ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem

OlyFlyer · 17th November 2006

During the experiments I have done to check if E-500 has the horizontal banding issue I discovered a lens issue.

I did my test shots using the 14-45mm set at 45mm and seen that the corners are much darker than the center. I have seen that before, but it did not disturb me since it always showed up in product pictures I took for ebay, so I did not care. I initially thought it was due to the bad compression or something else. Now, for these tests I took 11 images, white background wall with very little structure. The vignetting around the corners is disturbing and bad. I first thought it is caused by the filter I had on, so I removed it, but it did not help. I had no hood on. With or without makes no difference. Vignetting after about 35-37mm focal length settings.

Has anybody else seen that or is that my lens only?

Blu-By-U · 17th November 2006

Any picture?

OlyFlyer · 17th November 2006

Well, I did not think it was necessary but here is one example.

All the four corners have a dark shadowed area so this is a very good example image. The background is white paper sheet, flat and not with curved up corners and there is nothing around that could cause the shadow.

Blu-By-U · 17th November 2006

Went back to have a look at Cjtune's picture the fan ones. It's also there. the 4 corners. Is it on the 14~45 only? I will try mine this evening. since I have 11~22, 14~45, 40~150 and Sigma 55~200. Post up tomorrow. I will try to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. ISO1600 and - EV.

OlyFlyer · 17th November 2006

Just spoke to local Oly rep. He says he does not know it to be a general problem. Since they are near me, I will visit them next week and change my lens to a brand new one. He agreed to do that and also said that in extreme wide zooms there is normally a degree of vignetting but since I am talking about the 14-45mm after 37mm range that is not normal according to him. His advice was that since I also have a problem with the zoom ring being too loose it is better to change.

So I will do that next week.

microcosm · 17th November 2006

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer

Just spoke to local Oly rep. He says he does not know it to be a general problem. Since they are near me, I will visit them next week and change my lens to a brand new one. He agreed to do that and also said that in extreme wide zooms there is normally a degree of vignetting but since I am talking about the 14-45mm after 37mm range that is not normal according to him. His advice was that since I also have a problem with the zoom ring being too loose it is better to change.

So I will do that next week.

Impressive Olympus aftersales service as always....

Anyway, to sidetrack... did you know that with underwater housing, if there is a manufacturing fault, and the camera drowns... (and dies)... Olympus is the ONLY company that replaces the underwater housing as well as the camera... the other manufacturers simply tells you... "you should have taken the casing into the water and check for leakage before putting a camera inside"... THAT is service.

Kudos, Olympus!

OlyFlyer · 17th November 2006

Originally Posted by microcosm

Impressive Olympus aftersales service as always....

Yes, I am happy with the support so far. But I would be even happier if I would never ever had to contact them. I had my OM2n with a lot of extra hardware for over 20 years and never had an issue with anything, so I actually had no idea until I bought my E-500 that Oly service Sweden is practically outside my door. Unfortunately they are moving at the end of december to Stockholm, which is also in Sweden but 600km from me, so there will be no more quick visits for my part unless I have other business there also.

microcosm · 18th November 2006

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer

Yes, I am happy with the support so far. But I would be even happier if I would never ever had to contact them. I had my OM2n with a lot of extra hardware for over 20 years and never had an issue with anything, so I actually had no idea until I bought my E-500 that Oly service Sweden is practically outside my door. Unfortunately they are moving at the end of december to Stockholm, which is also in Sweden but 600km from me, so there will be no more quick visits for my part unless I have other business there also.

I sure hope you do not have to see them again!

Blu-By-U · 18th November 2006

Olyflyer, no vignetting on all lenses. here, have a view.

OlyFlyer · 18th November 2006

Difficult to judge from your images Blu, sinece they are quite dark and I don't see the focal length or if the images are cropped or not. My problem is also only visible with very light background and when all surfaces are flat.

Anyway, the Oly rep says also that he didn't hear anything about a general problem with the lens, but it may be so that people who use that lens don't really care. Still better than any P&S.

cjtune · 19th November 2006

Hi OlyFlyer,

I took these with my 14-45mm just now. I used bounce flash so the bottoms look darker and I had to photomanipulate their brightness histograms by truncating the first 0.01% darkest pixels and the 0.01% brightest pixels (in effect, normalising each picture's histogram to others). The more contrast you see, the more severe the vignetting. They were all shot at largest aperture opening possible at their focal lengths.

At 14mm, slight vignetting:

At 30mm, moderate vignetting:

At 45mm, heavy vignetting:

cjtune · 19th November 2006

Here are some from my 14-54mm lens, taken at f/2.8, f/3.2, f/3.5:

At 14mm:

At 30mm:

At 54mm:

The vignetting is darker at the lower focal lengths compared to the 14-45 lens, but less obtrusive.

OlyFlyer · 19th November 2006

What can I say? Bad! So, after all it seems to be a problem with all lenses. Starnge that it has not been adressed before. Where is the Oly quality?

I would have expected it from the kit zoom but definitely not from the 14-54. Maybe I will try to change my lens to the 14-42 instead of the 14-45mm.

cjtune · 19th November 2006

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer

What can I say? Bad! So, after all it seems to be a problem with all lenses. Starnge that it has not been adressed before. Where is the Oly quality? I would have expected it from the kit zoom but definitely not from the 14-54. Maybe I will try to change my lens to the 14-42 instead of the 14-45mm.

Photozone.de has done more scientifically-sound tests, and indeed the vignetting is worser on the 14-54mm stepped wide-open, that it is on the 14-45mm...:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...3556/index.htm
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...2835/index.htm

I have noticed it in a number of my shots but normally I'm not that bothered as I usually crop shots to be more attractive.

cjtune · 19th November 2006

Hi again OlyFlyer, do visit my thread about the horizontal banding or drewdam's thread about "could it be a CCD problem?" and take a look at the colour-negative images I took, particularly of the ISO400 at 2sec and ISO1600 at 2sec. Why is it that the noise tends to be more accentuated at the corners as well? Even with lens cap on?
Strange.

ykkok · 19th November 2006

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer

What can I say? Bad! So, after all it seems to be a problem with all lenses. Starnge that it has not been adressed before. Where is the Oly quality? I would have expected it from the kit zoom but definitely not from the 14-54. Maybe I will try to change my lens to the 14-42 instead of the 14-45mm.

I think it's fairer to say that it's considered good compared to other lenses in it's class in terms of vignetting at the widest end:

Canon 18-55:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...3556/index.htm

Nikon 18-55:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...3556/index.htm

Olympus 14-45:
http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...3556/index.htm

(If we are comparing all 3 from photozone.de tests)

microcosm · 19th November 2006

Originally Posted by OlyFlyer

What can I say? Bad! So, after all it seems to be a problem with all lenses. Starnge that it has not been adressed before. Where is the Oly quality? I would have expected it from the kit zoom but definitely not from the 14-54. Maybe I will try to change my lens to the 14-42 instead of the 14-45mm.

14-54 is also a kit lens... for the E-1.

microcosm · 19th November 2006

Vignetting is not really a problem for me. In my digital workflow, getting rid of it is merely a few clicks. Bummer to know that our beloved lenses are suddenly not as perfect as we have hoped, but this is not in any way making the lenses "under achievers". So in a way, don't start burning Olympus flags and stage hunger strikes over this.

Blu-By-U · 20th November 2006

Olyflyer, my shots are not crop. only resized to 20% for posting. As for flat, I shot the ceiling of my home. No flash was used and various focal length over various lenses.

OlyFlyer · 21st November 2006

Actually, after having seen the samples from the 14-54 I think I should just be quiet. I would have been very angry if I had paid so much more for a lens and the result would be that the lens is practically useless below f/3.5 or maybe even less (f/4.5 maybe). For me the only reason to get it would be the larger aperture to be able to use it for low ambient light without flash. In fact when I had my first discussion with an Oly rep, I was always to pay extra and exchange my 14-45 for the better quality 14-54. I am glad they did not had it on stock here in Sweden, so I said I'll give it some more time to see if my problems gets worst. I think my mechanical problems got worst, so I will change the lens but definitely not taking the 14-54 maybe the 14-42.

Can somebody tell me if the 50mm f/2 has the same problem? I would appriciate some testshots like mine or cjtune's. I have decided to get that lens and not the 35mm I was planning for. The main reason was that yesterday I was shooting late afternoon and did not want to use flash. I had to push ISO to over ISO800 and we all know how that is. What I forgot was the fact that just a few months ago I used OM2n and I had an f/1.8 lens, so that would not have been a problem. I sold off almost all my OM stuff and need a better lens than the kit zooms. Unfortunately the 35mm is still only 3.5, not better than the 14-45 in aperture. So since almost the only reason to pay extra would be the aperture it is important that the results are much much better.

Thanks!

17th November 2006	#1
OlyFlyer Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Europe, Sweden, outside Lund Posts: 2,038	ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem During the experiments I have done to check if E-500 has the horizontal banding issue I discovered a lens issue. I did my test shots using the 14-45mm set at 45mm and seen that the corners are much darker than the center. I have seen that before, but it did not disturb me since it always showed up in product pictures I took for ebay, so I did not care. I initially thought it was due to the bad compression or something else. Now, for these tests I took 11 images, white background wall with very little structure. The vignetting around the corners is disturbing and bad. I first thought it is caused by the filter I had on, so I removed it, but it did not help. I had no hood on. With or without makes no difference. Vignetting after about 35-37mm focal length settings. Has anybody else seen that or is that my lens only? Last edited by OlyFlyer; 17th November 2006 at 05:15 AM.

17th November 2006	#2
Blu-By-U Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Selangor D.E. Posts: 1,417	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Any picture? __________________ World thru my lens

17th November 2006	#3
OlyFlyer Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Europe, Sweden, outside Lund Posts: 2,038	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Well, I did not think it was necessary but here is one example. All the four corners have a dark shadowed area so this is a very good example image. The background is white paper sheet, flat and not with curved up corners and there is nothing around that could cause the shadow.

17th November 2006	#4
Blu-By-U Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Selangor D.E. Posts: 1,417	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Went back to have a look at Cjtune's picture the fan ones. It's also there. the 4 corners. Is it on the 14~45 only? I will try mine this evening. since I have 11~22, 14~45, 40~150 and Sigma 55~200. Post up tomorrow. I will try to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. ISO1600 and - EV. __________________ World thru my lens

17th November 2006	#5
OlyFlyer Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Europe, Sweden, outside Lund Posts: 2,038	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Just spoke to local Oly rep. He says he does not know it to be a general problem. Since they are near me, I will visit them next week and change my lens to a brand new one. He agreed to do that and also said that in extreme wide zooms there is normally a degree of vignetting but since I am talking about the 14-45mm after 37mm range that is not normal according to him. His advice was that since I also have a problem with the zoom ring being too loose it is better to change. So I will do that next week.

18th November 2006	#9
Blu-By-U Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Selangor D.E. Posts: 1,417	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Olyflyer, no vignetting on all lenses. here, have a view. __________________ World thru my lens

18th November 2006	#10
OlyFlyer Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Europe, Sweden, outside Lund Posts: 2,038	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Difficult to judge from your images Blu, sinece they are quite dark and I don't see the focal length or if the images are cropped or not. My problem is also only visible with very light background and when all surfaces are flat. Anyway, the Oly rep says also that he didn't hear anything about a general problem with the lens, but it may be so that people who use that lens don't really care. Still better than any P&S.

19th November 2006	#11
cjtune Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,516	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Hi OlyFlyer, I took these with my 14-45mm just now. I used bounce flash so the bottoms look darker and I had to photomanipulate their brightness histograms by truncating the first 0.01% darkest pixels and the 0.01% brightest pixels (in effect, normalising each picture's histogram to others). The more contrast you see, the more severe the vignetting. They were all shot at largest aperture opening possible at their focal lengths. At 14mm, slight vignetting: At 30mm, moderate vignetting: At 45mm, heavy vignetting: Last edited by cjtune; 19th November 2006 at 12:09 AM.

19th November 2006	#18
microcosm Moderator Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 8,014	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Vignetting is not really a problem for me. In my digital workflow, getting rid of it is merely a few clicks. Bummer to know that our beloved lenses are suddenly not as perfect as we have hoped, but this is not in any way making the lenses "under achievers". So in a way, don't start burning Olympus flags and stage hunger strikes over this.

20th November 2006	#19
Blu-By-U Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Selangor D.E. Posts: 1,417	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Olyflyer, my shots are not crop. only resized to 20% for posting. As for flat, I shot the ceiling of my home. No flash was used and various focal length over various lenses. __________________ World thru my lens

21st November 2006	#20
OlyFlyer Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Europe, Sweden, outside Lund Posts: 2,038	Re: ZD 14-45mm vignetting problem Actually, after having seen the samples from the 14-54 I think I should just be quiet. I would have been very angry if I had paid so much more for a lens and the result would be that the lens is practically useless below f/3.5 or maybe even less (f/4.5 maybe). For me the only reason to get it would be the larger aperture to be able to use it for low ambient light without flash. In fact when I had my first discussion with an Oly rep, I was always to pay extra and exchange my 14-45 for the better quality 14-54. I am glad they did not had it on stock here in Sweden, so I said I'll give it some more time to see if my problems gets worst. I think my mechanical problems got worst, so I will change the lens but definitely not taking the 14-54 maybe the 14-42. Can somebody tell me if the 50mm f/2 has the same problem? I would appriciate some testshots like mine or cjtune's. I have decided to get that lens and not the 35mm I was planning for. The main reason was that yesterday I was shooting late afternoon and did not want to use flash. I had to push ISO to over ISO800 and we all know how that is. What I forgot was the fact that just a few months ago I used OM2n and I had an f/1.8 lens, so that would not have been a problem. I sold off almost all my OM stuff and need a better lens than the kit zooms. Unfortunately the 35mm is still only 3.5, not better than the 14-45 in aperture. So since almost the only reason to pay extra would be the aperture it is important that the results are much much better. Thanks!