Legacy Glass worth it?

[kvg]

I have a few old legacy lenses for my m43 camera and I was wondering if its worth it or a waste of money buying old voitlander/leica lenses. Are modern lenses better way?


Thx
Kelly

[blitz]

Old glass is fun on m43s and super fast glass helps overcome the small sensor lack of DOF. I say go for it!

[kvg]

Any input on better glass? F2.5 or FASTER!! I can get pretty much any mount.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I can't comment specifically on M4/3 lenses but newer lenses are almost always better if you buy the newer equivalent. Better contrast, better resistance to flare (better lens coatings), lightning fast AF motors, etc.

Sharpness wise, there are old lenses that are pretty well as sharp as some of the best glass today. A lot of older lenses are built very well, too. Modern AF is so good that I wouldn't even consider buying a MF only lens, but that's just me - some people don't mind depending on their style.

You also won't be getting any in-lens stabilization in older lenses, which is far superior to in-camera/sensor based stabilization from a technical/effectiveness standpoint. The sole advantage of in-body stabilization is that it works on every lens (including legacy glass).

Anyways, that is just my take on the situation - I have no interest in old lenses personally.

[blitz]

When using a old lens on a m43, you're only actually using the very center of the image circle, so things like corner sharpness don't matter at all.

I say start with cheap lenses in whatever mount you can find, f2 or brighter. A cheap 50mm 1.8 or 1.7 will let you practice and figure out if you like it or not.

I bought a EPL-1 for my wife a while back, the Nikon adapter finally came after being held up in the postal strike. I'm going to be trying it out soon with my 50mm 1.2 and 105mm 1.8.

[kvg]

Blitz,

I have a 50mm f1.4, 35mm f2.8 and a macro zoom. I used to have a 135 2.8 and found it to be a pain with out stabilization. Plus I have a 2x crop factor with my sensor. I really want the Nokton 25mm f0.95, but I'll play with cheaper manual glass first to make sure.

Mitsu3000gt,

All fair points, but I'm just exploring new stuff:)

[blitz]

50mm 1.4 is the perfect place to start. Get an adapter and see how it goes. If you don't like using the 50, you won't like any lenses.

Because of the 2x crop factor, wide glass isn't as fun because it's not actually wide, but 35, 50, 85mm 1.4-1.8 lenses turn into nice portraits.

[kvg]

What is an inexpensive 1.2 to play with, inexpensive meaning not Voit, Leica, or Zeiss?

[D'z Nutz]

Canon makes a 50mm 1.2 in LTM that I've seen go anywhere between $300-500 when they pop up.

I've always considered getting an m4/3 camera just to try out my Leica and Voigtlander rangefinder lenses. It's just too bad the 2x crop eliminates any fun wide angle lenses. I have a Leica Summar 50mm f/2 that would be neat to try out on m4/3.

[kvg]

If I get a leica mount we'll meet up and you can play with the lens for a while

[ga16i]

I've got a contax carl zeiss 50mm f1.7 and a 28mm f2.8 that I sometimes put onto a 4/3s body and wide open it's not as sharp as the modern 25mm f2.8 wide open. Not saying it's not sharp just not as sharp. Maybe I'll do a bit of a comparison again tonight. The magnification on the liveview is very nice to work with to get tack sharp focus, but it's a much slower process. Looking at your flickr stream it doesn't seem like focus speed will be an issue for you though. So I'd go for old highend MF glass for your subject matter in a heart beat. I'm always in favour of having the nicest glass you can afford without much thought given to the body.

[AccentAE86]

I just my old Canon FD lenses on my GF1 and GH2. But mostly just for telephoto usage, like my 50 1.4 and 135 F/2.5. For the wider lengths, I use native M4/3 stuff. You can't do anything about the wide end if you want to buy non-native stuff.

And don't forget the voigtlander 25mm f/0.95. It's not like old rangefinder lenses are cheap anyhow, so if you're gonna drop a few hundred on normal length legacy glass, spend a little more and get the native 25mm voigtlander instead.

[kvg]

ga16i,
Would you mind posting the photos so I can see the Difference?


AccentAE86, I agree with you that for a lens like the Nokton should just be bought in native m43. That makes perfect sense to me:)

In the m43 format they don't have any fast primes above 20mm unless you count the 45mm 2.8:dunno: . There is a 45mm 1.8 Olympus coming in fall. But above those they are all slower zooms, plus I don't need anything above 100mm really.

Thanks for all the input guys:thumbsup:

[ga16i]

hey, sorry it took so long. long story short, I ended up not being home last night, but here's that comparison.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6017/5939181286_80f677c03a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/calgaryreviews/5939181286/)
sharpness comparison olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 vs 25mm f2.8 vs contax carl zeiss 50mm f1.7 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/calgaryreviews/5939181286/) by Calgary Reviews (http://www.flickr.com/people/calgaryreviews/), on Flickr

[ga16i]

The curtains/blinds are cloth and has a texture to it. You can barely see it with the eye under normal room lighting. Yeah, it's nitpicking, but you definitely notice the difference in "softness" when taking pictures with texture like skin and metal fences even.

The contax lense is still plenty sharp, but I think with modern technology, even the cheap ~$250 25mm pancake can match it in sharpness. Plus it's easy with autofocus on the modern lenses. It's way slower looking at 10X liveview and fiddling with the focus ring.

[kvg]

$250 25mm pancake? I have the $400 20/1.7 and that lens is my favorite lens I keep it on my camera 80% of the time. My short zoom barely gets used.
It's just impossible to find 50-100mm native lenses for m43 currently.:(

[KKY]

Canon 50mm 1.2 in FD mount is cheaper if you want to go that route. ebay is showing $200-400. Pentax also has one in K mount for about the same.

Can't speak for their quality as I have used neither.

Do you have a LTM adapter now?

[kvg]

Right now I have a MD and M42 adapter. I have been playing with a Mamiya 55mm f/1.4 and a couple other legacy lenses. I looked at a Nikkor 50mm 1.2. Is the canon better? I might get a smc Takumar 50 1.4, I hear alot of people love those lenses. I haven't bought any Leica lenses/adapters yet:(