Olympus E-M1 and 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 SWD Lens Combination—One Great Match!

E-M1 with the Olympus 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens @ 400mm equivalent; 1/500th @ f/5.6; ISO 200; 100% crop
Most zoom lenses are not very good at their longest focal length.  Not this lens.  It is spectacular at all focal lengths!

I wanted to make a few more comments about the combination of the Olympus 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 lens with the Olympus E-M1 camera.

After using this lens for a couple of weeks, I feel this is really a wonderful lens. It is very well built, sturdy, smooth operating, and feels good to use.  to me,  haptics are important when using gear as it makes their use more pleasurable.  If I don't like how something feels or operates, then I will tend not to use it.  I suspect the same may be for you also.

It is a bit larger and heavier compared to most native mirrorless 4/3 lenses, but not when compared to digital SLR lenses of the same focal lengths.  In fact, it is much smaller than those full frame lenses.  There are two reasons for this.  First, it is of all metal construction and second, it is a very fast lens for its type. There is a lot more plastic in today's mirrorless 4/3 lenses and most tend to not have such fast apertures, with some exceptions.

The images I made with this lens are sharp, contrasty, have good accutance, very low distortion if any and the color produced is pleasing.  Focus is relatively fast, but not as fast as a native M4/3 lens.  I think that will change with time and the next generation of M4/3 sensors.  By no means is focus slow, however.  In very low light, the lens will hunt a bit, but to me, that is to be expected.  It brighter light, typical of the circumstances under which I photograph, the focus speed fully meets my needs.

Fisherman, Messick Point, Poquoson, VA (click to Enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 with Olympus 50-200 f/2.8-3.5 SWD lens @ 50mm; 1/800th @ f/8, ISO 200

One of the best aspects about this lens is that it is fast, in terms of aperture.  Where else can you get a lens that is the 35mm equivalent of 100-400mm f/2.8-3.5 for about $600 US used, but in like new condition?  That is insane in today's market.  Look at what a "full frame" lens of the same specs will cost you.  Not only is this lens fast, but you can use it wide open with confidence.  Most lenses don't perform well wide open and one must stop it down one to two stops to get good performance.  Not this one.

For comparison, a used copy of the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR lens consistently sells for over $2000 US on Ebay. Additionally, it is a stop and a half slower at both ends of the zoom range!  That can be the difference between getting the image you want and not getting it satisfactorily.  The much older Canon 100-400mm f.4.5-5.6 L lens, also used, normally sells for an average or about $1100 US on Ebay.  Again, it is a much slower lens.

Additionally, in my experience, most zoom lenses don't do well at their longest focal lengths.  Look at the 100% crop of the image at the top of this post.  That was made at the lens' longest focal length. Again, like using the largest apertures, one can feel confident in using the longest focal lengths and make sharp images.

Bottom line for me and my recommendation for you is, if you are a mirrorless 4/3 system user, and have an Olympus E-M1, then check out the original Olympus 4/3 lenses on the used market.  If you only buy new, many are still available through the big online retailers.  They are well made, produce wonderfully sharp and contrasty images, have low distortion and are now underpriced for the value they bring.

To take my experimentation with this camera/lens combination another step, I will probably look at picking up an Olympus 1.4 tele-converter to see how it will work. Also, I will probably look to see how some of Olympus' other 4/3 lenses could fit into my photography.

The time to do this is now before the next generation of cameras have more, as well as more sophisticated, phase detect autofocusing sensors embedded in the imaging sensor.  As the next generation of mirrorless 4/3 cameras are developed, these superb older Olympus lenses will be in more demand, meaning the prices will rise.

I'm sure I will write more as I use this lens in the future so stay tuned.

Thanks for looking.  Enjoy!

Dennis Mook

Many of my images can be found at www.dennismook.com.  Please pay it a visit.  I add new images regularly.  Thank you.


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