Just got back the Fjui Provia 100 slides I shot a couple of weeks ago on a
visit to friends in Nashville. It was the first time I?d used my newest (and
cheapest ever) lens, a 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 Phoenix zoom. I must say I am more
than impressed. It will definitely find a place in my traveling-light kit.
It?s only the second non-Zuiko EVER mated with one of my Oly bodies.
I have scanned one of the slides, a picture taken under pretty dismal
circumstances: under a gray, overcast sky in the back yard of the home our
friends as we were walking off breakfast Sunday morning about 9:30 or so. An
OM-4Ti was hand-held at about 1/30, with the lens either wide open or one stop
down, because there wasn?t much light at all. Some edge falloff is slightly
apparent, more in the scan than in the original, but the darkness on the right
in this photo is more the result of dense shade under a line of trees than a
fault of the lens.
Obviously, a low-resolution scan such as this is meaningless when evaluating
lens performance and I have submitted it only to put into perspective the
following, which should be taken as fact: Each and every brick and shingle of
the house, as well as each bar of the railing around the upper deck, is clearly
and sharply delineated, despite the flat lighting. Every post and rail of the
white fence in the far background is sharp and clear. In other words, this
lens is sharp as the proverbial tack, shows excellent contrast, seems neutral
in color balance, and at $139 brand-spanking-new is a real bargain. As the
less articulate e*Bayers are wont to say, ?Highly recommended.?
The only real drawback is that it requires 77mm filters, and like most
Zuikoholics, I?m locked in to a 49/55/72mm filter size progression. A 77mm B+W
multi-coated circular polarizer costs $177 from B&H. I ain?t about to spend
more for a filter than I did for the lens, so it?ll just have to be used naked.
Oh, the picture is here:
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=135271&a=13487025&p=52969349
Walt
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