Long zoom lens for Olympus E510?

[jack the ripper]

I'm looking for the best quality long zoom lens for my Olympus E510 and was looking at the Olympus Zuiko 18-180mm f3.5-6.3 but do any of you guys know a better quality one or know what the quality of this Olympus lens is like?

[chris-p]

Hi Jack, welcome to the forum

To be honest, we need more information on what you already have, what your budget is and what you want to shoot.

What I will say is this... the 18-180mm is not a particularly "long" lens and is also not particularly great quality (although it's not complete rubbish). Depending on the things I've listed above you could be looking at anything from the 70-300mm (which is around £350) to the 90-250mm f/2.8 (which is about £4500).

[ianpinion]

Hello Jack and welcome to the forum.

I have the 18-180mm lens and I have to be honest and say the focus is a bit soft at the 180mm end, which is the focal length you'd generally be wanting to use this lens at. It suffers because of it's focal length range as it's trying to be all things to all men and a master of none.

What focal length will you need at the telephoto end? Will 200mm be enough? If so, the 50-200mm f/2.8 - f/3.5 swd is a good lens and so it should be for £800 - £1200!

[jack the ripper]

Well, I wanted 1 lens to cover as much range as I can really because although I dont mind changign lenses, it opens up the possibility of getting dust onto the mirror and sensor. But I guess if there aren't anymore lenses for the four thirds than that then I guess i'll have to get used to changing lenses. I photograph everything, landscapes, birds, towns, cities, everything really. Ok, my budget for a 2nd lens is about £400 i would think. I mean I dont see any point spending anymore than that because my camera isn't worth more than that and I got it 2nd hand in mint condition, not a mark on it for £220. I'm just using the 14-42mm lens at the moment and i'm very restricted in zoom. I guess 300mm would ideal really.

By the way, thanks for welcoming me to the forum guys.

[ianpinion]

Morning Jack,

You'll find that all the better quality lenses will cost a lot more than the camera body.

[chris-p]

If you don't want to change lenses why did you buy an SLR? You could have a bridge camera or compact superzoom?

Anyway, the 18-180mm...
Basically, the more you ask a lens to do the more of a compromise it is. Now, we all usually accept some compromise in our lenses, it's just a question of how much.

The 18-180mm range on the lens is asking it to do a lot. Some people would say (myself included) that it's asking too much. Remember that lens manufacturers make lenses to correct for distortion and abberation etc. By having such a huge range, you have to try to correct the lens all over the place which leads to poor correction across the whole zoom range.

The other thing to remember is that dust isn't that much of an issue. Firstly, it's easy to clean off if you need to and secondly, the SSWF system that Olympus use is one of the best on the market.

I had the 70-300mm on my E-510 and it was a pretty good lens. It's a bit clunky but it works and it's very long. It's also pretty cheap for what you get. For £400(ish) thats where I'd spend my money.

[chris-p]

Originally Posted by ianpinion

Morning Jack,

You'll find that all the better quality lenses will cost a lot more than the camera body.

Thats absolutely right.

Think about how quickly technology moves on, especially the electrics inside digital cameras. In the professional world, you have a couple of cameras, one as a main body and one as a back up.

High quality lenses, on the other hand, tend not to move on as much. There isn't as much new technology going into them all the time and the methods used in manufacture are so complex and expensive that it's just not worth the effort.

Thats why you see pro sports photographers with 2 huge lenses and a camera on each. The camera is cheap and replaceable, the lens aint. I heard one pro fella suggest that his Canon 1D-MkII was just a glorified rear lens cap for his 400mm lens!

[jack the ripper]

I got a digital slr because I wanted the best image quality I could afford. I'm gonna go with the Olympus 70-300mm I think. Oh by the way, how do you get dust and dirt out of your viewfinder because I have so much its unreal but it doesn't come out in any pictures so its definately not on the sensor. There's 4 tiny screws next to the viewfinder, do I unscrew those with a special tiny screwdriver?

[ianpinion]

Hello Jack,

I would first use a blower brush to remove the dust from out of the viewfinder, but is the dust trapped on the inside or is it just on the surface of the viewfinder? The reason I ask, is because basically behind the casing around the viewfinder is a glass prism, which probably means the dust you're are seeing is stuck to the bottom of the prism. You access that by simply removing the lens and you will see above the mirror the bottom of the prism. Just blow the dust off it with a blower brush and you should be just fine.

[chris-p]

Ian beat me to it but he's right. Don't unscrew the viewfinder housing, you'll end up with crap all over the inside of the pentamirror assembly.

When you take the lens off the camera (with the camera turned off and the mirror in the down position) you can look upwards, sort of into the hump on the top of the camera. Thats where viewfinder dust usually hides (I had an eyelash on mine once). If not try the bit you put your eye up to.

If that doesn't clear it, then it's up to you. Personally, I'd live with the dust rather than dismantle the whole viewfinder (or I'd take it to a camera repair shop).