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

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 2/6/26

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

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 2/5/26

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

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 2/4/26

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

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 2/3/26

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Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, Night Scenes

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Cameras and Lenses: An Olympus PEN Mini E-PM2, with a Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, a compact, budget-friendly setup with a 70mm full-frame-equivalent portrait and street lens.

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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 Mini E-PM2.

On the Olympus PEN Mini 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 Mini 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 magnified focusing help.

Lumix DMC-G5, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 1/2/26

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Lumix DMC-G5, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 1/1/26

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Happy New Year 2026!

Lumix DMC-G5, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 12/31/25

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Lumix DMC-G5, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

The Galleria, Photo of the Day, 12/30/25

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Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, First Look

Cameras and Lenses: Images with a Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, an ultra-compact manual focus prime with an all-metal build and vintage rendering characteristics, a 70mm short-tele full-frame equivalent on the Olympus Pen E-PM2.

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My curiosity got the better of me recently, and I ended up getting my hands on a new MFT-mount Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, a budget-friendly manual focus APS-C lens known for its wide f/1.6 aperture and vibrant, saturated colors straight out of the camera.

The lens, a fifth-generation manual focus lens originally derived from a CCTV lens, resonates well with enthusiasts looking for an option with a wide aperture and an extremely low price point.

The 70mm equivalent (on a 2x crop sensor digital) is excellent for everyday photography, portraits, street photography, travel, events, and experimental photography.

With its short telephoto configuration, the Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6, mounted on a 2x crop-sensor MFT digital, is equally adept as a portrait lens with natural and flattering compression for separation between subjects and background (I don't do portraits, though).

Just as well, for still photographers, a clickless aperture ring on an experimental night shoot like this may actually be more of an inconvenience rather than an asset.

The lens, with its lively blue livery (also available in red, gold, and silver body finishes), is a 4 elements in 4 groups all-metal and glass built, with maybe an ED element in some versions, 8 straight blades (while others may have 12 rounded petals), an aperture range from f/1.6 to f/16, a minimum focusing distance of 0.45 meters, takes 46mm filter, and, depending on the generation, weighs from 113 to 140 grams.

The Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6 was shipped with both a plastic rear and an ala-classic screw-in metal front cap, in an impeccably packed mint-colored box, snugly wrapped in a plastic sleeve in a box with exact-fit sponge liners, and accompanied by a vinyl pouch, a lens cleaning lint, and an instruction leaflet (in a different language, though).

What seems like a perfect setup is slightly marred, however, by the lens mount not being a tight fit; it plays slightly when mounted on the camera.

The lens might not be the best in its class; in fact, it is far from it. However, when it comes to delivering vibrant images with saturated colors, the lens wins hands down. And along with its wide f/1.6 maximum aperture, sharp center focus, a nostalgia of a classic, and a slightly quirky manual shooting experience.

Lumix DMC-G5, Risespray HD MC 35mm f/1.6

The images here were shot with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G5, a mirrorless digital camera released in 2012. The camera has a 16MP Live MOS MFT (Micro Four Thirds) sensor, a 3-inch articulating touchscreen, a 1,440k-dot electronic viewfinder, ISO sensitivity from 160 to 12,800, 6 fps continuous shooting, and 1080p 60p video. The G5 is noted for having very fast AF and improved low-light performance, a noted option for entry-level DSLRs.