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FScherer

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Hello, im coming from Nikon ff, want some hint on this lens,

I got it to use as a low cost lens for traveling, but trying around town, i noticed it has a poor contrast / latitude when shooting toward a bright sky, so either i ajust the speed to match the sky light or to the darker subject, of course you cant get both perfectly,

but i noted that almost everytime the sky looses all texture, or the subject get too dark,

with nikon i controlled this better, with wider range,

i want to know if this is a limitation of the 4/3 system or the lens,

also, when i tried to shoot someone trought a window to a darker room, on a sunny day,

there was a white towel hang on it, so the light reflected on the towel and i couldnt get a good picture even if the towel was not on the frame. i know this is a bad situation, and i was shooting without a hood, The photo looked like crap. Would it look better if i used a hood or i just need to avoid this kind of situation? noting that even the iphone made a better image..
 
FScherer said:
Hello, im coming from Nikon ff, want some hint on this lens,

I got it to use as a low cost lens for traveling, but trying around town, i noticed it has a poor contrast / latitude when shooting toward a bright sky, so either i ajust the speed to match the sky light or to the darker subject, of course you cant get both perfectly,

but i noted that almost everytime the sky looses all texture, or the subject get too dark,

with nikon i controlled this better, with wider range,

i want to know if this is a limitation of the 4/3 system or the lens,

also, when i tried to shoot someone trought a window to a darker room, on a sunny day,

there was a white towel hang on it, so the light reflected on the towel and i couldnt get a good picture even if the towel was not on the frame. i know this is a bad situation, and i was shooting without a hood, The photo looked like crap. Would it look better if i used a hood or i just need to avoid this kind of situation? noting that even the iphone made a better image..
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What camera and what lens? There are several 14-42 lenses. They are all decent, some are a little better than others. Which Nikon camera are you comparing with?

For the most part, the issues you are describing are dynamic range limitations and/or metering problems. You can either play around with gradation/tone curve settings in the camera or you can shoot raw and push/pull using your choice of RAW development software. If you're using matrix metering and trying to shoot scenes with widely varying luminance (such as what you describe, shooting a subject in a dark room from outside the window.) you're bound to have trouble getting the exposure correct. You can try to adjust using exposure comp or you can use center-weighted or spot metering to get a better exposure measurement on the subject that you are interested in.
 
Hello, i use the Olympus Digital 14-42 IIR most of the time, im comparing with a Nikon D700. i know the dynamic range would not be equal but just want to know what are the m4/3 limitations, and if some are improved changing lens or adding a hood.
 
Im using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 with 2 lenses: 14-42 R II and m zuiko 17mm f2.8. was trying to carry the lowest weigh possible, wanting to part with big heavy body like slr´s
 
FScherer said:
Hello, i use the Olympus Digital 14-42 IIR most of the time, im comparing with a Nikon D700. i know the dynamic range would not be equal but just want to know what are the m4/3 limitations, and if some are improved changing lens or adding a hood.
Click to expand...
I've never had to many issues with flare and I rarely use a hood. If lack of contrast is the problem a hood might help. That's pretty basic stuff, though.

Lenses and hoods won't help for dynamic range. Best is to get the exposure right. If you get the exposure right and still don't have enough noise-free shadow detail there are tricks to try with multiple exposures. Good luck. ..
 
I find the m4/3 kit zooms to be remarkable wrt flare, even without a lens hood (which isn't really all that great on a 14mm lens anyway) but having said that, the Panasonic 14-42 is better than the m.Zuiko for flare. Also, I never use "protective" filters.

I don't think your dynamic range issues are particularly caused by the lens used, but are more a feature of m4/3 itself - I often struggle to get skies and landscapes exposed correctly, and I certainly wouldn't consider indoor/outdoor shots at the same exposure.

I do use m4/3 a lot for HDR, even if I don't want an extreme tonemapped final result.

Are you shooting and PPing RAW - for that kind of situation you may have little choice.
 
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