Now this is what I’ve been wanting from some of the other manufacturers: Well-designed and photographically-friendly digital zoom lenses. That’s my verbose way of saying “fast and wide-range zoom lenses.” Coming from film, I really miss the out-of-focus backgrounds that fast lenses can give you. Sure you can fake it a bit in ye olde Photoshop and other programs, but it’s not the same. Olympus’ new lenses for the E-system users look to fit the bill.
Olympus’ E-system Four Thirds design means that the lens focal length multiplier is 2x. So two new lenses give you amazing coverage (in 35mm equivalent terms). With these lenses, you’re covered from wide to long and everything in between. If you’re not into prime lenses, then you would only perhaps want to add a macro to this two lens kit:
14-35mm f/2 Wow, f2, all the way through! That’s a 28mm to 70mm in film-equivalents. Way cool.
50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 Telephoto fans… how about 100mm to 400mm? f/3.5 at 400mm? Wow again.
These would be great to test on the new E-3. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and get my hands on some review units.
For those who like fast prime lenses, Pentax offers their great little “pancake” lenses–which along with the K10D’s usability is one reason I got into that system.
Finally, we’re starting to see some interesting glass for digital that brings back the selective-focus fun.
