[johnmflores]

Incidentally, Oly is still offering a black Oly 12 for $480 at their U.S. based outlet store (for "reconditioned" products). They're offering an additional 20% off today and tomorrow, so I expect whatever remaining stock will go pretty quickly.

One more from Oly 12:

Nice shot! Tried to get one on sale - out of stock.

[northcoastgreg]

Tried to get one on sale - out of stock

Sorry to hear that. When I began seriously thinking about getting the 12mm a few months ago, I checked the Outlet store almost every day until it showed up a little over a week ago. So I'm sure it will show up again at some point.

Another reason I wanted to get the Oly 12 is I was looking for better performance away from the center with my IR converted EPL-1. I've had trouble finding wide angle lenses on m43 that are sharp away from the center and toward the edges of the image. While the Oly 12 does a better resolving visible light toward the edges than infrared light, it's still by far the best wide angle I've used for infrared.

A false color infrared image with the Oly 12:

[Clarkey]

Sorry to hear that. When I began seriously thinking about getting the 12mm a few months ago, I checked the Outlet store almost every day until it showed up a little over a week ago. So I'm sure it will show up again at some point.

Another reason I wanted to get the Oly 12 is I was looking for better performance away from the center with my IR converted EPL-1. I've had trouble finding wide angle lenses on m43 that are sharp away from the center and toward the edges of the image. While the Oly 12 does a better resolving visible light toward the edges than infrared light, it's still by far the best wide angle I've used for infrared.

A false color infrared image with the Oly 12:

Stunning.

[rob1234]

Now I have the 12-32mm, most of my shots (albeit only so far!) seem to be at the 12mm end - which has me wondering about the Oly 12mm... The FA*24 is/was of my favourite lenses on film - could this be the modern take on it?!




OM-D E-M5
12-32 pancake @ 12mm
f/6.3
ISO 200

[northcoastgreg]

Now I have the 12-32mm, most of my shots (albeit only so far!) seem to be at the 12mm end - which has me wondering about the Oly 12mm... The FA*24 is/was of my favourite lenses on film - could this be the modern take on it?!

I had a 12-32 for about a year and came to a similar conclusion. As for comparisons with the old FA* 24 — well, the Oly is much smaller, for one, with state-of-the-art nano coatings for great contrast. The old FA* 24 enjoys beautifully rendering — it's sort of an over-sized prequel to the FA Limiteds. The Oly 12 may be closer to the DA Limiteds, with its small size and excellent color and contrast.

Stunning.

Thanks Clarkey. One more false color church from the Oly 12:

[yucafrita]

Thanks Clarkey. One more false color church from the Oly 12:

I love the look of that picture. Reminds me of an old, colors-washed-out print, like a photo taken in the 60s or so lying around in the sun a bit too long.

[northcoastgreg]

I love the look of that picture. Reminds me of an old, colors-washed-out print, like a photo taken in the 60s or so lying around in the sun a bit too long.

Thanks yucafrita. IR, once you figure out what does and does not work, can be a lot of fun.

Here's another from Oly 12, this time using the visible portion of the spectrum:

[UncleVanya]

I had a 12-32 for about a year and came to a similar conclusion. As for comparisons with the old FA* 24 — well, the Oly is much smaller, for one, with state-of-the-art nano coatings for great contrast. The old FA* 24 enjoys beautifully rendering — it's sort of an over-sized prequel to the FA Limiteds. The Oly 12 may be closer to the DA Limiteds, with its small size and excellent color and contrast.



Thanks Clarkey. One more false color church from the Oly 12:

Did you do a similar DA 15 shot?

[Sinister]

Thanks yucafrita. IR, once you figure out what does and does not work, can be a lot of fun.

Here's another from Oly 12, this time using the visible portion of the spectrum:

Don't do that to me! *keepsrepeating* "Dont need a 12mm"

Any chance you could do a night shot with the 12mm for starbursts? Max. F11...

[rob1234]

And at 12x that focal length...



OM-D E-M5
Oly 40-150R @ 150mm
1/250th wide-open (f/5.6)

[northcoastgreg]

Did you do a similar DA 15 shot?

Yes. It's posted here.

*keepsrepeating* "Dont need a 12mm"

That's what I kept telling myself. m43 is not my main system and the 12mm for a long time just looked way to pricey. But in the end the idea of getting such a high level of image quality at a wide FOV in so small a package became too hard to resist. Even then, I had to sell my Oly 9-18 and my Panny 12-32 to make it work financially.

For those who already have the Oly 12-40 f2.8 or the Panny 12-35 f2.8 and who aren't bothered by the size and weight of those f2.8 zooms, there's really no compelling reason to get Oly 12.

Any chance you could do a night shot with the 12mm for starbursts? Max. F11...

That's an intriguing idea. This time of year night shoots are a bit problematic, simply because the sun sets so late and most days I have to get up at 5 AM. But at some point in the next few months, I'll try to get a night shoot in.

[UncleVanya]

Yes. It's posted here.

The false color makes it harder to compare but I think that 12mm is quite good. I do think that of the two the DA 15 seems to have a bit more POP. But that could be purely based on the color and processing. The field of view seems quite similar.

[northcoastgreg]

The false color makes it harder to compare but I think that 12mm is quite good.

Actually, they can't really be compared, not only because of the intensive false color PP, but the fact that lenses often resolve infrared light quite differently than they resolve visible light. The Oly 12 is significantly sharper toward the edges when resolving visible light (the same can be said of the DA 15, at least when used on an IR converted E-PL1). If I were to make a sort of impressionistic judgment about how the two lens perform with visible light (I haven't shot the two lens side by side with visible light), I'd say the Oly 12 is maybe the slightly better lens on purely technical grounds. Both lenses have comparable center sharpness, but the Oly is sharper toward edges and in the corners; the Oly also has a smidgen more contrast than SMC version of the DA 15. But the DA 15 seems to me to have a bit more aesthetic appeal. It has more character, with a more unique and aesthetically piquant colors, and better, more fulsome rendering of tactile objects against backgrounds. The Oly 12 is a terrific lens, but its terrific in a more generic way. These two lenses manifest the different philosophies of Olympus and Pentax, with the Olympus concentrating more on numerical spec performance, and Pentax on visual sensibility.

Another Oly 12 shot:

[johnmflores]

Chevy by John Flores, on Flickr



5 by John Flores, on Flickr



One Headlight by John Flores, on Flickr



Mustang by John Flores, on Flickr

[Clarkey]

Chevy by John Flores, on Flickr



5 by John Flores, on Flickr



One Headlight by John Flores, on Flickr



Mustang by John Flores, on Flickr

Looks like fun!