Do the compact size and the fun usability of this lens outweigh its
limitations? I picked up this tiny pancake lens for less than $200 and it
delivers a full frame zoom range of 28 millimetres up to just short of
85 millimetres, making this Olympus OM-D E-M10 my first interchangeable lens street
camera that is also pocketable while using a zoom lens.
This is a compact camera with a built in zoom lens. And this is
an interchangeable lens, micro four thirds mount camera containing a four thirds
size sensor. The difference in size and carryability between these two different
cameras is so small that this becomes the most pocketable interchangeable lens
camera I've ever used. Actually, my A6300 with the 16 millimetre pancake lens was
smaller, but it lived on tripod. This OM-D EM-10 is incredibly capable for
photography. It's containing a fourth size 16 megapixel sensor and does, in fact
offer a touchscreen interface for selecting autofocus points and activating
the shutter. And somehow this teeny tiny lens delivers us a full frame zoom
range of 28 millimetres up to 84 millimetres. The 14 millimetre we get at
the wide end of this lens gives us a full frame equivalent of 28
millimetres, which is one of the most preferred focal lengths for street
photographers. And then at the long end, we have what is close to an
85 millimetre focal length at 84 millimetres, which is probably on the
extreme end of longer telephoto lenses, for street photography, the f stop we get
at the wide end is a 3.5 and then a 5.6 at the
long end, which, if you're a videographer, a portrait photographer or wedding
photographer, that might sound like a nightmare. You want the 1.8, the 2.8
to have a nice shallow depth of field. And that is what I was
thinking. But in practise, having an actual deeper focal plane means that in
street photography, if you're shooting a little bit quick or even a little
bit blind, you have more of a chance of getting your subject in focus.
This advantage of the deeper depth of field that these f stops actually offer
should not be overlooked. A lot of us chase the f 1.8, the
f 1.4 For that dreamy bokeh, but but actually the.
The deeper depth of field can allow us to actually get a better hit
rate on our images and get more of our subjects in focus and actually
create more compelling compositions.
And and it just goes to show that this sensor is definitely big enough
and size doesn't matter. Something I didn't like about my LX 100 when
I was using it was the size of the lens when you were actually
shooting with it. When you were carrying the lens without it extended, it looked
like a beautiful camera, but as soon as you extended the lens, it was
a classic compact telescopic lens. And sadly, that is something that is present
here on this 14-42 EZ lens. This very compact and pocketable zoom lens does
then begin to stick out when you're actually using it. But this was the
intention of the design when they made this, the kit lens for this camera.
On release. If you're like me and you're picking up cameras secondhand, I
picked up this EM-10 body and then a 45 millimetre prime. I'm just
trying out the zoom lens at the moment, and I'm still trying to decide
whether or not I'm going to keep it. I do find it quite funny
that they decided to pair this interchangeable lens camera with what is
essentially a compact camera lens just slapped on the front. So I don't
really know how I feel about this yet. When it comes to the usability
of this lens on the street, there is one factor that I've repeated that
annoys me quite a lot, and that is adjusting the zoom accurately. In
general, between powering on the camera and taking a photo. This lens works
beautifully. It activates and extends when the camera is powered on, but that's
pretty much where it ends. It then gets quite fiddly. Something that LX 100
did very well was you could set up stopping points for your zoom range.
It had a 24 to 75 millimetre lens, which you could enable auto stopping
at preferred focal length. And through my research and through my testing so far
as of yet, this lens does not offer this functionality on this camera.
Besides both being four third size sensor cameras and both being released the same
year by partnering manufacturers, this does not share that same functionality.
The zoom ring on this camera is unique compared to anything else I've used
before. And it's kind of like a servo zoom. It's a servo in the
way that it's actually a motorised zoom, but the zoom ring operates kind of
like a zoom by wire. If you are shooting street and you can take
the time to actually set your zoom to the next focal length you'd like
to use, it's not a deal breaker, and it's actually totally fine in real
world usage. But when you are used to using an actual physical zoom lens
that you can just snap to the next focal length quite easily, or
similarly, that system on the LX 100 with preferred focal length stops, it
feels a bit like, why didn't we do that? I feel that the functionality
is there. I don't know if it's enabled on the later models, but here,
sadly, that is missing. But that isn't. To completely dismiss the advantages of
this lens and camera setup, there really are a few other lens systems like
this on interchangeable cameras. Yes, the LX 100 has something very similar on
a four third size sensor, but it is a fixed lens camera.
But actually, if you do know of any other lenses like this on the
micro four third system, Fuji system, Sony camera, I don't care. Let me know
in the comments because I would be keen to check that out, please.
In a real world scenario, this camera performs very, very well at the wide
end and at the long end of its focal range. However I find myself
the majority of the time shooting at the wider end of 14 millimetre, stuck
in either 3.5 or f 4 when actually using the camera, holding it
from behind, looking at the viewfinder or down at the LCD. You tend to
kind of ignore the fact that the lens is actually protruding. It's only
when you notice it from the side or when you're testing it out, like
I have been for this video. My intention when picking up this lens was
to have a zoom that I can carry with me wherever I go. If
I go on trips, I don't have to worry about bringing my full frame
kit with longer zoom lenses. This kind of does everything I would need to
do for casual shooting. However, when going out and shooting street, I find
it at the long end to be a pleasure to use. But when I'm
trying to get to that 50 millimetre equivalent or that 35 millimetre
equivalent. It's a bit frustrating because of the zoom system.
With lens powered on snapping
between the 14 mil up to 25 mil and say, 42 mil to get
like that 50 millimetre. And 85 millimetre equivalent is a little bit fiddly because
you have this sort of servo zoom thing going on. When you first power on the
lens, you're met with this 40 millimetre which is the 28 millimetre full frame
equivalent trying to hit an exact millimetre focal length figure is quite
difficult. Then if you want to go up a little bit further, say up
to 25, to get to, like, a 50 millimetre equivalent, it takes a
second or two of intentional zooming to be able to land exactly on that
millimetre of focal length, at least when you get to 42 millimetres, that is
the end of the zoom range. So that is pretty much that 85 millimetre
full frame equivalent and you hit it automatically. The majority of the time
I've been using this camera and lens set up, it is literally powering on,
going to that 14 millimetre and then having the screen flipped up just to
do some sort of waist level shooting. Size wise
this lens is actually only 22.9 millimetres in length. And when you
compare that to the 22 millimetres of the Olympus 17 millimetre f 2.8,
you get a lot of extra range for point nine of a millimetre.
And obviously, it's a balancing act. Do you want the faster prime lens or
do you want the range? You get slightly limited f stop mobility of this
zoom lens, maybe just buy both just buy both, it'll be
fine.
Since I've started shooting with the E-M10 and this lens in particular, I've
actually started shooting in a way that I hadn't really done for quite some
time, and that is shooting with the next strap and then carrying the camera
at about waist height with the tilt screen facing up. My previous four main
cameras have all been fully articulating screens, so having a tilt screen has
always been a bit of an odd one for me. But having this lens
on this camera with the tilt screen means that shooting at something like a
28 millimetre equivalent or close to 35 becomes really nice for sort of just
candid street shooting when you're moving between locations. Meaning there's fewer
problems if you don't want to lift your camera in certain areas or if
you're in a crowd and you kind of want to grab a few random
subjects. This isn't a style of shooting I've really done that much of. I'm
typically more of a 50 mil or longer focal length shooter and actually
lifting the camera up to near eye height. Shooting from the waist has always
felt a little bit difficult on most cameras, apart from if you just want
to shoot blind, for example, when you have a fully articulating screen, it makes
the camera a lot wider. I find when I've been shooting from the waist
with this camera, most people around me don't seem to notice that I'm taking
photos, which is nice, so people don't behave differently or dodge the camera
compared to when I would use an articulating screen on my Sony cameras.
People tend to suspect you're shooting video, and they will try and walk around
you and leave your frame completely empty. This camera and lens combination are
uniquely positioned, and that is probably why the geniuses at Olympus paired them
together in a kit. I'm actually surprised myself a little bit here because a
lot of what I've looked for in cameras of video and photo have been
fully articulating screens, full frame sensors, and low f stops. It's only
as I've started to take a shooting street more seriously that I've seen a
lot of the potential in these smaller Olympus cameras. And even after I've tried
Fuji cameras for similar use cases, I've got to say that where budget is
also a factor, Olympus are providing some great stuff on the used market. And
yes, you could say that any camera is good for street photography, but if
I had to use the same camera setup forever, I would get bored. I'm
sure you would too. There are just too many options to try.
Options like this OM-D E-M10 paired with a great portrait prime lens,
which you can see in this video over here. Please go check it out.