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Oly 8mm f1.8 vs Pana 8mm f3.5

Started Feb 25, 2022 | Discussions
Dann-Oh Contributing Member • Posts: 894
Oly 8mm f1.8 vs Pana 8mm f3.5

Hello all,

I cant wrap my head around this maybe its the lack of sleep right now.

I have the Pana 8mm F3.5 Fisheye, is there any benefit to looking at the Oly 8mm F1.8 Fisheye? Most of the time I have the lens stopped down to around F8. This lens will be used in underwater photography 98% of the time.

Does the Oly gather more light than the Pana is they are both at F8? If so would the Oly be a faster lens if both are set to F8?

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I take photos, not particularly good photos, mostly abstract photos. Yeah abstract is what I would call them, you might call them blurry.

 Dann-Oh's gear list:Dann-Oh's gear list
Olympus E-M5 III Olympus E-PL10 Olympus E-M1 III Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 9-18mm F4.0-5.6 Panasonic Lumix G Fisheye 8mm F3.5 +20 more
kelpdiver Veteran Member • Posts: 5,564
Re: Oly 8mm f1.8 vs Pana 8mm f3.5

if you're shooting at F/8, you're shooting at F/8.   No light difference.

The sensor pedants will talk about f/8 on FF vs m43, but that obviously doesn't apply here.

That said, if you were using the 8mm on a deep wreck, you might actually want to make use of the f 1.8 option.  Or to capture more in the background beyond the reach of the flash.  It might help on big animals, but only if you can keep the SS fast enough.   Normally DoF considerations outrule.

But I too have thought about making the switch, and saw a really good price offering in wetpixel last year for a used one.   I passed since I've moved to the R5 and I don't think I want to put any more money into my GH4 rig, though the recent Pansonic release does make me consider now that there is finally a newer, higher resolution sensor.

Still, I don't think there is enough incremental benefit to spending money to get a heavier replacement lens, port, and possibly port extension just to get one stop of light in limited applications.  The point of moving to M43, or keeping it now, is for the situations where I want to keep weight down.  Otherwise I have the APS or FF choices.

For someone starting from scratch, easily to justify the 1.8.

Barmaglot_07 Contributing Member • Posts: 633
Re: Oly 8mm f1.8 vs Pana 8mm f3.5

There are certain advantages to Olympus 8mm f/1.8 over the Panasonic lens, but light gathering underwater is not one of them. At equivalent aperture they will gather the same amount of light, give or take a little bit for transmission losses. See this thread on Wetpixel for this specific subject: https://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?/topic/65922-wideangle-fisheye-lens-oly-8mm-fisheye-pro-or-pana-8mm-fisheye/

 Barmaglot_07's gear list:Barmaglot_07's gear list
Sony a6300 Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro USM Sony E 30mm F3.5 Macro Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 OSS LE Sony E 10-18mm F4 OSS +5 more
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