Olympus M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm f1.8 High-Grade Portrait Lens

by Olympus

• High-Grade Portrait Lens (150mm 35mm equivalent)
• High-speed, single-focal-length telephoto lens optimized for studio, stage, indoor sports and portrait photography
• Nine-blade circular aperture unit
• 50mm diameter glass front; 10 lens elements in nine groups
• MSC (Movie & Still Compatible) autofocusing mechanism

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 3.7 x 3.7 inches ; 14.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00836JHVQ
• Item model number: V311040SU000
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: May 24, 2012

Product Description

Color: Silver | Style: 75mm

A new, bright, f1.8 Micro Four Thirds Lens. Perfect for portraits and challenging lighting conditions. New M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 75mm f1.8 High-Grade Portrait Lens Enhances the Power, Performance and Versatility of Olympus OM-D and PEN Compact System Cameras.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 81 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Insanely good lens September 14, 2012

By Ken Walsh

Style Name:75mm|Color Name:Silver

I actually don't have too much to add that hasn't been said in the first few reviews.

This lens is insanely sharp, corner to corner, wide open. That is a pretty amazing thing to accomplish.

The bokeh is excellent. Color fringing in out of focus areas is well controlled (controlled, not absent).

Wide open, as one would expect, contrast is slightly lower, but image is still extremely sharp. Loss of contrast is minimal compared to most lenses in this class.

It does cost a fair bit. In my book well worth it.

Finally, to answer some of the typical criticisms:

"Why isn't it half the price like the 45/1.8" - The 45/1.8 is a very nice lens and a great value. The 75/1.8 is definitely higher quality. I've shot them side by side wide open. The 45/1.8 is going soft in the corners, the 75/1.8 is still sharp in the corners. They are two different lenses with different levels of optical quality and thus different prices.

"It is only F/1.8, expensive glass should be 1.4 or 1.2" - Well, this is meant for m43. It should be compact and lightweight. To me Olympus did this perfectly. It is an F/1.8 lens that is wickedly sharp all the way to F/1.8. If you compare to similar F/1.4 and F/1.2 lenses in other formats there the optical quality degrades wide open and yet the lens is much larger to allow for the wider maximum aperture. I prefer the Olympus approach - only go to F/1.8 to keep the size down but make the lens perfect all the way to F/1.8.

"I can adapt cheaper 85/1.8 lenses, this is too expensive" - I can say with confidence, there is absolutely no legacy 85mm lens in existence that sells for less than this lens that is as sharp at 1.8. You can get a lens that is cheaper and it will be noticeably softer at 1.8.... Or you can get a lens that might be as sharp but it will cost as much or more even in the used market.

"It is really a F/3.6 lens in 35mm terms of depth of field" - Indeed. Who cares. If you find vanishingly shallow DoF portraits with one eyelash in focus to be your thing don't get a micro-four-thirds camera. Better still, skip 35mm and go straight to MF. While your at it get a nice pair of hipster glasses and some black clothes to go with your tired photographic trope ;) Read more ›

45 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely spectacular! Expensive but worth the price. August 26, 2012

By Jerry Jackson Jr.

Style Name:75mm|Color Name:Silver

I started purchasing an Olympus micro four thirds camera kit back when the Olympus E-P1 first arrived. I also use larger DSLR cameras for work but I wanted something smaller with similar image quality and the micro four thirds (m4/3) cameras deliver just that. What really makes these cameras great are the lenses. I've been looking for a fast telephoto prime for the micro four thirds and the 75mm f/1.8 prime lens is exactly the lens I was looking for.

This gives you the equivalent of a 150mm lens since the m4/3 cameras have a 2x crop factor effectively doubling the focal length of the lens. What makes this lens so great is the fact that it's extremely sharp from edge to edge even when wide open at the f/1.8 aperture. Yes, it gets even sharper if you stop it down to a more reasonable f/2.8 but most people who want this lens want to use that bright 1.8 setting. In terms of image quality, I would say this lens gives me similar results to the Canon EF II 85mm 1.2 L lens on a APS-C crop sensor DSLR when used at f/1.8 onward. The biggest difference is that the Olympus 75mm 1.8 doesn't cost as much as the Canon 85mm 1.2 and the Olympus lens focuses faster (particularly on the latest m4/3 cameras).

Not only that, but the Olympus 75mm is a surprisingly compact lens. It's only slightly bigger than my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 G lens for my Nikon DSLRs and smaller than my Nikon 85mm 1.8 G lens. This makes it one of the largest prime lenses available for micro four thirds cameras, but it's not huge by DSLR standards.

Getting back to image quality, there is a hint of chromatic aberration or "purple fringing" on high-contrast edges when you shoot wide open (or nearly wide open) but it's VERY minimal and only appears at maximum magnification.... In other words, you won't see any optical issues in your images when viewed as prints or when viewed at screen resolution in an online image gallery.

The only "complaint" I have about this lens is the fact that "most" people using m4/3 cameras are looking for more affordable lens options. For example, the Nikon 85mm 1.8 G lens is arguably similar to this lens (only with plastic construction instead of metal) but the Nikon lens costs roughly half the price of this lens. However, as I said before the Olympus 75mm is closer to the Canon 85mm 1.2 in terms of optical performance and build quality so it makes sense that this lens isn't cheap.

Bottom line, the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 lens is a fabulous compliment to the micro four thirds system of lenses and it belongs in your kit if you're looking for the best compact telephoto prime that you can find for the m4/3 mount. Read more ›

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Optics with Rarely Seen Quality August 24, 2012

By Wings for Glory

Style Name:75mm|Color Name:Silver

When talking about lenses, I'm always obsessed for perfection in terms of image and build quality. Portrait has been my favorite type of photography and being in possession of the wonderful Zeiss 100mm F/2 ZF, I thought there should be no more pursuance of better gear down the road.

That was a wrong statement. Carrying a bulky D700 and the Makro ZF all day is absolutely of not many funs. Then I set my eyes on M4/3. I got the GF1 and GX1, but the noise even at low ISO had annoyed me a lot, and I even thought I shall never touch M4/3 again. And then the Olympus OM-D E-M5 was announced, which sheds a bit of light for this system. And then the Olympus 75mm was announced, which impulses me to grab an E-M5 just to hook up this lens.

There's no regret. I spent a whole afternoon shoot this little beauty wide open, under direct summer sun. When looking at the result on Aperture 3, "Wow" was what came through my mouth. In the following week as I played more with the 75mm, I found myself like this little beauty more and more.

Build Quality
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It's not that of Zeiss steel tank, but the all aluminum construction makes it feel like a piece of fine art. Outstanding build in its price range compared to the much more expensive 35mm f/1.4G and such. It weighs a lot more than other M4/3 lenses, and more than twice of the exceptionally built Olympus 12mm F/2. Having said that, the plastic stock lens cap is a shame to put on, and it's not easy to take out as you can hardly grab your fingers on it. I strongly recommend to replace it with the metal cap LC-61, which perfectly matches this lens.

Performance
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This lens focuses pretty fast and precisely and I seldom saw the E-M5 hunt in focus.... However, I would be very glad to see an aperture ring, and the focus ring lacks a bit damp compared to its 12mm sibling. Was I asking for too much if it could be real manual focus instead of focus-by-wire?

Image Quality
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The little 75mm really shines here. When looking at its MTF for the first time, I was astounded. How could it be? The numbers just blow away almost all "Pro" lenses, starting at f/1.8. In actual shooting, set at f/1.8, I got very sharp image from edge to edge, period. You have to shoot by yourself to believe it. The transition from in-focus to blurred background/foreground is simply beautiful, bokeh is amazing. If there's anything to criticize, there're visible purple fringings wide open (zoomed to 100%), but only in a couple of the shoots.

To sum up, the Olympus 75mm f/1.8 sets a benchmark of its class. I do hope other manufacturers including Olympus itself focus more on quality products. Read more ›