What moderate wide-angle for Olympus OM?

Everybody seems to knock the zuiko zooms, but I have to put in a good word for at least one of them - the F4 35-70. Not even the "supposedly best" version of this zoom length.

Have a look at a pic I posted in the gallery

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

and now have a look at the crop from the signpost



That looks pretty darn sharp to me - and its a neg scan!

Although I'm not an Olympus user Darin, I'm a big fan of 35mm f2 lenses, I find them to be a very useful moderate wide angles that gives a reasonable angle of view and depth of field, with the minimum of distortion.

I have 35mm f2.0 (MC), 35mm f2.0 (Silvernose), 28mm f2.8, and 21mm f2.0. All of them are great quality lenses. Over 95% of the time I use a 50mm lens.

tony lockerbie said:

I have both the 35mm and 28mm in 2.8, excellent lenses, always seems a shame to put a big lens on the OM1. Incidentally, I much prefer the 50mm 1.8 to the 1.4 in Zuikos, probably the only brand where this is the case.

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I agree on the lens size and the OM-1. Most of the OMZ primes balance well with the body. The small wides, with the flat barre, give a compact look to the camera.
I've read around that the 1.4 is a bit soft wide open, specially the early models. There's a "Unscientific" comparison between the 1.4s and 1.8s in a blog (om experience). The 1.8 MiJ seems to be the best of the 50's wide open. What I don't like of this lens is the harsh bokeh that often appears on longer focusing distances in backgrounds (3m to infinite).
Oh, and this got me intriguing for a while? The 1.8 MiJ is Multicoated? Mine has reflections of lots of colors, and it's hard to identify clearly. I even think that some elements are SC and some others are MC.

I want march to arrive and have some holidays, it's been quite a while since I haven't shot anything. Must end that roll of KR64. Inactive time gets me into tech stuff.

darinwc said:

Sometimes the brighter lenses aren't necessarily sharper..
What of the 28mm f2 and 35mm f2 as opposed to the slower versions?

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Of the two, the 28/2 was generally considered one of the sharpest primes in zuikoland. I'd have to agree, in using mine.

They 35 f/2 is a brilliant lens

They will have to praise my Canon FD f2 Thorium lens out of my cold dead hands, it's my favourite lens.

benjiboy said:

They will have to praise my Canon FD f2 Thorium lens out of my cold dead hands, it's my favourite lens.

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for Oly OM's?

I have the 28mm 2.8 and it's much better than my 28mm pentax lenses. I also have a silver 50/1.4 and although it has a nice B&W look and good bokeh, it isn't sharp until you stop it down a lot and it flairs a LOT in sun. I think I might pick up a 50/1.8 some time.

It sounds like I cant go wrong by picking any of these lenses from Olympus.
I'm leaning towards the 35mm end of the spectrum. We shall see what I end up with.

erikg said:

for Oly OM's?

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I was just making the point what a useful lens a good 35mm F2 is when the 35mm focal length has been neglected by many photographers in recent years who have gone for 28mm lenses instead

Darin,

You may want to look for a copy of The OM System Lens Handbook published by Olympus in 1984. Must have reference for any Zuikoholic.