The 38/1.8 is the classic standard lens of the Olympus PEN system of the 1960s, the golden link between wide-angle and telephoto lenses, with a fast f/1.8 aperture and nice characterful yet still high-quality optics, all packed in a very small and lightweight package.
This is part 2 of a series of 3 blog posts about Olympus PEN Zuiko lenses for Fuji:
- Part 1 – The Introduction
- Part 2 – The 38/1.8
- Part 3 – The 100/3.5
The 38/1.8
Although there was a 38/2.8 in the PEN system – actually, there were even two different designs – apparently the majority of the cameras of that system were sold with the PEN Zuiko 38/1.8 as a standard lens. This means you can find them easily today, a good copy will be around 80 to 120 Euros (as of 2017).
According to the drawing that Frank Mechelhoff posted on his photographica website, the 38/1.8 is a classic double Gauss design with 6 lenses in 5 groups. It’s literally a scale model of a 50mm standard lens for 35mm film – considerably smaller in focal length, in physical length and in diameter. The mechanical construction is of high quality, and has a nice “delicate” feel to it. Hard to describe: It’s not built like a tank in the way old Nikkors are. It’s more finely crafted.
Flange distance (the distancs between the lens mount and the sensor) is 28.95mm for PEN Zuiko lenses. Fuji X has a flange distance of 17.7mm so the adapter that you need to mount the old Zuiko on your Fuji body, will be 11.95mm deep – a welcome change from the usual bulky adapters for other SLR systems!
The lens itself is, of course, manual focus. Smallest aperture is f/16 and you can twist and turn the aperture ring to reveal a second scale that reads from 0 to 6 instead from f/1.8 to f/16 – this is only needed if you use the old Olympus PEN FT body and it’s built-in metering system. Close focus is 0.35 metres. (This is pretty good for a classic standard lens. Especially Leica M glass is often much worse in that respect.)
Pictuces and optical characteristis
Here’s a set of pictures that I took with the 38/1.8 on a Fuji X-E1 body. (My X-E3 currently is under warranty repair.) All these pictures were edited to taste in Lightroom, yes – but I did not correct for distortion, CA or any other color fringes, or vignetting:
(Please, don’t be distracted by the EXIF showing 75mm; this is a manual lens so you have to enter correct data by yourself in the camera’s menu – which I did not care to do.)
The slightly swirly bokeh is maybe a trademark for classic lens designs like this. The aperture has five blades. The sunstars that it produces when you close down the aperture have somewhat widened light rays (click on the two night shots above and look at the street lamps).
This lens can actually out-resolve the Fuji X-E1’s 16 MP sensor at f/1.8 in the image center, whereas it then displays veil and a loss of clarity and sharpness towards the borders of the image. See the last shot in the gallery above with the tree to the right – that one was taken at f/1.8.
When you stop down the aperture, the borders and corners get better and better; I’d say the real maximum sharpness is reached between f/5.6 and f/8: Then, it’s just tack sharp all over the entire image field.
Below’s a 100% crop of one of the pictures above, also taken at open aperture on the Fuji X-E1. This was processed in Lightroom with standard “landscape” sharpening settings. No CA or color correction applied. You can already sense the really good sharpness and the very slight veil that creeps into the image outside of the dead image center – I really appreciate this, a perfect blend between a classic soft, pictorial look and modern high sharpness here. Click on the picture to reveal full size:
Contrast is a bit down compared to more modern lens designs – especially if stray light comes in. But overall, it’s pretty contrasty for a 1960s lens.
I have to admit I am a real RAW photographer – maybe if you only shoot JPG, you’ll notice that more than me. But I am so used to adjust colors, white balance and contrast on almost every of my shots a bit. Not because I find the lenses that I use lack in any way, but just to give the pictures that exact look that I strive for. The reason why I mention this is that I might sometimes even miss differences between lenses in contrast or color reproduction because of that. But I did not find that the pictures shown above needed a significantly higher contrast adjustment in Lightroom than those taken with my native Fujinon glass.
Anyway, my conclusion is that the PEN Zuiko 38/1.8 is a really capable classic standard lens. It can produce a very nice look with characteristic bokeh wide-open. It’s tack sharp in the image center at every aperture. For landscape or architecture, close down to f/5.6 or f/8 where it is just about perfect across the frame. What I really like is how small the lens is. These characteristics make it a very nice blend of “old” and “new” – character and quality, it’s both there in this package!
Modern alternatives
If you own a Fuji X camera, and don’t own it yet already, have a close look at their Fujinon 35/1.4 lens now. :) I admit I did not buy it yet for myself but still I’d say it is one of the ultimate gems in their lens lineup! Okay, why didn’t I buy it yet? Only cause I already had the PEN Zuiko 38/1.8 for my analogue Olympus PEN camera. The Fujinon also has a somewhat classic character, meaning at f/1.4 it is more about pictorial nice results than about ultimate (corner) sharpness. You can source these used in almost new condition for around 350 to 380 Euros (as of late 2017). There’s also the Zeiss Touit 32/1.8 (that covers a somewhat wider field of view) if you want your standard lens to come with auto focus.
If you want so spend a little less, and value compactness and convenience, then there is the Fujinon 35/2 WR. I personally find this lens a little bit lacking as its optics are not fully distortion corrected – like certain zoom or wide-angle lenses, the 35/2 WR relies on post processing digital correction here. This is really a weird design decision for a 35mm lens. I do own the two other lenses of this lineup – the 23/2 WR and 50/2 WR (click here). Personally, I’d pass on the 35/2 and always strongly advise to get the 35/1.4 instead, but your mileage, as always, might vary.
Anyway, both these lenses are much more than 100 Euros. If you don’t want to spend that much, and don’t mind manual focusing, you have some more options like the Zonlai Discover 35/1.8 or the Meike 35/1.7 – click here for ephotozine’s review of the latter. Price puts these lenses in direct competition with the classic Olympus PEN Zuiko 38/1.8, and you can just order new ones if you don’t want to go the route of dealing with 50 year old glass. Performance and mechanical finish should be good, but maybe lacking a bit in direct comparison to the old PEN Zuiko – but I can’t really comment as I never tried these new lenses.
Let’s not forget that there are even more options in this focal range for Fuji X photographers, like the hyper-fast Samyang 35/1.2 or Mitakon 35/0.95 … but these are rather opponents to the PEN Zuiko 40/1.4 or 42/1.2, not to the little 38/1.8 that I covered in this review.
Other reviews
Lee from myfavouritelens.com wrote a comprehensive review with many photos – using the 38/1.8 on a Sony NEX body – here.
Also, the lens was reviewed by Eric Tastad from erphotoreview.com, again on a Sony body. Read his findings here!
This is part 2 of a series of 3 blog posts about Olympus PEN Zuiko lenses for Fuji:
- Part 1 – The Introduction
- Part 2 – The 38/1.8
- Part 3 – The 100/3.5
Cheers,
Thomas
TOM'S PHOTO AND CAMERA STUFF 