First (in terms of focal length) comes the renowed Zuiko 18mm f/3.5, the widest OEM rectilinear lens available for the Olympus OM system.
Mine was - of course :| - bought used from KEH.com on September 2003 for the likes of $440 (BGN). When it reached home, here in Rome, it was a little better than expected, though not properly in MINT conditions: the front element showed some light cleaning marks and scratches, the focus ring did sometimes get sloppy (and it currently does), and the metal ring that should hold the 49-72mm step-up ring was not fully screwed in place.
Did I mention there was (and still there is) a speck of something (dust?) firmly attached to the inner surface of the first element? Well, that's it.
Luckily, none of these problems had turned out to be a major issue when taking pictures in the real world, and the lens came with its original rear and front caps, the latter being almost a rarity to find...
A few weeks *before*, I had bought its complementing (and equally rare) 49-72mm step-up ring from a German online store (team-foto.de), in perfect conditions - and with its original box - for a few bucks: that was just a pretext, of course, for buying the lens itself :)
Zuikoholism was at its peak, then.
My sample is of the 'MC' flavour, meaning that it was produced really a LOOONG time ago: anyhow, it has proven to stand up to its reputation, behaving extremely well regarding common aspects like distortion (almost non-existent), flare resistance (!) and resolution / contrast.
With its 100° diagonal angle of view, it is a difficult lens to master: I almost find it unuseful for landscape shots, as its AOV is too extreme, but this same peculiarity matches well with my personal taste when it comes to taking environment portraits and reportage-like shots.
I had used it often since then, and it never disappointed me. Slides taken with this lens have always turned out to be wonderful, as did black and white pictures developed and scanned / printed by myself.
The lens doesn't fully satisfies me when it comes to its rendition with color films, especially cheap ones, but that's rather a matter of labs being any day less and less capable of producing decent prints...
The only major issue with the lens is its extreme vignetting, that most photographers should consider unacceptable. I do like it, though, and it only becomes relevant when you're using slides.
Following you'll find a couple of shots taken with this lens. I plan to improve this post later with further additions such as links to the lens specs, pictures of the lens itself, other users' opinions and reviews. Nothing particularly new, I do admit, but this should turn out to became a comprehensive summary of everything this lens.
Stay tuned and you won't be disappointed.
"On the bus"
Handheld shot taken inside a travelling bus in Budapest, February 2004
Fujifilm Sensia 100 film acquired with an Epson-3170 flatbed scanner
"Rome Pillow Fight 2006"
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment