>On Wednesday, April 28, 2004, at 05:43 PM, Distinctive Deals wrote:
>
>> this [40mm]
> > lens is really only for the collector.
I really use this lens, which I bought new in 1990 for $150. Even at
the time they were pretty hard to track down, and I had to plead with
a local camera shop to sell me the one example they had in an Olympus
display case.
At the time (and still now) the attraction was the size and close
focusing ability; and the nice intermediate coverage it gave between
the 24 and 85 I already owned. I do like it, but I never formed the
deep emotional bond with it that I have with the 85/2.
I think I was swayed by the tweaky point of view that the "correct"
normal focal length for 35mm film =the film diagonal of 43mm. In any
case 40 does give a slightly "deeper" sense of space, but without any
obviously zoomy wide-angle effect. I think if you were a dedicated
Henri Cartier-Bresson style street shooter, it would be pretty much
ideal. (For my own shots, though, I'm tending more towards the 50mm
again.)
I'm also pretty stunned at how compact this 40 is vs. the 35/2. How
does 5mm make that much difference?
All that being said, the 40 does have a very lightweight feel, and
the fact that the aperture ring *is* the filter thread at the front
gives it less of the reassuring solidity of other Zuikos.
Truthfully I've been quite alarmed to discover the prices this lens
changes hands for these days. It makes me a little uneasy about
carrying it around! If I were shopping today, there's no way I could
justify the price.
For the same money, you can buy ALL of the following: A 50/1.4
(faster); a 50/3.5 (closer focusing); a 50/1.8 miJ (nearly as small
and probably sharper); a 35/2.8 (wider and still quite compact). Oh,
and a spare OM-1/OM-2 body. And you'll have change left over.
Not to cast any doubt on our mutual Zuikoholism or anything. . . but
this does make me wonder whether there are some other "cult" Zuikos
that fetch high prices which may be less than totally justified. The
180/2.8? 100/2? Comments anyone?
-- Ross
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Do something foolish once, and it's a mistake.
Do it repeatedly and it's a philosophy."
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