List Price: $899.99
Sale Price: $899.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off
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 ;)
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