[Sylvain]

Hello zoners,



I received my 45-200 yesterday knowing fully it's not the greatest lens ever but that it can produce decent results when used with care and I intend to take it along to my scotland trip next month.MUDGES.



Still, I'm not entirely convinced about it with regard to its output.

I find that CA are a bit too much although I know that most reviews were on G1 and its CA auto correction. Something lacking on my E-P1. And I find it quite soft too, not really comparing well to PZone samples.



I don't think there are many mFT shooters around PZone, and probably even less with a 45-200 but I wanted to ask if anybody could relate to the following :

-It needs extremely high shutter speeds at 200mm, something like 1/800s @200mm with mega OIS activated and clearly active on the lcd. I'm aware that the arm heavy holding position of the E-P1 (away from the body) makes it less stable than the typical holding position but it seems to me rather incredible to be this sensible.



-strong exposure shifts while changing the aperture. I've tested the DOF preview to check if the aperture had any problem, it seems it's moving properly on every 1/3 of a stop. It seems partly due to the vignetting correcting itself from wide open to one stop down, but could it make such a difference?



-doesn't seem to be improving at all when stopping down on longer focal lengths, confirmed by Klaus' test.



-the obligatory "full size samples check" : would you rate these acceptable?

All unprocessed RAW from LR3 converted to JPEG 90% quality, 200mm @f/5.6

*Warning : ~5MB files*



[url="http://www.catbag.net/sylvain/temp/PanaG45200-001.jpg"]Sample 1[/url]

[url="http://www.catbag.net/sylvain/temp/PanaG45200-002.jpg"]Sample 2[/url]

Here's the same with some edits.I added a hint of sharpness and tried to suppress (slider set to -75 on the Blue/Yellow slider, didn't need to touch red/cyan, surprisingly) on the 7 & 10.

[url="http://www.catbag.net/sylvain/temp/PanaG45200-003.jpg"]Sample 2bis[/url]

[url="http://www.catbag.net/sylvain/temp/PanaG45200-004.jpg"]Sample 3[/url]



Any opinion,experience or comments welcome!



Greetings,

Sylvain

[Klaus]

Well, there's only one 200mm sample image here at PZ which may qualify for comparison.

The quality seems similar as far as I can tell. The main difference is the focus distance. The goose in the local sample were much closer than the main subjects any of your shots it seems. I reckon the minor quality difference is due to the higher degree of atmospheric haze. The goose shot isn't terribly sharp either though.

There's surely an impact caused by the OIS. Maybe the Oly IS is better ? I doubt so though.

[joachim]

Hi Sylvain,



I don't own that lens, so just a few general comments.



I had a look at your samples. I think they resolve, at least in the centre, down to pixel level. Look in your 2bis file, you can see nuts and bolts holding the overhead live wires together. Sample seems to have focussed in front of the main subject, but if you look at the curbstones, some of them show a lot of detail.



Considering the exposure shifts - could you share more detail? Does it get brighter or darker when stopping down. If it gets brighter, you might experience the aperture closing to slow <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ohmy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> To check, I would mount the camera on a tripod and set up a nice bokeh test picture. If you stop down the diameter of the unshare images should shrink by a factor of 2 every two stops. Also the effect of a slow aperture should be less significant in low light levels when exposing several seconds.



Considering the 1/800s. I am not surprised. The old rule of 1/f on 35mm with f being the focal length is from the time when nobody was using a 12MP digital sensor. When looking at a 12MP image at pixel level you are asking a lot. Keep in mind, when I got into photography, everything longer than 200mm was considered a tripod only affair. As suggested before, you might want to test the in body IS, to see whether that buys you a stop.



Enjoy Scotland. I used to live there. With a bit of luck with the weather, it is a magnificent place. I think the Western Isles are the best part.

[Sylvain]

Thanks Joachim,



I have indeed noticed the old E-P1 demon is back : too large AF areas with a tendency to get it plain wrong where other AF mechanism I had experience with would do fine. I kind of forgot about this as I got used to it when shooting in the 14-45 ranges.

Regarding exposure shift, it simply appear brighter as I stop down. So lead me thinking the aperture wasn't narrowing while the exposure time is increased. My test limited to watching the aperture but your bokeh idea is certainly more practical and will give more visible cues. I'll have a look right now and report back.



I'm looking forward to Scotland indeed and was aiming to the western islands, glad you confirm <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[Sylvain]

Hmm ok, bokeh test confirms aperture is locking right at capture time too. The exposure shift seems to be mostly occuring from wide open (at all focal lengths) to 2/3,1 stop down.After that, exposure is stable. I thought at first that it was only the perception of less vignetting but there's still a slight exposure boost IMHO. But not so much to worry about.

[joachim]

[quote name='Sylvain' timestamp='1280426314' post='1395']

I'm looking forward to Scotland indeed and was aiming to the western islands, glad you confirm <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

[/quote]



Which Islands are you planning to see? You know about the Hopscotch?



The two lenses which I found most useful on the Western Isles are my Planar 35mm and the Biogon 21mm. So make sure to take your 9-18mm. The Sonnar 90mm completes the triplet for me.

[joachim]

[quote name='Sylvain' timestamp='1280427085' post='1396']

Hmm ok, bokeh test confirms aperture is locking right at capture time too. The exposure shift seems to be mostly occuring from wide open (at all focal lengths) to 2/3,1 stop down.After that, exposure is stable. I thought at first that it was only the perception of less vignetting but there's still a slight exposure boost IMHO. But not so much to worry about.

[/quote]



How much does it change from fully open to a stop down? Overall it seems you got a decent copy. I would still check for de-centering though by doing the famous "brick-wall". If it is severely de-centered this would show it.



I look forward to seeing your praxis report on this one.

[Sylvain]

[quote name='joachim' timestamp='1280428303' post='1397']

Which Islands are you planning to see? You know about the Hopscotch?



The two lenses which I found most useful on the Western Isles are my Planar 35mm and the Biogon 21mm. So make sure to take your 9-18mm. The Sonnar 90mm completes the triplet for me.

[/quote]



I'll be taking 9-18,14-45,45-200 and the 20mm, with a gorillapod all packed neat and tightly in a self customized domke small bag. I was pondering taking my full size tripod but it rather voids the purpose of my mFT configuration. So expect some ground zero perspective shots when lighting fades :/. Maybe if I find it on stock in a local shop, I'll try to get this gimmicky wire tripod Tamrac Zipshot : http://www.zipshottripod.com/index.cfm

It will be the first "nature" trip for my E-P1, looking forward to see how it fares.



Haven't done much planning yet and will use my remaining days to do so but I'm meeting relatives (living in Cleator Moor, Cumbria) first week who would like to go to Arran Island for a starter. After this week I would be on my own and was thinking to try and see a few islands up to Skye if time allows. Haven't done much homeworks so I'm yet to determine how mobility is in Scotland (buses, train, etc...)

What's the Hopscotch? google gave me a link to Island Hopscotch? Any hint welcome <img src='http://forum.photozone.de/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />



-Sylvain

[Sylvain]

[quote name='joachim' timestamp='1280428699' post='1398']

How much does it change from fully open to a stop down? Overall it seems you got a decent copy. I would still check for de-centering though by doing the famous "brick-wall". If it is severely de-centered this would show it.



I look forward to seeing your praxis report on this one.

[/quote]

About 2/3 stop. I think I'll pass the brick wall test before going away, I'll lose faith in it if I ever spot the tiniest thing!

I thought I was cured from pixel peeping with my pen camera but I realise it's only because I've been lucky : not much to complain about with my 9-18, 20 & 14-45 (that one is IMO very impressive). The 45-200 is probably still decent but doesn't shine so much when compared to its smaller siblings.

[mst]

[quote name='Sylvain' timestamp='1280444026' post='1406']

The 45-200 is probably still decent but doesn't shine so much when compared to its smaller siblings.

[/quote]



Yep. Sorry to come here a bit late, but that matches my impression, too. Got one for our summer holidays and was a little disappointed about its lack of sharpness. However, given it was primarily used for family snapshots only, the results are actually very good when looked at normal print size instead of pixel level.



No issues with OIS here, though (on the G1). At least I spotted nothing negative in shots down to 1/200s.



So, in summary: ok for the holiday, but not a keeper lens. Maybe the upcoming 100-300 will be better (but no doubt even larger).



The 20/1.7 is a different story, btw. I followed your advice and got one, too, and it easily replaced the Summilux 25 here. It's not quite that good, but only slightly behind. Which is quite impressive since it's just about the size of the adapter required to mount the huge Leica lens on a mFT camera ...



-- Markus