Best glass?

[billy170468]

Hey all,

I have been told by a few people that Olympus make the best glass and lenses.

What are your thoughts on this?

Cheers

Andy

[dannat]

I think the kit lens are amongst the better offerings,

[olympuse620]

Andy as an Olympus shooter I would have to agree that the Zuiko glass is the best, but I am saying this with absolutely no first hand proof. This is because I have never shot with anything else so I can't compare. Word around the four thirds forums seems to indicate that their glass is pretty good but then all these people are oly shooters so bias might kick in just a little. At the end of the day I have managed to snap a few pearlers with the super high grade (SHG) lens that I own. Not sure what dannat means but maybe oly kit lenses are better than other brand kit lenses????

[ericimbs]

i think you can expect some pretty diverse views on that. what is lens performance? sharpness, contrast (Leica and Zeiss would argue these), colour rendition, etc. Have a look here, you might gain some insight into just how broad and open to interpretation your question is. http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/lens-contrast.shtml

i think it's a very personal thing and you can't really pitch one maker over another without that context. personally, I prefer the images I produce with my Leitz lenses, but I know that my Hexanon 57mm is actually sharper.

[Chris Michel]

sounds like another Holden v Ford v Mazda v Toyota thing all over again

[cherryw]

Bang for buck I think that the Oly lenses are one of the best around.

[ricktas]

Each lens (even within the same product) varies slightly. Some are better than others. I think a blanket statement that Olympus lenses are the best is very misleading, and each lens from each manufacturer should be evaluated on it's own.

[Bennymiata]

One brand of lenses that aren't talked about much is the Fujinon lenses.
While they no longer make lenses for DSLR's, they do make the lenses (or at least most of them) for Hasselblad and for cinematography, where they are renowned as being some of the best lenses available for cinema cameras, and the Hasseblad lenses aren't to shabby either.

I've had a few Fuji P&S cameras, and I have to say that the images from them are much better than you would expect, especially in their colour and contrast.

[simon33]

to get a faster lens is it worthwhile waiting for the 45mm 1.4 micro 4/3 or getting a good used 50mm 2.0 macro with converter? am only new to this photo stuff and am a bit up in the air. want to take some low light indoor photos at school assemblies without a flash.

[pellicle]

the best glass is the one which keeps your beer coldest longest ... with respect to lenses (and gosh I :angry0: that term "glass) there are swings and roundabouts with pro's and cons for each.

Its like getting a better oven will mean you make great lasagne.

[pellicle]

to get a faster lens is it worthwhile waiting for the 45mm 1.4 micro 4/3 or getting a good used 50mm 2.0 macro with converter? am only new to this photo stuff and am a bit up in the air. want to take some low light indoor photos at school assemblies without a flash.

myself I've gone with the micro4/3 and a 50mm lens. I've tried a few 50's (for fun) and find that the Olympus 50mm f1.8 is generally a sweet lens for little money. If you don't mind Manual Focus its a top quality low cost choice. Heck even the pentax 110 50mm is great

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/06/comparing-legacy-35mm-adapted-fifties.html

(http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/06/comparing-legacy-35mm-adapted-fifties.html)http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/11/fifites-fd-14-compared-to-om-18.html

(http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2009/11/fifites-fd-14-compared-to-om-18.html)http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2010/02/micro-four-thirds-four-fifties-flare.html
(http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2010/02/micro-four-thirds-four-fifties-flare.html)
Lastly I'll say that even if the 45mm f1.8 m4/3 lens has better contrast than a legacy 50mm lens it won't have the same shallow DoF one may look for in a portrait lens when compared to full frame or Medium Format

http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2011/10/portrait-lenses-5d-vs-gh1.html

(http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2011/10/portrait-lenses-5d-vs-gh1.html)