New meets Old

[stevednp3]

I recently bought a OM 50mm 1.8 Lens from Graham a member here (thanks Graham ), I wanted it to produce creative DOF portraits. First impressions are very good, im pretty happy with the sharpness even wide open

I can see this becoming a favourite lens of mine

First of all this is what it looks like on my E-5





and heres some sample shots I took today, all taken @f1.8







Thanks for looking

[Alan Clogwyn]

Re: New meets Old

A cracking lens it is, sharpness is excellent for a standard lens, I find it a bit squiggly wide open but 1 stop down it's fantastic. The later f1.4 is meant to be the best one. I'd imagine the E5 will help pull out some more resolution wide open though.

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

A cracking lens it is, sharpness is excellent for a standard lens, I find it a bit squiggly wide open but 1 stop down it's fantastic. The later f1.4 is meant to be the best one. I'd imagine the E5 will help pull out some more resolution wide open though.

Yes I agree I took some shots at 2.8 and it is much sharper, but its just fine for what I want to do at 1.8

[andym]

Re: New meets Old

I've got one of these but never used it on my E system.Always paranoid about more gear and more weight to carry.

Looking at these I supose I'll have to crack and get an OM adaptor

I've got the 50mm f2,just wonder if there will be much difference in DOF,bokah etc.

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

I've got one of these but never used it on my E system.Always paranoid about more gear and more weight to carry.

Looking at these I supose I'll have to crack and get an OM adaptor

I've got the 50mm f2,just wonder if there will be much difference in DOF,bokah etc.

Thank Andy I can't comment on the 50mm f2 but the dof is greater than my 50-200 @ 50mm 2.8, well enough to make a creative difference imho.

I used to carry my kit 14-42 as a backup in my bag, but this just replaced it

[pepper]

Re: New meets Old

I have one of these along with a 50mm f3.5 macro, the macro is an amazing lens, and I tend to keep it on my OM2 most of the time.

[Bikie John]

Re: New meets Old

Anorak mode - that is the "Made in Japan" version, as shown on the front of the lens. From what I remember from long-distant OM forums, this was the latest version and was generally thought to be the sharpest of the f/1.8s.

Of the other OM 50s:

- the 2 macro lenses, f/2 and f/3.5 were very sharp. No idea what bokeh was like. The f/2 was pretty expensive, the f/3.5 was sometimes an absolute bargain. Would focus to pretty close without needing extension tubes.

- the f/1.4s were pretty variable. Early ones were considered soft, later ones much better (serieal numbers past 1.1 million IIRC).

- the old f/1.2 (actually 55mm rather than 50 but I've included it for completeness) was pretty soft. The later 50/1.2 was razor-sharp.

Of course whether sharp/soft is good/bad or not depends very much on your application.

Right, anorak mode off. It's Saturday night and the pubs are open to it's time to go and get a life.

Ciao ... John

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

I have one of these along with a 50mm f3.5 macro, the macro is an amazing lens, and I tend to keep it on my OM2 most of the time.

I have the 35mm f3.5 macro digital version and that is a cracker too, zuiko are absolutely superb lenses, old or new and make it almost impossible to leave Olympus once you have used and appreciate them

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

Anorak mode - that is the "Made in Japan" version, as shown on the front of the lens. From what I remember from long-distant OM forums, this was the latest version and was generally thought to be the sharpest of the f/1.8s.

Of the other OM 50s:

- the 2 macro lenses, f/2 and f/3.5 were very sharp. No idea what bokeh was like. The f/2 was pretty expensive, the f/3.5 was sometimes an absolute bargain. Would focus to pretty close without needing extension tubes.

- the f/1.4s were pretty variable. Early ones were considered soft, later ones much better (serieal numbers past 1.1 million IIRC).

- the old f/1.2 (actually 55mm rather than 50 but I've included it for completeness) was pretty soft. The later 50/1.2 was razor-sharp.

Of course whether sharp/soft is good/bad or not depends very much on your application.

Right, anorak mode off. It's Saturday night and the pubs are open to it's time to go and get a life.

Ciao ... John

Ha ha, thanks for the info john, very interesting. Well from what I've seen today this one does seam to be a good Sharp example

[theMusicMan]

Re: New meets Old

Wowza Steve, that black and white portrait is fantastic. I absolutely love the processing you've applied to it, it's really superb.

What a character you've made of your models face - one of the better B&W shots I've seen in a while.

PS: forgot to mention, I agree with you that the OM 50mm f1.8 is a tremendous lens and I regularly use mine. Did you ever see some shots I did of the Purton wrecks...? I used the 50mm f1.8 on some of those and the rendering is superb. You should get even better with your E5.

[Janet]

Re: New meets Old

I find it a bit squiggly

That's a technical term, I take it?

I'm currently having a whole load of fun with a couple of old CZJ Sonnar lenses on my Olympus e520...I must have a look at older OM lenses too!

That black and white portrait is absolutely spot on.

Janet

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

Thanks Janet and john, I'm glad you like the portrait, I took the shot and lit it the scene to process it this way, so I'm really happy the subject ( my father in law Alan) and others liked it, because it is a very harsh effect and I was nervous what people would think

I didn't realise you had used this lens for those shots john, just shows how versatile it is.

[StephenL]

Re: New meets Old

I love this lens, and the Zuiko 28mm, on my m4/3 kit. I'd love an f.14 version, but am too tight to pay for one!

[David M]

Re: New meets Old

the 2 macro lenses, f/2 and f/3.5 were very sharp. No idea what bokeh was like. The f/2 was pretty expensive, the f/3.5 was sometimes an absolute bargain. Would focus to pretty close without needing extension tubes.

John

Both 50mm macro lenses went to 1/2 life size. Add the 25mm extension tube and they went to life size. Both lenses had floating elements allowing for aberration correction at close focusing.

I used/owned 3 samples of the f3.5 model and found a lot of sample variation between them.

[stevednp3]

Re: New meets Old

I love this lens, and the Zuiko 28mm, on my m4/3 kit. I'd love an f.14 version, but am too tight to pay for one!