[Leica] A 70-200 by any other crop circle...

[henningw at archiphoto.com (Henning Wulff)]

At 12:15 PM -0500 2/19/05, B. D. Colen wrote:
>The two lenses they announced - (in 35 mm equivalents) 28-70 f2 and
>70-200 f2, mean that a photographer can carry only two lenses and go
>from 28 to 200 at f 2 the whole way - and how cool is that? Add to that
>either the already existing  (35 equiv) 22-44 2.8-3.5, or the new (35
>equiv) of 14-2? F4, and all of a sudden the E-1 offers a real
>alternative to digital shooters who don't want to use flash all the
>time. Will this make a real dent in the Nikon or Canon pro lines? Highly
>unlikely. But will these lenses - and a new 8 or so mgp rendition of the
>E-1 prove to be Olympus's iPod? Good chance.

Those lenses sound very interesting, but in view of the fact that at 
high ISO's Olympus is about one stop behind the Canon 20D with 
respect to noise levels, the f/2.8 lenses available for Canon are 
just as useful in low light, and on top of that Canon has some f/1.4 
lenses. The sensor size/image size differences also will even the DOF 
issue pretty much. The good thing is that with the newly announced 
lenses Olympus has now caught up and can shoot in as low light levels 
as Canon shooters can with the 20D and their f/2.8 zooms.

>-----Original Message-----
>From: lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org
>[mailto:lug-bounces+bdcolen=earthlink.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
>Mark Rabiner
>Sent: Saturday, February 19, 2005 10:32 AM
>To: Leica Users Group
>Subject: [Leica] A 70-200 by any other crop circle...
>
>
>Wide zooms may have captured the imagination of the worlds shutterbugs
>but the most useful zoom for me has always been the venerable 70-200. On
>the white backdrop for me it'd been a real money maker. And a great pull
>over by the side of the road on car trips lens.
>
>Good for Olympus to be I think the first to come out with a digital lens
>with translates to those magic numbers. And I'd settle for anything
>close. But Olympus I see on the dp preview has come out with a 35-100mm
>which for them at their 2x crop level translates directly to 70-200! But
>the big news for many is that this lens is a fixed Summicron, I mean f2.
>They call their f2's something else I'd imagine. Zuiko or Zed or Zack.
>Zephrin
>
>Can you image how heavy an f2 70-200 would be for 35mm film?!!! The
>current Nikon 2.8 which is a VR weighs 3.20 lbs (1.5 kg) 
>The Leica VARIO-APO-ELMARIT-R f/2.8/70-180 mm weights 4.12 lbs (1.870
>kg)
>
>My guess is about twice that!
>
>To get something like a 70-200 with the most popular 1.5 crop factor
>you'd have to have it be a 50-135. That would translate exactly to a
>75-202.5 but that's close enough. Nikon doesn't make anything resembling
>this. No one much does. Third party lens company Sigma makes a 55-200
>which has it's heart in the right place.
>Because consumer level 70-200's are 70-300's now.
>It's hard to find a cheap 70-200 anymore. They're all monster 2.8's for
>pros. I don't need 300. (or 2.8) I need a more compact zoom lens. I'd
>have to get an old one. Canon makes a 55-200 like the Sigma. Better I'd
>assume.
>
>There's no word out yet that I can make out just how COMPACT Olympus is
>going to be able to make their f2 35-100mm(= 70-200) yet. It might not
>be compact but it's hopefully not going to be a monster either.
>Otherwise what's the point? To make faster lenses at the same size and
>weight as what we're used to? Give me a more compact lenses at the same
>speed anyday to start with. To make faster lenses at the same size and
>weight might make nice gravy later on down the road. But if I was
>shooting that E system I'd be real exited to see this 35-100mm come out
>at any bulk rate anyway. One nice thing about this 2x crop circle....
>IT'S EASY TO DO THE MATH! 1.5 I have get out the Kodak digital
>dataguide. Which I don't think has come out yet. Or has been thought of.
>
>But lots of cardboard wheels and paper samples!
>That's the ticket!
>
>
>Mark Rabiner
>Photography
>Portland Oregon
>http://rabinergroup.com/
>
>
>
>
>
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>
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    *            Henning J. Wulff
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