Olympus makes two body cap lenses, the 9mm and 15mm. Are they both good or not? In this article we will look at Olympus 9mm vs 15mm differences and similarities, let’s dig right in.
Olympus 9mm vs 15mm Lens design & specification
Both the 9mm and 15mm are pretty much the same body cap lenses. I review the Olympus 9mm here and the Olympus 15mm here. They are identical to the naked eye and if you saw someone with one you would have no idea if it was the 9 or 15mm they were rocking.
The main difference here is simply the focal length. The 9mm is an ultra-wide 18mm (Because of the x2 crop factor for the 43 cameras) and the 15mm is a 30mm lens.
It’s however not as simple as choosing one or the other because the 9mm is a fisheye and it distorts the image greatly. There are ways to minimize this with some strategic composition and fe-fishing in Lightroom. Yes that also means that you will crop the image but the resulting image would still probably be wider than the 15mm.
Similarities
Olympus 9mm vs 15mm: Both of the lenses are used indentically. Both are fixed aperture f8 lenses so you better have enough light or be ready to push your ISO if need be. Both lenses feature two focus modes, either it is close focus or hyperfocal focus.
I’ve never used the close focus as I could never really end up getting the subjects in focus. I’ve only used both lenses in 1meter (?) to infinity.
Using them
There’s a joy using these lenses for street photography. No more focusing, no more aperture and if you have auto ISO all you need to worry about is shutter speed and simply shooting. Due to having to defish most of my images I found the 9mm hard on the streets.
I don’t mess around with composition so if I put a line somewhere there’s a reason why but I just never knew how it would look like when the image was defished. The defishing isn’t perfect either so I couldn’t rely on it too much.
I have a street photography course here with all graphics design secrets for street photography. The 15mm was better in that sense. It is nowhere near as wide as the 9mm but what it did is make the whole experience “What you see is what you get” with little distorion.
If you don’t mind the defishing and not being fully in control of your images, the 9mm is a great lens for street photography. Or if you just want a lens that you can use without having any weird surprises in Lightroom, then the 15mm is better.
If you really want that wide angle however you have no other choice then the 9mm.
Olympus 9mm vs 15mm differences
The only difference between these two lenses’ s the focal length. They both function identically nd have the same focus and aperture. So let’s look at some images, shall we? First image is the original image coming from the 9mm:
And now this is the de-fished cropped version:
And now a similar shot with the 15mm:
As you can see the wide angle 9mm, even when it is cropped offers even wider angles then the 15mm.
If you are liking the wide angle of the 9mm remember that it is defished and you have to do this for every image or use a strategic placement when composing. Or you can use yours truly’s free defish preset. You might also want to check out our premium street photography presets.
Conclusion
When it comes to Olympus body cap lens 9mm vs 15mm, the 15mm is the better lens because there is no defishing involved when using it. But if you really want a wide angle that you will automatically crop, or if you do not mind the fisheye effect then the 9mm might be a better choice