Olympus 12-100mm f4.0 and "bokeh" lenses

I just tried to compare the 12-100mm with the Panasonic 25mmf1.4, Olympus 45mmf1.8 and 75mmf1.8 on the same subject.

Panasonic 25mmf1.4 1/80s (DxO output as it needed WB adjustment)

Olympus 45mmf1.8 1/13s OOTB

Olympus 75mmf1.8 0.1s OOTB

Olympus 12-100mmf4.0 at 80mm 0.4s OOTB

Olympus 14-42mm EZ at 42mm OOTB

I posted JPEG out of the body because the DxO profile for the 12-100mm does not exist yet. So let's compare carrots with carrots (except the Panasonic because the lightning was too much different)

Some remarks :

• the picture with 25mmf1.4 was taken with a different lighting (more light)
• the 12-100mm managed to maintain sharpness despite the 4-times longer exposure : thank you Sync IS
• I prefer the perspective with the 45mmf1.8 : at 75mm I had to take the picture lower to maintain a similar background
• The circle of spot background lights are bigger with the 75mm, but I prefer their repartition on the background with the 45mm, as the background is less magnified
• I did not have enough room to shoot at 100mm, I had to take the picture at 80mm
• the background with the 12-100mm is not too bad, it's better outdoor when the background is farther
• almost no bokeh with a "kit zoom", but this is my wife's preferred picture ! (so she definitely does not understand why I bought more expensive lenses ...)

My preferred one is with the 45mm. It's also the smallest and lighter lens that I can take along the E-M5 II + 12-100mm in my bag Thinktank Mirrorless Mover 20. So I think I will rarely need to take a bigger bag with more lenses.

Do I still need 25mmf1.4 and 75mmf1.8 ?

Yes, I think you still need the other lenses, unless you restrict yourself to teddy bear pictures.

Martian Flatcat wrote:

Yes, I think you still need the other lenses, unless you restrict yourself to teddy bear pictures.

Thank you ! Said like that, obviously evident !

Sure, for me, the 25mmf1.4 and 75mmf1.8 are not the easiest to use speaking of framing and composing images that exploits the bokeh capabilities of these lenses.

The laziest way is to use 45mm, even with "real" subjects.

Been through this route except the 12-100mm

Ended up selling both 25mm and 75mm

The 45mm is the best bang for the buck , cheap, sharp,  yields great bokeh, so no need to sell

I just bought the 25mm 1.7 for it's a steal

I rarely use it but could be handy for street and close up portraits and documentary

The 75mm while a glowing lens is a tad too long for most circumstances

I will not buy the 12-100mm but will look seriously at the PL 12-60mm

Cheers,

Also I'm sure you use them for low light situations.

Martian Flatcat wrote:

Yes, I think you still need the other lenses, unless you restrict yourself to teddy bear pictures.

That is a specialized niche it would seem.  

That is an interesting bokeh and perspective  comparison.  Thank-you.

JL

dv312 wrote:

Been through this route except the 12-100mm

Ended up selling both 25mm and 75mm

The 45mm is the best bang for the buck , cheap, sharp, yields great bokeh, so no need to sell

I just bought the 25mm 1.7 for it's a steal

I rarely use it but could be handy for street and close up portraits and documentary

The 75mm while a glowing lens is a tad too long for most circumstances

I will not buy the 12-100mm but will look seriously at the PL 12-60mm

Cheers,

Looking at your gear list, could not you replace 12-40, 14-150, 35-100 with just the 12-100 ? You have the extra prime lenses that could be necessary for low light / bokeh pictures when you want aa faster aperture than f4, and your PEN-F is compatible with Sync IS (perhaps you should use the grip with the 12-100), when you will not be able to use Double IS with the 12-60 and the Olympus bodies. Moreover, the bokeh at 60mm f4 will not be as good as it is at 100mm f4.

Martian Flatcat wrote:

Also I'm sure you use them for low light situations.

Not so evident. Look at that : https://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/58864064

Thanks. I missed that thread.

The 25 f1.4 tends to produce warmer colours , as all panaleica lenses .

Your wife's preference reminds me that this bokeh thing is irrelevant to most people , they can accept a little blurry background but it still has to be recognizable .

108 wrote:

The 25 f1.4 tends to produce warmer colours , as all panaleica lenses .

Your wife's preference reminds me that this bokeh thing is irrelevant to most people , they can accept a little blurry background but it still has to be recognizable .

Not that it is irrelevant, but the images with recognisable backgrounds are in fact (often) better. The bokeh craze or fad or whatever we should call it is mainly the thing of certain photographers who use the extreme blurriness of the background not so much as an aesthetic value, but (subconsciously) as a measure of a perceived technical quality (or value) of their gear. "Wow, look at that creamy bokeh" doesn't mean "look how nice is the image" but "look how good/expensive is my camera/lens".

And no, that doesn't mean that everything in the image should be in focus.

Frdric BERNARD wrote:

dv312 wrote:

Been through this route except the 12-100mm

Ended up selling both 25mm and 75mm

The 45mm is the best bang for the buck , cheap, sharp, yields great bokeh, so no need to sell

I just bought the 25mm 1.7 for it's a steal

I rarely use it but could be handy for street and close up portraits and documentary

The 75mm while a glowing lens is a tad too long for most circumstances

I will not buy the 12-100mm but will look seriously at the PL 12-60mm

Cheers,

Looking at your gear list, could not you replace 12-40, 14-150, 35-100 with just the 12-100 ? You have the extra prime lenses that could be necessary for low light / bokeh pictures when you want aa faster aperture than f4, and your PEN-F is compatible with Sync IS (perhaps you should use the grip with the 12-100), when you will not be able to use Double IS with the 12-60 and the Olympus bodies. Moreover, the bokeh at 60mm f4 will not be as good as it is at 100mm f4.

Thanks for the advice

I've looked long and hard at the 12-100mm ; still finds it too large and heavy for my everyday shootings

The 12-60 is smaller/lighter and I'm sure the PL brand would produce excellent optics

I 'll keep the 14-150 since it's cheap /small/light for casual shooting

May let go of the 12-40 once I get the 12-60

I have yet to decide whether or not to let go of the 35-100 since it's so good and light

In terms of bokeh, I'll have to resort to the 45mm 1.8 or the 35-100mm 2.8

The F4 lenses bokeh will not give me the looks I want at longer focals

Cheers,

dv312 wrote:

Frdric BERNARD wrote:

dv312 wrote:

Been through this route except the 12-100mm

Ended up selling both 25mm and 75mm

The 45mm is the best bang for the buck , cheap, sharp, yields great bokeh, so no need to sell

I just bought the 25mm 1.7 for it's a steal

I rarely use it but could be handy for street and close up portraits and documentary

The 75mm while a glowing lens is a tad too long for most circumstances

I will not buy the 12-100mm but will look seriously at the PL 12-60mm

Cheers,

Looking at your gear list, could not you replace 12-40, 14-150, 35-100 with just the 12-100 ? You have the extra prime lenses that could be necessary for low light / bokeh pictures when you want aa faster aperture than f4, and your PEN-F is compatible with Sync IS (perhaps you should use the grip with the 12-100), when you will not be able to use Double IS with the 12-60 and the Olympus bodies. Moreover, the bokeh at 60mm f4 will not be as good as it is at 100mm f4.

Thanks for the advice

I've looked long and hard at the 12-100mm ; still finds it too large and heavy for my everyday shootings

The 12-60 is smaller/lighter and I'm sure the PL brand would produce excellent optics

I 'll keep the 14-150 since it's cheap /small/light for casual shooting

May let go of the 12-40 once I get the 12-60

I have yet to decide whether or not to let go of the 35-100 since it's so good and light

In terms of bokeh, I'll have to resort to the 45mm 1.8 or the 35-100mm 2.8

The F4 lenses bokeh will not give me the looks I want at longer focals

Cheers,

The 12-100 is just fine on travel or for a one day hiking in the mountains or in the city or anything touristic. But for casual and social shots at home or with friends, it's a little big, but in fact it's quite the same with the 12-40 (and probably the 12-60). But the 12-100 is far more versatile than the 12-60 IMO, especially thanks to Sync IS for static subjects in low light situations.

Sync IS is one thing you just can not imagine the effectiveness before getting the lens in your hands mounted on the body.

Now I use the 12-100 with an E-M5II with grip when I am a tourist or when I need a longer range outdoors, and generally the E-P5 with a small lens for social shots, especially indoors : the 14-42EZ, the 20mm or the 25mm (which takes special shots with the subject always on a slightly blurred background, hard to use but gives far better results compared to a kit zoom).

I think a PEN-F with a grip could takes these both roles and usages

You would have IMO a better usage of a 100-300 or 75-300 for animals or birding, compared to the 14-150 and 35-100. Having in one lens the 12-100 range with high IQ is a special thing than only MFT gives to date.

Okapi001 wrote:

108 wrote:

The 25 f1.4 tends to produce warmer colours , as all panaleica lenses .

Your wife's preference reminds me that this bokeh thing is irrelevant to most people , they can accept a little blurry background but it still has to be recognizable .

Not that it is irrelevant, but the images with recognisable backgrounds are in fact (often) better. The bokeh craze or fad or whatever we should call it is mainly the thing of certain photographers who use the extreme blurriness of the background not so much as an aesthetic value, but (subconsciously) as a measure of a perceived technical quality (or value) of their gear. "Wow, look at that creamy bokeh" doesn't mean "look how nice is the image" but "look how good/expensive is my camera/lens".

And no, that doesn't mean that everything in the image should be in focus.

I agree, that's why I prefer the image with the 45mm or even the 12-100mm. The problem with the 14-42EZ is more the bad looking of light circles than the lack of blurriness.

That's also why I'm not sure to keep the 75mm.

The 25mm is another matter, as you can achieve pictures with some background blurriness (but rarely a crazy bokeh) in social or casual shots, which helps focusing on the subject, but keeps the environment and the context perfectly and effortlessly recognizable. For example (not a great shot indeed, but illustrative IMO)

Panasonic 25mm f2.8