Manual Focus/Aperture Lens on Olympus E-PL1

[shah123]

I was trying to get a fixed lens for my E-PL1 to take some good bokehs. The micro 4/3rd lenses are pretty expensive, but the regular m42 lenses are much cheaper. As I understand the 35mm equivalent for E-PL1 is twice the focal length of the m42 lens. I was considering a 28mm lens with f/2.8 max aperture, this would make it an equivalent of 56mm lens.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this would work along with an adapter. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

 

[ju_ju]

Shah there are adapters for most lenses if not all lenses. I use them for M42, M39LTM, EF, OM, and a few more, all cheap and cheerful. I would not buy expensive adapters as the cheaper ones are just as good. Its fun and sometimes a lens comes along which is a stunner. I particularly like the 50mm induster and the Jupiter 8.

 

[clengman]

shah123 wrote:

I was trying to get a fixed lens for my E-PL1 to take some good bokehs. The micro 4/3rd lenses are pretty expensive, but the regular m42 lenses are much cheaper. As I understand the 35mm equivalent for E-PL1 is twice the focal length of the m42 lens. I was considering a 28mm lens with f/2.8 max aperture, this would make it an equivalent of 56mm lens.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this would work along with an adapter. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

If you want to take some good bokehs the 28 f/2.8 may not do it for you. I'd go with a 50mm f/1.8 or faster if you want pictures with blurred backgrounds. The issue then will be working distance. If you want something closer to the normal focal length and fast enough for good subject isolation you almost have to go with a native lens.

 

[LincolnB]

shah123 wrote:

I was trying to get a fixed lens for my E-PL1 to take some good bokehs. The micro 4/3rd lenses are pretty expensive, but the regular m42 lenses are much cheaper. As I understand the 35mm equivalent for E-PL1 is twice the focal length of the m42 lens. I was considering a 28mm lens with f/2.8 max aperture, this would make it an equivalent of 56mm lens.

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this would work along with an adapter. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks.

A 28mm lens on a M43 camera is 28mm whether it's a brand new native lens or a legacy lens that's 50 years old. The angle of view does not change.



I use a 28mm 2.8 lens quite often. They can be found for as little as $20 sometimes and the adapters cost about the same. Legacy 50mm lenses are also a good bargain and they're usually faster.

 

[baxters]

Most of your old 28mm lenses are relatively soft wide open, and if sharpness is your goal, you will end up with the same aperture as the Olympus 14-42 at 28mm and not gained anything. So I advise not paying much more than $20 for a 28mm. Instead, the Sigma 30mm at its current $150 price can be used at f2.8 and gives you AF. The old lenses are still fun though, and usually inexpensive.

As mentioned earlier, a 50 mm f1.8 will give you better bokeh and these are usually cheaper than 28mm's, being much more common.


BTW, you are correct. 28mm is same on your legacy lens and the kit 14-42, but crop factor is 2.0X for both.

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

shah123 wrote:

I was trying to get a fixed lens for my E-PL1 to take some good bokehs. ...

Looking at this first line of your question : a 28mmF2,8 will not do the job.

Go and buy something like a Pentax (any fit) 50mm F1.8 or an Olympus-OM 50mm (or various others) and at 50mm F1.8 you will get nicely blurred backgrounds and sharp eyes.

Job done.

In my opinion your e-pL1 is the very best Pen for manual-focus.

 

[rpm40]

You can also check around for some nice old Konica lenses, not many people using them anymore so they can be pretty reasonable. As others have said, a 50mm 1.8 will give you what you want. Remember too that many of these cheaper old film lenses are not sharp wide open, so you may need to stop down a bit to get quality you find acceptable, so don't get something that already starts at 2.8 or 3.5 unless it's a lens thats known to already be good wide open.

Edit: A great place to shop for these lenses is keh.com. I've bought several from them and been quite happy. Adorama.com also has a ton too. If you don't care about the brand, you can often find some cheapies on craigslist as well. Happy hunting!

 

[Lights]

Tamron 24mm F2.5 adaptall 01bb

I don't know if I got an exceptional copy of this lens or what, but it's as sharp as a tack on M43 with in my opinion a nice looking background blur and close focusing abilities (1st pic no auxillary lens) and I was lucky enough to get one still brand new in a box for 110.00 a year or so back. The adapter I got was for Minolta to M4/3 (Rainbow imaging) since I had a few Tamron adaptalls to MD adapters around. You can find Adaptall adapters now directly to M4/3 for not much. I'm finding my older Tamron zooms even pretty good on M4/3 since because of the crop factor just using the center (and usually sharper) part of the lens. And yes you would have to be really close ,risking some distortion, to get subject isolation using blurred background techniques. An F1.4-F2 45 or 50mm would do that for portraiture better than a wider lens (since wider faster lenses are very difficult to find).

--
My Gallery is here -
http://www.pbase.com/madlights
Why so serious? :The Joker

 

[shah123]

Thank you guys for all the responses. I really appreciate it.

Looks like you guys don't seem to be bothered by the fact that the size of the sensor causes a crop factor of 2x and effectively doubling the lens mm. Maybe I should have mentioned that I needed the lens to mainly take pictures of my 9 month old twins - that is - for indoor photography. So if I get a 50mm lens, it would be like having a 100mm lens and that is quite a bit of zoom for indoor photography. Am I missing something? My understanding is that when I would plug in a 50mm lens, and look through the LCD, I will see way closer than I would expect from a 50mm lens. Is that not true?

Thanks again guys for your support and pardon my ignorance if I am asking totally stupid or trivial questions.

 

[Greynerd]

shah123 wrote:

Thank you guys for all the responses. I really appreciate it.

Looks like you guys don't seem to be bothered by the fact that the size of the sensor causes a crop factor of 2x and effectively doubling the lens mm. Maybe I should have mentioned that I needed the lens to mainly take pictures of my 9 month old twins - that is - for indoor photography. So if I get a 50mm lens, it would be like having a 100mm lens and that is quite a bit of zoom for indoor photography. Am I missing something? My understanding is that when I would plug in a 50mm lens, and look through the LCD, I will see way closer than I would expect from a 50mm lens. Is that not true?

Thanks again guys for your support and pardon my ignorance if I am asking totally stupid or trivial questions.

I have a 45mm Olympus 1.8 and I find that rather narrow for the grandchildren when they are moving. I find the 30mm Sigma f2.8 easier to use and one I use more. Whilst your twins are not rushing around 50mm will be fine if you can stand far enough back but 50mm will be tight indoors as it is 100mm equivalent. As your twins become more mobile manual focus may be a problem if you use a legacy lens with an adapter.

I believe you can hold the flash on the EPL-1 as with the EPL-2 to bounce off the ceiling and I use an EPL-2 with the slow kit lens bouncing the fairly powerful flash which I find can give excellent results indoors, better than the fast lens but of course with less isolation.

 

[shah123]

Greynerd wrote:

shah123 wrote:

Thank you guys for all the responses. I really appreciate it.

Looks like you guys don't seem to be bothered by the fact that the size of the sensor causes a crop factor of 2x and effectively doubling the lens mm. Maybe I should have mentioned that I needed the lens to mainly take pictures of my 9 month old twins - that is - for indoor photography. So if I get a 50mm lens, it would be like having a 100mm lens and that is quite a bit of zoom for indoor photography. Am I missing something? My understanding is that when I would plug in a 50mm lens, and look through the LCD, I will see way closer than I would expect from a 50mm lens. Is that not true?

Thanks again guys for your support and pardon my ignorance if I am asking totally stupid or trivial questions.

I have a 45mm Olympus 1.8 and I find that rather narrow for the grandchildren when they are moving. I find the 30mm Sigma f2.8 easier to use and one I use more. Whilst your twins are not rushing around 50mm will be fine if you can stand far enough back but 50mm will be tight indoors as it is 100mm equivalent. As your twins become more mobile manual focus may be a problem if you use a legacy lens with an adapter.

I believe you can hold the flash on the EPL-1 as with the EPL-2 to bounce off the ceiling and I use an EPL-2 with the slow kit lens bouncing the fairly powerful flash which I find can give excellent results indoors, better than the fast lens but of course with less isolation.

Great Greynerd. Thanks. Let me ask you this, do you get the bokeh effect (blurry background) when you use your 30 f2.8 Sigma lens. If so, then that's what I am gonna go for. If not then I will try out 50mm f1.8.

 

[Greynerd]

45mm





30mm

Possibly rather close focus so a more distant portrait may would give less bokeh. The 45mm is the better of the two and if bokeh is your main driver this focal length would be better. Have a look around if you can at sample images. I like having both lens as the 30mm is utilitarian and the 45mm a bit special. As you can see the 45mm is at f5 which shows the telephoto giving more bokeh.

hah123 wrote:

Greynerd wrote:

shah123 wrote:

Thank you guys for all the responses. I really appreciate it.

Looks like you guys don't seem to be bothered by the fact that the size of the sensor causes a crop factor of 2x and effectively doubling the lens mm. Maybe I should have mentioned that I needed the lens to mainly take pictures of my 9 month old twins - that is - for indoor photography. So if I get a 50mm lens, it would be like having a 100mm lens and that is quite a bit of zoom for indoor photography. Am I missing something? My understanding is that when I would plug in a 50mm lens, and look through the LCD, I will see way closer than I would expect from a 50mm lens. Is that not true?

Thanks again guys for your support and pardon my ignorance if I am asking totally stupid or trivial questions.

I have a 45mm Olympus 1.8 and I find that rather narrow for the grandchildren when they are moving. I find the 30mm Sigma f2.8 easier to use and one I use more. Whilst your twins are not rushing around 50mm will be fine if you can stand far enough back but 50mm will be tight indoors as it is 100mm equivalent. As your twins become more mobile manual focus may be a problem if you use a legacy lens with an adapter.

I believe you can hold the flash on the EPL-1 as with the EPL-2 to bounce off the ceiling and I use an EPL-2 with the slow kit lens bouncing the fairly powerful flash which I find can give excellent results indoors, better than the fast lens but of course with less isolation.

Great Greynerd. Thanks. Let me ask you this, do you get the bokeh effect (blurry background) when you use your 30 f2.8 Sigma lens. If so, then that's what I am gonna go for. If not then I will try out 50mm f1.8.

 

[shah123]

Greynerd wrote:



45mm


30mm

Possibly rather close focus so a more distant portrait may would give less bokeh. The 45mm is the better of the two and if bokeh is your main driver this focal length would be better. Have a look around if you can at sample images. I like having both lens as the 30mm is utilitarian and the 45mm a bit special. As you can see the 45mm is at f5 which shows the telephoto giving more bokeh.

Hi Greynerd, thanks for the samples. I think you just sold me for the 45mm. Unfortunately when I look for the 45mm lenses there are barely any used ones available, and the new ones are pretty expensive. I guess I will have to stick with 50mm. Here is one I am considering. Do you think it will work?

 

[Ulfric M Douglas]

shah123 wrote:

... Let me ask you this, do you get the bokeh effect (blurry background) when you use your 30 f2.8 Sigma lens. If so, then that's what I am gonna go for.

Yes, up to a point.

The angle of view and the fast focus makes it very good for your exact job : Indoor children.

 

[YuriS]

I'm using E-PL1 and tried and tested many legacy manual lenses. From my point of view Minolta (MD/MC) prime lenses (50mm, 85mm) provides high quality pictures, and costs much less that current Oly/Pana lenses. You can find examples / tests using following links:

http://natalispalette.jimdo.com/photo/minolta-md-rokkor-50mm-f1-4-lens/

http://natalispalette.jimdo.com/photo/minolta-md-50mm-f1-7-lens/

http://natalispalette.jimdo.com/new...md-rokkor-x-85mm-f2-0-vs-jupiter-9-85mm-f2-0/

http://natalispalette.jimdo.com/new-and-old-camera-lenses-by-yuri-stangrit/comparisons-and-reviews/

 

[baxters]

shah123 wrote:

Hi Greynerd, thanks for the samples. I think you just sold me for the 45mm. Unfortunately when I look for the 45mm lenses there are barely any used ones available, and the new ones are pretty expensive. I guess I will have to stick with 50mm. Here is one I am considering. Do you think it will work?

Canon 50mm FD 1.8 SC. Sure, it would work fine for flower photos, You could duplicate greynard's bokeh, etc. The 45mm will show off its superior wide open rendering when you move away from closeups and go for across the image detail. The Canon will need to be stopped down to get the same sharpness.

BTW, I own that lens. The FD is one of the heaviest 50's, but is still good. Almost any other 50mm F1.8 from a major camera maker from that era will give similar results. $30 shipped is an OK price, but you need to add in a $15 adapter.

For interim use, the 50mm is a good stop gap until you can get an AF lens down the road. It will be pretty tight for indoor candids with children, unless you want to fill the frame. I just used my 45mm for some baby shots and was really pleased.