Which Lens to get??

[mEasy27]

Currently im using the E-420 Evolt with the 14-42mm Lens. It takes great pictures, but Im in need of something alittle better.. I usually shoot alot of portraits, automobiles, senery, and the occasional animal if the opertunity arises. I also like to do some close up stuff as well. What would be a good lens to get with out breaking the bank. Thanx in advance for your input..

Montell J.

[bikefreax]

Probably the closest you will get would be the 50mm F2.0 but it is not real cheap. It is real sharp and also a good macro lens. I have not tried mine for landscapes stuff yet but it's only downfall is it is a prime with no zoom.

[Greg McCary]

The first upgrade I always suggest is the 14-54mm. It is fast, weather sealed, sharp and affordable. If you buy a used one you can get a real bargain. Primes like the 50mm can be hard to get use to. But the 50mm is certainly an awesome lens. The 14-54mm is also an excellent lens for Macros.

[mEasy27]

Thanx.. Where can I get a hold of a 14-54mm???

[Greg McCary]

If you want a new one I would look at Adorama. Maybe craigslist for a used one or ebay. I found a killer deal on a 12-60mm on craigslist.

[mEasy27]

Thanks....

[SwampNut]

I got my 14-54 on eBay for a great price, and it was like new. Amazon is always worth a look too.

[Greg McCary]

The 14-54 is a heavy lens, just a heads up. It is built like a tank.

[BettyG]

New here, but if I might add my 2 cents ;-) I shoot with an E-520, and I shoot outdoors a lot, mostly my dogs, wildlife, flowers etc...and I just got a super lens for all of that ( Oh, and great portrait lens as well) A Tamron 35-70mm 3.8. I recently got the 25mm zuiko pancake lens, and although it's nice, it can't hold a candle to the quality of pics I get with the Tamron. It is tack sharp, not a heavy lens, and a pleasure to shoot with. If you dont' mind not having autofocus, this might be the lens for you...plus they're cheap ;-) $30 on ebay. I also have the 70-210mm 3.8, and it is just a good. I will say that if I'd had the Tamron 35-70mm first, I probably wouldnt have purchased the $250 pancake lens...I do have the Zuiko 14-42mm (which I like) and the Zuiko 70-300...so I do have some ref. for comaprison. I'm just really sold on these old Tamron lens's

Betty


Here is just a quick example of a portrait shot with the 35-70. This was in low light, taken inside my barn...and my first time out with this lens as well...




and outside on a cloudy day, with the 70-210mm 3.8

[Photo-John]

Welcome to the site, Betty! And what a great first post! Love the doggy photos. How much post-processing did you do? Did you add some vignetting or is that just the lighting / background?


I'm really curious about the Tamron lenses. You must be using an adapter, right? Are they Olympus OM mount manual focus lenses? I do think the image quality is really nice - especially the out-of-focus background area. I have a Canon mount Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens and it's one of my favorites. It's a full auto focus lens, though. I'd like to know more about the two lenses you're using. I assume you bought them used on eBay or something?

Thanks a lot for joining us and bringing something really different to this discussion

[BettyG]

Hi John, thank you for the kind welcome :-) Looking forward to checking out all the info, on the site!

First question, PP, I use LightRoom, on the first pic, if I remember right, I think I might have used a pseudo HDR preset (not sure though) I don't normally use that preset but I think this might have been a pic that really popped with it...I actually try to keep PP to a minimum on most of my stuff (unless I'm doing something funky ;-) ) the second shot s pretty much SOOTC, I punched it up a tad, a little clarity...but that's about it.

The Tamron lenses, The first one I got actually came from an older gentleman friend of mine who asked me if I'd like to have some of his old camera gear ;-) I said sure! Well he gave me a box load of gear, to include a Leicaflex camera body, several OM's and a bunch of lenses. The Tamron 70-210 appeared to be in the best shape, and it had the olympus adapter, and I had the om-dslr adapter, so viola! it fit my 520 :-) The 35-70 lens I purchased off of ebay. If you are interested in getting one for your camera, go to ebay and type in "Tamron adaptall" they will have the adaptall lenses, some with the adapter for a specific camera, and some are just the straight lens, and you will have to purchase the adapter to fit it to your specific camera. In addition you will have to have a 2nd adapter to fit the lens to your DSLR (sorry if you already know all this) I have the plain om/dslr adapter, but there are what they call, "chipped adapters" out there, and while you won't have autofucus, that adapter does 'talk to your camera' ;-) and it will give you a foucs indicator light (if your camera has that capability, the 520 does...) I dont have one of those adapters, but I'm thinking about getting one, as I think they might be kind of handy to have, especiall in low light....anyway hope I haven't bored you with my Tamron story LOL. I really like exploring these old lens's. A friend of mine recently put an old Zenit lens on her Canon, and wow :-) another friend has been using an old Bolex movie camera lens, and she'd even played around with security camera lenses :idea: , and she's got some great stuff...guess you just have to think outside the box :-)
Betty

[Liz]

Hi John, thank you for the kind welcome :-) Looking forward to checking out all the info, on the site!

First question, PP, I use LightRoom, on the first pic, if I remember right, I think I might have used a pseudo HDR preset (not sure though) I don't normally use that preset but I think this might have been a pic that really popped with it...I actually try to keep PP to a minimum on most of my stuff (unless I'm doing something funky ;-) ) the second shot s pretty much SOOTC, I punched it up a tad, a little clarity...but that's about it.

The Tamron lenses, The first one I got actually came from an older gentleman friend of mine who asked me if I'd like to have some of his old camera gear ;-) I said sure! Well he gave me a box load of gear, to include a Leicaflex camera body, several OM's and a bunch of lenses. The Tamron 70-210 appeared to be in the best shape, and it had the olympus adapter, and I had the om-dslr adapter, so viola! it fit my 520 :-) The 35-70 lens I purchased off of ebay. If you are interested in getting one for your camera, go to ebay and type in "Tamron adaptall" they will have the adaptall lenses, some with the adapter for a specific camera, and some are just the straight lens, and you will have to purchase the adapter to fit it to your specific camera. In addition you will have to have a 2nd adapter to fit the lens to your DSLR (sorry if you already know all this) I have the plain om/dslr adapter, but there are what they call, "chipped adapters" out there, and while you won't have autofucus, that adapter does 'talk to your camera' ;-) and it will give you a foucs indicator light (if your camera has that capability, the 520 does...) I dont have one of those adapters, but I'm thinking about getting one, as I think they might be kind of handy to have, especiall in low light....anyway hope I haven't bored you with my Tamron story LOL. I really like exploring these old lens's. A friend of mine recently put an old Zenit lens on her Canon, and wow :-) another friend has been using an old Bolex movie camera lens, and she'd even played around with security camera lenses :idea: , and she's got some great stuff...guess you just have to think outside the box :-)
Betty

Hi Betty - just want to say that I've enjoyed reading your story here - it's all very interesting and informative. It also shows what opportunities there are for someone like you who is creative, imaginative - and enjoys exploring different venues.

Your photos are really nice. I look forward to seeing more of your work. Welcome aboard - you will be a great asset to the PR community. Thanks for sharing.

Liz

[BettyG]

Thank you Liz, appreciate the kind words and nice welcome :-) I'm having a nice time looking around the site, getting some good info from some of the older threads. Looks like there is a lot of good stuff on here ;-) !

Betty