While I love my 8-25/4, I find myself using the long end quite a lot and an thinking maybe I should just get a 12-45/4 to take advantage of the longer focal lengths and have something smaller to use with the E-P7. I found myself preferring the E-M1 while using this lens since I'm often using it one-handed.
Have any of you used the 12-45/4 on a small body such as the E-P7? Is it easy to hold at arms length with one hand?
Thanks!
Some photos with the 8-25/4, just for the hell of it.
I have it on my EM5-mk3 and love it. Always felt on the "smaller" bodies (I came from a Pen-F) the 12-40/2.8 PRO was a bit too heavy. I also use this lens on an older EPL-1 that was converted years ago for Infrared shooting and it feels fine on that smaller body also.
Cool, thanks! Do you feel like you can use it at "arm's length" with only one hand (after setting the focal length, of course)?
Sam, do you have a lens that weighs about the same as the 12-45? Asking other people if holding it at arms length is bothersome is likely to be different for you. Other people may have longer/shorter arms, better/worse circulation, be weaker/stronger, or have different pain tolerance levels. For example, my wife can nonchalantly grab hot pan handles that would send me to the emergency room with 3rd degree burns.
If you don't have a lens of similar weight, test with one that is lighter and add weight to approximate the 12-45's weight. I'm sorry but taking other's advice on something as specific to individuals as this is unreliable.
Yep, it's a fair point. I did try this out with the 75/1.8 which is the closest lens I've got to the same size/weight, but it's still about 50g heavier than the 12-45. In this case, it's too heavy for me to use comfortably.
I'm now leaning towards just getting the 30/3.5 since it's lighter than even the 25/1.8 and allows me to focus even closer. Some of the stuff I shoot at the farmer's market is verging on macro photography at times.
For example:
I bought a 30 3.5 for an easy job photographing someone's coin & stamp collection. It is a really good lens. I sold mine as I already owned the 60 macro and the 30's rather short working distance for macro made it too difficult to light. Sounds like a good match for you, though, if you can deal with the 30's rather meager zoom range.
I also use the 12-45 with my E-M5iii, it's an excellent travel kit. How often are you really going to hold it at arms length for any amount of time?
For this work, most of the time. I'm typically helping my partner out and have a dog or groceries in one hand and a camera in the other!
It seems it is seldom known that there is a kit of E-P7 and 12-45 bundled together being sold in Hong Kong, so I think this combo would actually work.
I have the OM-5 with the 12-45 attached, and often take photos single-handedly, though my hand-holding is much more stable with 2 hands.
