User Review of Olympus m.Zuiko Digital 45mm F1.2 PRO lens


wonglp

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Jul 20, 2007
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9 years on since the launch of the first Olympus mirrorless E-P1, and 6 years on from the small, light and wonderful 45mm F1.8 lens that many m43 photographers have in their arsenal of lenses, today marks another milestone for Pro grade prime lens range, one that will appeal especially to Portrait photographers. 45mm Pro was designed with the consideration of Pro grade construction (weather sealing - dust/splash/freeze proof (-10oC).

One of the key features that sets it apart from all other range of lenses (except 25 and 17 pro) is the emphasis on the use of lenses to create "feather bokeh" - smooth bokeh transition of subject to background, creating soft edges of the background bokeh, hence making the subject pop. With the 25mm Pro reviewed here 1 year ago, which has same design philosophy as this 45mm PRO and also 17mm PRO

Olympus has certainly raised the bar very high for Pro Primes with this 3 lenses - 17, 25, 45, in fact, they all share same filter size, so for those who uses filters, or even LH-66B lens hood (for 25/45) can be a good news too. And all 3 Pro Primes have similar design philosophy (apart from weather sealing construction): Close focusing, bokeh rendition, lavish lens design to reduce chroma, distortions, and to ensure edge to edge sharpness.


This review will just be concentrating on the 45mm PRO.

Here's some specs and product shots







 

Feathered Bokeh - a new term coined by Olympus and in their explanation below.

"Feathered bokeh refers to a bokeh style where the bokeh transitions smoothly from the in-focus to the out-of-focus, provides a smoother overall background bokeh, and thus makes the subject stand out more beautifully. In order to achieve feathered bokeh, an aberration measuring instrument was utilized to measure defocusing at the aberration level. This ultra-high precision aberration measurement instrument that was produced by our extensive experience in the development of advanced microscope technology, to accurately measure aberrations, helped in the development of lenses that optimize the level of aberrations while minimizing unwanted aberrations in the lens to ensure beautiful quality bokeh."




"The M.Zuiko Digital ED 45mm F1.2 PRO also contains 3 optimally placed and bonded lens elements including one ED lens, which effectively compensate for out-of-focus color bleeding (axial chromatic aberration), a common problem on large-aperture lenses, as well as peripheral color bleeding (magnified chromatic aberration). The extensive use of special lenses incorporated into 14 elements in 10 groups results in excellent optical performance that delivers feathered bokeh effects and accurate detail reproductions, even at the widest aperture setting"

In my own simple layman terms, lens aberration are optics defects that can cause distracting bokeh, and with proper measuring equipment, Olympus was able to achieve and correct the defects with good lens design. Hope this helps...



With the PRO lens, the sharpness is pretty much guaranteed, so to achieve smooth rendering of the bokeh, it does give 3D pop to some of the images that I had taken.
 

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Testing the bokeh shots.

All shot in F1.2 of varying shutter speeds and ISO 200 unless otw stated.









 

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More shots at F1.2, varying shutter speeds and ISO 200 unless otw stated. Lightroom edited (colors, WB, curves), no sharpening added.

The street is bright enough to be using at ISO200.


ISO400, 1//15s, it's still possible to handhold at such speeds easily






 

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Some sharpness tests.

F1.2


100% eye cropped. Can see myself shooting with just touchscreen.


ISO800 shot.


Cropped 100%
 

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nice !

any low light or night shots to share?

Hoping to see the lens performance under low light and night, with & without flash.
 

nice !

any low light or night shots to share?

Hoping to see the lens performance under low light and night, with & without flash.

Hi, thanks. There are a few low light night shots shared above actually, mostly the highest ISO 800 was max that I had to use. Are those shots not what you are looking at?

Will be sharing a few more, but I haven't found a chance for flash so far.
 

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Here's a shot at ISO5000, F3.2 food shot, it was close to the minimum focus distance. A good lens makes a lot of difference to high iso shots.



Cropped, no sharpening or noise reduction done. Processed Raw file in lightroom (WB, colors, curve)
 

A few night shots, never really needed higher than ISO800 as the stabilizer plus having F1.2 was really nice for night street scenes.

ISO800, 1/15s. F1.2.


ISO800, 1/20s. F1.2.


ISO800, 1/15s. F1.2.
 

Hi, thanks. There are a few low light night shots shared above actually, mostly the highest ISO 800 was max that I had to use. Are those shots not what you are looking at?

Will be sharing a few more, but I haven't found a chance for flash so far.

my bad. the night shots were staring at me yet i did not see them oops!

great shots and very helpful

thanks !:thumbsup:
 

my bad. the night shots were staring at me yet i did not see them oops!

great shots and very helpful

thanks !:thumbsup:

No worries :) more to come on the sharpness in centre and corners.

Meantime, a few more to share:





 

Minimum Focus Distance of 50cm (from sensor to subject) and Depth of field.

This lens has has very useful minimum focus distance from all system (most bright 85mm lenses are about 70-90cm) and this is really helpful in many aspects - plants, food macro, portraiture. I do like to capture kids eyes from a top down kind of shot. Here's a couple at F1.2 to show how close I could get.

Just for illustration, this is at MFD, a little crop on the head and chin. even at this close up range, the depth of field is very shallow. Had to be mindful so as to have both eyes sharp. In this shot, it's already a little off on the right side.


At F1.2 (no sharpening, just some minor adjustment in Lightroom.


 

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Starburst of the 45mm Pro, already quite defined by F5.6.

 

37964829506_e2ccc2c92e_o.jpg


I was kinda lucky to have had the 45F1.2 Pro courtesy of Wong LP and Matthew for 12 hours so here's to contribute too!

PenF, O45Pro, F1.2
 

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37964829506_e2ccc2c92e_o.jpg


I was kinda lucky to have had the 45F1.2 Pro courtesy of Wong LP and Matthew for 12 hours so here's to contribute too!

PenF, O45Pro, F1.2

Nicely done bro! :)
 

Minimum Focus Distance of 50cm (from sensor to subject) and Depth of field.

This lens has has very useful minimum focus distance from all system (most bright 85mm lenses are about 70-90cm) and this is really helpful in many aspects - plants, food macro, portraiture. I do like to capture kids eyes from a top down kind of shot. Here's a couple at F1.2 to show how close I could get.

Just for illustration, this is at MFD, a little crop on the head and chin. even at this close up range, the depth of field is very shallow. Had to be mindful so as to have both eyes sharp. In this shot, it's already a little off on the right side.


At F1.2 (no sharpening, just some minor adjustment in Lightroom.




very nice ! love the shots !! feeling the itch ...
 

37964829506_e2ccc2c92e_o.jpg


I was kinda lucky to have had the 45F1.2 Pro courtesy of Wong LP and Matthew for 12 hours so here's to contribute too!

PenF, O45Pro, F1.2

Thanks Keith for this demo of a close up portrait shot. I am sold on this lens. Wonder what the damage will be to get it. hehe
 

Thanks Keith for this demo of a close up portrait shot. I am sold on this lens. Wonder what the damage will be to get it. hehe

hi bro,

I've no idea too lol. Wait for Oly to announce. Its been a while since something other than the 42.5/1.2 got me excited.
 

wondering the results of the PanaLeica 42.5mm vs Oly 45mm