November 18, 2009

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

Zuiko 50mm F/2.0 Macro lens

I did quite a bit of research about recently, about digital SLR cameras. I was thinking about switching to Nikon or Canon. Those are the most commonly used camera brands on the market today, or at least that's what it's seems like to me.

Long story short, after reading and reading about Olympus, Canon, Nikon and some other brands, I've decided to stick with Olympus. I have a very basic Olympus E-410, but I like it and I really like the Olympus lenses. I believe it is too easy to get caught up in the hype about what gear to get. It's just like guitar gear - it's easy to forget how important it is to use the gear well! I think the Olympus lenses are of really great quality, and that together with capable hands is in my view more important than what brand the pro photographers use. There's so much hype and misconceptions out there about gear, whether it's about guitars or cameras or whatever. I'll rather spend time using what I have than just sitting around wanting something "better".

With that in mind, I bought a Olympus Zuiko DIGITAL ED Macro lens - 50 mm - F/2.0. This is a dedicated lens for macro photography. The 2.0 maximum aperture makes it excellent for available-light shooting while the attachment of macro flash systems is also possible.

This lens is amazing. It produces incredibly crisp and sharp images and I love it for portraits of the kids. It also works really great in low light, especially compared to the kit lens that came with the camera.

You can of course get really, really close with this lens, and I intend to post some examples soon so you can see for yourself. Great for professional looking food and candy photos! It's quite amazing the amount detail you can get. It is extremely sharp, and I love how much detail I can get of a flower or insect when stopped down to around f6.3 - f8. As well, you can get a wonderful limited depth of field when set to the f2 aperture.

For doing portraits, this lens is simply brilliant, it captures so much detail. People you take photos of might even complain that it captures too much detail!

The only drawbacks I've found are the AF is slow and it does not have internal focusing. Other than that, this is close to being a perfect lens. The Zuiko 50mm f2.0 macro lens takes incredible photos. If you have an Olympus DLSR and don't yet have this lens, do yourself a favour and get it. Just get it, and you'll be amazed at how great and useful it is.

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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