OMD: Can I take the same pictures with the 12mm f2.0 and the 17mm f1.8 ?

Vlad S wrote:

I agree with Tedolf that the distortion in the first image is unpleasant. Notice how small her arm looks in comparison with her face. It may be difficult to compose with cropping in mind.

I suggest to try the Digital Teleconverter feature for portraits like that - it will zoom in 2x and force you to stand back and lessen the distortion. The option is in Menu-> Shooting Menu 1, bottom of the list. Pressing the Up button to get to the bottom in one shot will save you time.

Using 17mm with 2x magnification will put you roughly to the lower end of the head-and-shoulder range, but it will be much more difficult to achieve blurry background than with your 20 mm lens. If you have the opportunity, try it before you buy.

Vlad

dustpuppy wrote:

Here are some examples of pictures I took with the OM-D (with the panasonic 20mm f1.7 lens)

Perspective distortion is all about how close you are to the subject.

Period.

The closer you are to the subject, the more perspective distortion you are going to have.

Period.

Everything else falls out of that.

Longer focal lenghts force you to back away from the subject to get all of it in the frame.

More appearent distance compression, less appearent distance expansion.

Shorter focal lengths force you to get closer to the subject to fill the frame.

More appearent distance expansion, less apprearent distance compression.

Period.

So, focal lenght selection has more to do with appearent distance expansion/compression than anything else.

These are the sorts of things you should really understand, along with rules of composition, angle of view, point of view, white balance, exposure, DOF control, etc. etc. before you dump $2000.00 on camera equipment.

Tedolph