ondrejp_spyderman

<p>If the problem only arises when you use it in low light, just use it in daylight and get another camera (probably OM-2n, not sp) for low-light and night photography.</p>

<p>I've got the F280 too, but haven't used it yet, because I didn't know HOW to use it.</p>

<p>I've just checked the mir.com.my and olympus.dementia.org pages about F280, and it seems to me, that to use it for fill-in in manual mode, you need to adjust distance from subject according to the ambient light.</p>

<p>So for example if the ambient reading gives you 1/125 f/11 (typical sunny day exposure for 100ASA film) you need to be 1m from your subject to get the subject illuminated by flash light only, or 1,4m to get 2:1 ratio of ambient:flash light. G.N. at 1/125 is 10.4<br>

The same distances are correct even if you change film speed, because according to "sunny 16" rule, for 400ASA you would need 1/500 f/11 exposure, and at 1/500 and 400ASA(!) the G.N. of F280 is again 10.4 and the f-stop remains the same.<br>

If we change the exposure of the first example to an equivalent combination of 100ASA 1/500 and f/5.6, the G.N. changes to 5.2 and again, the correct distance is approximately 1m.<br>

If however the light changes, and the light meter says 100ASA, 1/125 f/5.6 (overcast day) the G.N. is 10.4 and the correct distance according to the f-stop is approximately 2m.</p>

<p>=> it seems it only depends on the amount of ambient light.</p>

<p>Most Zuiko lenses are constructed similarly.<br>

I've had apart 200/4, 65-200/4, 135/3.5, 50/1,8 and some more I don't remember.<br>

On 135 you need to remove the lens mount, then aperture stop down mechanism (fairly easy).<br>

Then try to unscrew the whole rear group of lenses. It's usually just screwed in to some holder just behind the diaphragm. Then you can disassemble and clean the read group.<br>

If I remember correctly, on the front you need to remove the name ring, then take out individual lens elements.<br>

(disclaimer: last time I saw a 135 was more than 2 years ago)<br>

For fungus I use hydrogen peroxide - so far sucessfully cleaned every fungus infection I've seen.</p>

Yeah yeah yeah, I have read that already, but was hoping that F280 owners would write more here...

Hi,

 

I recently bought an F280 flash to accompany my OM-4Ti.

 

When it arrived, I started reading every manual and every piece of information available on how to use this flash

properly, but it seems quite complicated. I mean particularly the high-speed sync feature.

 

I'd be very grateful if you could share your experience and any tips on how you tend to use the flash.

 

Thanks in advance.

:D LOL

 

Definitely! Just buy it and send it to me ;)

For reference please take a look here: <a

href="http://brashear.phys.appstate.edu/lhawkins/photo/zuiko50.txt">(excerpt from a 1993 Photography magazine

test report)</a>. It's just a test report without images, but at least all the lenses were tested at once and

under identical conditions...

Tim: the second poster is talking about 55/1.2, not 50/1.2. Don't mix those two.

Wouldn't it be better to create a new forum for 4/3 ? To me it would seem more logical, because 4/3 is not only Olympus. This way you are mixing two completely different systems in this forum section...

50/1.2 is said to be the best Olympus 50mm lens in terms of character, bokeh, sharpness and contrast. It used to be the flagship. 49mm filter.

 

55/1.2 is the predecessor of 50/1.2. 55mm filter and slightly larger than 50/1.2. Also AFAIK available only single coated.

 

50/1.4 the best performance/price or "bang for the buck" ratio.

 

50/1.8 silver nose: good, but not great. Cheap and light. Metal construction.

 

50/1.8 MC, MiJ: optically great, mechanically worse than earlier 50/1.8. Almost entirely of plastic.

Dear Patrick, I'm not sure they are really OM mount. As far as I know RuGift as well as some ebay sellers sell "Zenitar for OM" or "Peleng for OM", but in fact it's usually the M42 version with adapter. But I may be wrong...

And the rear element - almost fluch with the rear of the lens.<div></div>

Here is the replaced lens mount....<div></div>

Hi Harold,

 

the lens isn't obstructing the mirror. The rear element protrudes less than the rear element of Zuiko 50.

 

The diaphragm stop-down pin can be easily removed once you open the back of the lens. Without the pin and its mechanism the lens is completely manual i.e. it directly sets the aperture when you set it on aperture ring.

 

I've just come home, so I'll take some pictures of it.

Zuiko fish eye is expensive, Sigma hard to find, but the russian Zenitars are readily available... Only problem

that the Zenitars are made in Canon EOS, Nikon F and M42 mounts.

 

I happened to have one Zenitar at home, and also a Zuiko 50/1.8 MiJ infected with fungus. Both of these lenses

have easily removeable mount. They can be relatively easily swapped (with some drilling of the OM mount to fit

the holes on the Zenitar lens). It's really not a difficult to do modification if you use the original M42 mount

as template for the holes.

 

This way the lens physically fits OM camera, but:

a) cannot focus at infinity (mine could only reach to about 1m)

b) metering does not work

 

I don't have a solution for the metering, but it is very easy to get it to focus at infinity. (even without this,

the DOF will reach to infinity at f/8 and smaller aperture) To reach real infinity focus, the optics has to be

moved closer to the film plane. To do this I had to remove the rubber on the focus ring, loosen 3 setscrews (to

disconnect the focus ring from the optics) and move the focus ring so as to enable the optics to focus farther

than before (to enable the optics to go closer to the film).

 

I did this and voila - I've got a OM-mount fish eye.

 

 

I will post pictures of the lens, and from the lens later.

<i>

- My OM-4 (for slide film, esp. useful with the spot meter)<br>

 

- My OM-1n (for the black and white)<br>

 

- My Zuiko 100mm f/2.8<br>

 

- My Zuiko 50mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 MIJ<br>

 

- My Zuiko 28mm f/2.8 </i>

<br><br>

I think this is a great kit, and you'll love it. You might want to add an ultrawide for some tight interiors, but

even these 3 lenses will be fine for 95% of all photographic opportunities.

<br><br>

BTW: my kit consist of the same lenses, and I've used it for several trips. I usually use 28 and 50 the most,

with 100 seeing only rare use. Sometimes a 28/2 would be more handy for dark interiors when the use of tripod is

forbidden. But I now have 28/1.9 for my Leica, and plan to use that for trips instead of the OM kit.

<br> <br>

<i>There will be so many great shots you'll miss, no matter how much stuff you bring. I learned a lot about

photography there, and by the end of my time had whittled my kit down to an OM2, a Cosina 135mm, a Vivitar 28mm,

the 50mm 1.8, couple of rolls of Provia and Tri-x, a polarizer, permanent marker, and a table top tripod. Sure,

sometimes I wished I had a little wider lens for here, or a macro for there, but in hindsight, I never would have

lugged this kit the places I did if I had included a couple more lenses and used a larger bag.</i>

<br><br>

I completely agree with this one. Keep it simple. Enjoy the trip.

Mohir Ali is right. I went for the 40/1.4 because of the extremely good price. I couldn't afford either the 35/4 or a Summi-something.

 

I think Cosina knows that the 35/1.4 is a direct competition to summicrons and summiluxes, so the lens is priced accordingly. Still, compared to either of the Leica lenses it's a bargain, and from what I've seen on the internet, the quality is very very close.

Are you sure your "other cameras" meter correctly ? Maybe compare reading of a grey card with reading of a external handheld incident lightmeter...

I have 35-105, and I tested it against Canon 28-105 and Tokina 28-105 on Canon DSLR and the Zuiko came out the best - crisp contrasty images.

 

It's my only Zuiko zoom, although I'd like to get the 28-48 some time in the future.

This is very strange, because display readout is independent of metering in auto mode and exposure in manual mode.

 

Could be dirty variable resistor for setting ASA speed (affects viewfinder exposure readout as well as actual exposure). Oily shutter electromagnet only causes sticking of shutter - viewfinder readout would still be correct.

 

If it's the ASA dial, the top plate needs to be taken off and the ASA dial removed, and te VR cleaned. It's either on the very edge or on the bottom of the dial body.

Give it to the repairman and tell him to remove the foam from the prism. It's not a problem, it usually takes about half an hour (I've done already 3 cameras, and I'm not a trained technician, just a DIY repairer).

 

If the fungus is on the rearmost element you might be able to remove it yourself with some hydrogen peroxid (H2O2) on cotton sticks. If it's inside the lens, leave it to the repairman. It's not a problem, but he can probably do it better.

 

Most Zuiko lenses are pretty straightforward to disassemble and reassemble.

50/1.4 MC. 'cos it's sharp at all apertures with beautiful bokeh. 8 diaphragm blades. And the feel is priceless.

The cheaper 50/1.8 (which I also own) just lacks the feel of the more expensive faster sibling.

 

BTW: the MC variants of 50/1.8 are made of plastic! Yuck!

OM-3/4 has slightly lower viewfinder magnification than OM-1/2 (I think like

0.85 vs. 0.9 or so). All OM's have large viewfinders compared to competitor's

consumer models, and HUGE compared to today's non-full frame dSLR's.

 

With identical focussing screen, the viewfinder of OM-1/2 is brighter because

OM-3/4 has half-mirror and steals some light for the metering sensor in the

bottom of mirror box.

 

OTOH OM-2sp/3/4 are comaptible with a 2- series focussing screen which is A LOT

brighter than standard 1-13 screen.

 

With all OM's the viewfinder coverage is about 95%. not "virtually zero". There

IS SOME cropping.

Thank you John. I admire how you know all the little quirks of those wonderful mashines... If I were in the US, I'd gladly have sent the camera to you.

 

re. the flushing: it's not actually flushing. I just picked up a drop of it on a small paint brush and applied it on the magnet. With the bottom off, to enable it to evaporate quickly.

 

re. the 1/1000 I don't know if it's firing at that speed, but all speeds sound the same and it's definitely a fast speed.

"Send it to John."

 

That is not an option. I'm in the E.U. and on return I would get charged import duty as if I was buying something... stupid but true.