I always have a shall (large?, hard to tell anymore), shopping list of “practical things I might need in the future”, which is the boring version of the “things I just want” which the Vespid was on.
One list I obsess over, the other I just collate, ready for the inevitable need to replace.
The OM System 8-25 F4 is on the list, the boring list, as it is a replacement for several lenses, the 8-18, which is fine but has been dropped twice and is a little short as an “all-rounder”, the 12-40 f2.8, still ailing from a trip to a sandy beach, a “lumpy” zoom the result and my 12-60 Leica, that has decided lately to do the “AF shuffle” every time I turn it on, even if AF and stabe are off.
All are working, all do their jobs as expected, all act as backups to the other, but the 8-25 does offer an overlap that possibly reduces the need to carry two lenses and frees up the 8-18 for video duties (or the other way around). An 8-25 and 40-150 has no noticeable gap, an 8-18 and 40-150 do, meaning I often carry a fast prime as a filler as I find 25mm (50mm equivalent) to be the perfect small group portrait lens.
The actual lens is a friends bought mint second hand and he will sell it to me “right” if I take it, otherwise he will list it.
Great performance across the frame, as expected.
Every lens has a “feel” and for me, this lens screams “get in close”, which it does really well.
Close focus is good, but this little guy was so small, it still took some cropping.
It also screams less loudly, “get it all in”.
Flare was interesting, that is to say ugly. I have just been doing stress tests on cine lenses and the only time I got anything like this was an off-angle with a huge matt box ND filter mounted.
Pleasant enough Bokeh, nothing that detracts anyway.
Just to be a little unfair to it, I threw in a Vespid shot from yesterday.
To be honest, I am blown away by this lens, the images it creates and the experience of using it. It surprises me how much it has affected me, I was gearing up for disappointment and possible regret, even returning it, but it has won me over quickly. Making a great stills lens requires a set of criteria are met, but when dealing with genuinely good cinema glass, a more wholistic approach is taken to the only thing that matters, various image qualities.
Timing is a thing. The fact is, this lens sits below the tiny 12-45 f4 on my to get list, even below the auto buy of another 40-150 f2.8 if I need to.
My other list, the one that makes me happier has the DZO Vespid Mk1 25mm on it, a lens to match the 40 as a 25/38 and 45/50 option. The Hope 25 and 50 do its job now and may for ever, but we will see.
Replacing work horse lenses is a business expense, one I am not forced to make right now.
The Vespid is a thing we do it for, a personal choice, not needed, but wanted.