Hi There
I am fortunate to have Tomcat generously offer a try-out his copy of the Leica 14-50 D Vario Elmarit ASPH lens.
This gesture came shortly before a friends' wedding which I was invited to be a roving photographer (a pro was engaged) & casual videographer.
In short, I don't think the opportunity allowed me to test the lens' full potential paired to an E1, this was largely due to my unfamiliarity with the control layout and having to cope with staying out of the primary photographers' way & shooting bits of video. I also deviated from my usual shooting style by opting to shoot a large portion of my pictures at high ISO (800-1600). In effect many variables were introduced that would affect the objectivity of my short experience with using this fine lens.
THE VARIO ELMARIT IN HAND
In hand, the 14-50 is noticeable larger than the
ZD equivalent in length but more so in diameter. The 72mm girth of the lens body extends uniformly to the aperture ring before tapering to match the 4/3 lens mount.
The petaled shape lenshood extends farther but mounts with less resistance than the
ZD. Like its Oly counterpart, the shade can be reversed mounted in storage to save space with equal ease. I seriously think Olympus ought adopt the centre spring release mechanism of the Lumix lens cap as the lens can be further protected against the elements with the lens shade in place. Still the lens balances and handles well on the E1.
The lens coating of the Leica is colour free unlike the
ZD which takes on a characteristic greenish sheen (like the OMs) when observed under normal lighting.
LENS CONTROLS
There are four controls on the lens, the concentric aperture ring (F2.8-F22 in 1/3 stop indents, +A), the focusing ring & outermost to the filter mount, the zoom ring. Tucked neatly to the left of where the thumb would naturally fall on lies the two-position Mega OIS control switch (On/Off).
It has never left my mind the point made by Olympus presenter during the E1 launch in Singapore that Olympus has patents for image stabilization but did not implement it as they felt it degraded image quality.
The
IS switch is quite easy to toggle without taking your eyes of the penta-prism. I did not go all out to use
IS during the shoot as the mode used with Oly drains batteries continuously and I took trouble to conserve battery consumption in my shoot.
However, from my simple tests shots at home shooting mundane static objects, I have to confess that
IS really does work when handholding at low shutter speeds, static subjects do appear to retain more detail as less blur is observed (when pixel peeping). The
IS in operation is noticeable as the framing sometimes jiggle slightly when panning for subjects to snap. For myself, yes,
IS is practical in use but only when 1) subject moves little 2) not at expense of optical quality.
The zoom ring is stiffer to turn than the focusing ring, perhaps the lens needs use to run in but for myself the resistence to compose & focus is just right. The latter is much narrower and left my fingers searching for it when I had to perform focus override. It's a big of adjustment as the position of the focus & zoom controls are swapped in the
ZD which I'm familiar with, not a big deal with practise, but you will need to mentally adjust for the different convention when changing lens. The aperture ring is non-functional on the E1 & sometimes I mistakenly grab this for the focusing ring, but leaving the aperture setting at A which is locked solves the problem.
IN USE
When turning on the camera, an audible click lasting less than 0.5 sec as the lens electronics/mechanism initializes can been heard when I'm behind the viewfinder. The lens focuses mechanism is slightly more audible in operation than the
ZD, neither are destracting.
More in part to the
AF subsystem than both lenses, each has its indecisive moments & is appears lost & freezes focus when shooting against very strong backlight situations; in my case, I noticed that the Leica seems to be consistently 'numbed' for a longer interval than the
ZD before recovering focus. Once again, this may be due to the
AF system of my E1 than the lens design.
In the heat of shooting the wedding, I fell back to using the
ZD more due to familiarity with its controls and in some ways to its more compact form factor makes pulling lenses in & out of my cramped camera bag for lens swaps easier.
SAMPLE IMAGES
I'm definite the images presented are not representative of the true capabilities of the Leica, but I've selected three to share. Images were shot in RAW, processed in Olympus Studio & curves adjustments were made. No sharpening was applied though.
Vario Elmarit in Colour, ISO400
Vario Elmarit in Monochrome, ISO1600
A 100% crop of high contrast scene, subject flash filled (non FP mode) with backgroup left to overexpose
Since these shots were taken under uncontrolled lighting, in candid and at high ISOs, I would not venture to make any assessment on the image quality and leave it to the viewer to form their impression. However, needless to say, the lens is confidence inspiring to handle & only my unfamilarity was a hinderence to drawing out more quality from the lens. I found
IS to be practical but I need to orientate myself to turn it on when appropriate situations arise. Such adaptation will be necessary for Olympus E-system owners moving to DMC-L system lenses are vice versa.
With a heavyweight entrant in the form Panasonic/Leica to the 4/3 platform with the introduction of a highly compatible, well built & performing lens, the future for any 4/3 adoptor can only be promising.
IN APPRECIATION
I would like to thank Tomcat for the chance to share my initial & short hands on of his Leica Vario Elmarit for the benefit of the 4/3 community, a spirit I truly appreciate & respect :-)
Cheers,
Calendar 
