I have over time, here at the gadgetmiser labs, home of the cheap, the brave and the proudly compromised, accumulated a collection of cheap fast manual prime E500 lenses:
(Oh my, should they be yellow?)
The need for fast lenses is great, and the need for cheap ones greater, especially for the E500. The ones in the picture are:
 |
|
 |
 |
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN: 155295 |
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN: 531971 |
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 |
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 |
 |
 |
 |
SMC Pentax M 50mm f2 |
Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f2 |
Soligor 28mm f2.8 |
Fast lenses are the unstated reason that the less informed punter buys a DSLR, hoping to make beautiful pictures for the family album. The lack of a fast lens is the cause of their subsequent disappointment when they realise they cannot take acceptable pictures in low light. Let's face it, even a lens as good as the kit 14-45mm Zuiko Digital which comes with the E500 is not ideal for indoor work. Sure, it might manage a lovely picture with no flash if you mount it on a tripod and snap grandma's long stationary urn, but try to capture Skittles or Junior in mid pounce, and a blurry outcome is assured.
For acceptable handheld indoor pictures of moving objects without triggering flash - let's call this "HIPOMO-WTF?!" for short - one's options, with the E500, are pretty limited.
The first, and probably best (and cheapest) way, to attain acceptable HIPOMO-WTF?! is to turn on all the lights. However, unless you live in a studio, average indoor home lighting simply will not illuminate moving objects sufficiently so that your camera can expose acceptably with a high enough shutter speed to freeze motion.
Sadly, the next option which should be available on a DSLR like the E500, cranking up the ISO, does not work anywhere near as well as it should for a camera of this class (in fact, Olympus is truly in a class of its own!). Still, you're stuck with your E500, so let's accept this fact and move on! You can still get acceptable image quality at ISO 400 though, so let's (grudgingly) set this as the highest acceptable ISO in our quest for HIPOMO-WTF?! on the E500.
The only other way to increase shutter speed is to use a fast lens. Sadly, if you're looking for a nice fast cheap autofocus Four Thirds system prime lens, you're not (yet) in luck. Canon users, for example, can buy the amazingly cheap, and for the price, stunning, Canon EF 50mm f1.8, new, for about $120 Aussie bucks on Ebay. No such luck with finding an autofocus Four Thirds system equivalent for that price!
A hundred Aussie bucks (and often much less) will however, buy you just about any manual prime that you might be willing to mate to your E500 body, with a suitable adapter.
You'll have to manually focus, use stop down metering, and suffer the inconvenience, and yes, the indignity, of having to change aperture using the mechanical ring on the lens, of course. But at, say, AUD $50 for a nice OM 50mm 1.4, it's hard to argue with the proposition that this solution offers great value, and more importantly, is kinda cool.
Is it worth going manual in this way? Of course: read this! And are all manual fast lenses created equal? Judge for yourself, from the below, as we scientifically and sadistically subject each of these gorgeously solid chunks of glass and metal - as they all scream in unison "They don't make us like they used to!" - to a series of torture tests, designed to answer this very question! Well, I took some pictures anyway: read my conclusions, but you be the judge.
For each lens, we tested for image quality, and for its inherent HIPOMO-WTF?! abilities.
Bear in mind that this is an entirely subjective visual test. We could also have done this, but fantastic and undoubtedly accurate though the information in the link is, you know what they say about the differences between pictures and words! The only way to assess whether any of these will work for you, is to look at the pictures and to work it out for yourself. I've made some observations at the end, but you'd be well advised to take them with a grain of salt.
To test the image quality, we've used the industry standard "Shoot a Furry Monkey Toy and Lookit the 100% Crop Test", favoured by many masters of photography.
With each lens. we took one shot at its widest aperture (to test if the lens is any good at doing its damn job of being fast), and one at f11 (so that pixel peepers can satisfy themselves that even if it's useless for its intended purpose, it might still make a nice sharp, contrasty mid zoom (thanks to the E500's 2x crop factor) in good light.
Testing the lens' HIPOMO-WTF?! powers however, presents a greater challenge..This is because picture blur is be caused by both camera shake or subject movement. Camera shake can be controlled by the photographer learning kung fu discipline, however. On the other hand, we cannot control the speed at which a subject will move. What we need to measure then is the inherent stopping power of the lens by shooting a moving subject in available indoor light, taking camera shake out of the equation, and measuring the shutter speed attained. Ironically then, our test of how good these manual fast primes are at handheld indoor pictures of moving objects without triggering flash, involves using a tripod to eliminate the blur causing variable of camera shake.
There is one other qualifying factor: even at ISO 400 and the fastest of lenses, the E500 will not freeze anything more rapid than light movement. Just believe me on this one. So these tests assume that the movement in question will be moderate in nature, not sudden and jarring. If you're trying to capture indoor soccer action, get a Canon 1DS Mk III instead.
To ensure consistency then, we solicited the services of Ashley Kristen, a most elegant moving object:
You will see that Ashley rotates at a reasonable rate, and is a good proxy for a moderately moving subject. (In fact, at this time, her sister, Silda, is also an extremely moving subject).
Let's see how these babies stack up!
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 Serial Number: 155295
Image quality:
At f1.4 (EV -1.3):
@14.jpg)
At f11 (EV -1.3):
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/10
 14-iso 100.jpg)
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/40
 14-iso 400.jpg)
100% crops:
 14-iso 100 Crop.jpg) |
 14-iso 400 Crop.jpg) |
ISO 100, 1/10 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN: 531971
(Does a higher Serial Number make a difference?)
Image quality:
At f1.4 (EV -1.3):
@14 High SN.jpg)
Image quality:
At f11 (EV -1.3):
@11 High SN.jpg)
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/13
 14-iso 100.jpg)
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/40
 14-iso 400.jpg)
100% Crops:
 14-iso 400 Crop.jpg) |
 14-iso 100 Crop.jpg) |
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4
Image quality:
At f1.4 (EV -1.3):
At f11 (EV-1.3):
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/13
At f1.4 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/40
Here are 100% crops:
 |
 |
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8
Image quality:
At f1.8 (EV -1.3):
18@18.jpg)
At f11 (EV -1.3):
18@11.jpg)
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f1.8 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/10
At f1.8 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/40
100% Crops:
 |
 |
ISO 100, 1/10 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
SMC Pentax M 50mm f2
Image quality: At f2 (EV -1.3):
At f11 (EV -1.3):
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f2 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/13
At f2 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/50
100% Crops:
 |
|
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 400, 1/50 sec |
Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f2
Image quality: At f2 (EV -1.3):
At f11 (EV -1.3):
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f2 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/15
At f2 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/50
100% Crops:
 |
 |
ISO 100, 1/15 sec |
ISO 400, 1/50 sec |
Soligor 28mm f2.8
Image quality: At f2.8 (EV -1.3):
At f11 (EV -1.3):
HIPOMO-WTF?!:
At f2.8 (EV-1.7), ISO 100 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/5
At f2.8 (EV-1.7), ISO 400 - Shutter Speed Achieved: 1/20
100% Crops:
 |
 |
| ISO 100, 1/5 sec | ISO 400, 1/20 sec |
Observations
Image Quality Shots (Widest available aperture):
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN155295 |
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN 531971 |
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 |
NOTES:
- Obviously, depth of field is very shallow with the 1.4's. However, the areas which are in focus contain plenty of fine detail (look at the hairs on the larger 100% crops for each lens around the eyes on the low serial number OM 50, and the nostril on the Pentax.).
- The difficulty of focussing precisely with the E500's small viewscreen (and my E500 is kitted out to assist manual focussing!) is illustrated by the different focus points across the shots. (On the other hand, it could be my eyes are the problem!). As the fill face shots show however, it is certainly possible to get a pleasing result for portraiture when images are reduced from the E500's 8 Mega Pixel to something sensible like a 6 x 4 print. The picture taken with the high SN OM lens, for instance, is basically an unfocussed blur around the 100% crop midpoint. However, the full face shot is quite usable.
 |
 |
|
|
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 |
SMC Pentax M 50mm f2 |
Notes:
- Depth of field appears to improve considerably with the OM 50 1.8 when comparing the full face shots against the equivalent 1.4 shot (look at the difference around the ears, for instance). This however, is not the case (comparing ears again) with the Pentax 50mm f2 against the equivalent 1.4 shots.
 |
 |
|
|
Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f2 |
Soligor 28mm f2.8 |
Notes:
- The 28mms give an almost 50mm prime field of view in 35mm lens equivalent, due to the E500's 2x crop factor for lenses. This is more useful than the quite restrictive 100mm FOV which the manual 50mms provide, which is great for portraiture, but not as versatile for general use.
- As can be expected, the Soligor28mm f2.8 with larger depth of field appears sharper than the OM 28mm Zuiko (eg look at the hair detail around the nostril).
On the whole, what is evident is that the main concern with the wider apertures is that depth of field is limited. All the pictures are otherwise quite acceptable. As can be seen from the below, the blurriness caused by shallow depth of field completely resolves by changing the aperture to something like f11 (which I did in all cases - without refocussing). At f11, you'd say that all the shots are about as clear as you'd need them, to be!
Image Quality Shots (Smallest available aperture):
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN155295 |
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN 531971 |
Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 |
Notes:
- Wow! The same crops which were a blurry mess at f1.4 are now completely clear. All I did was change aperture - no refocussing.
- Of the two OM 50 1.4's the higher serial number copy appears to have better contrast, and displays better fine hair detail (look at the larger 100% crops above). Both Zuikos however, appear to have better resolution than the Pentax - look at the hairs around the eyeball, for instance.
 |
 |
|
|
OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 |
SMC Pentax M 50mm f2 |
Notes:
- Olympus "vs" Pentax again! Same result in my view - the OM 50mm 1.8 (and despite being slightly wider) has the edge in sharpness over the Pentax 50mm 2 (look around the eyeball) - on these shots any way..
 |
 |
|
|
Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f2 |
Soligor 28mm f2.8 |
Notes:
- Well, I guess you can use a "no name" lens like a Soligor, and get worthy results. F2.8 is arguably not fast though, especially for our trusty E500, which needs every bit of speed a lens can give.
But as we said above, you didn't get a fast prime shoot at f11. How inherently good are the lenses shooting at the widest aperture, ISO 400 on the E500, at achieving HIPOMO-WTF?! ?
HIPOMO-WTF?! - what shutter speed was obtained at widest aperture?
| Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN: 155295 |
ISO 100, 1/10 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
| Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 SN: 531971 |
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
| Pentax Super Takumar 50mm f1.4 |
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
| Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 |
ISO 100, 1/10 sec |
ISO 400, 1/40 sec |
| SMC Pentax M 50mm f2 |
ISO 100, 1/13 sec |
ISO 100, 1/50 sec |
| Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f2 |
ISO 100, 1/15 sec |
ISO 400, 1/50 sec |
| Soligor 28mm f2.8 |
ISO 100, 1/5 sec |
ISO 400, 1/20 sec |
| Lens | ISO 100 | ISO 400 |
| Pentax 50 2 | 1/13 | 1/50 |
| OM Zuiko 28 2 | 1/15 | 1/50 |
| OM Zuiko 50 1.4 Low SN | 1/10 | 1/40 |
| OM Zuiko 50 1.4 High SN | 1/13 | 1/40 |
| Pentax 50 1.4 | 1/13 | 1/40 |
| OM Zuiko 50 1.8 | 1/10 | 1/40 |
| Soligor 28 2.8 | 1/5 | 1/20 |
Notes:
- It's evident that you can forget about using ISO 100, even with a fast lens, and expect to freeze motion in low light. The highest shutter speed achieved at ISO 100 was 1/15 sec with the OM Zuiko 28mm at f2, and even this was insufficient to stop the ballerina.
- Oddly, the fastest speeds achieved at ISO 400 were by the Pentax 50mm f2 and OM Zuiko 28mm f2, both of which appear to be faster than the f1.4 lenses! I can only put this down to variations in metering, perhaps due to minor changes in framing.. These results are completely unlike what would have been expected, which is that the shutter speeds should be directly related to aperture size.
- The above also probably demonstrates that there is not much difference between f1.4, f1.8 and f2 lenses in the actual shutter speeds which are achieved in normal use. It appears that using anything at f2 or wider in available indoor light gives a shutter speed of between 1/40 secs and 1/50 secs. Based on these results, it may not be worth paying for fast lenses with apertures under f2 with the intention of achieving faster shutter speeds for HIPOMO-WTF purposes (but hey, don't let that stop you).
- The 100% crops show that if you're going to pixel peep, or just wanna take BIG pictures, then you shouldn't be using an E500 for HIPOMO-WTF?! ISO 100 will not freeze motion; ISO 400 can - sometimes - but you'll have to put up with a degree of noise. 6 x 4 prints or web pictures, on the other hand, are a different story - 100% usable, in my view (see the scaled 800 x 600 shots).
- Oddly, the high serial number OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4, achieved the same shutter speed at ISO 400 as its lower serial number brother (1/40 sec), but the resulting 100% crop is pretty fuzzy. Obviously, at these relatively low shutter speeds, it's crucial to get focussing accuracy and DOF right.
- The OM Zuiko 50mm f1.4 (Lower serial number) and the Pentax 50mm f1.4 seem to have provided the best HIPOMO-WTF?! pictures in these tests. Make what you will of this!
CONCLUSIONS
Well, what does all this mean?
The above establishes that: when using fast primes on the E500, the biggest challenge is the accuracy of manual focussing - which you surely knew about anyway, d'uh! If you get this right, all the above lenses will render more detail than you could sensibly need, even if you're splitting hairs, for a 6 x 4 - and honestly, even a much larger picture.
It also makes it cleart that as far as detail is concerned, counting fur is completely academic on the E500 as well - because you'll be forced to use at least ISO 400, which will destroy any detail that you don't manage to obliterate through poor focussing! (And don't worry, I'm sure motion blur and camera shake will probably do the rest!).
Having said all that, are they worth using? Absolutely - the gap between achievable shutter speeds moving from the f1.4-f2 aperture range, to f2.8, is demonstrably significant, even for the E500. Without a fast lens, with the E500, you're simply going to have no keepers, and HIPOMO-WTF is not a real option. If you need HIPOMO-WTF, and have an E500, they are absolutely a must.
Comments? Email me at larry@gadgetmiser.com
If you found this useful, donate to larry@gadgetmiser.com with Paypal.
HOME
Digg this