This lens has a quality which is unmatched. Yes, the lens renders foreground subjects with incredible sharpness even at 1.8 and blends the background away into a creamy distance. It gives good bokeh. I also like the fact that I can play with subject distance more using the 75mm. This isn’t something I expected to enjoy as I tend to work close in distance to people I photograph. The lens is a substantial piece of hardware but not unruly.

The first thing I noticed about it was the amount of glass in it. Many micro 4/3 lenses seem to be lacking in that department, not that it necessarily affects their quality (say for example the 20mm Panasonic f 1.7). Still coming from the world of film where lenses are heavy and packed full of glass, it was reassuring. The reason I, like so many of you, like the micro 4/3 system is the size and weight. The 75mm whilst being significantly larger in size than the Olympus 12mm or 45mm, has a great weight to it and balances perfectly on the OMD without making the system heavy.

We gathered at the Warburg Institute which is exhbiting The Gadaffi Archives: Libya Before the Arab Spring, part of the London Photography Festival. I took a shot inside the gallery quickly at F1.8…

and ventured out onto the street to try a couple of portraits.

Above at F1.8

Above at F2.5

Everything is straight out of camera. Even the art-filtered jpegs. I’ve included a couple of them to show what kind of looks you can achieve direct in camera and what a difference a bit of post work makes on a raw image.

I am seriously impressed with the 75mm as a lens particularly for its ability to render a beautiful sharp image whilst maintaining a bright open aperture at a long focal length. If you shoot portraits or need compression in your images this is a lens I would recommend you take a look at. It’s kind of a no-brainer. Feel free to get in touch with any questions.

If you’d like to take a look at the RAW images yourself I’ve made a zip file for you.  It’s about 46MB.

Also check out the tests done by Snappy Diablog here http://snappydiablog.tumblr.com/post/25855927629/olympus-75mm-f1-8-sample-shots

There are of course other reasons to buy either camera. It depends on the kind of photography you are interested in creating and how you like to work. I  like to say cameras are like shoes. I wear a different pair of shoes if I am ballroom dancing, climbing a mountain, running a half marathon, or just hanging around town. It’s not really that different with cameras. You really must try them on and walk around for a bit to find what is comfortable for you.  There is no single one perfect pair of shoes or camera. But both of these are excellent choices.

The photographs are the OM-D EM-5 with the 45mm 1.8 lens at F5 1/200 800ISO and the Fuji X-Pro1 with the 35mm 1.4 at F2 1/125 200ISO taken by Damien Lovegrove. There are also 800x600px sections taken at 100% of each image. Both cameras at ISO 800 are amazing. I can’t really tell them apart a glance from 200ISO to 800.  When does that happen? Personally I’d like one of each please.

Lighting by Damien Lovegrove  Model is Chloe Jasmine Whichello

I wanted to see essentially how this camera compared to my usual arsenal of film rangefinder cameras like the Bessa T and the Leica M6 could hold up on the street. Both are obviously heavier and are manual focus and exposure. And they take film. What? Film. You know. That celluloid stuff photographers use to be made of? I am a traditionalist, but not a Luddite. I own and frequently operate Nikon D700s D3s and D3x as well as Canon 5D Mark II, 7D and the Mark IV. My previous experience of point and shoot digital cameras started with Sony Cybershots and has gradually climbed to the Panasonic GF1 (with which I shot most of the material on this blog) which I bought when it was first released. I have also played enviously with my friend’s Olympus EP-3. Until now.

To go with the ‘snapshot’ analogy: I am use to shooting rifles. So what could I do with a camera which is the equivalent of a fully automatic weapon? Say a Kalashnikov? What I noticed immediately was the focusing speed and pressure response of the trigger button, the clarity of the viewfinder, the relative silence, and the rapid fire speed.  And yes, I did use the tilting screen and touch focus. Brilliant. Nothing in my opinion beats optical viewing, but when that is not possible, the build in Olympus EVF will definitely do. The menus were easy to operate and access and the settings on the camera were simple to adjust. I didn’t have  a lot of time with a manual or any instructions before I got the camera so I had to figure out how to use it on the go. And that was not a problem.

I was astonished at how much closer I could get to my subjects (random people on the street) and how long I could spend photographing them before they realised. This camera was definitely a stealth operator, smaller and faster than any digital camera I’ve ever used. This is one of the reasons I do not use my D700 on the street. It’s just too big and too loud. In fact it’s the reason I gravitated towards rangefinders early on. Additionally, for a tiny quiet camera it boasts 16MP and is highly low light capable. The dynamic range is also fantastic. If I had been shooting RAW files I’d have relatively little work to do for inside/outside shots. What I was use to seeing blown out on my other cameras was actually coming up with a generous amount of detail.

In short I’ll be pre-ordering one of these this week. With grip. And the 45mm lens because in addition to stepping back and observing scenes, I like to get close up too as you’ll see if you visit my regular site.

All these images are straight out of the camera JPEGS with no manipulation.  See all the images here.