Olympus Cinema

[Nazarena Lugg]

Aimedsquarely at sports and wildlife stills photographers, the new Olympus also has a huge swathe of welcomed improvements for video shooters who are less put off by the small sensor. The technology builds on what was already in the more compact OM-D E-M1 Mark II, and improves on it with an even better image stabilisation system, faster autofocus, better audio, Log shooting with proper Rec.709 View Assist gamma, longer battery life and less issues with heat. That provides a seriously good video spec that should have filmers sitting up and taking note.

Another major boost for the camera is a reworking of the 121-point phase detection AF sensor in the E-M1 Mark II, for faster tracking of unpredictable subject movements and changes in subject speed. There are lots of options available, such as different AF target modes and speeds, and a new intelligent subject detection feature allows the AF system to detect and track subjects. Olympus used more than 10,000 images to create a clever algorithm to track different subjects and in stills mode, it works very well. With AF tracking employed, a maximum frame rate of 18fps for Raw stills sees the camera work well in acquiring focus and tracking moving subjects.

But as is so often the case, the video AF functionality is far more limited and offers less control and customisation. However, it did pick up focus and track moving subjects well. We shot some motocross, and it had no problem locking on a keeping the moving bike in focus. It was a bright day and there was lots of contrast, though. In low light, the AF still works well and is approaching the sort of consistency and speed of Canon and Sony systems. In manual focus, there is focus peaking to help you nail it every time.

The IS comes in two flavours, sensor-only which shoots the full width of the sensor or a second mode which uses sensor and digital stabilisation and imposes a 1.18x crop. Use this mode with an IS lens and you can definitely leave your gimbal at home, especially on a wide-angle or standard focal length lens.

The footage itself, especially in C4K, is very detailed and sharp although the standard colours seem a bit oversaturated. Drop down to 4K or FHD to get more frame rate options, and the quality is still there. The colours are bold and bright, and the reality is that the smaller sensor gives a great performance. Teamed with fast lenses for shallow depth-of-field, you can control the look for a cinematic-style drop-focus effect with ease. You could be left wondering what all the fuss about going full-frame is about.

To squeeze more dynamic range out of the sensor, the camera now has its own Log colour profile which sets the ISO to 400. There is a build-in View Assist so you can see the footage as what it will look like when converted to a standard Rec. 709 image rather than having to guess exposure on a flat image.

There are no LUTs available yet for fast colour grading, but the footage was easy enough to tweak in post. The OM-Log 400 is not an extreme setting so you can just add in some contrast and a tad of saturation and it looks good, especially on skin tones.

It may be aimed at stills photographers but the OM-D E-M1X makes a very useful filmmaking camera. The smaller sensor gives remarkably clean and detailed images, especially when there is a decent amount of light around. And the MFT-sized sensor means the effective focal length of a lens is doubled, so the 300mm lens gives an angle of view the same as a 600mm lens on a full-frame camera. That extra reach would make it ideal for wildlife or motor sport filmmakers.

Olympus has announced that a 150-400mm f/4.5 TC1.25x IS PRO super telephoto zoom will go on sale next year that features a built-in 1.25x teleconverter. That will give the equivalent of a 1000mm f/4.5 lens. Of course, there are already lots of MFT-mount lenses on the market, from Olympus and Panasonic AF glass to proper manual focus cinema lenses, too.

Working alongside long-time patron of the theatre, Jeremy Irons, the project has already gained incredible traction, securing 450 theatre seats from the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, which are due to arrive in Gloucester at the start of 2019.

The theatre has an interesting history and was originally known as Gloucester Picturedrome, when it was used as a 700-seat cinema. From 1962 the venue became a bingo hall, before being transformed into the New Olympus Theatre in the mid-1980s under ownership of the Gloucester Operatic and Dramatic Society (GODS).

In more recent years, the theatre reformed to its original name when a local businessman took over the theatre, but during 2018 the refurbishment project backed by Gloucester Arts Council has seen ownership returned to the community.

Sometimes there are lenses in a genre for which there is no modern equivalent yet. There are no modern smaller medium tele lenses. If you want a compact tele for occasional use, then an adapted OM might fit the bill. They are mostly pretty good (though when there are finally modern ones they will be better).

In this case you will care less about the absolute resolution and more about the rendering, so long as performance is decent. Some people may even prefer the older versions with single coating for artistic flare and so forth.

The lenses we discuss now are mostly ones we have used fairly extensively and have samples. Ones none of us have ever used we are usually leave out or discuss briefly with no sample. When we have used two versions of a lens, and have samples, we list both versions. The samples and opinions are by David, unless it says otherwise.

The indicative prices are for lenses in good condition if you are are patient and wait around or try auctions. If you want perfect collectible condition, or want one really quickly, you may have to pay more.

None of us has used either of these extensively enough to have an first hand opinion about their quality. The 18mm has quite a good reputation, but is quite expensive. We would be surprised if it was as optically good as even a modern zoom covering the range, but it is compact, and unlike many legacy 18mm lenses probably gives good enough quality to not distract from the images if you are shooting film.

The only reason to get one of these is to experiment with shift lenses (or if you think old Zuikos are cool). Back in the day, when digital perspective control was impossible, it was a godsend. I loved this lens. But the IQ is not good enough to compete with using a slightly wider lens and correcting perspective in your software of choice, much less a contemporary shift lens. On the other hand if you are using film it still makes good sense.

This earlier version of the classic 50mm lens is a good all round fifty, if not quite as good as the more expensive serial no >1.1m version. The black nose and silver nose version of the G.Zuiko are merely cosmetically different as far as we can tell.

The first design of the Olympus 1.8/50 series. Sharpness is not great and due to primitive coatings flare resistance is horrible.

At longer distances bokeh is nervous with loads of outlining, however near MFD bokeh is very smooth. The F.Zuiko 1.8/50 can be found cheap and is a nice lens to walk around with due to its limited weight. If you like the bokeh rendering a lot but you are looking for a sharper lens and better coatings, check out the latest version.

One of the last generation of very high performance Zuikos this lens had great performance, although it was not as compact as most zuiko lenses. It can sometimes be had at a price that makes it competitive with the very similar Zeiss Makro Planar Classic 2/50. Either is a very nice optic on Sony; get whichever is cheaper.

But as with a lot of these lenses, collectors have spoiled the party. Unless you find one cheap, you are probably better off with the CV Apo-Lanthar 2.5/110 which is better still, and goes to 1:1, and has contacts.

This is a lovely little lens; see the next section for discussion of the multicoated version. This earlier version is basically the same: the lens is simple enough that multicoating makes very little difference, and the earlier F.Zuiko version can be had very cheaply. Highly recommended for film users, or anyone looking for a small and inexpensive short tele for digital.

An excellent lens which balances performance and handling really well. Its biggest competitor is the 2/90 Macro which is a little sharper and focuses even closer but the 2/100 has a little nicer bokeh and less steep focus throw.

Quite a fun lens to use because decently sharp and very small. This version is very hard to find, however. The E.Zuiko version which is widely and cheaply available is optically the same, we think, and different mainly, or only, in coatings.

No-one makes a portable and small tele lens any more, as zooms rule the roost for this focal length. So if you want such a lens you have to adapt. Probably the Apo-Lanthar 180mm f4 from CV is the best of the compact options, but it is priced absurdly. This lens is very affordable, and might make a good stopgap for your kit. Of course you might prefer the even more compact f5 version, though finding a multicoated copy of that is very difficult indeed.

The design is very similar to the two aforementioned lenses, but none of us has used it personally yet.

It is the cheapest and easiest to get of these three Olympus Super-Tele lenses, but it competes with some of the older Canon 2.8/400 lenses which can often be found cheaper and therefore might be a more sensible choice.

Good luck in your search for Zuiko OM lenses! Whether you are looking for a high quality and compact film system, cheap compact neutral lenses for digital, or funky older fast lenses for the vintage look, there are OMs for you all!

This site contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using any of the links marked as affiliate links, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. This helps support the creation of future content.

3a8082e126