Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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All of these (except the ultra-budget 50mm f1.8) actually predate USM motors. All except the fisheye are most certainly budget primes.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 643
Loc: Sunny South Coast
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Quote:
All of these (except the ultra-budget 50mm f1.8) actually predate USM motors. All except the fisheye are most certainly budget primes.
All of these are current Canon offerings as of June 2008. Eight of them are listed as USM lenses. They include many popular lenses which amateurs are likely to buy, including me when I had Canon gear.
Be daring, can I not tease just the slightest begrudging acknowledgement of Oly credit out of you? You will survive, honest! 
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Rob
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Quote:
Quote:
All of these (except the ultra-budget 50mm f1.8) actually predate USM motors. All except the fisheye are most certainly budget primes.
All of these are current Canon offerings as of June 2008. Eight of them are listed as USM lenses. They include many popular lenses which amateurs are likely to buy, including me when I had Canon gear.
Be daring, can I not tease just the slightest begrudging acknowledgement of Oly credit out of you? You will survive, honest!
OK, well done Olympus for copying Canon after a decade or so. There, that any better?
If you bothered to read back in this forum, you would see that I've been crediting Olympus for the good things they've done for years - unlike some, I'm no fanboy, I'm simply pointing out facts - sorry if that's not what you're interested in. 
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 643
Loc: Sunny South Coast
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Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
All of these (except the ultra-budget 50mm f1.8) actually predate USM motors. All except the fisheye are most certainly budget primes.
All of these are current Canon offerings as of June 2008. Eight of them are listed as USM lenses. They include many popular lenses which amateurs are likely to buy, including me when I had Canon gear.
Be daring, can I not tease just the slightest begrudging acknowledgement of Oly credit out of you? You will survive, honest!
OK, well done Olympus for copying Canon after a decade or so. There, that any better?
If you bothered to read back in this forum, you would see that I've been crediting Olympus for the good things they've done for years - unlike some, I'm no fanboy, I'm simply pointing out facts - sorry if that's not what you're interested in.
Don't all manufacturer's copy each others' good ideas - and why not? It would be madness not to.
The facts have emerged variously on this thread as the discussion progressed. All contributing have brought some information to the discussion. Where I was wrong, I acknowledged it openly. I don't think I could be accused of not being interested in facts. I took the trouble to do my homework and to establish the facts from Canon's website. So yes, I like facts. As for being a fanboy, I suppose that's the price I've paid for making this point.
I do, nonetheless, appreciate the discussion so thank you.
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Rob
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beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4980
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
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Quote:
Don't all manufacturer's copy each others' good ideas - and why not? It would be madness not to.
If they can find a way round any patents applying.... Patent offices have got terribly lax these days, you could probably patent the letter "e" in the USA if you wrapped the concept up in enough pseudotechnical language, so what usually happens is that the "following" manufacturers buy an example or two, pull it to bits then engineer some different mechanism which "appears" to do the same thing.
If the same effort and expertise was put into being genuinely creative, perhaps we'd get somewhere.
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daft_biker
Action Man!
Reged: 11/10/2006
Posts: 7692
Loc: Doon the glen
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Fingers crossed Oly copy Canon's vast choice in lenses eventually too
I'll put a word in and see if I can get Oly a Blue Peter badge for their efforts in copying Canon Won't bother sending Canon one for their efforts in copying the dust reduction gizmo tho  
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Andrew (BSRIPN) ... Pics.
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Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 643
Loc: Sunny South Coast
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Quote:
...unlike some, I'm no fanboy...
In the interests of gender neutrality, shouldn't that be fanperson?
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Rob
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Quote:
Quote:
...unlike some, I'm no fanboy...
In the interests of gender neutrality, shouldn't that be fanperson?
Possibly so!
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4980
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
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Quote:
Fingers crossed Oly copy Canon's vast choice in lenses eventually too
OK, so what's missing? I mean that you might miss, not lenses that are still in the catalogue though they're obsoleted by later models that are cheaper/more compact/more flexible, or are so expensive that few people can afford them. The only ones I can think of offhand are equivalents for the MP-E and the TS lenses, which are definitely specialist items.
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beejaybee
Marvin
Reged: 18/07/2007
Posts: 4980
Loc: Really Here In Name Only
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Quote:
Quote:
...unlike some, I'm no fanboy...
In the interests of gender neutrality, shouldn't that be fanperson?
Speciesist. Fanbeing, please.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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I think the only things really missing for me are wideangle primes, and they're hardly critical - in terms of what I really need from a system, it's all covered - diagonal fisheye, wideangle zoom, standard zoom and tele zoom of decent quality, fast standard (from Leica, perhaps) and a macro or two.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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daft_biker
Action Man!
Reged: 11/10/2006
Posts: 7692
Loc: Doon the glen
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Is a fast 50mm equiv available? Doesn't seem to much choice in small, light primes which I prefer over heavy zooms. I only slum it with zooms if I need to change focal length faster than I can move position or change lenses.
Not much choice in standard zooms with constant fast apertures from what I can see.
Long macro lenses...you need to get a Sigma lens if you want something longer that the Oly 50mm macro IIRC.
Is there a 2x teleconvertor?
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Andrew (BSRIPN) ... Pics.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Not a fast 50, but there's a fast (Leica f1.4) 25, equivalent to a full-frame 50 in terms of angle of view. The 14-35 f2 is similarly equivalent to a 28-70 f2, so pretty tempting, and I would forgive the 12-60 f2.8-4 it's non-constant aperture given the range. Not a massive choice, agreed, but a pretty useful couple of lenses. And yes, there is a 2x.
Most of my macro stuff is ferkin' flowers, so actually frame filling is the key, and the smaller format means you don't actually need the same reproduction ratios, and the Oly macros would be good enough for me. So yes, I would miss the lightweight primes, perhaps especially because Olympus always used to do them so well for OM, but it wouldn't really cramp my photographic style.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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daft_biker
Action Man!
Reged: 11/10/2006
Posts: 7692
Loc: Doon the glen
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9 times out of 10 (ish!) I head out with the MP-E and nothing else so changing brand would cramp my photographic style. (there's an old slide copier camera that can do 1-5x and an old Minolta lens I think which does 1-3x but nothing that really compares to the MP-E from any other brand AFAIK)
How good is the autofocus in that Leica lens at tracking action?
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Andrew (BSRIPN) ... Pics.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Not a clue.
As you say, nobody has an MP-E equivalent. I'm a fan of limited DOF in general photography, so for me sensor size is more limiting, and would put me off 4/3 - APS-C has too much DOF for me most of the time. We all have our own reasons for choosing whichever system we have, but it's probably fair to say that for most uses, any system currently available is suitable for most people. If there was a compact 12mm lens for 4/3, then with the 25mm f2.8 and the 35mm f2, plus an E-420, you would have a wonderfully light and compact system capable of an awful lot - a modern OM.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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daft_biker
Action Man!
Reged: 11/10/2006
Posts: 7692
Loc: Doon the glen
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Now if there was a MP-E for Oly am sure the extra DoF available from being able to shoot at lower magnifications would come in handy! I stuck with APS-C for that reason. I don't do much telephoto work but I hear smaller sensors can be handy there too.
For most other types of photography I'd rather have full frame personally. Then again I always wanted something bigger than 35mm for landscapes anyway....just feels a bit unnatural to try and capture huge, spectacular views on piddly little cameras even although I've never even used MF let alone LF 
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Andrew (BSRIPN) ... Pics.
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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I used to prefer to use MF for landscapes - still do, for film anyway. But I always liked using different cameras for different things, and these days, find I don't need to. If I ever really did...
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
Edited by Benchista (09/06/2008 13:33)
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Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 643
Loc: Sunny South Coast
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I agree, there are few gaps in the Oly/Zuiko E-series range, but it's not bad bearing in mind it's a young system at just 5 years old compared to EOS/EF. There are new lenses coming out failry regularly too. It's a pity the new 25mm f2.8 pancake lens is not faster but here are the fixed focals currently available.
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Rob
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Benchista
Wich Tyler
Reged: 11/08/2000
Posts: 37886
Loc: Everywhere and nowhere, baby
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Quote:
It's a pity the new 25mm f2.8 pancake lens is not faster
I'm not sure it's a pity at all, TBH. There is the Leica/Panasonic alternative, and a couple of Sigmas if you want speed - what the pancake offers is excellent compactness. I often use my Pentax MX with the 40mm f2.8 pancake rather than the 50mm f1.7 simply because it's pocketable - that's worth a couple of stops to me. I've long thought that the best thing Olympus can do with the E series is to take it down the OM path, and they're doing that now - all power to 'em.
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Nick
www.nbrphoto.com
Light and Shade II - the new blog
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Photocracy
The Great Pretender
Reged: 18/11/2006
Posts: 643
Loc: Sunny South Coast
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Quote:
Quote:
It's a pity the new 25mm f2.8 pancake lens is not faster
I'm not sure it's a pity at all, TBH. There is the Leica/Panasonic alternative, and a couple of Sigmas if you want speed - what the pancake offers is excellent compactness. I often use my Pentax MX with the 40mm f2.8 pancake rather than the 50mm f1.7 simply because it's pocketable - that's worth a couple of stops to me. I've long thought that the best thing Olympus can do with the E series is to take it down the OM path, and they're doing that now - all power to 'em.
Yes, you're right. I suppose it's worth forsaking a stop or two for compactness. I also agree that the OM path is best for the E series and it does seem to be where Oly is going. The lovely new cases for the E420 are reminiscent of the old OM1 case too. I think Oly are looking to the tradition of miniature photography.
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Rob
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