Very interesting, Skip. I agree that it doesn't look as nice as the Zuiko.
And that price of ~ $325 US, are they kidding? I hope for their sake that
it's a suggested retail price that may de discounted by nearly half. I don't
know how many people would buy it in OM mount for $325, when you can get all
the 50MM lenses you want for just about free, and buy a nice used 35/2 Zuiko
for ~ $175, or a 2.8 for $75. It'll be interesting to follow, though.
George S.
skipwilliamsom@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
> Well, Cosina has introduced a very flat, OM-Mount lens today. It's the 40/2
> Aspherical Ultron. Details in Japanese at http://www.cosina.co.jp/40sl/.
> English translation at http://babelfish.altavista.com/.
>
> I can see why they introduced the 40/2 lens for the SLR market. It's
> similar to the 40/2 OM Zuiko, GN-Nikkor, 43mm SMC Pentax, etc. that are
> "pancake" lenses and are all the rage now. What strikes me as unusual are
> the two hoods. They both apparantly bayonet onto the lens. But one has
> hood leaves on the INSIDE. Am I seeing that right? I guess it's effective
> for shading the front element, as well as not vignetting. It also keeps
> the
> overall lens depth down. But it sure does look strange.
>
> 52mm filters (Zuiko: 49mm)
> 29mm deep (Zuiko: 25mm)
> 255g (Zuiko: 140g!)
>
> So it's not anywhere near as compact as the Zuiko, but with it's hood, it'd
> shorter than the Zuiko + OM Hood. It also doesn't look as nice as an the
> 40/2 Zuiko, IMVHO.
>
> List price of ¥45,000, probably selling for $325 in the US.
>
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