Pictures @ 35mms

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While writing my 2018 reflections on the Sony FE System last week,  I realised that my preference for primes against zoom lenses have changed alongside my change of camera system. Specifically, whilst I was on m4/3 cameras, I far preferred to use one of that ‘holy trinity’ of primes – the Olympuses 17mm and 45mm f1.8s, Panasonic 25mm f1.4 – while the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 was mostly brought out only when we were on vacations and as an all-purpose lens.

It was quite the reverse with Sony. After the initial excitement in the first half of 2018 when I was picking up the whole bunch of lenses for Sony FE, the several primes I bought – the Samyang AF 35mm f2.8, and Sonys FE 50mm and 85mm f1.8s – when into passenger seat once I got the Sony FE 24-105mm f4.0. I reckon that’s a testimony to how good and versatile the latter lens is, even if it’s a fairly beefy and heavy lens to work with.

In any case, I’ve resolved to put my primes to better use this 2019. And what better way than to start than by committing to do a first post on shooting at 35mm focal length and forcing myself to take pictures with the Samyang 35mm f2.8 in order to write this post haha.  The 35mm focal length is also the right place for me to start, on account that in the m4/3 system, the Olympus 17mm f1.8 was/actually still is my favourite prime lens. The focal length is all round versatile: just wide enough for group shots (though not selfies) and landscapes, candies, and in a pinch can be used also for portrait pictures too. When coupled with the my six year old champagne-edition E-PL6, the setup not only takes great pictures, it looks sexy to boot too.

Both the Olympus 17mm and Samyang 35mm lenses when coupled with their respective bodies – the E-PL6 and A73 – make for pretty light and relatively compact setups too that can easily fit into a small camera bag. The Samyang is also squarely in the budget lens bracket – I paid just SGD352 for it, while the Olympus isn’t too far off – costing SGD617 from more than 5 years ago. Comparing between the two, the Olympus focuses ever so slightly quicker. And while both primes are reasonably bright, the Olympus is a faster lens at f1.8 compared to the Samsung’s starting aperture of f2.8. I remarked in an earlier post too that while the Olympus 17mm lens and E-PL6 do not offer Eye AF, the E-PL6 at least does face detection pretty well and coupled with the 17mm’s center sharpness, I can get face and eye sharpness that are almost as good as what the Samyang 35mm can produce in Eye AF, when I can get it to work that is.

Pictures!

Size-wise, still a world of difference between the smallest setups for full-frame vs m4/3. The Oly 17mm is actually slightly larger than the Samyang 35mm, but the rest of the Sony setup is just plain beefier, taller and heavier.
E-PL6/Oly 17mm. There are two fairly large screen TVs in the house, but everyone  just uses the one in the master bedroom.
Who needs Eye AF on a full-frame when a cheap E-PL6 and the Oly 17mm f1.8 can reach this level of resolution! This is a 1:1 crop of the m4/3 image.
E-PL6/Oly 17mm. Here’s when Face Detect and/or Eye AF can be really helpful: not getting trick by foreground elements.
E-PL6/Oly 17mm. Flash shot using the Nissin i40. He’s pining for me to buy him another set from the Lego City series.
A73/Samyang 35mm: a picture to show the kind of challenges faced using full-frame systems. My focusing point is the rightmost half of this ham-cheese brioche, but the thin depth of field when the lens is wide-open means very little else is in-focus.
A73/Samyang 35mm. For single person portrait shots, the thin depth of field doesn’t cause nearly as many problems.
A73/Samyang 35mm: if there are two or more persons in a fairly tight shot, then both will need to be roughly at the same focusing point, otherwise one will be out of focus.
A73/Samyang 35mm: H is collecting the NLB Book Bug cards, so each trip to the library will see her walking out with anywhere between 6-8 books.

Ah. Writing this post has given me more Gear Acquisition Syndrome: I should take a hard look at the Samyang AF 35mm f1.4!