Manual Lenses on Pen EP1/EP2?

[adam_l2]

<p>My favorite lens is an old Olympus 50mm 1.4 from 1970. I'm considering getting one of the new Pen cameras and an OM adapter and using it as a portrait lens for documentary-style shooting. How well do these old manual lenses work on the Pen cameras? Can you hit focus quickly and accurately?<br>

Thanks,<br>

Adam</p>

[SCL]

<p>You'll find lots of discussions on that topic here: http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=146</p>

[rapyke]

<p>I use an E-620, and I use the optical viewfinder for most of my manual lens shots (I use them exclusively)... if you are used to focusing your own lenses it doesn't take long to figure out the somewhat tough (small) viewfinder.</p>

<p>But, when focus is critical, I use live view and it works wonderfully... can't think of any reason this would not be the same on the Pen cameras.</p>

<p>Having said all of that, it is absolutely possible to zone focus your manual lens (the scale might be off a bit, but this is pretty easily fixed by peeking through the viewfinder). Once zone focused, you will shoot much, much faster than any auto-focus system...</p>

[Greg M]

<p>Manual focus with the Pen/Micro Four-Thirds cameras is much better than live view with the E620 since live view is the primary/only system available with those cameras, but I would want either the E-P2 or the E-PL1 to have access to the clip-on electronic finder so I could do it at eye level.</p>

<p>You just have to remember that your 50mm f1.4 has an effective field of view that's half what it was when you used it on your Olympus film-based SLR, so it won't be a lens you can use up close and at f1.4 without having to really focusing the thing very accurately, which makes shooting fast from the hip quite a bit more tricky.</p>

[philip_wilson]

<p>I use a Panasonic G1 with canon FD lenses and find it works well. I would not suggest using a Pen. As Greg mentions using an MF lens with a shallow DOF usually menas that you have to zoom in to 5x or 10x to focus. On a tripod this is fine with the LCD but handheld I find I need the EVF. Thus I suggest either a Panasonic with an EVF or getting an EVF for the Olympus. The olympus advantage is the in body image stabilization. I find my Canon 50 f1.4 is not in the same league as my Canon 50 f3.5 macro when used on a digital body unless it is stopped down.</p>

[adam_bliss]

<p>Hey Adam,<br>

I've been using the Nikon and Canon lenses on my E-P2 and have found them really pretty good overall in focus speed. There are some problems with not being able to get in and out of the zoomed mode easily but other then that it's been pretty good. You can check out some of my articles on this at <a href="http://l.knowphoto.com/3x">Knowphoto</a><br>

Adam</p>