Bargain Olympus 75mm f/1.8

So, I finally bought a high-end portrait lens, which isn't something I ever thought I'd do. I found an Olympus/Sigma 75mm f/1.8 for $250, E-P2 camera included, and I couldn't let it pass.

The lens is certainly used, and it shows, but the body and glass are in good shape - it's the silver Vello hood that absorbed most of the abuse, as it's quite battered. I'm surprised at the weight, considering how small the lens is - it's not much larger than my Panasonic 25mm f/1.7, but it weighs at least twice as much.

What surprised me more were both the thin DoF, and extremely quick AF motor - that thing can rack over the whole range, back and forth, in less than a second! I find it curious that no one seems to talk about this, since most Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Fuji and Sony portrait primes get the shaft when it comes to AF speed (they're probably not intended or expected to be speed demons). But the Olympus truly has sports-class AF.

I fail to see why or how would anyone need a thinner DoF than what this lens offers. Sure, I understand the case for a 24mm f/1.4 lens to achieve similar defocus with a wider angle of view, but something like the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 appears simply unusable (wide open) to me.

Anyway, I just wanted to gloat about my find And also ask other owners of the lens how they deal with the frustrating tendency of CDAF to choose the more distant target. On my E-PL5, the AF point is quite large, and if there are two eyes in the box, for instance, it'll invariably focus on the more distant one. Getting shots of flowers is quite hard too, as again, the camera prefers to shift the focal plane further away from itself. Is there any simple workaround for this?

I'll leave you some photos of my test run yesterday. Grand works of art they're not, but they do well to showcase what a strong performer the 75mm f/1.8 is. Please view them in full size, as DPR forums' compression makes the thumbnails look much softer than they really are.

That is certainly a bargain! Enjoy the lens.  The thing about a lens being a bit battered is you will just shoot with it and not be precious about it.

Love your furry friends.  Well done!!

Kharan wrote:

So, I finally bought a high-end portrait lens, which isn't something I ever thought I'd do. I found an Olympus/Sigma 75mm f/1.8 for $250,

Hi, why do you call it the Olympus/Sigma?

Tommi K1 wrote:

As sigma has patent for it, but no one knows does Olympus manufacture it or sigma with Olympus brand.

Who cares! It’s a fantastic lens!

Boss of Sony wrote:

Kharan wrote:

So, I finally bought a high-end portrait lens, which isn't something I ever thought I'd do. I found an Olympus/Sigma 75mm f/1.8 for $250,

Hi, why do you call it the Olympus/Sigma?

As others have pointed out, the patent for the design is held by Sigma. It’s sort of an “open secret” that Olympus have been commissioning optical formulae from Sigma for quite a while. Nonetheless, it’s a great lens, and in many senses like a mini Art prime: very sharp wide open, with beautiful OOF characteristics, and also heavy

Skeeterbytes wrote:

Well bought, and you're clearly getting the hang of it already!

I can only report the OM-D eye detection options (left, right, nearest) work as advertised, but can't comment on Pen series options. As you've discovered, the precision is needed to use the thing wide open.

ETA--doesn't seem to respond well to dog eyes and is probably predominantly human-specific, something I notice when photographing my kid with our dog.

Enjoy it!

Rick

Thank you for the kind comments. The E-PL5 has no eye-AF, as far as I can gather (with Olympus menus I’m never sure). But focusing on faces works well, actually, since the CDAF algorithm ignores noses and goes straight for whatever’s further away. It’s the subjects like flowers that are giving me trouble. I think I’ll have to give MF a try - DoF is thin enough with the 75mm to make the focus magnifier a good tool.

I've wanted this lens since it first came out.  I never could "justify" it. I thought the 12-40/2.8 lens and the 75/1.8  would make a great 2-lens pair. Tonight I looked at the refirbs at the Olympus site and snapped.  Spent $600 and the lens will shortly be on its way to me.  Not the bargain you got for sure, but I'm sitting here very happy.  Still can't justify it, really, but sometimes you just have to scratch an old itch. I'm looking forward to getting out and taking some photos with it, even in this frigid Michigan cold weather.

That is quite a bargain, and the lens does appear to be working just fine!

Can’t you change the size of the AF area? I can on my E-M10.2

arbux wrote:

Kharan wrote:

I fail to see why or how would anyone need a thinner DoF than what this lens offers. Sure, I understand the case for a 24mm f/1.4 lens to achieve similar defocus with a wider angle of view, but something like the Nikon 105mm f/1.4 appears simply unusable (wide open) to me.

Unusable? Only for dog headshots. Try to take picture of a group on busy background and then express your expert opinion.

It is so simple to find samples in the internet, why dont you try?

First of all, if you're going to quote the whole thing, at least remove the photos. It takes all of thirty seconds and saves bandwidth for other users.

Regarding your post: Riiight. Because lenses over 70mm in FL are always the best choice for groupportraits, especially since all humans are, well, flat, and all telephoto lenses have flat focus fields too! How could I forget that I mean, humans are notoriously hard to move around, right? It's not like you could ask the group to move over to a location with a nicer background.

If there's a group of people, with a tele lens you'll need to move further back, thus increasing the DoF, thus negating the whole point of a 105mm f/1.4. I thought it'd be self-evident for anyone knowledgeable enough that I was talking about headshots, which is the primary use of any fast medium telephoto (because their AF typically sucks for sports, see my original post).

Let's be honest here - lenses like the Canon 85mm f/1.2 and Nikon 105mm f/1.4 are for getting a single eyelash in focus. That's their whole selling point, otherwise any 85mm f/1.8 is more than good enough for the task. And I find portraits with nothing but blur in them stupid and pointless. Be my guest if you want to do it with your own money, of course, but in my view, there's really no need to aim for a telephoto lens with an even thinner DoF, as there's nothing to be gained by doing so.

PS: If you really think that the best way to isolate a group from a background is a medium telephoto, then you definitely want a macro or half-macro lens. Most of those have flat focus fields. Otherwise you have to get the group curved just right or they'll be blurry. The Olympus 75mm f/1.8 is remarkably well-behaved in that sense, but of course it could never satisfy a DoF-maniac like you

J Franklin Campbell wrote:

I've wanted this lens since it first came out. I never could "justify" it. I thought the 12-40/2.8 lens and the 75/1.8 would make a great 2-lens pair. Tonight I looked at the refirbs at the Olympus site and snapped. Spent $600 and the lens will shortly be on its way to me. Not the bargain you got for sure, but I'm sitting here very happy. Still can't justify it, really, but sometimes you just have to scratch an old itch. I'm looking forward to getting out and taking some photos with it, even in this frigid Michigan cold weather.

Ouch, I've enabled your GAS. Sorry 

On the other hand, it's an excellent lens, and still at the top of the class, so you don't run the risk of then getting tempted with another, more expensive purchase... for now.

Tommi K1 wrote:

What other are from sigma? That is only I know that anyone else talks about. Others being from Olympus.

The 75mm was Olympus first lens to m4/3 mount so it must have been so that they surprised themselves too to go so quickly in schedule 2008 that they asked sigma to do a lens for them.

As at that time Olympus was testing E-M1 and E-7 DSLR that which mount they go fully.

Eventually going to release E-M5 as first model for OM-D and then come later with E-M1 flagship line.

Olympus still does other lenses by themselves and designs too.

The 4/3 70-300mm was the well-known Sigma design of that time with an external restyling and a different focus motor.

The 25mm f/1.2 lens matches a patent held by Sigma, too, as does the 8mm f/1.8 PRO. The other two f/1.2's seem to be made by Tamron. Apparently, Olympus are comissioning most of their lens production, even the lenses designed by their own team. Roger Cicala has mentioned as much in his last blog post (a very interesting read for MFT users, too): https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2018/01/finally-some-m43-mtf-testing-25mm-prime-lens-comparison/