New OM2n owner. Would like some advice on lenses.

I've been looking for an OM series camera for a while now and just managed to pick up a nice OM2n and 50mm for only £40. As I will be using this camera for mainly street candid photography what lenses do you recommend in the 28mm to 35mm focal range?

Hiya Lee,
Erm...., I think there is only 28mm or 35mm and that's it, unless you buy a zoom! Personally, I would opt for the 35 mm. You might have to be a bit 'in your face' with the 28mm. Your standard lens will do a pretty good job as well.

I had the 28mm f/2.8 and loved it. Olympus lenses seem to be a bit less expensive than Nikons and Pentaxes, so I think that you should go for a pretty good one and not mess around with the others. I personally like the wideness of a 28mm, but I am sure that the 35mm lens is equally good.

I use a 35mm f/2.0 as my standard lens, and love it. Combined with a 24mm f/2.8 and an 85mm f/2.0, it makes for a wonderfully compact and fast kit.

All Zuiko of course.

Matt

The 35mm f2 is an excellent lens - albeit comparatively expensive!

Lachlan

congratulations on the OM-2 purchase, its a cool camera.

I use the following lenses for my OM-1 and OM-4:
28 f3.5
35 f2.8
50 f1.4
50 f1.8
135 f2.8
70-150 F4

In your case I would snag a 28 lens either the 28 f2.8 or the f3.5 if speed is not so much an issue and get a 50 f1.4 prime lens and you are good to go.

Bill

leeturner said:

I've been looking for an OM series camera for a while now and just managed to pick up a nice OM2n and 50mm for only £40. As I will be using this camera for mainly street candid photography what lenses do you recommend in the 28mm to 35mm focal range?

Click to expand...

If you can find one the Zuiko 40 mm f/2 is an excellent and legendary Olympus pancake lens. It is very sweet.

leeturner said:

I've been looking for an OM series camera for a while now and just managed to pick up a nice OM2n and 50mm for only £40. As I will be using this camera for mainly street candid photography what lenses do you recommend in the 28mm to 35mm focal range?

Click to expand...

Go a little wider. The 24 F2.8 is an amazing lens. 28 never felt wide enough for me. They also have a 20 F4 but I nevery tried that.

For me the ideal set is:

24 F2.8
80 F2
100 F2.8 (I believe)
134 F2.8

With that you can own the world. Great cameras, very light and nice. Make sure you get the camera cleaned and algined and get the foam replaced at a reputable repair shop.

Congrats from a 30-year user of an OM-1n who just also bought an OM-3 and an OM-4Ti

--Jeffrey Steinberg

The lenses I own are the following:
24 f2
28 f2.8
35 f2.8
50 f 1.8
100 f2.8
135 f2.8

All lenses are good (I find the 35mm might not be as good as the others), but the 28 f2.8 lives on my OM1n and the 100 f2.8 on my OM2n -that's my street shooting combo.

Depend on your style of shooting.

For me, I use my OM2n as a street camera, so I use 35mm and 24mm most of the time. 35mm is also very good to use in the subway and some small spaces.

Go for a 35mm F2 if you can, I offen shot mine wide open at F2.8 and still find the shutter speed is too slow to hand held.

I also have a 85mm F2, a sweet lens. Love it.

Alex

I'll chime in with another vote for the 35/2.0, it's a great lens. The only downside you might find is that it's 55mm filter thread while most/all of the other shorter lenses from Olympus are 49mm. The 28/2.8 is nice too but I don't use mine too often. I'll also add a vote for the 24/2.8, 35/2 and 85/2 kit, that's what I used for 8 months in SE Asia with 2 OM-1n's and it was a great setup.

Your 50 could be decent to really good depending on the aperture and what generation they are. Supposedly, the best are the last 50/1.8's (with "Made in Japan" along around the front element) and the last 50/1.4's (with a serial number higher than 1.1 million). I used to have an older 50/1.8 that died and I couldn't believe the difference in the 50/1.4. I don't know what the 50/1.8 was but the 50/1.4 is one of the later ones, not into 1.1 territory so I'm not sure if it's the last generation or not but it's a great lens.

Someone mentioned the 40/2 pancake. I've heard differing reviews, a lot saying it's nothing spectacular. It has certainly received a cult status and for some time the prices were ridiculously inflated because of that. Don't know what they're like more recently.

The 20/f4 is a macro only lens, i.e. for use with bellows. For normal use there is the 21/f3.5 and 21/f2. The former goes for a pretty good price, it is quite prized by many OM enthusiasts. The 21/2 is even more expensive and, I can say, is stellar. I have one and it is not going anywhere soon.

Unless you are doing very low light stuff and need the 35/2, I'd save my money and go for the 35/2.8. Yes, the 35/2 is wonderful, but a LOT more expensive than the 2.8. And the 2.8 is no slouch, not by a mile.

Of the 28s, I can't say which is "better". I have both, but haven't done exacting comparisons. I snagged a 2.8 for very little money; there was a delay in shipping and the seller was quite apologetic so refunded my shipping. So I think it ended up costing me about $10. (There is some very slight problem around the outer edge of the front element, but has no effect on images.)

I echo the comments on the 50s ... my 1.4 is not in 1.1M serial number territory, butis quite nice. I also have a late 1.8 (miJ), as well as an MC 1.8. Only the first edition (silver nose) was sub-par, but even that had a very nice look to it if sharpness was not a real issue.

Another really, really nice lens is the 100/2.8. No, a short tele is not often thought of as a 'street' lens, but sometimes it comes in handy. And for the money, the Zuiko 100/2.8 is quite, quite nice. It is nearly as small as some other brand 50s, so I think the small size/handhold-ability add to its usefulness.

All reports I've seen on the 40 (as much as I'd like to have one for its size) indicate it is not worth the premium it is now fetching. Not that it's a bad lens, but at $600+, it's too much.

BTW, I don't think 28 is too wide for street work, and I think 28 and 35 are enough different in look & feel to have both. They're small.

Earl

PS: Hey Andrew ... good to see you here! I'm mostly on RFF these days; shooting mostly with and Olympus 35 SP, which seems to be welded to my hands.

Jeffrey A. Steinberg said:

Go a little wider. The 24 F2.8 is an amazing lens. 28 never felt wide enough for me. They also have a 20 F4 but I nevery tried that.

For me the ideal set is:

24 F2.8
80 F2
100 F2.8 (I believe)
134 F2.8

With that you can own the world. Great cameras, very light and nice. Make sure you get the camera cleaned and algined and get the foam replaced at a reputable repair shop.

Congrats from a 30-year user of an OM-1n who just also bought an OM-3 and an OM-4Ti

--Jeffrey Steinberg

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies and advice. When I used to shoot with an F3 I liked a 28mm lens so that's a definite. Time to start shopping around as I've noticed that some of the lenses still seem to hold their price quite well. The one thing going for the Olympus lens range is the physical size. Even some of the bigger glass is still quite small when compared to other manufacturers and this is one of the reasons I looked into the OM as a street camera.

Earl, I'm using an Olympus 35 RC which is a lovely little camera and for the price an absolute steal.

Where did you get an OM-2n with a 50mm for £40?

It was a lucky eBay find. It was just advertised as an Olympus camera. Both camera and lens are in pretty good condition, however I replaced the seals as a matter of course. The prices of OM cameras appear to be lower than a year ago when I first started looking. The average price of a 1n was around £80, now you can pick them up from £35 to £60 with or without a lens. Less than the price of a good night on the razzle and you have a hell of a camera