[Leica] Better (and cheaper) than Fuji.

[imra at iol.ie (Douglas Barry)]

Sounds tempting, I must admit, Larry.

I don't have enough quality Nikon lenses to immediately justify an upgrade 
to the D800E, but I do have several nice and currently unused Zuiko OM 
lenses which could do with an airing. The EPL-1 might just do a temporary 
trick and I see one for about 139 dollars on Amazon.....

Sadly, today, I sold my old Pen F and 38mm Zuiko together with its 150mm 
mate on eBay, but, as I'm not likely to get a darkroom for the next 12 
months or maybe later,  I have to be practical.

Douglas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <lrzeitlin at aol.com>
To: <lug at leica-users.org>
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2013 5:22 PM
Subject: [Leica] Better (and cheaper) than Fuji.


> Enough about Fuji. If you want to use your legacy Leica lenses on a
> different platform without the expense of a M9 or a 240, try this.
>
>
> Olympus EPL-1 cameras are being sold at near giveaway prices by various
> distributors. I bought two, one body and one with a 14 to 42 mm kit lens
> from Cameta Camera in NYC, both for substantially less than $200 each. The
> sensor and much of the internal electronics are the same as? that in later
> models offered by the troubled Olympus company.?I've written about this
> before so bear with me.
>
>
> I have had no problem using old film camera lenses on an Olympus EPL-1
> provided I have the right eBay sourced adapter. So far I have used Leica
> screw and M? lenses (35 mm f3.5 Elmar, 50 mm f3.5 Elmar, 40 mm f 2.0
> Summiicron-C, 50 mm f2 Summicron and 90 mm f 3.5 Elmar), Robot lenses (32
> mm f2.8 Zeiss, 40 mm f2 Biotar), Canon screw lenses (35 mm f2.8 Serenar,
> 50 mm f 1.2 Canon, 100 mm f3.5 Serenar and 135 mm f.3.5 Serenar), Olympus
> OM lenses (35 m f2.8 Zukio, 50 m f1.8 Zukio), and Olympus Pen F lenses (38
> mm f2 Zukio). That's a lot of lenses and I still have many more. I have
> had few problems focusing using an Olympus eye level digital finder.
> Usually I focus wide open but must remember to manually reset the taking
> aperture. Shades of the 1950s. It is more trouble than focusing a Leica M3
> but easier than a Leica IIIf.
>
>
> Are the pictures inferior to those taken with a film camera? Not at all.
> My trusty copy of Morgan and Lester tells me that most older Leica lenses
> were computed for a circle of confusion of 1/500 inch, about 20 lines per
> mm. When the Elmar was new the average Leica picture was 5x7 inches. The
> Oly sensor has much, much greater resolution than that. It can use most of
> the legacy lenses to their full capability.
>
>
> Here is a LUG Gallery album showing some of these lenses mounted on the
> little camera.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Various+lenses+on+EPL-1/
>
>
> Also the Canon 50mm f1.2.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/EPL-1+witn+Canon+50mm+f1.JPG.html
>
>
> Now that I proved to myself that I could do it, I've mostly stopped using
> these lenses. The kit 14 to 42 mm Oly zoom works fine for most purposes
> and autofocus and auto exposure makes it dead easy. The four lenses I
> still use on the EPL-1 are the old 35 mm Elmar, because it is so tiny that
> the camera will easily slip into a pocket, the Canon 35 mm f2.8 because of
> its needle sharp quality, the Pen F 38 mm Zukio f1.8 because it is a small
> fast lens, and the Canon 50 mm f1.2 as a short super fast telephoto with
> great bokeh. Portraits of women are especially flattering with this lens.
> My wife claims it makes her look 10 years younger.
>
>
> Olympus offers a combination body cap and 15 mm f8.0 lens for the camera.
> The lens itself is just a tiny blob of glass with a clear opening of no
> more than 3 mm. Performance of the body cap lens shows it to be adequately
> sharp with even illumination over the entire frame. Here is a casual,
> almost accidental snap with this lens. It cost $49 new. It lets me slip
> the second EPL-1 body into my pocket with lens attached and carry it like
> a P&S. It is fixed focus and the variable camera ISO handles most lighting
> changes. It is always ready to shoot. No worse than a Box Brownie and much
> better than a Holga. It would be fine for most daytime street photography.
> Lluis' subway masterpieces excepted.
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Various+lenses+on+EPL-1/Bodycap+lens+picture.JPG.html
>
>
>
>
> Larry Z
>
>
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