Non-Pro Olympus/Panasonic Lenses

[Billabong]

Hi all. I'm a new member here and am in the throes of choosing between upgrading my Canon DSLR or switching to Micro Four Thirds (G80 or possibly E-M1 ii). It seems that all the photos that I really like are taken with Pro lenses generally costing around £1000 each, so my question is are there any more affordable lenses that you would recommend giving good (subjective I know!) image quality?

I've read that the sweet spot for MFT lenses is generally F4 (F5.6 for APS-C & F8 for full-frame). If so, that would partly explain why the pro lenses with their wider apertures are better - any thoughts on this please?

If it helps, my interests are macro, landscape, HDR and birds in flight.

Thanks in advance

 

[retiredfromlife]

Your lucky with Macro as the Olympus 60 2.8 seems to be the most used lens. In Australia it sells for about $50.00 new.

I presume you are looking for a zoom. I own two of the Oly pro zooms 14-40 & 40-150 both are great.

I also own the Panasonic 14-140 v2. Not as sharp as the Oly pro's but I find I use it the most. It seems to get a bit more love then the Oly version. Lots of people here use it including one person who used it for a lot of pictures in a book he published. But do not remember the post. The Panasonic 14-140 seems to be a good compromise lens.

For really good bird photos not sure if the cheaper lenses are good. The Oly 300 F4 pro seems to be king of the birders but very expensive.

 

[wjiang]

There aren't really any mid-range zooms in m4/3, you've either got slow-zooms or pro-zooms. Many of the slow-zooms are actually pretty good though - lenses like the old Panasonic 14-45, newer 12-32, pretty much all the telephotos apart from the 45-200, etc. The best value mid-range lenses in m4/3 tend to be prime lenses - you can get really good IQ from pretty much all the primes.

 

[Deleted member 20897]

I think you'll find that the lenses have little to do with it. Better images come from better photographer's, or pro photographer's who have spent the time mastering their craft.

That being said, with a few exceptions, most micro four third lenses are super in the optic department. The real question to ask yourself is this. Do I need an f/2.8 or fsster lens? If not, then you'll Save yourself a lot of money.

 

[ijm5012]

@Billabong , why don't you tell us what lenses you currently have for your Canon that you use, what body you have, and what you'd be looking to upgrade to (presumably an 80D?).

Regarding affordable lenses for shooting macro, landscapes, and BIF on m43, I'd recommend the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 for shooting macro, the Panasonic 12-60 f/3.5-5.6 for shooting landscape (the range is very useful, and stopping down to f/5.6 or f/8 would yield very sharp images, which isn't an issue when mounted on a tripod), and for BIF I'd recommend the Panasonic 100-300 f/4-5.6 II (excellent range, same as a 125-375 on Canon APS-C).

One nice thing about all those lenses is that they are weather resistant, which means when paired with either of the bodies you mention (G80 or E-M1 II), your kit would be resistant to rain, dust, etc., which is nice when you're out in the field.

 

[Billabong]

@Billabong , why don't you tell us what lenses you currently have for your Canon that you use, what body you have, and what you'd be looking to upgrade to (presumably an 80D?)...

Lenses - Canon 10-18, 18-135, 55-250 (lightweight), 70-300, 100 macro.
Body - 550D
New body - Canon 80D or 7D2. MFT - Panasonic G80 or Olympus E-M1 ii.

I can get a 7D2 & a G80 for a similar price to an E-M1 ii body - the latter seems a really great camera but really expensive!

 

[pdk42]

There's so much choice in u43 lenses. If near equiv lenses to your Canon gear is what you're looking for then the following makes sense:

10-18 - Olympus 9-18
18-135 - Olympus 12-50, 14-150 or Panasonic 14-140
55-250 - Olympus 40-150R
70-300 - Panasonic 45-175 or 45-200, or Panasonic 100-300
100 Macro - Olympus 60/2.8

That wouldn't be my choice mind. Personally, my budget(ish) choice would be to go used:

- Olympus 9-18 (£300) or used Panasonic 7-14 (£400)
- Olympus 12-40 f2.8 or Panasonic 12-35 f2.8 (£400)
- Olympus 40-150R (£100)
- Olympus 60/2.8 (£300)
- Panasonic 100-300

That would be a nice kit. Replace the 12-40 with the Panasonic 12-60 f3.5-5.6 to save about £150.

 

[Holoholo55]

Lenses - Canon 10-18, 18-135, 55-250 (lightweight), 70-300, 100 macro.
Body - 550D
New body - Canon 80D or 7D2. MFT - Panasonic G80 or Olympus E-M1 ii.

I can get a 7D2 & a G80 for a similar price to an E-M1 ii body - the latter seems a really great camera but really expensive!

Following on with @pdk42's suggestions:

1) 10-18 on APS-C is 16-29 equiv. FOV - so a Pana 7-14 f4 would be close (14-28 eFOV), Oly 9-18 f4-5.6 could also work.
2) 18-135 is a superzoom type lens (29-216 eFOV) - so one of these, Oly 14-150 II, or Pana 14-140 or 14-150. Or, go with a slightly narrower, but still useful range of the Pana 12-60 f3.5-5.6.
3) 55-250 (88-400 eFOV) is largely covered by one of the M43 superzooms (14-150 range, eFOV 28-300), so don't really need that.
4) 70-300 (112-480 eFOV) is covered by Pana 100-300 II or Oly 75-300 II (roughly 200-600 eFOV). I think serious BIF shooters would use the more expensive Pana-Leica 100-400 or the Oly 300 f.28 Pro though.
5) Oly 60 f2.8 macro or Pana-Leica 45 f2.8 hard to beat for macro shooting. There are also the two 30 mm macro lenses.

See Four Thirds | Four Thirds | Micro Four Thirds | Chart(Lenses)

The E-M1 II is really great, and the higher performance would help in BIF shooting, but if BIF isn't a major occupation for you, the other M43 cameras like the G80/85, used or reconditioned E-M1 or GH4, new EM5 II or GX80/85 might work as well.
Four Thirds | Micro Four Thirds | Products(Camera Bodies)

 

[PeeBee]

I've been using Canon APS-C alongside MFT for about 5-6 years and I would generally prefer my MFT consumer lenses over my Canon's counterparts. The build quality is typically better and the lens are smaller, sharper, quieter and have quicker AF mechanisms. MFT lenses are typically sharp wide open and don't need stopping down to produce clean, high contrast images. I also feel that MFT does a better job at distortion and aberration correction too.

With that said, I'm just not so sure that a G80 with a consumer MFT zoom would be your best option for BIF. With my GX80 (same AF system as the G80) and my Panasonic 45-150, it is possible, but its not as easy as it is with my Canon 760D and EF-S 55-250. A PDAF equipped model (either of the EM1's) might serve you better if BIF is a priority.

 

[Billabong]

Thanks all, some great ideas! I quite like the sound of the 14-140 as an all in one travel lens, and the 60 macro is a certainty.

How does the 100-300 compare with the 100-400 in terms of sharpness & IQ?

 

[TNcasual]

The PL 100-400 is a step above the 100-300. It is simply better glass.

That being said, the 100-300 is a decent lens that does very well for its cost. It is not as fast, but has pleasing bokeh and great sharpness in good light.

As always, check out the showcases to get a good idea what lenses can do: PL 100-400 or P 100-300

 

[ijm5012]

Thanks all, some great ideas! I quite like the sound of the 14-140 as an all in one travel lens, and the 60 macro is a certainty.

How does the 100-300 compare with the 100-400 in terms of sharpness & IQ?

Just make sure to pick up a version II copy of the 100-300, as it has a number of improvements over the version I (weather sealing, faster AF motors, faster aperture motors, better coatings, better OIS). At $600, it's quite the steal when you figure it provides 200mm - 600mm of FF reach.

 

[exakta]

If BIF are one of your main subjects, you may be disappointed with the autofocus of MFT compared to DSLRs. It's a hotly debated topic here and in other forums. I'd suggest searching the forums here for discussions about this.

 

[drd1135]

The Oly 60 is a great lens for macro and short tele work. One of the great strengths of the mu43 system is that it has good fast inexpensive primes. Put them on the EM10 mk whatever or the GX85 and you have something that will not be the limit on your photographyn most cases, BIF being an always difficult case.

 

[Mountain]

Just make sure to pick up a version II copy of the 100-300, as it has a number of improvements over the version I (weather sealing, faster AF motors, faster aperture motors, better coatings, better OIS). At $600, it's quite the steal when you figure it provides 200mm - 600mm of FF reach.

The flip side to this is that you can pick up a used version 1 for around $300 (I recently sold one in good shape for about that price), IQ is likely very close, but you will have to accept the downsides that Ian pointed out. I was pretty happy with the version 1, and thought that is was a good value at retail price (granted the new version is an even better value). It seems like there was some issue with FPS and that lens, but the body I was using only shot 4fps anyway, so it never affected me directly.

For a consumer grade kit, O9-18, P12-32, P35-100, P100-300, O60 Macro would cover all the bases for FOV, but wouldn't be weather sealed, etc. All are slow apertures, but small and sharp. I went for used lenses for much of my kit: P7-14, O12-40, P100-400, which helped keep the cost a little more reasonable while getting me the high end IQ.

 

[TheMenWhoDrawSheeps]

if you are picking e-m1ii, why don´t you get it bundeledwith 12-40mm f2.8? you get the lens almost half the price alongside with the body. also, if you consider panag80, then you might also consider the first version of e-m1 - dirt cheap, and there might still be +12-40 f2.8 +40-150 f2.8 bundle out there.

do you really need uwa zoom? samyang and laowa have some small, nice and cheap 7.5mm+ primes. MF though.

 

[Billabong]

Thanks again all, some really helpful ideas!
BIF as always is the tricky bit. If I don't do that things become a lot simpler. I agree with exakta that a DSLR like the 7D2 or D500 would have the edge in terms of focus for BIF over the E-M1 ii though it seems pretty close now. Aside from birds the G80 would be fine...except I really like the idea of some of the features on the E-M1ii like focus stacking, pro capture & the live composite mode...

 

[ijm5012]

Thanks again all, some really helpful ideas!
BIF as always is the tricky bit. If I don't do that things become a lot simpler. I agree with exakta that a DSLR like the 7D2 or D500 would have the edge in terms of focus for BIF over the E-M1 ii though it seems pretty close now. Aside from birds the G80 would be fine...except I really like the idea of some of the features on the E-M1ii like focus stacking, pro capture & the live composite mode...

The E-M1 II is a great camera, and I feel that it would do fairly well for BIF thanks to the fast shutters speed that's required. I own one, and really really love it. Fantastic handling, great features and IQ. If you do end up getting one, I would recommend picking up the RRS base plate for it. It makes the handling that much better, and IMO, completes the camera.

 

[pigiron]

Thanks again all, some really helpful ideas!
BIF as always is the tricky bit. If I don't do that things become a lot simpler. I agree with exakta that a DSLR like the 7D2 or D500 would have the edge in terms of focus for BIF over the E-M1 ii though it seems pretty close now. Aside from birds the G80 would be fine...except I really like the idea of some of the features on the E-M1ii like focus stacking, pro capture & the live composite mode...

Unnecessary gimmicks. They add complexity to the entire process of taking pictures and post processing them.

 

[TNcasual]

Unnecessary gimmicks. They add complexity to the entire process of taking pictures and post processing them.

Or innovative technologies that allow you to capture images like never before.