Panasonic 45-200mm mini review

My 45-200mm arrived last night and today I was able to take some quick snapshots around the house. So far so good! With the GF1 (didn't yet had time to try with E-P1), the AF is very fast and virtually silent. The lens is not too big nor too heavy and balances nicely on the GF1.

The mega O.I.S is very impressive and I can get reasonably sharp images at 200mm and 1/30s!

From an IQ standpoint, I am very pleased so far: wide open, the lens is pretty good from 45mm to around 100mm and still pretty decent beyond that.

Overall, I am very happy with the performance of this $280 lens.

Some comments about using this lens with the Olympus E-P1.

The good news is that the AF is almost as fast as with the GF1 (feels as fast for me but don't want to start a milliseconds war here so this is why I am saying almost as fast).

I also quickly tested Olympus IBIS vs Mega O.I.S. and I would say that at 200mm, the in lens image stabilization (MEGA O.I.S) does better than the sensor IS. Not much, but enough to make a difference. I would roughly say 1 stop difference. but in any case, bot IS systems do an impressive job.

E-P1 with Micro Nikkor 55mm f/2.8

It has been a while since I posted something here. Well, lots of things going on and not enough time. I will try to do some m4/3 reviews (E-P1 and GF1) soon. In the meantime, here is a post about using the Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 micro with the E-P1.

So I decided to give my micro Nikkor 55mm f/2.8 a try. This lens is a leftover from my Nikon days and the only thing I needed was to find a cheap Nikon F to m43 adapter on eBay.

Well, the adapter was delivered today and I like the build and fit. I immediately tried the lens on my E-P1 and I am pleased with the potential of this combo.

Manual focusing using the EVF is very easy and precise (x7 magnification mode) and the image stabilization helps tremendously. Now don't get me wrong: it's definitively harder to use this lens on the E-P1 than mounted on a DSLR. And obviously, for any serious macro work, I tripod is highly recommended. Yet, I was able to take some technically acceptable test shots around the house.

I was ready to buy the Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 macro but I am not sure I really want to fork $800 for this lens anymore.

ISO 1000

Bokeh is a bit nervous on this one

The Canon is my wife's not mine, I swear!

The head below is about 1/2 inch. ISO 1250.