40mm f/2 Zuiko Auto-S

The 40mm f/2 Zuiko Auto-S is one of my top favorite manual-focus SLR lenses. I’m hardly a lens expert but I am a decades-long hobbyist who’s experienced a lot of gear. I know very well what I like, and this lens ticks an awful lot of boxes. When I’m shooting Olympus OM bodies, there’s an extremely strong chance that this lens is mounted. This is almost a pancake lens, and it’s quite light. Paired with a small and light OM body, it’s a kit that you can carry all day with no fatigue. Olympus OM-2n, Kodak Ektar 100, 2022 That’s a good thing as I can walk around the city all day making photographs. That’s where the 40mm focal length shines, as it lets me bring in more of the scene without backing up as much. Yet it’s still in the “normal” range rather than truly wide angle. Olympus OM-2n, Fujifilm Fujicolor 200, 2020 It also focuses down to about one foot — not fully macro, but still mighty close. Olympus OM-2n, expired Agfa Agfacolor Vista 400 at EI 50, 2024 It’s also sharp to the…