lens tests 3

Lens test Canon 1D Mark III vs Olympus E510 - landscapes

see also:

My conclusions:

from these tests I am not sure how much more highlight detail is really preserved with Canon's new "Highlight Protection" mode - need to do some more testing but others have indicated it is good for bridal gowns, so maybe it's OK.
the Olympus OM lenses should provide a very serviceable alternative to the much bigger and heavier 24-105mm lens, particularly, the OM 21mm lens will add a little more wide angle in such a compact size that I think its worth carrying around all the time.
I'm not convinced I can tell a major difference in the jpegs between the Canon 1D Mark III and the Olympus E510, but the highlights in the Canon images may be better preserved.
obviously the Olympus ultra-wide 7-14mm zoom with its protruding convex front element will always be difficult into bright light sources with controlling lens flare.

The tests:

well, thought I better walk down to the nearby lake on a sunny winter's day and try out my new Canon 1D Mark III with the EF 24-105mm f/4 IS lens and compare it with Olympus OM manual focus lenses using a slightly wobbly fitting OM-EOS adapter from China with its AF-confirm chip already fallen off.
I decided to not use a lens hood and no UV filter - only the OM 21mm lens had a 49mm linear polariser filter on it just to check if it would vignette.
the Canon had trouble giving good exposure with the OM lenses even stopped down, so I had to resort to guess work a bit and use manual exposure - hence the slight variation in exposures between lenses (seems you could get away with -1EV exposure compensation - but I didn't have time to work out exactly what was going on. This was even without being in Live Preview mode).
all tests except the 1st one were done in Canon's new "Highlight Protection" mode which is meant to alter the contrast curve to give more highlight details at the expense of a little more noise and some loss of shadow detail - and must use ISO 200 or higher).
all images are unprocessed jpegs straight from the camera with camera's otherwise default saturation, sharpness settings.

Lens	full	100% crop
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS 24mm at f/4, 1/2500th, 200ISO, no lens hood normal mode, into the sun (sun just to the upper left) the 24mm setting gives an effective 31mm focal length	very nice flare control into the sun - I'm impressed
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS 24mm at f/4, 1/2500th, 200ISO, no lens hood highlight protection mode, into the sun (sun just to the upper left)	well, the contrast gradient is slightly different, sky seems lighter if anything	is there any more detail preserved in the cloud highlights - I'm not sure I can tell on my monitor
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 IS 24mm at f/8, 1/400th, 200ISO
Olympus OM 24mm f/2.8 lens 24mm at f/8, 1/400th, 200ISO	oops, a touch over-exposed, even though same exposure as previous one!	over-exposure really detracts from image quality on digitals
Olympus OM 28mm f/2.8 lens 28mm at f/8, 1/500th, 200ISO	adjusted shutter speed a touch on this one to bring exposure down a little	lens was not focused on the leaves and there was a bit of wind so best to ignore the blur here - I will test these lenses for sharpness another time in more controlled environment
Olympus OM 21mm f/3.5 lens polariser filter 21mm at f/4, 1/640th, 200ISO aperture priority metering with -1EV
Olympus OM 21mm f/3.5 lens polariser filter 21mm at f/8, 1/200th, 200ISO manual exposure	I just love this lens - great for infrared film on 35mm film as well as a 27mm equivalent on the Canon 1DIII - and it is so small and light - just beautiful.

For some comparison with the Olympus E510 dSLR at an effective 28mm:

I was mainly looking at lens flare and dynamic range produced by the in-camera jpeg processing.

unfortunately, these were taken on another day with sun a bit lower in the sky and no clouds to compare with.

apart from the first two which were tests of flare, the others had the sun shielded from lens to make it more comparable with the Canon series above.

can't put much weight on the sharpness of the crops as the leaves were blowing in the wind - not a good test for sharpness. Furthermore there is a difference in the magnification of the leaves due to slightly different effective focal lengths and camera-subject position.

Lens	resized	100% crop
Olympus ZD 14-42mm ED kit lens at 14mm f/4 into the sun without lens hood
Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens at f/4 into the sun with inbuilt lens hood but the sun hitting the convex front lens causing considerable flare as would be expected
Olympus ZD 14-42mm ED kit lens at 14mm f/4
Olympus ZD 14-42mm ED kit lens at 14mm f/8 with polarising filter at ISO 400
Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens at 14mm f/8
Olympus ZD 7-14mm lens at 7mm f/4 the vignetting top right is my hand shielding the sun