole picture could change in a few years.

Man I was just talking about what olympus needed to do in a post here a couple months ago. I said they have always been awesome at making compact/high quality cameras and they should try it again. You know resurrect the ghost of the Pen series and the XA. Now it seems they were thinking that all along. I hope they keep going in that direction and for all of you who were poo pooing my thoughts on this subject...I guess I have the last laugh. Good Job Olympus!! I hope its a success.

Ironically, I was going to post a photoshopped CG version of the following design with a fake 25mm f/2.8 lens as an April Fools joke:

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<img src="http://www.patrickjdempsey.com/newsite/graphic/images/olympus5.jpg">

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Not the same camera, and obviously more along the lines of what Johnny was talking about, but still pretty funny considering the timing. (My design is actually the same height and width of an XA, with a removable flash-handle side grip, sliding LCD to hide menu buttons, no optical viewfinder, vertical format sensor, electronic aperture control ring on the lens mount barrel, and digital zoom button on the front to aid in focusing. It's modeled after design elements of the XA, Pen F, and OM3/4)

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So anyway, good for Olympus for making another ballsy product and good for them for putting a PRIME KIT LENS on an affordable camera. A lightweight, normal focal length prime lens is what a beginners camera is all about!

<center>

<img src="http://www.gdgphoto.com/grp-walking/pannyL1_21mm.jpg"><br>

</center>

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The new ZD 25/2.8 will look very much like the above fitted to the Panasonic L1 body

since it is virtually the same size as the Pentax DA21/3.2 Limited. Lens and body together

will weigh in under 700g, and fit in a very small bag easily due to the simple shape of the

L1 body.

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This will be an excellent package for my uses, I can't wait for it to be available. (I already

have the Summilux-D 25/1.4, but have been wanting a much more compact, light 20-

25mm lens for day to day use.)

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Godfrey

Oh, and I almost forget, a Digital Zuiko 10mm f/2.8 would be the perfect complement.

Hiya,

 

Just to say that the so-called 'irrelevant' Olympus E-3 is just about the most impressive of all the mid market DSLR's in a lot of peoples eyes...and it certainly does not have a small dim viewfinder, in fact it has the best viewfinder this side of the full frame cameras.

 

It is very large, larger than all the opposition APS size cameras viewfinders and it has none of the tunnel effect that they all have, it is certainly superior to the D300 in this respect. It might have slightly more noise than some competitors, but out scores them in other areas.

 

A lot of users also want 'slow ass' prime lenses in order to save weight, size and usually also get better IQ than fast lenses or very slow zooms.

 

cheers Steve.M.

Most of the lenses in my manual lens collection topped out at F 2.8. And the high end Sigma DP1 wide angle,as I recall, is f 4.0. Not to knock the need for 1.4 or 1.2 if one can afford same and the resulting weight.

I used to think that 2.8 was reasonably fast in a lens. The quality of this new pancake will be interesting. With the small camera size,it does answer the yen by those who ask for an OM sized combo (and it is a one two punch release) from Olympus.

 

For my preference, I still like a longer lens than normal FL than the self described walk around photographers do. For tucking away in a briefbag I use a nifty point and shoot. Tops out at f 2.8 but still works for me. I look ahead to Oly getting on the stick in the lens road map department and this is a good omen.

I think the biggest complaint I have seen people say is simply the DOF of it is close to what a 50mm lens at f/5.6 has on a full frame sensor...so you aren't going to be able to get shallow DOF no matter what.

 

I am personally a fan of the idea of mating a MF zuiko 50mm f/1.8 or f/1.4 on the body. Total size and weight would be about what an OM-1 with the same lens on it (tiny bit narrower in length and width, somewhat taller and fractionally lighter). That would give you a 100mm equivelent lens with a speed of f/1.4, now that would be a spiffy portrait setup.

 

Makes me think of when I carry around my OM-1 with a 50mm lens on it. It just looks so tiny compared to all of these big SLRs out there.

"the E420 be popular today for the same reason the Nikon FM3a was"

 

The FM3a was popular at $550 for the body in 2001? On what planet was it popular?

"I just bet the R&D departments of N, C, O, P, and S are working feverishly on small, light, fast lens designs"

 

I just bet the R&D departments of N, C, O, P, and S are working feverishly on bodies with better Live View, video, and full-frame, and on more zooms, which is what consumers have demonstrated interest in.

<i>... "I think the biggest complaint I have seen people say is simply the DOF of it is close

to what a 50mm lens at f/5.6 has on a full frame sensor...so you aren't going to be able to

get shallow DOF no matter what." ... </i>

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The two stop DoF gain is part and parcel of 4/3 System format. For most people it is a

good thing as it means more DoF, more things in focus, at larger apertures so you can

shoot into lower light and get good results. For those desperate for ultra-shallow DoF,

they either need the Summilux 25/1.4 (two stops faster), or a longer, fast lens, or a

different camera with a much larger sensor. And bigger, heavier, faster lenses to go with

it.

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TANSTAAFL ...<br><br>

Godfrey

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"For those desperate for ultra-shallow DoF"

 

Oh, it's *desperation* -- ROFL.