olympus 24mm hazy?

[tehdvd]

Hey All,

I recently bought a olympus 24mm F2.8 OM System H-Zuiko on ebay and want to know if there's something wrong with this lens. The image looks hazy or has some sort of yellow tint. I'm using an a7ii with a Fotasy OM-Nex adapter.

Here is a resized jpeg straight from the camera.

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[Ad Dieleman]

Did you shoot wide-open at f/2.8? I guess so because the image shows signs of that: somewhat low contrast, glow around highlights, limited depth of field and vignetting (upper left corner). At f/4 the image should be much better already; if not, check the lens for internal haze and fungus and clean the front and rear lens if necessary. The front and rear lens have to be quite dirty to have noticeable impact on image quality, unless you're shooting with sunlight falling directly on the front lens. And yes, Olympus lenses have a somewhat warm white balance in my experience.

You should give access to a full-res image if you want anyone here to check on sharpness, preferably processed from a raw file. An 1181x788 px image doesn't show enough detail to see if the lens is good in that department; my Olympus 24/2.8 is really good already at f/4 and sharp across the frame at f/8 on my A7, but experiences with this lens vary a lot, probably due to sample variation.

 

[pdk42]

I think the H.Zuiko is the non MC version isn't it? I think that can suffer from flare and lack of contrast with bright sources in the image. The bright reflection from the car might be causing that. I tested an OM 24/2.8 (later version with MC) on an A7r and it wasn't great at f2.8, but very respectable at f8, even in the corners.

 

[WNG]

To add to the good info posted, the yellow tint (and the silver front edge of the lens) indicates an older version with single-coated optics.
A bit more prone to flare and a less contrasty and warmer appearance in certain shooting situations.
A factory 24mm hood was offered for this model. Maybe try picking up a cheap wide angle 49mm threaded hood for it.
To check for haze and fungus, shine a white LED light through it from the rear. Any haze will reveal itself immediately.

Tip:
Personal practice for any recently acquired lens is to find a flat wall of brick or cinder block which offer perpendicular lines. Stand square to the wall and shoot with each aperture. This will help determine if there is an optical issue or limitation. ie. de-centering, distortion, weak edge sharpness, etc.

 

[tehdvd]

Thank you Ad, Paul and Will for your responses. I returned the lens and will use all your tips for future purchases.

 

[bargainguy]

Paul is right about the non-MC lenses. Any Olympus lens that is single-coated with have a capital letter in front of Zuiko on the lens bezel. Any multicoated lens will just say Zuiko (without the single letter).

Only reason I know this: I recently had someone not pay for an ebay lens I was selling, a 50/1.4 Zuiko (multicoated). He tried to claim it was a radioactive lens. Only the first version ("silvernose," silver filter ring, single-coated, marked G. Zuiko) was radioactive; later versions ("blacknose," black filter ring, MC, marked Zuiko) were not, and I had a very late version. Had to research this before I got back to him.