awalzem's reviews

  • Vivitar 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 Series 1 AF

    8 out of 10 points and recommended
    Price, light, works on full frame, sharp
    AF is buggy, rattly build

    I bought this after reading a recommendation and was pretty skeptical. However, after getting it I am amazed at how good the quality is. Zooming in to 100%, the image is surprisingly sharp and pretty well saturated, even at edges and in the corners. It really makes no sense to me: why is this lens so little known? (apparently the 19-35mm by Tamron, Promaster, Quantaray, Rokinon, and Phoenix, as well as this one, are made by Cosina, and all use the same glass as the Cosina version).
    Anyway, my plan was just to get this one as a "wide trial" on my full frame camera (Canon 5D), but looking at the pictures I am having a hard time justifying spending $700 for the canon 17-40.
    The AF sometimes won't lock on, and strangely will keep trying to zoom further even when it has reached infinity. I turn it off sometimes as infinity is just 10 feet or so.
    Anyway, I'm delighted by this purchase and really love this lens. There are better options out there for a crop, but on full frame this has to be the best AF bargain that exists.

    reviewed February 21st, 2011 (purchased for $57)
  • Olympus 40-150mm f/4-5.6 ED M.Zuiko Digital

    7 out of 10 points and recommended
    cheap, light, at some focal lengths very sharp, due to length can have nice blur at times, although sometimes rough
    feels flimsy, zooms out ridiculously long, AF (on E-PM1) useless for moving objects

    Just got this a couple of days ago. It's great for portraits, and for nearer objects at mid focal range, it's terrifically sharp. However, zoomed out on distant objects, I found it didn't resolve very well. Shooting moving objects didn't work at all, even at very high shutter speeds, but that could be my camera's AF. Still, as a budget long zoom and portrait lens, it's a winner.

    reviewed June 28th, 2012 (purchased for $160)