[ClayTaylorTX]

Hi all –

I had the chance to briefly stop into The Camera Exchange in San Antonio, TX to say hello and try out stuff. They did have the Olympus E-M5 and the new Olympus 12-50mm lens, which I was curious to see how it worked for digiscoping.

The online photos of the Olympus Digital ED 12-50mm EZ lens made it look a lot larger than my 14-42 MSC II lens, so I was worried about its usefulness for digiscoping. Seeing the lens, my heart sank, because it is indeed a much longer and wider lens than the 14-42 MSC II. In many cases, those longer lenses contain long zooming pathways, and they are often not well-suited for digiscoping.

Before mounting it on my E-P2, I turned it to face me and rotated the zoom ring, wanting to see how the entrance pupil moved while zooming. Nothing happened. Ooohhh, it has an electronic zoom mechanism!

Mounted on the camera, everything works nicely, and the lens is BOTH internal focusing AND internal zooming! That means no “zoom slippage” when its camera is mounted on an angled-eyepiece spotting scope, and no additional counterbalancing of the scope + camera is necessary when zooming. Very cool!!!

The lens takes 52mm accessories, so the Swarovski Optik DCA spun easily onto the lens, and everything attached nicely to the Swarovski Optik 20-60xS eyepiece. The vignetting was barely discernible in the upper right corner of the frame at 30mm, and was completely gone at 33mm. That gives the digiscoper a starting point of about 26.5x, or 1320mm, and when the lens is zoomed to 50mm, the equivalent of 2000mm. The store was kind of busy, so I did not try zooming the scope eyepiece to see if there was a cutoff point.

The electronic zooming control seemed very smooth and precise, as it stopped zooming instantly where I wanted it. Whether it really performs well in the field is another question to be answered at a later date, but if you can swallow the $499 price tag (both on the Olympus website and at a couple of the big internet dealers sites), it might be a superior choice for anyone digoscoping with a Micro 4/3 camera body.

[Paul Corfield]

Originally Posted by ClayTaylorTX

it might be a superior choice for anyone digoscoping with a Micro 4/3 camera body.

Surely a good prime will always be superior to a zoom.

Paul.

[rka]

Just got my new kit OM-D + 12-50. I have the old Swaro AT80HD + old version 20-60x (i.e. the one with the rubber eyecup that can fold down). Initial digiscoping tests with 12-50 are surprisingly positive hand held on static objects. Will test in the field this weekend.

Thinking the OM-D + Sigma 30/2.8 + 30x W or 45x may be a really good digiscoping option.

[Neil]

Clay ,
I had a play with the Olympus today and compared it to the Samsung and Sony Nex 7 and 5n.
I wanted to get the Olympus for nostalgia's sake as had started with them in the 70's but I ended up with the Sony Nex 7. Mainly because I like Sony's implementation of Video modes ( more choices) and I already have other Nex lenses. If I didn't already have Sony I would have got the Olympus.
I'll be interested to see digiscoping results from it.
Neil.

[rka]

Brief testing this morning before the rain poured down. Initial thoughts for OM-D + 12-50 through my AT80 w 20-60 @ 20x:

Autofocus is quite fast so very easy to get a decent ID shot
In the 40mm-50mm range (35mm eff 80 - 100mm) all vignetting disappears
Usable zoom on my kit is 30mm - 50mm
Electronic zoom is a dream
12-50 lens is quite slow so good light is needed. Decent shots with ISO @ 1600.
12-50 lens not as sharp as I would have liked in the normal mode; yet to test in the macro mode.

In summary, the 12-50 is good enough for good ID shots but jury is still out in how sharp an image can get from the lens prior to processing.

Videoscoping look quite inviting with the 12-50 lens and this may be where it will shine. Initial tests were quite decent.

[rka]

Couple digiscoped pics with OM-D 12-50 + AT80HD/20-60@20x