Olympus 35-100mm - Ready to Buy

M

Mark Kokkoros

Active member
Hello,

I currently own the Olympus 14-35 MM (love it) and am ready to buy the Olympus 35-100 MM. Read all of the forum posts regarding the lens so I am aware of its limitations -- clicking during zoom, weight, cost.

Considering the following points, is there any reason I should reconsider my decision?

- Will not use zoom during record (basically a variable prime);
- Will not use auto-focus feature;
- Will not use auto-iris, etc;
- Will use support rods;

Well there it is. Basically I want a mate to the 14-35 MM to cover the range that is low light and very sharp.

Thoughts & advice most appreciated (love to hear comments from current users).

Mark
 
I had both 14-35 and 35-100 but sold them since they got so little use. These are still lenses optimized for an Olympus camera and I found them lacking in easy of use and speed compared to my set of Voigtländers 25/35/50 at a lesser cost. But that's just me and my kind of shooting style. I would wait until we more about Panasonics Lumix X 12-35/35-100 lenses. These will have OIS and suit the AF camera better imho. If they are about as fast I reckon it's a better buy unless you want to use the Olympus dynamic duo 14-35/35-100 on an Olympus body along with use on the AF.

I tried to use the 35-100 as a variable prime but the weight killed of my joy in using the rig and felt ill balanced on my slider.
 
editman said:
I had both 14-35 and 35-100 but sold them since they got so little use. These are still lenses optimized for an Olympus camera and I found them lacking in easy of use and speed compared to my set of Voigtländers 25/35/50 at a lesser cost. But that's just me and my kind of shooting style. I would wait until we more about Panasonics Lumix X 12-35/35-100 lenses. These will have OIS and suit the AF camera better imho. If they are about as fast I reckon it's a better buy unless you want to use the Olympus dynamic duo 14-35/35-100 on an Olympus body along with use on the AF.

I tried to use the 35-100 as a variable prime but the weight killed of my joy in using the rig and felt ill balanced on my slider.
Click to expand...

When is are the lumix lenses supposed to come out though?
 
I have both the 14-35 and 35-100 and I love them, though they do have some fairly serious limitations. The only one that bothers me is the clicking/flashing occasionally during zoom. But for the most part I use as variable prime. The 35-100 has a ridiculously long throw so getting from near to infinity takes forever with a follow focus. But I find it the perfect tool at the moment, far easier than switching between primes, which usually I just don't have time for. I do wish it was more optimized for video, but at a straight f2.0 it's faster than anything else in it's category.
 
joshdstanton said:
I have both the 14-35 and 35-100 and I love them, though they do have some fairly serious limitations. The only one that bothers me is the clicking/flashing occasionally during zoom. But for the most part I use as variable prime. The 35-100 has a ridiculously long throw so getting from near to infinity takes forever with a follow focus. But I find it the perfect tool at the moment, far easier than switching between primes, which usually I just don't have time for. I do wish it was more optimized for video, but at a straight f2.0 it's faster than anything else in it's category.
Click to expand...

Josh, thanks for your perspective on this lens. What type of support and follow focus to you use with it?
 
When I had the Olympus 35-100mm f2, I mounted it on a Manfrotto 393 Gimbal Head:

http://www.amazon.com/Manfrotto-Lon...E66A/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319578678&sr=8-2

As I was using it with a GH2, I could simply mount the camera to the lens. With the AF100, I'd want to mount both it and the 35-100mm to 15-inch rails and mount the rails assembly to the gimbal head.

Like editman, I found the size and weight of the 35-100mm impractical for most video shoots. I think it's ideal, however, for capturing live concert footage in a dark nightclub.
 
Like Josh stated, it does have a very long focus throw. I am using the varizoom focus controller, and that works quite well. I use this lens all the time, mostly because I shoot a lot of weddings with the my cam, among lots of other stuff, but the 35-100 is one of my most used lenses. It's a sweet focal range, and it's fast at 2.0. I almost exclusively use just my 14-35 and 35-100 now. My other lenses only get used if they are mounted on my GH2.
 
swanny said:
Like Josh stated, it does have a very long focus throw. I am using the varizoom focus controller, and that works quite well. I use this lens all the time, mostly because I shoot a lot of weddings with the my cam, among lots of other stuff, but the 35-100 is one of my most used lenses. It's a sweet focal range, and it's fast at 2.0. I almost exclusively use just my 14-35 and 35-100 now. My other lenses only get used if they are mounted on my GH2.
Click to expand...

Swanny, thanks for your comments. What lens support do you use?
 
Mark Kokkoros said:
Swanny, thanks for your comments. What lens support do you use?
Click to expand...

I'm using the Berkey systems stuff. Editman had a few posts about their stuff, which turned be on to his product. I can't say enough good things about his products and Brian's customer service. I'm actually going to be using some of his stuff to build some all terrain legs for my new MYT systems slider. The 35-100 is heavy, but for the lighting situations I shoot in, I need something that's fast and lets me reframe within seconds.
 
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