Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 Four Thirds

[peterb666]

Almost 5 years ago I picked up one of the first Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 lenses in Australia and I have always wanted a great ultrawide manual lens and at last there is one. Not the Voigtlander 10.5mm f/0.95 (which hasn't started shipping yet) - that won't be wide enough. I now have a Kowa lens in my kit.

I first came across Kowa lenses 40 years ago playing with Kowa anamorphic lenses for cine photography and projection and I knew they were fantastic quality. When the Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 turned up on Mainline Photographics site, a few enquiries and a chat to Scott and I decided to go for it. I expect it will be cheaper than the Voigtlander and the extra 2mm makes up for the loss a bit over 3 stops in speed (OK, it doesn't).

Here is an example from the lens...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7284/16790315670_bb09df3f50_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rzGKTd)

Mitchies Jetty II 5 _S (https://flic.kr/p/rzGKTd) by peterb666 (https://www.flickr.com/people/23034038@N05/), on Flickr

I have stopped this down a bit (it is probably f/8) to get maximum depth of field.

I have also written a review of the lens which you will find on my blog site...

http://peterbphotos.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/kowa-prominar-85mm-f28-for-micro-four.html (Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 review)

EDIT:(hyperlink fixed) Peter's Kowa Prominence 8.5mm f/2.8 review (http://peterbphotos.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/kowa-prominar-85mm-f28-for-micro-four.html)

[arthurking83]

I edited your post to fix the link to your blog.(incorrect formatting)

[peterb666]

Taken with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 - 5 shots in portrait mode and then stitched.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8727/16855339889_9c6d1fb729_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rFs2jr)

Merimbula Lake Panorama v2 _S (https://flic.kr/p/rFs2jr) by peterb666 (https://www.flickr.com/people/23034038@N05/), on Flickr

[MattNQ]

Looks good Peter.
I can't find the joins :D
Did you have any dramas stitching images that wide.?

[peterb666]

Looks good Peter.
I can't find the joins :D
Did you have any dramas stitching images that wide.?

Yes I did and I have found this recently with a number of Panos. I love the new interface and options with Microsoft ICE but it does have some problems with matching as it will choose the dominate area and fix up the distortion there but is not smart enough to vary across the whole frame.

I have gone back to using Photoshop which I never liked much before but it does seem to do a decent job most of the time.

[Ian L]

Pics look good, love the Merimbula Lake shot, it's very nicely done.
I find ICE has better success than PS for merging panos.

[3dhoon]

Wow! Beautiful :):)