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Monday, March 13, 2023

Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8, First Impression

Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Digital Moments: Image making with a Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8, a low-cost manual focus prime, on the Olympus E-P5.
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The lens was listed on the auction as a Zonzei, and came in a Zonlai sponge lied box, but the lens itself says Discover on its trim ring. I know it is the same make, and you can find the lens listed as Zenzei, Discover, Kenro, Hengyijia, and maybe others as well. The lens is a low-cost manual focus prime manufactured for mirrorless cameras out of the mainland. Visually, it’s a beautiful lens, looks reminiscent of a film camera lens, feels solid and well-built, and comes with a hood.

The lens is fully manual, with a medium throw and a well-damped focusing scale. The aperture ring is clickless and equally well-damped, which I liked very much. The lens mount is equally well built and fits well, making it a standard normal 50mm equivalent on the E=P5. Not too much problem with focusing either as the E-P5 comes with a focus peaking feature which I use all the time with manual focus lenses.

Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8
Olympus E-P5, Zonlai Discover 25mm 1:1.8

For these first impression images, the shots were taken wide open, fairly close to the minimum focusing distance of 0.18 meters, on a quick session in the garden. The images were pretty sharp but the colors were rather subdued, which made me resort to Haze & Saturation enhancement or deduction on the tabletop image editor. The lens, though, is good enough to toy with bokeh shots or street photography walkabouts.



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