Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, Night Scenes

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Digital Moments: Extended exposure shots with the Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, recognized for its wide f/1.6 aperture and vibrant, saturated SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) colors.

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My first impression of the Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6 turned out to be quite a surprise, as the lens lived up to its name, recognized for its wide f/1.6 aperture and vibrant, saturated SOOC (straight-out-of-camera) colors.

I did another test with the lens recently, for low-light and extended exposure shots, in RAW (post-edited), and was equally impressed with the results as the lens stood up to its billing as a good candidate for the genre.

The lens, an affordable manual focus APS-C model originally designed for CCTV, is a sturdy 4-element in 4-group all-metal and glass design. A fifth-generation build, the lens is a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) variant with a fixed mount. Its property includes a smooth focus ring with a very short quarter-turn focus throw and a clickless aperture ring.

Images were taken with the lens mounted on the 16MP Live MOS Olympus Pen E-PM2.

On the Olympus Pen E-PM2 and the Lumix DMC-G5, it was tested earlier; the lens is equivalent to a 70mm short-telephoto lens on a full-frame camera, a focal length ideal for everyday photography, portraits, street photography, travel, events, and experimental shooting.

As a normal-use lens, a 70mm (or equivalent) lens is ideal for portrait work, particularly in head-and-shoulders compositions, where perspective compression creates facial flattery while maintaining natural-looking proportions. Working distance can be kept at a comfortable shooting distance between the photographer and the subject.

For environmental portraits, background scenes may appear closer to the subject than they actually are. This allows the inclusion of details without losing subject prominence. For street photography, the compression aids in capturing detail-oriented street scenes, small subjects that become compositional focal points rather than background elements.

Olympus Pen E-PM2, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

Focusing complications may arise, of course, with the very short focal throw of the lens, when the camera is mounted on a hand-stand, instead of a proper tripod setup, and placed on a hard surface at arm's length away. A handy way to alleviate the situation is to set the Live Guide button of the E-PM2 to the Manual Focus Assist function. When pressed, the function will zoom in the view on the LCD for a magnified focusing help.

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