Alright alright, so after pawn shopping I decided to compare these bargain barrel lenses against themselves and show what I came up with. For my testing I wanted to take a different shot of the same object ( on just a static point on something) but all from the same lighting and downward angle. I wanted to show how the Hanimex 28mm MC f 2.8, Olympus Zuiko 50mm Auto-S f 1.8, and my reverse mounted for macro Vivitar (Tokina made) 90-230 close focus would stack up. All of the lenses were used with a completely wide open aperture, at 800 ISO, Hand held, and using a Lumix GF2. Remember, total cost of all these lenses cost about $45. All Images are full frame, no cropping. Olympus Zuiko 50mm Auto - S Just an all around decent lens, has a nice soft feel that makes it nice for portraits, $20 Hanimex MC 28mm The Hanimex is nice for close photos as it is also a tiny little lens that is easy to just throw in your gear bag, hard to beat for $8. Downfall to it is that it has an extremely limited focal range, around 5in-5ft really...outside of that and it's all blur. Reverse Mounted Vivitar Close Focus 90-230mm I didn't buy it to use in reverse, but using it forward and handheld just about requires a tripod in most cases. Also, the "close up" focus ring lets me change macro focus in and out without having to move closer or further to the object like most reverse macro set ups. $15 What do you guys think? Feel like i got my money's worth... now on to test more
The attribute I think I like most about the OM 50/1.8 is the way it handles OOF areas - nice and smooth. These are from an early silvernose version. I have a later all-black version which may be just a touch sharper. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55915417@N08/5312092064/" title="PC311230-PPR Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro 4/3 by Lucky.penguin, on Flickr"> {} "480" height="640" alt="PC311230-PPR Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro 4/3" /></a> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/55915417@N08/5311497335/" title="PC311217-PPR Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro 4/3 by Lucky.penguin, on Flickr"> {} "640" height="480" alt="PC311217-PPR Olympus Pen E-P1 Micro 4/3" /></a>
Lucky, are those handheld?! Razor sharp, i shake too much lol... dang Monster Energy drinks just upped my f-stop, it sharpin up but i don't get a dof like you had until i have a lot more separation between my focal point and background
I can't quite remember if they were at f1.8 of f2.8. Both were handheld on an E-P1. Watch those energy drinks. We can get them in 500mL cans here and one guy I work with (a fairly small fellow) was doing about 120bpm for a couple hours afterwards and had pupils the size of saucers!
