My Love Affair With a Lens

Today’s Post by Mark Toal

The only Micro Four thirds lens I had to buy the minute it was announced was the Panasonic Lumix 7-14mm f/4. Now Olympus has their 7-14mm f/2.8. I own the Lumix lens and have tried the Olympus. The Olympus lens is a stop faster and has all-metal construction. The Lumix lens is lighter and less expensive ($879.99 vs. $1299.) Both lenses seem equally sharp to me.

The 7-14 focal length range is perfect for street photography, cars, travel, flowers, etc. The 14-28mm equivalent allows for almost infinite depth-of-field as you can see in these photos. On the other hand, this is not a flattering portrait lens since it can distort when used too close to a subject. Very wide-angle lenses will give you a new view of the world and force you to get closer to your subject.

There seems to be a new interest in wide-angle photography with lenses from Canon, Nikon, Tamron and Tokina and Sigma for APS and full frame cameras. It’s great to know that Micro Four-thirds users have one of the best wide-angle zooms available, the 7-14mm.