When I go on a trip or just out a-shooting with my camera, I often have a moment of slight panic, in which I try to decide whether I should take my nice big expensive lens with me and risk getting it damaged during the adventure, or take the cheap one for less impressive pictures but also a load off my mind. It’s really a problem when lenses cost more than cameras.
So if you’re shooting an Olympus or Panasonic M4/3 camera, this is probably an even worse problem. There just aren’t many budget lenses out there, and the pancake wide-angles you’d want to take with are probably also your favorite prime. Can’t risk it! So why not pick up one of these “Lo-fi” manual lenses from Photojojo?
Now, just to cut through the nonsense, let’s acknowledge that bokeh isn’t an “effect” so much as just the result of wide apertures in general. And vignetting and lens flare generally accompany lenses of poor quality. But that’s kind of what lo-fi means, right?
This little lens will only set you back $90 (free shipping), and though it won’t get you crystal-clear portraits, it might add a little personality to your shots. The 25mm (50mm equivalent) lens itself isn’t plastic, and it opens up to an impressive F/1.4, but there’s “toy camera quirk” that I assume is a coated or otherwise modified element in the assembly that gives that lo-fi charm a boost.
Whatever the quality of the images, an F/1.4 lens for $90 is probably a good thing to have around. Good party lens. But be aware! It is all manual! No automatic exposure, no autofocus. Just like the old days!