Obvious statement ahead. Gear can be really expensive. I have bought used vehicles that cost less than some recent camera and lens releases. This latest round of camera releases has gotten me to thinking.
For more on this line of thinking please see the opener post for this “Revisiting” series. For this post I will cut to the gear list.
- One body and four (+1) lenses to start. (This turned into two bodies.)
- Portrait prime.
- Standard zoom (Original post).
- Tele zoom.
- Wide pancake prime. (New add.)
- Tele portrait prime. (New add #2 and this post.)
I chose the 45mm for the portrait lens in this scenario. A fine lens.
Nothing else needed. All done. Right?…
No.
As noted in that 45mm post linked above the ultimate Olympus MFT king of the hill portrait lens is the 75mm f/1.8. (Manu below.)
For a comparison to gauge this lens’ potential here is a shot taken of me at the same time with the Pentax 67 Manu is holding above by Manu.
Excellent lens. I had listed why I was getting the 45mm instead of the 75mm in the 45mm post. But I have since decided to get the 75mm in addition to the 45mm. Here are my points from that post with counter sub bullets added below.
- At $799 at the time of this post it costs too much for the intended low budget of this kit. I could buy a used a6000 and a brand new Sigma 56mm f/1.4 for about the same spend.
- Found a clean copy used at the local camera shop for hundreds less and a trade was afoot using woefully underutilized gear I had on hand. This lens at or less than $500 used changes things considerably.
- I had always wanted a 135mm f/2.8 full frame AF lens. An equivalent full frame lens costs considerably more.
- While not huge or heavy compared to portrait lenses made for other sensor sizes at 2.52″ diameter and 2.72″ in length and 10.76 oz it is larger than I would like for a small MFT body.
- I failed to locate this lens in the showcase at the camera because I was looking for a larger lens even though I had this lens before. I had forgotten how small this lens was. While larger than the 45mm this lens is still quite small, especially for a 150mm full frame focal equivalent portrait lens. Here is a link to a side by side with a full frame equivalent set up.
- The a6000/56mm set up above is a bit shorter. An equivalent APS-C lens would be 100mm which leaves two f/2.8 full frame options that are not what I would use for portraits and considerably larger. 85mm nearly gets you there but I have had or have three full frame lenses in my price range (Viltrox on Fuji, Sony 85mm, and Rokinon/Samyang 85mm). But they are also large when compared to the 75mm. It is nice to get this reach in such a capable lens that makes such a small package.
- At a 150mm full frame equivalent focal length it is a bit long to be practical in daily use.
- True. But this is a lens that also focuses fairly closely for its respective focal length at less than three feet (2.76′ / 84 cm) which makes it more useful in close quarters than I expected for tight head shots.
- When the world is no longer on fire I also look forward to using this an event lens.
Summing up this brings us back to the title of my first blog post on this lens two years ago, Could resist it no longer. Olympus 75mm f/1.8. And so we are back.
With that I will get on with the usual run down lifted from the This Old Lens posts with AF added. This is pretty much lifted in total from the 45mm post.
- Flare
- Have not witnessed any offensive flare with this lens.
- Sharpness
- A very sharp lens even wide open. Appreciated in a portrait lens. This is the sharpest MFT lens I have ever used. In fact it is one of the sharpest lenses I have used on any system, sensor size, or from any maker.
- Colors
- I really like the colors that this lens produces. Vibrant and accurate.
- Bokeh
- Uses it’s focal length and generous aperture this lens makes a good case for MFT sensors. I really like the quality and amount of bokeh this lens produces. This lens has a very nice 3D quality about it that I really like.
- AF
- Fast, silent, and accurate even with older bodies. Extremely important on an f/1.8 lens. I had said that the 45mm focuses faster, but side by side I cannot tell the difference in actual use. Impressive.
A great lens. Samples photos below.
A solid lens. I will be adding more photos to this ongoing gallery soon.
Eric L. Woods 
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