Both of those lenses can be had for 1/10th or even 1/20th the price of a modern equivalent capable of competing with their uniquely excellent light-wrangling abilities.Įnter this Olympus Zuiko OM 28-48mm f/4. The Kiron 70-150mm f/4 and my all-time favorite zoom from any time period, the insanely good Minolta MD 35-70mm f/3.5 (3rd Gen), are just two examples of some outstanding zoom lenses that have been buried in the dust of time and generalization. However, there are a few gems in there that few people talk about today simply because we tend to fall in step to the wisdom of our predecessors in their all-encompassing disregard for these early zooms. It has been my experience that many of those zooms were indeed as bad as everyone claimed. I want to go back though to that late 1970’s to early 1980’s period when zooms were still the devil. Years later, the efforts in optical science, lens manufacturing and marketing for zoom lenses had finally broken down that stigma to the point now where many photographers are questioning the need for even including a prime alongside their trusty 24-70mm and 70-200mm zooms.
Zooms were still considered by many to be the woeful compromise that the uncommitted photographer resorted to using when either their bag weight or wallet thickness couldn’t handle the task of supporting “proper” gear. That may have been a deal-breaker for some film shooters back in the day but it hardly makes a difference in most situations when that f/4 is attached to a camera with a modern, digital sensor.īack when this 28-48mm was designed, most zoom lenses hadn’t quite advanced as much as their elder primes. One way Olympus was able to achieve this was by limiting the max aperture of the lens to f/4. I don’t make this size comparison to knock the excellent Nikon lens I just want you to be able clearly visualize how small this Olympus wide-angle lens is in relation to something you’re likely more familiar. Weighing less than 11 ounces with a barrel length of only 2.1 inches and a maximum diameter of 2.5 inches, this entire lens can fit inside just the hood of a Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8. Compare it to the modern 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses and you may find its compromise of less focal range and max aperture are counter-balanced by its significant savings in size and heft. ‘Comfortably limiting’ is how I might describe it.
It really is a nice focal range to have in hand. Turn around and see an interesting person – 48mm. Beautiful, ancient building structure in the middle of town – 28mm. While this lens is only a 1.5x zoom, its range is perfect for the unladen, wandering photographer whose images are found rather than planned. This was not a mass-produced product, only manufactured from 1981 to 1983. In this case, I’m well fed so my sights were singularly set instead upon bagging the only wide-angle zoom lens Olympus ever made for the OM system cameras. Come on now!? Did you really think I would shoot at some defenseless, fluffy woodland creature? Ebay is my hunting ground and lenses are my game (unless I was going hungry and needed to knacker a few squirrels to up the calories of some BBQ sauce).
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