First Leica / Voigtlander/small non pany lens for a GF1

I have a Panasonic GF1 and spent some time today at the camera market in Shanghai. In the 2nd hand section there were several shops with old leica lenses, and also a shop that sells adapter rings for micro four thirds.

I would really like to get some old manual focus lenses because I've always loved the quality of those lenses.
So my question is:

What lens would you recommend for a micro four thirds camera?
I have the Lumix 20mm f1.7 and the 14-45mm zoom lens. I love the fast 20mm lens.
So now I'm thinking about different choices:

1. try to find a heliar or other wide lens (difficult because the focal length doubles compared to 35mm film) so my 20mm is actually a 40mm. and the 14mm becomes a 28mm, which is not very wide.

2. Settle for the 35mm Summicron? (often recommended on this forum as the first lens to get)

3. Go for a 75mm lens since I don't have a tele lens yet. (but wouldn't it be better to get the lumix 45-200mm with image stabilization for that?)

4. a macro lens? like the elmarit? (don't really use macro, since sadly enough Shanghai isn't exactly famous for its nature), but for portraits it would be interesting.

I'm currently thinking old lenses for shorter focal lengths, get a stabilized telezoom later. (I mainly do street photography at the moment, but will travel more in the not too distant future).

(or other lenses that have a small size?)

I have ordered a C-mount adapter, and will shortly try the Pentax 12.5mm 1.4 lens = 25mm 1.4. I ASAP post an evaluation. If it works well, you can have this combo for about 250 US - the adapter is about 110 US. Pentax also makes a 6.5mm 1.4 and a 25mm 1.4 which can be had for relatively ridiculously low sums. And there are 25mm 0.95 lenses for more serious sums out there.

That sounds interesting but is that a cctv (security camera) lens?
How does that affect the sharpness etc if it is.
Cool idea though to get access to cheap wide lenses if it works.

Going wide is a problem given the effective doubling of focal length with m4/3. I’ve heard good things about the Panasonic 7-14mm (14-28 equiv.) but it's expensive.

I have the Voigtlander 75mm F2.5 (equiv. 150 f2.5, and a beautifully lens btw) and it will outperform the Lumix 45-200mm F4 just because it is not a zoom. Contrast and color is better in the 75mm. At f5.6 it’s awesome. Excellent build quality. Voigtlander also makes a 90mm.

The Voigtlander 40mm f.1.4 is wonderfully sharp with great contrast.

The 45-200mm (equiv. 90-400) is a very decent lens but forces you to shoot a t higher speeds because of its focal length (rule of thumb for telephotos shoot at higher speed than focal length, i.e., if shooting at 200mm use a shutter speed of 1/300 sec.). Nice thing about the lens is its light weight. Stabilization definitely a plus.

There is a Nikon adapter that works on m4/3 but you need to find lenses with manual aperture control. There are some great Nikkors out there. Adapters that work with Nikon “G” lenses (with don’t have manual aperture control) are more expensive and I’ve heard they are problematic.

Rich
http://www.pbase.com/rich_rivera/root

Here's a beauty shot of the eE-P1 with the Voigtlander 75mm

I have the GF1 with the 20mm f1.7. For my first smallish non-Panasonic lens, I picked up the Voigtlander 40mm f1.4 Nokton. I like it so far...



--
http://weylunleephoto.blogspot.com

ToineR said:

What lens would you recommend for a micro four thirds camera?
I have the Lumix 20mm f1.7 and the 14-45mm zoom lens. I love the fast 20mm lens.
So now I'm thinking about different choices:

1. try to find a heliar or other wide lens (difficult because the focal length doubles compared to 35mm film) so my 20mm is actually a 40mm. and the 14mm becomes a 28mm, which is not very wide.

Click to expand...

At the wide end, it's going to be expensive to get anything out of a Leica or Voigtlander that you don't already have with your 20 and 14-45.

The 15mm Heliar gives you nothing the 14-45 can't give you -- indeed, it's slower, not stabilized and lacks AF, so is a step back (or three) IMHO.

The 12mm Heliar seems rather pricey for the privilege of shaving off 2 mm, and is even slower than the 15. Unless you can get a really good deal on one, I'd suggest saving up for the Pana 7-14 and/or waiting for the Oly 9-18.

These two particular lenses (Heliars) strike me as being really only worthwhile on m4/3 if you also have a Bessa, M, etc.

I'm reasonably happy with the Voigtlander Nokton 40/1.4. It's compact, lightweight, and produces pleasing results. However, since I've resumed using my old Nikkor 50, I've noted that the Voigtlander is significantly more difficult to focus (less travel on the ring, thus less room for fine tuning).

Medgyesi1 said:

I have ordered a C-mount adapter, and will shortly try the Pentax 12.5mm 1.4 lens = 25mm 1.4. I ASAP post an evaluation. If it works well, you can have this combo for about 250 US - the adapter is about 110 US. Pentax also makes a 6.5mm 1.4 and a 25mm 1.4 which can be had for relatively ridiculously low sums. And there are 25mm 0.95 lenses for more serious sums out there.

Click to expand...

I've heard (and seen) good things about the Pentax (Cosmicar) 12.5/1.4 (e.g. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1038&message=32224856 ).

The problem is that you will have to machine the lens a bit to get it to fit the adapter, and then you will have to crop the images to near a square, because the lens doesn't quite cover the whole sensor.

Still, it looks like a cheap, fast wide, which is nothing to sneeze at given the current options.

--
MFBernstein

'Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit.' - Ed Abbey

ToineR said:

I have a Panasonic GF1 and spent some time today at the camera market in Shanghai. In the 2nd hand section there were several shops with old leica lenses, and also a shop that sells adapter rings for micro four thirds.

I'm currently thinking old lenses for shorter focal lengths, get a stabilized telezoom later. (I mainly do street photography at the moment, but will travel more in the not too distant future).

(or other lenses that have a small size?)

Click to expand...

CV 40mm f/1.4 Nokton (as other have mentioned). This is not really an OLD lens, and retains its value well. However even new CV lenses are often cheaper than old Leica glass.

Olympus Pen 40mm f/1.4. Not a Leica, but sharp and small. Focuses closer, too. Different adapter needed (obviously). Could be paired with the Pen 70mm f/2, if you can find one.

Leica Summicron 40mm f/2 or Minolta M-Rokkor 40mm f/2 (introduced 1973). From the Leica/Minolta CL and CLE. The Rokkor that came with the Minolta CL is an exact copy of the Summicron. The CLE version is marginally different (coatings). All are good, and very small (about 120g). Can generally be found cheaper than 35 or 50 'crons.

--
John.
http://www.pbase.com/burnettjn

Well - the one that I will be testing is a lens meant for 1 inch sensors - 25.4mm diagonal, whereas micro four thirds is a 22.5mm diagonal - so there should not be any problems.

But more to follow - the adapter is on it's way from Japan...

This is where I bought the adapter:

http://www.chiifcameras.com/site2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=130&Itemid=123

I will buy the lens locally in order to be able to test it before parting with my money. The Danish Pentax CCTV importer has a number of lenses from other companies too - and he finds the project quite amusing, so I'll get a chance to rummage through his inventory.

More to follow.

PS I have a boat-load of Leica and Voightländer lenses, but they are not very interesting compared to the potential outcome of C-mount lenses, which are much smaller, weigh less, are much cheaper, and are much faster as well as being wider:

No one else makes a 12.5mm 1.4 - the closest you get is a 12mm - is it 5.6? And that is not very sexy - much more depth of field, much higher ASA (it is four stops slower, so when you shoot at 3200 ASA, I'll be at 200 ASA!), heavier and much more expensive...

Well - I bought an adapter that does not need any tricks...

Thanks for all the great responses.
imagesmatter's response about the 75mm voigtlander is very interesting.
it seems the way to go for a next lens is towards the 50mm or 75mm range.
I'll have a look what's out there on the chinese websites and markets.
I'll let you know what I end up with later.
Cheers,
Toine

Could you tell me from where you purchased your adapter for the Cosmicar / Pentax 12.5mm f/1.4? I'd like to try this lens on my EP1!

Thanks!