A Story Of Three Work Horse Lenses
I now have three 40-150 lenses.
Excessive?
Maybe, but it does not feel like it. I really enjoy the depth and choices I have. I have a super light weight, a light weight and a big bruiser option, two with weather sealng, one fast aperture.
Only a few small digits apart.
Lens number one is plastic down to the mount, feels cheap, weighs nothing, costs less and is the “slowest” of the three at f4-5.6. It is however very fast focussing, sharp and contrasty and offers a high level of micro contrast. It even feels tightly made, if a little fragile.
The second, a very new lens for me, probably has the nicest Bokeh, is also super sharp and contrasty and has a constant f4 aperture. It weighs twice as much as the first lens, which is still not much at all and less than half as much as the bigger one, which is why I bought it, to give me a pro-grade lens that keeps my bag light in tandem with a fast prime.
The last lens is a pro through and through. Fast in all respects and sharp through the range, this lens has one minor flaw, showing slightly nervous Bokeh in some situations, but other than that, it just rocks. It also takes the two matched tele-converters, so it is the most versatile overall. I would take it everywhere, except that it sits on the outside of the MFT comfort envelope.
So, three very different lenses, with very different reasons for being in my kit.
The only time they are hard to split it turns out, is when comparing their optics.
Using decent enough Bokeh balls for effect. Kyoto train station.
Hollywood movie set lighting. Kanazawa alley way
Candid moments taken nearly instantly. Kyoto aqueduct.
A stand-in macro lens, although the spider was not exactly minute (about 4” across). Kyoto roadside.
More glowacious light. Tokyo landscape.
Edge to edge sharp, detailed and near perfect aberration control, a really fine art grade file. Kanazawa train station.
All of the above, speed, control and glow. Kanazawa street-scape.
Seeing as I have only had the f4 lens for a day and the big lens would never be taken on a trip, I guess you may have realised that every image above was taken with the $150 bit of kit junk. Long live kit junk (though probably unlikely).
Not a bad starting point for a trio of work horse lenses.