Access P-MC 35-70mm f/2.5-3.5 Macro Zoom, Take I

Digital Moments: Image making with an Access P-MC 35-70mm f/2.5-3.5 Macro Zoom, on a wet and rainy day.

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Solid as a tank, being of all glass and metal construction, the lens weighs in at 460 grams and comes with an array of four rings for manning (from back to front) Aperture, Macro, Zoom, and Focus functions. The filter thread is 58mm.

Physically, the lens is lighter and smaller than the Tamron SP 28-80mm 1:3.5~4.2 CF Macro, almost the size of the Sigma Zoom-Gamma 21-35mm 1:3.5~4, both of which I posted earlier.

The zoom range, however, is only equivalent to the S Zuiko Auto-Zoom 35-70mm 1:4 (another post here), but with the ability to shoot in macro mode and the ability to let in more light up front. The widest aperture of 1:2.5 can be used on all focal lengths except when in full zoom at 70mm, where the aperture jumps to 1:3.5.

Olympus E-P5, Access P-MC 35-70mm f/2.5-3.5 Macro Zoom

Using the Macro function is more manual as it requires you to first disengage a locking pin before you can turn the ring to get the macro mode going. Shooting aperture priority means that I do away with the need for another set of fingers on the aperture ring.

Olympus E-P5, Access P-MC 35-70mm f/2.5-3.5 Macro Zoom

I was actually quite pleased with how these test images turned out. Colors are vivid, contrast is good, while bokeh shows a lot of potential. Sharpness, however, is just not here, while precise focusing is made more difficult with an extremely short focus throw of less than a quarter turn from the closest focusing distance of 0.7m to infinity.

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Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8, A Touch of Impressionism

Creative Arts: Image making with a Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8, post-processed impressionism.

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The Canon FD 50mm f/1.8 was not without its own merits. The lens was the lightest and the cheapest of all Canon FD interchangeable lenses, and the only lens in the Canon FDn series that came with only the SC (Spectra Coating) coating as opposed to the others that came with SSC coating. Handling was superb, and its solid reputation for stable picture quality and sharp, crisp pictures has always been acknowledged.

I had the lens mounted on the Canon AE-1 Program and had a few frames left from the session I was using earlier. Took the chance of taking these few handheld night shots here. Well, shooting handheld means that whatever can go wrong will go wrong; you will surely end up with washed-out colors, camera shakes, out-of-focus images, and all.

Canon AE-1 Program, Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8

Rather than letting the shots go to waste, I took the images and went for a doodle with the Tone Curve tool on the image and post-processing editor, Olympus Viewer 3. The result was an interesting modernist art effect close enough to what I understand as being part of the Impressionist movement. I might be wrong, of course. Nevertheless, I persisted with the doodle and added a few more images for the post this week.

Canon AE-1 Program, Canon nFD 50mm f/1.8

Introduced as a successor to the Canon AE-1 (1976), the Canon AE-1 Program (1981) is one of the most popular cameras of all time. The 35mm SLR saw the introduction of the Program AE mode, which enables both the shutter speed and aperture to be automatically set by the camera, with the metering slightly biased towards the shutter speed setting.

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Zuiko OM 35-70mm f/4, Down By The Lake

Digital Moments: Image making with an Olympus S.Zuiko MC 35-70mm f/4, sights and scenes down by the lake.

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Of the three manual focus short to medium zoom lenses that I have recently featured in these digital moments sessions, previously the Sigma Zoom-Gamma 21-35mm f/3.5~4 and the Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5~4.2 CF Macro, I find that the S Zuiko Auto-Zoom 35-70mm f/4 that I am doing for this session is no slouch either.

Sharp as it comes, weighing in around the 380-gram mark, the Olympus S.Zuiko OM 35-70mm f/4 is a rather bulky affair in its standard Olympus two-touch zoom design with its heavy, ridged rubber for the zoom ring and the standard diamond pattern focus ring. The MC 1:4 version is actually one of four versions of 35-70mm zoom lenses that Olympus produced.

The earliest version was slightly bulkier but said to be a sharper 35-70/3.6 model; this one does not carry the S designation. The second version, which was sold alongside the 35-70/3.6, is what this post is all about. It was the first model to carry the S designation, which is supposed to imply a 'Simplified' version, probably produced to compete directly with lower-cost third-party lenses which were also hitting the market then.

Olympus E-P5, Zuiko MC 35-70mm f/4

The third version is the 35-70/3.5~4.5, a very compact and desirable 35-70mm to carry around for traveling and shooting on location. The fourth and final version is a 35-70/3.5-4.8 budget model, which was sold as a package with the Cosina-built OM2000 SLR. Ultimately, however, if you are collecting and if you are going for overall optical performance, then the 35-70/3.6 is the one to go for ...

The first four of the six images, which have been cropped to a 16:9 image aspect, are actually upside-down reflections of the water surface. The last two are 4:3 full crops. All shots are taken at f/5.6.

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Nokia Lumia 720, Colors of KL Sentral

Mobile Photography: Image making with a Nokia Lumia 720, and a double pass on Google Nik Color Efex Pro 4, colors of KL Sentral.

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As mentioned in the article 'Understanding Color in Photography,' using colors appropriately in photography does add a dynamic element to your images. This may result in compositions that are pleasing to the eye while adding to the desired attraction to the image, and also giving the 'oomph' to your creative edge.

The opposite, of course, might result otherwise. Bold and advancing colors at the front end of the spectrum can also be used as the dominant form or as elements of isolation of the composition, while blues and greens, from the other end of the spectrum, blend rather well with receding background elements.

The use of post-processing tools, such as Brightness & Contrast, Hue & Saturation, Color Filters, Luminosity, Vibrancy, and such, available on most Image Processing Software, may also be of help to accentuate your image.

The images here, shot on the Lumia 720 one early morning at our local rail hub exchange, KL Sentral, were rather bland and looked washed out, lacking the luster and the ambiance of the place.

The option I adopted was to pass each image twice (2x) through Google NIK Color Efex Pro 4 with a very high setting for both Saturation and Perceptual Saturation. The results, as you can see, are rather astonishing in the ability of the app to enhance and saturate the colors as absorbed by the camera sensor.

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Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 CF, The RC Event

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Digital Moments: Image making with a Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 CF, catching the chequered flag at an RC boat event.

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Compared to the Sigma Zoom-Gamma 21-35mm 1:3.5~4, which I used to start off the Digital Moments series with a collection of wide-angle and standard zooms adapted to the Olympus E-P5, the Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 CF Macro, weighing in at a hefty 480 grams, is a bit of a monster and a heavyweight.

On the 2x crop-sensor Olympus E-P5, the lens is now a short to medium telephoto-zoom with an equivalent focal length of 56mm to 160mm. This should do well if you take into account that favorite prime focal lengths, especially the 55, 85, 100, and 135mm, are all incorporated into this lens. An 85mm prime, as you already know, is always the favorite for portrait photography, while the 135mm is also for catwalk models.

Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 CF

The other concern is the weight and the balance of the lens when attached to the E-P5 via the Olympus MF-2 Adapter. The whole extension is now 120mm long, very heavy upfront, with the most fragile point (you can tell by looking at the image) being the connection between the E-P5 body and the MF-2 adapter.

Olympus E-P5, Tamron SP 28-80mm f/3.5-4.2 CF

Using the camera on a tripod supported only at the base plate of the camera is a strictly no-go setup, as the pivotal weight upfront might be too heavy for the tripod socket on the base plate to handle. For handheld shooting, you need to be sort of a contortionist to be able to hold the camera tripod-like in the cradle of your palm, while using your index finger and thumb for focusing, and your middle finger and thumb for zooming.

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