Worth noting I think since you speak to the reputation or cred of each, Miranda and Olympus, that while Olympus was a long time optical manufacturer of lenses, Miranda did not make their own lenses. From all I've read, and I've dug a lot into this, it appears that Miranda's startout intent was to manufacture their own lenses. However I don't think their financial situation ever allowed them to fund lens manufacturing. As such they outsourced lenses from other manufacturers. Their first lenses were all manufactured by Kowa. Towards the end of your video where you show a few Miranda lenses, note the older lens near the middle with the old style focus tap. Its serial number has a K in front of it. That K is for Kowa. In fact, the earliest Miranda lenses had the Kowa name right on them. Then Miranda had them drop the Kowa name but still had the K before the serial number. Then they even dropped that and some Kowa made lenses were called Miranda lenses for a brief period. This is all pre Soligor brand name for Miranda lenses. I think up to this point they really did plan to start manufacturing their own Miranda lenses. However Miranda never became very fianancially solvent so they opted to create a lens brand name in Soligor and started purchasing lenses from many manufacturers other than Kowa in an attempt to source lenses more cheaply. I can't say for certain on the lens you reviewed here, which I own a copy of as well; but in looking at its construction, it very well may be a Tomioka manufactured lens, or Cosina. And last, for my money I prefer the look of the Miranda. As one person below noted, its more cinematic in its look, plus, I'm a bokeholic.
Sorry. The tested miranda lens is a version with 7 elements and not with 8 elements. The 8-element version looks different and the aperture control is different.
The characteristics chosen for comparison are so vaguely defined and evaluation so subjective that I'd have to class this as entertainment rather than a technical comparison. I was a bit surprised that the Miranda lens seems to do as well as claimed. The Olympus lens has the advantage of nearly 20 years of improvements in glass types and coatings, plus the age of the Miranda means that it probably was designed by tradition hand-calculation methods as opposed to compute assisted design for the Oly. In fact, Miranda never designed or built it own lenses. It built only the bodies and accessories, sub-contracting its lenses to the third-party Japanese lens makers of the day. Apart from the Miranda branded lens, only Soligor made an extensive line of lenses with MIranda mounts, branded Soligor-Miranda. They were generally not as good as the "Miranda" lenses, but decent performers. In their day, the MIranda bodies were technically more advanced than most of its major competitors, and they were just as expensive. For example, MIranda was one of the first makers to adopt fully interchangeable viewing systems, including TTL metering cross coupled to aperture and shutter, at a time when Nikon was having trouble fitting a regular meter on the Nikon F, and Canon and Pentax offered no integrated metering at all. However, with developments, other makers started introducing smaller, more compact bodies with electronic controls. MIranda was too small and cash poor to pay for the development costs to keep up with the big dogs. After one troubled effort to enter the then-new market of small, automatic SLRs with its DX-3 model, MIranda closed its doors around 1975 after 20 years in the business.
Nice way to review! well done. I use a Miranda 50mm f1.8 for UV-photography and its performing admirably well in that part of the spectrum. Most lenses fail below 400nm.
Thank sounds amazing! If you have any opportunities to provide a link on your comments here or tag me on Instagram, I would LOVE to see your UV work both with and without the Miranda!
I love your show, and it is very helpful. However, I disagree- especially bout the bokeh. Miranda kicks Oly's butt down the block at every turn- and you don't even have the best- the real 8 element, as described in the preceding comments. Thanks!
Worth noting I think since you speak to the reputation or cred of each, Miranda and Olympus, that while Olympus was a long time optical manufacturer of lenses, Miranda did not make their own lenses. From all I've read, and I've dug a lot into this, it appears that Miranda's startout intent was to manufacture their own lenses. However I don't think their financial situation ever allowed them to fund lens manufacturing. As such they outsourced lenses from other manufacturers. Their first lenses were all manufactured by Kowa. Towards the end of your video where you show a few Miranda lenses, note the older lens near the middle with the old style focus tap. Its serial number has a K in front of it. That K is for Kowa. In fact, the earliest Miranda lenses had the Kowa name right on them. Then Miranda had them drop the Kowa name but still had the K before the serial number. Then they even dropped that and some Kowa made lenses were called Miranda lenses for a brief period. This is all pre Soligor brand name for Miranda lenses. I think up to this point they really did plan to start manufacturing their own Miranda lenses. However Miranda never became very fianancially solvent so they opted to create a lens brand name in Soligor and started purchasing lenses from many manufacturers other than Kowa in an attempt to source lenses more cheaply. I can't say for certain on the lens you reviewed here, which I own a copy of as well; but in looking at its construction, it very well may be a Tomioka manufactured lens, or Cosina. And last, for my money I prefer the look of the Miranda. As one person below noted, its more cinematic in its look, plus, I'm a bokeholic.
Sorry. The tested miranda lens is a version with 7 elements and not with 8 elements. The 8-element version looks different and the aperture control is different.
Olympus: Sharper, yes!....... Miranda: More Cinematic, Vintage look, More character, More Mojo ;)... Thanks for the excellent review!!
The characteristics chosen for comparison are so vaguely defined and evaluation so subjective that I'd have to class this as entertainment rather than a technical comparison. I was a bit surprised that the Miranda lens seems to do as well as claimed. The Olympus lens has the advantage of nearly 20 years of improvements in glass types and coatings, plus the age of the Miranda means that it probably was designed by tradition hand-calculation methods as opposed to compute assisted design for the Oly. In fact, Miranda never designed or built it own lenses. It built only the bodies and accessories, sub-contracting its lenses to the third-party Japanese lens makers of the day. Apart from the Miranda branded lens, only Soligor made an extensive line of lenses with MIranda mounts, branded Soligor-Miranda. They were generally not as good as the "Miranda" lenses, but decent performers. In their day, the MIranda bodies were technically more advanced than most of its major competitors, and they were just as expensive. For example, MIranda was one of the first makers to adopt fully interchangeable viewing systems, including TTL metering cross coupled to aperture and shutter, at a time when Nikon was having trouble fitting a regular meter on the Nikon F, and Canon and Pentax offered no integrated metering at all. However, with developments, other makers started introducing smaller, more compact bodies with electronic controls. MIranda was too small and cash poor to pay for the development costs to keep up with the big dogs. After one troubled effort to enter the then-new market of small, automatic SLRs with its DX-3 model, MIranda closed its doors around 1975 after 20 years in the business.
Great comparison, really liked your format.
A great video ! Really useful comparison. Thank you ! The Miranda 50 1.4 I have feels great on hand - built quality is really awesome
Love your work dude
Nice way to review! well done. I use a Miranda 50mm f1.8 for UV-photography and its performing admirably well in that part of the spectrum. Most lenses fail below 400nm.
Thank sounds amazing! If you have any opportunities to provide a link on your comments here or tag me on Instagram, I would LOVE to see your UV work both with and without the Miranda!
Nice review, would like to see you include a barrel distortion comparison and LoCa, color fringing test if possible!
Thanks Kal I appreciate it! I will work those into the mix! Cheers.
I want to get the eight-element Miranda, but how to recognize it externally from the recent seven-element version?
Auto Miranda 50mm 1.4 8 elements is with 46mm filter your version is with 52mm filter.
is the 8 elements version 46mm or 49mm?
@@yreyes1451 46
Giving the Miranda points for optical design doesn't make much sense when you clearly chose the Olympus over the Miranda on performance.
I love your show, and it is very helpful. However, I disagree- especially bout the bokeh. Miranda kicks Oly's butt down the block at every turn- and you don't even have the best- the real 8 element, as described in the preceding comments. Thanks!