Olympus Pen Body useful for legacy manual lenses?

Albert Voss · Sep 24, 2012

Most problems I have with my old Panasonic G1 is with portraits in low light, I dare not to raise ISO over 800 because of the obvious degradation and do not have fast MFT glass. I do not have any dedicated portrait lens as the Olympus 45mm 1,8 so far and unfortunately even then (or with any other better Panasonic body) I would not have any stabilization as neither the lens nor the bodies have it. I have quite some decent old manual "normal" fast primes (from 1,2 to 2,0 from 38mm to 58mm), and even longer.

Would it be useful to buy an older Pen body for these manual lenses to gain the boost from IBIS in available light / low light situations (especially to avoid flash) or should I simply buy the 45mm (and a little bit better body for low light as the G5) and practically forget my old portrait lenses for this purpose?

(The obvious advice to change the body to an Olympus OM-D is much to expensive for me, and for ergonomic reasons I woul rather wait for the GH3 body from Panasonic.)

mh2000 · Sep 24, 2012

Other than IBIS, don't know what you gain with going with just the Oly 45.

IBIS in E-P1 helps. I like AF in my Oly 45 for portaiture, otherwise, it really isn't much better than my C/V Color-Skopar 50.

So really, you want the Oly 45 and an Oly body with IBIS.

Albert Voss said:
Most problems I have with my old Panasonic G1 is with portraits in low light, I dare not to raise ISO over 800 because of the obvious degradation and do not have fast MFT glass. I do not have any dedicated portrait lens as the Olympus 45mm 1,8 so far and unfortunately even then (or with any other better Panasonic body) I would not have any stabilization as neither the lens nor the bodies have it. I have quite some decent old manual "normal" fast primes (from 1,2 to 2,0 from 38mm to 58mm), and even longer.

Would it be useful to buy an older Pen body for these manual lenses to gain the boost from IBIS in available light / low light situations (especially to avoid flash) or should I simply buy the 45mm (and a little bit better body for low light as the G5) and practically forget my old portrait lenses for this purpose?

(The obvious advice to change the body to an Olympus OM-D is much to expensive for me, and for ergonomic reasons I woul rather wait for the GH3 body from Panasonic.)

--
mark hahn
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Anders W · Sep 24, 2012

Albert Voss said:
Most problems I have with my old Panasonic G1 is with portraits in low light, I dare not to raise ISO over 800 because of the obvious degradation and do not have fast MFT glass. I do not have any dedicated portrait lens as the Olympus 45mm 1,8 so far and unfortunately even then (or with any other better Panasonic body) I would not have any stabilization as neither the lens nor the bodies have it. I have quite some decent old manual "normal" fast primes (from 1,2 to 2,0 from 38mm to 58mm), and even longer.

Would it be useful to buy an older Pen body for these manual lenses to gain the boost from IBIS in available light / low light situations (especially to avoid flash) or should I simply buy the 45mm (and a little bit better body for low light as the G5) and practically forget my old portrait lenses for this purpose?

(The obvious advice to change the body to an Olympus OM-D is much to expensive for me, and for ergonomic reasons I woul rather wait for the GH3 body from Panasonic.)

I was shooting a Minolta MD 50/1.4 (a very good lens for its time) on a G1 until recently. Now I have an E-M5 and the 45/1.8.

I'd say you are facing two rather unrelated choices: Lens upgrade or not and body upgrade or not.

The lens upgrade was well worth the money to me for the following reasons:

1. The 45/1.8 is significantly better wide open and thereabout than any legacy lens is likely to be at the corresponding aperture. This holds for resolution as well as bokeh. And this is a kind of lens I would often want to use wide open for maximum background blur.

2. The 45/1.8 has AF.

3. The 45/1.8 is significantly smaller and lighter.

However, I am not saying that the legacy lenses you have are useless on MFT. They'll work too, just not quite as well.

The body upgrade was well worth the money to me too, although I was quite happy with my G1, save for the sensor performance. Like you, I wouldn't go higher than ISO 800 and now that limit has been pushed two stops. IBIS is nice too but I certainly wouldn't discourage you from getting the GH3 instead if you think that might suit your needs better.

flintrocker · Sep 24, 2012

In answer to your question, I use a refurbished Olympus E-PL2 with a 40mm f1.8 Konica lens that I bought at a garage sale for under $20 for the lens. The refurb body came from Cameta. This combo takes nice portraits. Manual focus only, of course, but I like that. It even works for action shots of my grandchildren if I zone focus. It is a little soft, but that is often desirable for portraits, and even for the action shots, I'm not a pixel peeper.

Polariser · Sep 24, 2012

I use a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 with my EPL-1 and it gives great results.

With the IBIS and Manual Focus Zoom its easy.

I only paid about $50 for the Mint condition Canon lens and haven't regretted it.

I also picked up a Minolta 50MM 1.4 in mint condition for about $60.

You can get adaptors for most lens systems from ebay.

Albert Voss · Sep 24, 2012

mh2000 said:
Other than IBIS, don't know what you gain with going with just the Oly 45.

Autofocus, which would be a good thing especially given the use of the lenses for portraiture very often with little DOF

mh2000 said:
So really, you want the Oly 45 and an Oly body with IBIS.

I will buy the Oly 45mm anyhow but I in all those years never bought a PEN body because they do not have a classical viewfinder (and I do not like those add on things they offer for some bodies). And I probably will not buy a OMD either because I disliked its ergonomics from the point i took it up im my hands for the first time.

Albert Voss · Sep 24, 2012

Anders W said:
I'd say you are facing two rather unrelated choices: Lens upgrade or not and body upgrade or not.

No, the lens upgrade is a nobrainer for me and the the not completely unrelated body upgrade still is undecided: The G3 is to small for me and lacks a grip most importantly, the G5 would be nice albeit a little bit expensive for the comparable little improvements, the upcoming GH4 would be an ergonomical dream, practically the same weight as the OMD with added grip, but Iwould rather buy another good lens instead of such an expensive Pana body still without in body stabilization.

Anders W said:
The lens upgrade was well worth the money to me for the following reasons:

However, I am not saying that the legacy lenses you have are useless on MFT. They'll work too, just not quite as well.

I know that legacy lenses are not useless on MFT, this is the reason that I have so many of them. But they are not so "easy" as modern dedicated AF-lenses

Albert Voss · Sep 24, 2012

flintrocker said:
In answer to your question, I use a refurbished Olympus E-PL2 with a 40mm f1.8 Konica lens...

This is basically what I am thinking about: any older Olympus body to use my old manual lenses. By the way: I have the Konica lens too, it is one of my better lenses and one of the smallest. (Regarding size and weight the Pentax 110 lenses are unbeatable but till this new adapter came up, the had the disadvantage of a fixed open aperture)

Is it easier to use the PEN + prime than on a Pana body? I hate to fiddle with that little button on my G1 to change to MF assist, I mostly have to take the camera down to hit it right.

Albert Voss · Sep 24, 2012

Polariser said:
I use a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 with my EPL-1 and it gives great results.

With the IBIS and Manual Focus Zoom its easy.

I only paid about $50 for the Mint condition Canon lens and haven't regretted it.

I also picked up a Minolta 50MM 1.4 in mint condition for about $60.

You can get adaptors for most lens systems from ebay.

Yes, the advantage of MFT (and NEX) is the shorter distance that makes it possible to add practically any decent legacy lens especially the older ones that still had aperture rings.

And as I mentioned in the opening message, I have adapters "for most lens system" already and a fair bunch of fitting lenses, from a tiny 24mm in 110 mount to heavy old zoom and macro lenses.

My question is not whether an Olympus body would work at all, I know it does, but how good/convenient/reliable it works.

pannumon · Sep 25, 2012

Albert Voss said:
Is it easier to use the PEN + prime than on a Pana body? I hate to fiddle with that little button on my G1 to change to MF assist, I mostly have to take the camera down to hit it right.

I bought E-P1 because of IBIS for manual work. On G1 you got the EVF which have nice resolution, and even the back LCD of G1 is MUCH better for MF than the LCD of E-P1. Also toggling the MF Zoom is really painful on E-P1 (even after customizing the user interface). The implementation on G1 felt extremely convenient after E-P1 (the two buttons are adjanced). I think this is not a problem newer models, such as E-PL1. Of course when you get used to E-P1 it is not that bad anymore, but then I recommend that you move totally to Olympus.

I quickly sold the E-P1 and now use my G1 as a MF body.

If you want a PEN, get a newer model with higher resolution LCD and option for a good EVF.

Edit: Typo. Also I forgot to say that on E-P1 pressing half-shutter while magnifying will NOT turn the magnification off, like on Panasonic bodies. This is really really annoying, especially because you are forced to use the magnification due to the low resolution screen.

Albert Voss · Sep 25, 2012

pannumon said:
I bought E-P1 because of IBIS for manual work. On G1 you got the EVF which have nice resolution, and even the back LCD of G1 is MUCH better for MF than the LCD of E-P1. Also toggling the MF Zoom is really painful on E-P1 (even after customizing the user interface). The implementation on G1 felt extremely convenient after E-P1 (the two buttons are adjanced).

Basically I think about adding a Pen body only for the IBIS nad nothing else. That it is even less convenient to MF compared to my G1 body is something that I feared already. It seems that the E-P1 is out then for my manual lenses.

Ulfric M Douglas · Sep 25, 2012

Albert Voss said:
Would it be useful to buy an older Pen body for these manual lenses to gain the boost from IBIS

Yes BUT then you have the extra expense of buying the VF-2 viewfinder to match the focusing experience of tyour G1.

Albert Voss said:
... should I simply buy the 45mm ...

If you want to.

Here's my timeline ;
G1 & manual lenses & adapters.
e-pL1 & VF-2 & manual lenses & adapters. (For Jpeg colours & ISO-bracket)
e-P2 & VF-2 & manual lenses & adapters. (For better IBIS & style)
e-P2 & VF-2 & mZuiko 45mm (For speedy thoughtless autofocus)
(I sold nothing, still use all the stuff)
Increasing my collection bit-by-bit made the finances seem trivial.

eques · Sep 25, 2012

What kept me from using Pens is the missing EVF - I find it very difficult to focus manually with the LCD. And with the VF1/2 the Pen is quite expensive and not really compact any more. - Peter.

Lights · Sep 25, 2012

I've been using an EPL1 with a VF2 and quite a few older lenses with results that please me for practical purposes. Granted that the lenses designed for M43 are mostly better at the pixel level, for real world stuff better manual focus lenses work fine (at least to my eyes) and some have quite nice signatures. I do find the IBIS on my EPL1 is quite handy for static subjects at very slow shutter speeds, but especially with longer lenses in the magnified view the IBIS (unlike the OMD) doesn't help, and it takes a while to get accustomed to magnified focusing (with longer lenses) - portrait length not too much problem, 135+ (270 EFL) yes...very jittery focusing, but very good with IBIS when you nail the focus. Here are a few examples with the EPL1 (which can be had new for a song at Cameta camera).
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/1387692077/albums/manual-focus-lenses

--

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"why so serious?": The Joker

photoholiko · Sep 25, 2012

To Lights:

Very good pics, thanks for posting. I also have the E-PL1 and looking at your pics I realized I also have the Tamron 28-70/3.5 adaptall lens, I haven't used it yet but after seeing your work I'm anxious to try it out. I don't an EVF and I find focusing with zoom lenses a bit difficult, but with WA lenses like the Sigma 24/2.8 macro the results are excelent.

Albert Voss · Sep 25, 2012

Lights said:
Here are a few examples with the EPL1 (which can be had new for a song at Cameta camera).

Unfortunately Cameta does not offer free shipping to Germany too. For me here in Berlin the price more than doubles, taxes not even calculated in.

Albert Voss · Sep 25, 2012

eques said:
What kept me from using Pens is the missing EVF - I find it very difficult to focus manually with the LCD. And with the VF1/2 the Pen is quite expensive and not really compact any more. - Peter.

Meanwhile I think, that the addition of a PEN body to supplement my current anf future Pansonic body probably is not a very practical idea. At least not a very cheap solution if it is a solution at all

Lights · Sep 26, 2012

photoholiko said:
To Lights:

Very good pics, thanks for posting. I also have the E-PL1 and looking at your pics I realized I also have the Tamron 28-70/3.5 adaptall lens, I haven't used it yet but after seeing your work I'm anxious to try it out. I don't an EVF and I find focusing with zoom lenses a bit difficult, but with WA lenses like the Sigma 24/2.8 macro the results are excelent.

Thank you. Yes it's very hard to focus some of the lenses without the EVF, and almost impossible in bright light. The Tamron 28-70 really surprised me for an older zoom, especially in macro mode. I've had it since my Minolta film days...It cost a lot more then, very reasonable now

--

http://www.pbase.com/madlights
http://barriolson.aminus3.com/
"why so serious?": The Joker

Lights · Sep 26, 2012

Albert Voss said:
Lights said:

Here are a few examples with the EPL1 (which can be had new for a song at Cameta camera).

Click to expand...

Unfortunately Cameta does not offer free shipping to Germany too. For me here in Berlin the price more than doubles, taxes not even calculated in.

Or you could maybe wait a bit and get the EPL5. I've read a couple of places that the internal stabilization works better than previous Pens (but not as good as the OMD) It also has the OMD sensor and the processor from my understanding. The G5 seems a nice camera too (and has that built in viewfinder, which may be more beneficial than stabilization for manual focusing). The only time I really turn my IS on is maybe below 1/15 or 1/20 on a wider angle lens...I would think having a viewfinder against the eye, would even help stabilize the camera somewhat, rather than trying to hold steady at arms length.
--

http://www.pbase.com/madlights
http://barriolson.aminus3.com/
"why so serious?": The Joker

Albert Voss · Sep 27, 2012

Lights said:
I would think having a viewfinder against the eye, would even help stabilize the camera somewhat, rather than trying to hold steady at arms length.

Yes indeed. To "help" the PEN bodies I event thought of adding a little table tripod for typical party/restauant situations. But this obviously does not count as candid shooting anymore.

One of the reasons my favourite body at the moment is the Pana G5 is its silent electronic shutter, which I checked out this morning, because this helps in relatively noiseless indoor situations.

Olympus Pen Body useful for legacy manual lenses?

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