Kowa Prominar 8.5mm f/2.8 for Micro Four Thirds

Introduction

I have been waiting months and months for the Voigtlander 10.5mm f/0.95 and while I knew about the Kowa Prominar lens, was not expecting it to be particularly affordable (and of course the Voigtlander won’t be either). The only other option for a high quality ultra wide with a reasonable aperture is the soon to be released Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8. Now if the latter had a filter ring, it would have been a no-brainer. Ditch the Olympus.

The Kowa Prominar 8.5mm lens has been available for a few months from Japan and other places, but when Mainline Photographics listed it on their web site with an availability date at the end of March, I did a quick search of recent reviews and found out that while the 67mm filter thread on the lens is a non-standard pitch (it appears to be 1mm rather than 0.75mm), it will allow you to thread a filter on a good half turn and it will stay in place without binding. Excellent.

A quick chat to Scott at Mainline Photographics who confirmed that he knew the reviewer and if he said it would take a filter, it would. Scott was due to get a sample lens in a few days and stock about a week after that. I hurriedly check the bank account, murder the credit card and commit myself to this expensive chunk of glass.

The Unboxing

Just follow the pictures…

Mainline Photographics still give you a very nice microfiber cleaning cloth with each lens. Nice little touch and these ones last for years.

 The lens came already packed in its very sturdy case…

 

 

Initial Impressions

The lens has a nice weight to it. Heavy but not excessively so. If you are familiar with old style manual focus lenses, this is a great example of the genre. It really is one very well made lens – dare I say, it may even better than the sensational Voigtlander. For example, the lettering is engraved like real lenses from the 1960s and earlier. The Voiglander uses the more common screen printing which can wear.

The lens mount is beautifully made. Alas no contacts so no CPU information for the camera.

The aperture ring has a button that allows you to rotate the ring 180 degrees for T-stops, or use for normal photography for F-stops which are indented at each full F-stop. Wonderfully smooth.

The focus ring rotates through approximately 180 degrees with a close focus of 0.2m and runs ever so slightly past the infinity marking. Not so much that you are over focussing. The focus ring is quite firmly damped without over doing it.

The hood is reversible for storage and appears to be made of polycarbonate. A little bit of flex to absorb knocks but very tough. The hood \has a textured feel on the outside and is smooth on the inside - the opposite of most lens hoods. There is an 88mm thread inside the filter. This is fine for round filters but cannot be used for anything else like my square filters.

 

 Then there is the 67mm thread on the front with – it works. Thank goodness for a metal thread. It really is an unusual design choice, why not a 72 or 77mm filter thread with the standard 0.75mm pitch?

Using the Lens

I don’t think you will find a better handling manual focus lens. The aperture ring is near the body where I like it. Quite wide with a fairly narrow metal ribbed section for grip. Reminds me of a gear out of an old engine.

The focus ring is again well positioned, not too far from the camera body.

Really nothing further to add – everything works as it should – flawlessly.

The Proof is in the Photos

I haven’t done much photography with the lens yet and I will add more photos at a later date. The lens is certainly sharp and seems quite OK at f/2.8. That said, I very much doubt any of the shots below were taken at f/2.8.

 

There is some fringing in the edges but this is fairly typical of ultra-wide lenses anyway. Very easy to correct as it seemed to be confined to just purple fringing and Adobe Camera Raw took it out with just a single click of a tick-box.

 

Stay tuned for more photos. This lens is going in the kit bag for my trip to New Zealand at the end of April.

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 Review

I bought the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 mainly due to my interest with photographing musicians and they tend to play indoors from time to time. That test will have to wait, but here is my first impressions review.

The first thing that impresses about the Olympus 40-150mm when first come across it is the size of the box. Is this really a Micro Four Thirds lens or is it full frame. That’s one big box for a zoom lens that only extends to 150mm.

Unboxing, the lens is far smaller as it only occupies the bottom part of its huge container. There is some empty cardboard which is presumably for the optional tele-converter, the lens hood and a rather thick and substantial bag for the lens. The lens itself wrapped in plastic with the sliding hood reversed and over the outside of the lens.

On the camera, the lens doesn’t look nearly so large unless you extend the generous hood.

 

The feel is superb. It looks quality and feels quality with a combination of metal and top-grade plastics. The fat zoom ring and the focus ring feel very nice. The usual snap manual focus a joy to use.

The lens hood is very clever and so simple, a little twist of the ring and pull it back when not in use makes the 40-150 relatively compact (but stubby) when not in use. You never have to take it off.

The tripod collar is just the right size and is very sturdy. It can be removed if you need for total hand-held shooting and while the foot of the collar is small, it seems very sturdy when mounted. I use Arca-Swiss style quick release plates and while the 60mm plate I use most frequently seems a little large, I can flip up the front anti-rotation tabs when using on the collar – very nice.

Handling is really good when coupled to the Olympus OM-D E-M5. This lens is never too big and works fine hand-held or on a tripod.

 



The photos produced by this lens are very sharp, even at f/2.8 and always very good contrast. The focus is reliable and focus speed adequate in good light and gets there without hunting in poor light. Streets ahead compared to my previous telephoto zoom, the Panasonic 45-200mm which is neither very sharp and a dog to focus on Olympus cameras.

 

 

 

 

Well, is the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 perfect? No. I do have a couple minor disappointments. Focus speed is not stellar in good light. I was expecting something closer to the speed of the 12-40mm zoom; however, it is quite adequate for purpose. A focus limit switch would have been nice and would speed things up with normal use. Another issue also concerns focus but in this instance the manual focus and the excessive amount of travel beyond the infinity mark before it reaches the hard stop. I really think Olympus could be a bit more precise here.

Overall, a fabulous lens and worth every cent.

SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm Cine T1.6 Lens Review

OK, let's start off the review of a series of long-exposure, low light photos taken with the SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm Cine T1.6

This series of sunrise photos taken at Cronulla this morning with the SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm using my Olympus OM-D E-M5.

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About the only area where you could criticise the performance of this lens is shooting into the sun or a bright source of light where lens flare and internal reflections are a problem. That said - it is no worse than a complex zoom lens, say for example the Olympus 12-50mm zoom. Vignetting is also high but easy to fix in post processing. Fringing is about average and distortion fairly low.

Build quality is excellent. The focus ring is firm and while well damped, not as smooth as say a Voigtlander focus ring and there is a tiny little bit of play in it when you change direction. Still well above average in and vastly superiour to the manual focus rings you get on AF lenses. There are a few exposed but recessed screw heads and the lens mount is not separate, i.e. it is integrated into the housing.

The lens feels very heavy when not mounted on a camera but is nicely balanced on the Olympus OM-D E-M5.

The optional lens hood step-up ring is a rip off. It it little more than a slightly dished step-up ring and is certainly not optimised for the angle of view of the lens. I think a much cheaper 58mm to 77mm stepping ring would be fine along with a 58mm wide angle lens hood (probably a bit difficult to source a 77mm one that is not a bayonet fitting).

Overall, this is a great little lens. Works well in early morning landscape and seascape photography. Good value for money if you don't need auto focus.