Why does my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III look so zoomed in with a Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 lens?
Asked 4/28/2021
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I'm new to cameras and I'm using an Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III with a Panasonic Lumix 25mm f/1.7 lens. The lens works fine and gives me the background blur I wanted, but the view looks much tighter than I expected. From about 2 metres away, the frame is mostly my face, and I need to move much farther back to fit more of my upper body.
There doesn't seem to be any electronic zoom involved. My friend suggested this lens and thought it should look wider than this.
Is this normal for this camera/lens combination, and why does it appear so zoomed in?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
5y ago
2 Answers
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Your Olympus is a Micro Four Thirds camera. Without going into all the technical details, this means that the sensor in the camera is smaller than the 'standard' full-frame sensors found in some other cameras. The upshot of this is that your 25mm lens is equivalent to a 50mm lens on a full-frame camera (you double the focal length for Micro Four Thirds to get the equivalent). Could it be possible that your friend is expecting this lens to behave as though it is a full-frame 25mm? For that, you would actually need a 12.5mm lens on your Micro Four Thirds camera!
Not only that, but your 25mm lens is what is known as a prime lens: the focal length is fixed, and you have no zooming capability whatsoever! You will find many answers and blog posts explaining the pros/cons of primes vs zooms, but I will say that I agree with your friend that this is an excellent lens to get started with.
From what you have described, your lens is working exactly as I expect it to. With a prime, if you can't fit something in the frame, then I'm afraid you will have to zoom out using your feet!
As an example, the following shot was taken with the same camera (albeit the Mk II version), and the same lens, from probably about 3m or so away:
Originally by user50273. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user50273
5y ago
0
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Yes, this is normal. Your Olympus uses the Micro Four Thirds system, which has a smaller sensor than full-frame cameras. On Micro Four Thirds, a 25mm lens gives a field of view similar to a 50mm lens on full frame, so it looks like a “normal” lens, not a wide-angle one.
That’s likely the source of the confusion: if your friend expected a full-frame 25mm view, your camera would need a lens around 12.5mm to look similarly wide.
Also, the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 is a prime lens, which means it has a fixed focal length and does not zoom. If you want to fit more of the scene in without moving farther back, you’ll need a shorter focal length lens, such as a wider Micro Four Thirds lens.
So the camera is probably not malfunctioning—the framing you’re seeing is consistent with a 25mm prime on a Micro Four Thirds body.
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