Zuiko lenses v Leica m mount lenses.

[Guest]

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When a pension came out in 2018 i was finally able to buy a leica m camera [m262] with lenses including the modern 21mm voigtlander f1.4 ,summicrom 50mm V5 and the 35mm f2.4 summarit [sold] .

My daughter took my olympus pen ep-5 camera with my two most used lenses ,the 25mm f1.8 [50mm equiv] and the 75mm f1.8 .

She never had the time to use it and returned it to me still with 1,600 images of mine on the memory card.

I went out and used it for fun and took a look at the images i took as well as on the pics on the memory card although i have about 3,000 images stored elsewhere from my olympus days.

Micro four thirds and olympus seem to be in their death throes but a strange thing happened when i took new images and reviewed older pics ,that is that the olympus images were quite clearly sharper and clearer than the pics taken on my leica full frame camera!! 

Maybe its all my fault of course and maybe only the case with my people images and not so much my scenic pictures, it could be my 63 year old eyes or the very effective ibis on olympus cameras?

I did find the findings disheartening and wondered if i have wasted a lot of money.

Of course this is a bad place to create such a thread but it has made me think about what to do going forward .

[Yoki]

I believe there is nothing wrong with your 'aging-eyes'. However the Olympus' IS does magic, even for my reckless 9 years old boy! 

Just recently, due to the passing of my uncle, I was asked by family members to look for my late uncle's finest photograph, and scanned through my archieves photos collections from 1998 to 2021 (yeah.. hundred thousands of them!). To my surprise, his best photos -that my family choose- were all taken by Olympus cameras (E-1, E-520, E-P2, E-M5, and E-M1). I tried editing the photos (raw files) using On1 Photo Raw 2020, Capture One 22, and Photoshop 2021, and I was most happy with the result coming from Photoshop 2021.

It looks like, with Photoshop 2021, photos from Olympus cameras (raw files, even from the E-1) come out differently and fantastically great! I compared the photos with those that I have edited before, and they are looks different. Especially in tones and sharpness. It has a "modern feels" in it. I am not sure whether that is because of the Photoshop has some new magics, or Olympus and it's Zuikos lenses were way ahead of it's time. 

I remember, around 7 years ago, having a short conversation with one of a professional photographer in my city, and he told me that the Zuikos has huge resolution that no image processing softwares can really 'extract' it yet at that moment. Maybe he is correct. 

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[spydrxx]

I chose my Zuiko macro lens for digitizing hundreds of negatives and slides over all the other macro lenses I owned, as well as my Leica lenses on a bellows. Looking back into the late 1960s and 1970s the Zuiko lenses I owned at that time seemed to have stronger contrast than my Leica lenses and equal resolution...although I admit most of my shooting was around f/5.6 for both Zuiko and Leica.

[stray cat]

My digital journey was done with Olympus E1 and E3 cameras and a host of Zuiko and Leica/Panasonic lenses. The quality of the lenses, the feel of the cameras, the colours - all superb.

A series of unfortunate events means I lost almost all my digital pictures, including all my photos from a seven-month around-the-world family holiday, but even disregarding that I found the digital experience not to my liking. Lens quality, or the fantastic useability of the cameras had nothing to do with that decision. In fact I was sorry in a way to let go of such nice, high quality gear. It was a simple matter of me realizing I preferred film. So in 2007 or 2008 I sold the digital gear and began my Leica journey with an R8.

[Cobram]

6 hours ago, steve 1959 said:

When a pension came out in 2018 i was finally able to buy a leica m camera [m262] with lenses including the modern 21mm voigtlander f1.4 ,summicrom 50mm V5 and the 35mm f2.4 summarit [sold] .

My daughter took my olympus pen ep-5 camera with my two most used lenses ,the 25mm f1.8 [50mm equiv] and the 75mm f1.8 .

She never had the time to use it and returned it to me still with 1,600 images of mine on the memory card.

I went out and used it for fun and took a look at the images i took as well as on the pics on the memory card although i have about 3,000 images stored elsewhere from my olympus days.

Micro four thirds and olympus seem to be in their death throes but a strange thing happened when i took new images and reviewed older pics ,that is that the olympus images were quite clearly sharper and clearer than the pics taken on my leica full frame camera!! 

Maybe its all my fault of course and maybe only the case with my people images and not so much my scenic pictures, it could be my 63 year old eyes or the very effective ibis on olympus cameras?

I did find the findings disheartening and wondered if i have wasted a lot of money.

Of course this is a bad place to create such a thread but it has made me think about what to do going forward .

Dear Steve,

I think I understand what you want to say. I went through similar emotions about a year or two ago looking at my Fuji prints. Not to mention old film photos from my beloved Olympus Trip 35 and 35RC. 

I came to the conclusion that Zuiko lenses posess rendering just appropriate for "family" shots. Nice vivid colors, good contrast and good sharpness. Leica lenses exhibit cinematic rendering and 3D pop, but Zuiko is not far behind.

I was waiting few years for Olympus to release a APS-C or Full frame digial Olympus Trip with its nice 40mm lens but now I'm sure there will be no digital reincarnation. So I just bought Summicron 40...

Ricoh Gr iii x 40mm seems a very nice option but I'm really afraid of dust and quality issues. 

With smartphones reaching high photo quality levels we are all craving for small, robust, sharp, full frame family camera. I used to own Q but it is far from small and/or light. Not to mention dust problems and very strong lens distortion affecting resolution.

 

[jaapv]

When I compare the files out of my MFT cameras, both the 16 MP and 20 MP ones, they are clearly not as good as the ones from my CL or even M9 - let alone the newer ff Leicas.  On first sight the results are the same, but they fall apart more easily in postprocessing. and take on a grainy look.

[Ray Vonn]

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Two main observations from my experience with Olympus/ M43/ lenses:

1) The files often need quite a bit of PP, yet at the same time as @jaapv says, they can fall apart, so a good knowledge of manipulating files in Photoshop is advisable. This is a 30second process if using a 12 year old RF.

2) Despite that, the Olympus 75mm F1.8 really is a wonder lens, there are other lenses on other systems which are close or similar, but probably not equal, so you won't get parity in that regard when departing from m43 to another system.  So I'm not surprised one can look back at the images rendered from that lens in the way @steve 1959 has.  

[Guest]

I have done a bit more research on my findings.

I took some pictures at westonbirt arboretum with my 50mm summicrom v5 and 28mm elmarit v4 last autumn and compared them with similar pics from my olympus from 2017.

The leica images really come to life here although its hard to articulate the difference but they have a more organic feel and jump out of my computer screen more than the olympus images.

But with portraits and 100% magnification the zuiko 75mm especially and the 25mm f1.8 are clearly sharper than my m mount lenses including the 50mm summicrom.

The arboretum pictures has lifted my spirits regarding leica images but i think i will add my zuiko 75mm lens to my bag for every trip going forward.

[Sandokan]

Maybe the fact that the Summicron and Elmarit are over 30 years old has something to do with it? I know the Zuiko 75mm which is too sharp to use for portraits of older women as it gives unflattering results. Run your comparison with the more modern Leica lenses. 

[Guest]

On 2/9/2022 at 12:46 AM, jaapv said:

When I compare the files out of my MFT cameras, both the 16 MP and 20 MP ones, they are clearly not as good as the ones from my CL or even M9 - let alone the newer ff Leicas.  On first sight the results are the same, but they fall apart more easily in postprocessing. and take on a grainy look.

Agree - however seems to be fixed with the stacked BSI sensor in OM-1 (just starting to ship) - in some ways the "baby brother/sister" of the M11 sensor. No more of that m43 base ISO noise, which always was annoying and until now not fixed in any M43 camera.

[250swb]

Olympus in it's death throes - incorrect

m43 in it's death throes - incorrect

Olympus cameras an lenses make some of the most satisfying images - correct.

Are Leica cameras better than Olympus - it depends

[rramesh]

These days any modern camera will take great photos - MFT, APS-C, Mirrorless, why even an iOS or Android phone. Out of camera images will be excellent for social media, web display and even for printing.

Beyond that it really depends on one's particular needs, fancy and budget.

Forums like these bring together individuals with their own likes/dislikes and preferences.

Buy what you need, what you can afford, and don't succumb to peer pressure and GAS.

[Huss]

 I had the Olympus PenF with 17mm 1.8, 25mm 1.8 , macro 30 (35?)and 45mm 1.8 lenses. Also the Panasonic 12-32.

The camera and lens combos give absolutely outstanding, pin sharp results with very little effort.  That's what happens when you have AF and IBIS.

As for falling apart in post processing?  Never noticed that because if the image is exposed correctly, then little if any PP is needed especially if you shoot jpegs.  Olympus is rightly famous for their jpeg machine.

But I sold it all off, and kept my Leicas.  Because I just didn't find a connection to it as it was too easy, to simple, and frankly had too many features!  With the M cameras, they make you work for it.  You cannot be lazy.  And if you work at it your results can surpass an M43 camera just because of the larger sensor if you push the ISO, but you have to put in the effort.
 

I replaced my Olympus gear with a Fuji Xpro3 (I do not like EVFs, which is why the OVF on the Fuji is so attractive) and the results are the same.  With no effort, super pin sharp pics with excellent exposures.  AF again doing its thing, plus it (and the Oly) has eye targeting focus.  But now the sensor is bigger so the theoretical results are better.

And yet... I still hardly use it because frankly the camera is doing it all, with the satisfaction level being lower than my M.  The M rewards you, the Fuji takes over for you.