As much as I love my M6 and will never sell it, I was tempted by a Olympus OM1n and Zuiko 50mm f1.4 MC on the weekend for US$100 in excellent condition. I've been researching Olympus gear for a while and used it (om4-Ti) for a short period of time in the past. The OM 4 was the best manual body I've ever used.

Anyway I'd like to know everyone's opinion on the much praised 90mm f/2 from Olympus. Particulary it's performance wide open and compared to the Summicron 90 APO or any other comparitive lenses. The advantages are obvious being a 90mm f/2 and MACRO!

Please advise

Thanks

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 10, 2002

Answers

Don't even start me with Olympus!

Olympus were the best(for the price) cameras ever made.Superb lenses and great little bodies.I have 4 OM1's and 2 OM4ti's.As a bedfellow to the M system you can't beat them.

I don't know the stats on the 90mm,but I say just buy and try.

-- Karl (karldavis@jackpoint.com), March 10, 2002.

Karl, that's what this forum is about. Someone like yourself with extensive knowledge on the OM system should be getting started. Come on, share your knowledge. What is you experience with the 90mm?

-- Kristian (leicashot@hotmail.com), March 10, 2002.

Well,just look at the OM4ti. An M4/6 with a 35mm 1.4/50mm 1.4 and an Olympus OM4 with a macro and a zoom......what a perfect combo'! Small,light,quiet,fast....my opinion?

-- Karl (karldavis@jackpoint.com), March 10, 2002.

Last year I consigned my Olympus outfit, OM2, 2 OM4s, 21, 24, 28, 35, 50, 50 macro, 75-150 zoom, 135. I had withdrawals from doing it but I have R Leica, M Leica and EOS. As it is I can't use them nearly as much as I would like. I wish Leica had made the OM cameras or at least patrnered with them. They are small, quiet and light with large bright viewfinders. They have the feel of a Leica M in an slr. The lenses are very good, particularly the 24, 50 macro (they have a great 3.5 and a 2.0), and the 75-150 is about the best little zoom I ever used for its size and weight. They are very neutral in color not as warm as the Nikons. I just finally sold the last OM4 a month or so ago. Never heard of the 90. I would guess that it is pretty good but not nearly as sharp as the Leica 90 AA in the 2.0 to 4.0 range. A good look at work from the Olympus system can be found in two of Dennis Stock's books - Provence Memories and New England Memories both with Camera, Lens, film and aperture/shutter documented for the pictures in the back. Good luck.

-- Don (wgpinc@yahoo.com), March 10, 2002.

FWIW a number of photojournalists at Magnum use (used) Olympus and Leicas.From my experience not very hardy cameras...one photographer,Ian Berry,dropped his bag when arriving into South Africa.The Leicas were OK,but all the others were outa action... The price though is good.I beleive Olympus now into digital and the OM system finished.I have used Olympus and its OK.Not great!I preferred the look of my Takumar lenses on Spotmatic.Indeed they were all flare free,unlike the much vaunted 75mm Summilux photo shown here recently.Full of flare.Only Leica demons like us could see the beauty.

-- jason gold (leeu72@hotmail.com), March 10, 2002.

The olympus system is as small and quiet as you are going to get in an slr. the size and noise level is not significantly higher than my m3. it is a nice camera to throw in your trunk or backpack. it is generally well known that other camera manufacturers passed them by, but what is less well known is that even today their lineup of macro lenses is unsurpassed. i believe that they offer 9 different lenses many in lengths and speeds that are offerred no where else. in my opinion they are still the camera to beat in macro and an excellent travel camera.

-- greg mason (gmason1661@aol.com), March 10, 2002.

Great deal on the OM-1n. You can often pay about $200 for the camera and $100 for that 50 mm 1.4. I've never used that 90 mm macro, but macro became something of a specialty for Olympus. I'm sure that the lens in question will perform well.

-- Preston Merchant (merchant@speakeasy.org), March 10, 2002.

FWIW, photodo.com have a review of this lens. It has quite a bit more distortion than you'd find on a leica prime of this type (apparently 1.34%) but seemingly pretty good sharpness, wide open. The 85 f2 is the more usual lens to be seen knocking about, and the one Jane Bown habitually uses/has used.

-- Steve Jones (stephenjjones@btopenworld.com), March 11, 2002.

Kristian

Unlike others here I like the Olympus OM bodies but think the optics are perfectly ordinary (from past experience). So my prejudice would be that the difference would be crystal clear between the APO 90mm and the Zuiko 90/2. One would of course expect this because the Leica lens is much more pricey. I am sure the Zuiko is a good deal -- but I seriously doubt it can approach the APO at any aperture below about f8. Are there really any "legendary" Zuiko lenses?

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002.

I have had this baby for a year which I purchased from B&H used. I don't even know where to begin! I had read a post (probably on photo.net) that said in a test the 90/2 turned out to be better than a 90/2 summicron and equal to the 90/2.8 summircon. I haven't used either of the two so I can't really tell. I just know I have had some darn good results with it. Infinity performance is only adequate (which is not surprising for such a specialized lens)but at short distances(upto closest focus)and between f/5.6 and f/11 its performance is nothing short of eye-popping. What sets the Olympus macros apart from the crowd is that Olympus does not believe in the 'one lens does it all' philosophy, like Nikon/Canon. The Micro Nikkor 105/2.8 goes from inf. to 1x, probably optimized for somewhere in between. The Zuiko 50/2 (another gem) and the 90/2 go from infinity to 1/2x, the 80/4(bellows) from 1/2x to 2x, the 38/2.8(bellows) from 2.3x to 6.7x, and finally the 20/2(bellows) from 5.3x to 13.6x - each producing superb results! Olympus is the undisputed king of photomacrography. Oh, not to forget that they started out as a manufacturer of microscopes, having built Japan's first mircroscope, and is today a world leader in that field.

For more info, search the archives of http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright/olympuslist.shtml

-- Tim C (suchismit@hotmail.com), May 15, 2002.

I was under the impression that Olympus has discontinued or is phasing out their manual focus OM line due to insufficient market. The OM4Ti is a neat camera with its multispot feature. And my recollection is that the light meter can measure down to EV-4 or so, even better than the Leica M7, which itself goes down to EV -2.

But the OM 90/2.0 macro has been around for quite a long time, whereas the 90/2.0-APO-ASPH is a very recently designed lens. I can't imagine there being much doubt about the 90/2 APO Summicron being a better lens, probably the best short tele in the business.

-- Eliot (erosen@lij.edu), May 15, 2002.

I think Leica users (nor people who have never experienced the lens) are probably not the best people to ask about the Zuiko 90mm f2 Macro. Amongst knowledgeable OM Zuiko users the 90mm f2 has legendary status, being one of the all time greats and a lay down misere to becoming a cult classic once they are sold out in March 2003 up to which time they will still be produced. There are other threads on the Zuiko 90mm f2 on Photo.net that back up this legendary status.

My experience with the 90mm f2 is nothing short of brilliant. It is a lens with superb contrast at all apertures but especially between f4 and f11. Its resolution is nothing short of the finest lenses I have. Many users of this lens talk about its 3D quality also and images it creates have a three dimensional quality. The bokeh is also beautiful and smooth. Its performance with macro subjects is superb giving the user a larger working distance than shorter macros. Its f2 aperture is also still class leading in the macro arena.

I have several shots of subjects with this lens on my website http://www.zuiko.net that are unfortunately very poorly scanned with a Canon Bubblejet type line scanning head but still show I think the colour rendition, smooth bokeh and some of the 3D effect I referred to.

They are very difficult to find on the used market so good luck and do not hesitate to buy one if you are pleased with your OM camera bodies. You may want to partner a 90mm f2 to an OM 4 (Ti) soon.

Sincerely...

See http://www.zuiko.net and http://members.aol.com/olympusom/lenstests/default.htm

-- Oben Candemir (the_eyedoctor@hotmail.com), June 21, 2002.