Affordable M 4/3 portrait prime lens in the near future?

[Tony Wakefield]

Several weeks ago I broke down and bought a GH1 and I am thrilled with it. I was planning on buying a Panny 20mm 1.7 to go along with it, but I also own a Leica D-lux 4 and I think it is a pretty good complement for the GH1's 14-140 kit lens, so I can´t really justify the cost for the 20mm.

However, I would love to get a good, fast portrait lens, but there is no way I can justify plopping down $800plus for the Leica 45mm 2.8, no matter how good it is. Also, I would like my portrait lens to be faster.

Yesterday I visited a used camera equipment store in downtonw Mexico City, and found an Olympus 50mm 1.4 which seems to be in pretty good condition and is selling for about US$75.00. I was very tempted to buy it, but know very little about Olympus optics and would also need to find a M4/3 adapter for it.

So, I am wondering if I should go ahead and buy it, or should I wait until either Panny or Olympus (or any other third party company) puts out a more reasonably priced version? Does anyone know if there any plans for a lens like this to come out anytime soon?

Thanks in advance for any adivce.

 

[travelfotografer]

how about the Olympus ZD 50mm f2 or the Sigma 30mm or 50mm f1.4 lenses? These are FourThirds mount (not mFT) so you will need a mFT-> FT adaptor. Your GH1 apparently wil not AF on these lenses unless Pany provides a firmware update, but no need for stop down metering (unlike the Zuiko 50mm f1.4)

--
Leon . http://picasaweb.google.com/travelfotografer



E3.420.330.1 918.1260.1450rit.25lux.25.50.50200SWD EC14.20 EX25 FL50R B+W FEISOL LEXAR

 

[WT21]

I believe it will be a bit of a wait for an Oly/Panny portrait lens (the Oly roadmap shows one I think in 2011).

The legacy 50mm lenses are pretty fun if you are OK with manual focus. The OM 50 1.4 is not as highly regarded as the 50 1.8 (which is said to be sharper), but is certainly faster, and is still considered a good lens. Under $100 is a reasonable price, though the 50/1.8s should be as low as $30. An OM adapter would be $30-40. I got mine from Rainbowimaging on eBay. I have purchased 3 adapters from them for my EP1, and all three adapters have worked wonderfully.

Also, check out mu-43.com and there is also a web site devoted to manual focusing lenses, to get more input on the best lens choices from the old, legacy lenses.
--

I refuse to wed myself to any of these vendors. I'm just having fun taking pictures,
and watching the technology develop.

 

[Tony Wakefield]

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'll research both possibilities.

 

[Umnak]

I have owned the Olympus 50mm 1.4 lens for 35 years. It is a wonderful compliment to the GF1 and would work well on your Panasonic. It works great as a portrait lens and as a landscape one as well.

This using the GF1 and the OM 50mm 1.4

 

[Alex C W]

color me a newbie but what do you mean by "no need for stop down metering"?

thanks.

 

[Fredrik Glckner]

You could get the 4/3 Olympus 50mm f/2 macro, but it is a bit awkward to focus manually on GH1. Here is a demonstration of how it works:

http://m43photo.blogspot.com/2010/01/manual-focus-with-lumix-gh1.html

As has been said, there is a 50mm prime on the Olympus road map, but we don't know the other specifications. Considering the price difference between the 4/3 and m4/3 versions of the Olympus 9-18mm lens, it could be that the 50mm m4/3 will also be expensive.

If you want a lens now, you must either choose the pricey Panasonic 45mm f/2.8, or a manual focus lens.

http://m43photo.blogspot.com/

 

[Anfy]

Another two possibilities:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=35057191

The advantages would be in good to excellent optical quality, prices sometimes not too high (but for the Leicas, of course), and most of all in very, very small physical dimensions for many of the lens+adapter combos.

Just remember that M mount is the lens type used by Leica and Voigtlander ("classic lenses" line) and others:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leica_M_mount

and that Olympus Pen F / FT / FV lenses were built for a system different from the old OM or current four thirds (4/3) ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Pen_F .

Ciao!

--
Viva la evolución!

 

[BigBarney]

color me a newbie but what do you mean by "no need for stop down metering"?

All digital cameras have the ability to measure the light incident on the camera's sensor and to use that information to decide on the optimum shutter speed, lens aperture and ISO sensitivity to use for the exposure proper. On a micro four thirds (MFT) lens and on some four thirds (FT) lenses with a FT to MFT adapter, the MFT camera body can adjust the lens aperture. However, when you use a 'legacy' lens from an older camera system there is no way in which the MFT camera body can control the lens aperture as the lens was never designed to do this.

Most legacy lenses have an aperture control ring on the lens barrel. Turning this ring will change the lens aperture. You can disconnect the lens and look through it while turning to see this happening. In practice with such a legacy lens with an adapter for a MFT camera body, you first select the aperture you want to use and turn the aperture control ring on the lens to that value. The MFT camera then meters the scene through this stopped down lens - so-called stopped down metering. This form of metering has one advantage and one disadvantage compared to metering with a MFT lens on a MFT camera body.

The disadvantage is that less light is hitting the sensor if the lens is stopped down; so depending on which MFT camera body you are using the preview image may be dimmer than you expect or may suffer from amplification noise if it is brighter.

The advantage is that metering through a stopped down lens gives you some form of depth of field preview.

At least that is how I understand it.

 

[Alex C W]

BigBarney:

thank you for taking the time to write such a thorough response. My GF1 is expected to arrive today (FINALLY!) and I don't yet have any manual lenses (but I'm chomping to get one to play with) so I can't put this information into practice just yet -- but it's great to already be learning stuff like this.

Alex