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Legacy 50mm options

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Hi All,

I've recently acquired the hexanon AR 50mm 1.4 and Olympus MC OM 50mm 1.4 and can comfirm its got a soft focus effect at 1.4 with the hexanon more pronounce. But both of them improve quickly at F2 where alot of the glow will disappear and by F2.8 you'll be getting very sharp and contrasty photos from both lenses.

Now I appreciate more how well the ZD 50mm F2 was made cos I've no qualms using it wide open and the lens will still render sharp photos.

Maybe you should just stick to the ZD50mm and if you really need the F1.4, go for the panasonic 25mm 1.4

Nevertheless legacy manual lenses are a joy to use and the built and feel is so much better than modern lenses.

--
My Galleries
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sadwitch
 
Hexanons are on the softer side wide open. The 40mm at 1.8, the 50mm at 1.4, etc. Any lens is softer wide open. Welcome to reality.

Enough with this sharp nonsense. Photography is not about that.
sadwitch said:
Hi All,

I've recently acquired the hexanon AR 50mm 1.4 and Olympus MC OM 50mm 1.4 and can comfirm its got a soft focus effect at 1.4 with the hexanon more pronounce. But both of them improve quickly at F2 where alot of the glow will disappear and by F2.8 you'll be getting very sharp and contrasty photos from both lenses.

Now I appreciate more how well the ZD 50mm F2 was made cos I've no qualms using it wide open and the lens will still render sharp photos.

Maybe you should just stick to the ZD50mm and if you really need the F1.4, go for the panasonic 25mm 1.4

Nevertheless legacy manual lenses are a joy to use and the built and feel is so much better than modern lenses.

--
My Galleries
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/sadwitch
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I bought an Olympus OM 50/1.4 in mint conditions for $75. The OM lenses are known to give a bit softness to the images and a slightly better bokeh than my Nikon 50/1.8. I personally do not see the need at this point for you to spend anything over $100 for a 50mm lens. Unless you do night photography, there is very little need to get anything that is larger than f1.4, which tends to be more expensive and large.

I have not seen any pictures taken by the premium brands (eg Lecia) that IMO justify the high cost. In terms of size, the OM 50mm lenses are quite small already. Besides, you never know if you will enjoy MF so don't over-pay at this point.
Ari Mallare said:
I think I got lost somewhere in the discussion....

I'm not expecting everything in my wishlist to be fulfilled but I'm looking for the best compromise. To that end, I got an 50mm f1.4 SMC Takumar from KEH and we'll see how that goes. I figure it's a cheap enough gamble to take. I do realize that I'm gonna have to stop down to at least f2 but the size, price and (hopefully) the bokeh are enough to offset that.....

Are there any other lenses worth checking out?? I figure that I can collect a few, decide on one, then sell the rest without too much lost..... I'm taking a liking to the 58mm f1.2 Rokkor but they're hard to find and kinda pricey......
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G1Houston said:
Besides, you never know if you will enjoy MF so don't over-pay at this point.
Click to expand...
Well said. This is exactly what it comes down to.
first purchase should be cheap, but capable for the money.
 
40mm Leica M or LSM clone w/ el cheapo adapter.



 
My thoughts exactly. I'm a new EP-1 owner and just a few minutes ago snatched a Minolta Rokkor 135mm 2.8 for $35 on ebay, and a Konica Hexanon 40mm 1.8 from a friend for next to nothing. It's becoming clear to me that something reasonably fast and wider would set me back more than I'm OK with right now, so to play around with what I've already acquired is probably the right thing to do.

But boy have the m4/3 format given me a bad case of lens lust.. phew.
 
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