Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

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Archive 2011 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

kevmaughan
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p.1 #1 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

I have a 7D and plenty of good lenses, but I've had an itch to try out the 4/3 system. Either a EP3 or the GX1 coming out soon. I'd probably get a few 4/3 primes, but I'm curious about using some of the older manual focus lenses with an adapter. It would appear that I need to get something with an adjustable aperture since there is no way to change it with the body. Has anyone any suggestions for some reasonably priced MF lenses that would provide me with very good optics for the 4/3 system. I can't swing high-dollar Leica glass, but $500 or less is doable.

Nov 29, 2011 at 01:55 AM

CVickery
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p.1 #2 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

The Canon FD series and Minolta MD/MC series have some real bargains since they are not easily adapted to anything but mft and 4/3 (4/3 btw is the DSLR mount, the cameras you listed are micro 4/3, generally shortened to mft, or m43). The biggest issue is there is difficulty getting a real wide angle since the system is a 2x crop. Oly OM lenses are also a good choice since they tend to be smaller lenses and relatively cheap as well. Some resources:

http://www.paulfvs.dds.nl/lenstest.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20070512233130/http://members.aol.com/olympusom/lenstests/default.htm
http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_ep1.html
http://www.fdreview.com/

Nov 29, 2011 at 03:18 AM

Jman13
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p.1 #3 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

Well, there's actually no difficulty getting a real wide-angle unless you really absolutely need to have legacy glass to do so. There are a number of excellent wide angle lenses available natively for m4/3. Both the Panny 7-14 and the Oly 9-18 are excellent lenses, and there's the outstanding Panny 8mm fisheye and the slightly less outstanding, but still good and much more affordable Samyang 7.5mm fisheye for m4/3.

Between the E-P3 and the GX1 the biggest differences should be this (the GX1 isn't out yet, but from the Panny control layout and the G3 sensor, these can be inferred):

The GX1 should have better overall image quality. The sensor is much newer, lower noise, with better dynamic range. Also, the GX1 will almost certainly be MUCH easier to use. For some reason, the Oly pens have a really awkward user interface. Some controls are only accessible in certain view modes, and it can be a hassle. The Panny bodies really seem to be designed by photographers and are very ergonomic and have important functions easily accessible and positioned well.

The E-P3 will more than likely have better JPEG output, and better out of the box color. I have found that Panny's cameras are certainly capable of excellent color, but I needed a custom RAW camera profile (that I created with the XRite Color Checker Passport) to get those, but now that I do, they're truly excellent). The Pens also just look and feel really cool.

Autofocus should be more or less identical between the two; that is, very, very fast.

Nov 29, 2011 at 11:21 AM

kevmaughan
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p.1 #4 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

JMAN: good synopsis of the two and pretty much what I have garnered from reading up on the cameras. One of the reasons I have a slight lean to the E-P3 is that I already have the VF-2 (I also like the IS feature in-camera). That's going to be a tough choice since the GX1 looks really promising as well.

CVickery: I will review those links, thanks! My apologies for the 4/3 blunder. I realize there is a regular 4/3 system, but I made the assumption that it was short lived years ago. Perhaps my ignorance towards DSLRs made by anyone that isn't Canon or Nikon.

Nov 29, 2011 at 12:25 PM

httivals
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p.1 #5 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

hi jman. how do you know that the samyang fisheye is less wonderful than the panny? i just got the samyang and am impressed by the image quality. it's pretty sharp corner to corner by f5.6, and very good to excellent at f5.6. another impressive aspect of this lens is that i see no chromatic aberration whatsoever. of course it's only manual focus...... just wondering if you've seen or done any side by side comparisons? thanks

also, by chance are you willing to share a custom color profile for the gh2?

howard

Jman13 wrote:
Both the Panny 7-14 and the Oly 9-18 are excellent lenses, and there's the outstanding Panny 8mm fisheye and the slightly less outstanding, but still good and much more affordable Samyang 7.5mm fisheye for m4/3. .

The E-P3 will more than likely have better JPEG output, and better out of the box color. I have found that Panny's cameras are certainly capable of excellent color, but I needed a custom RAW camera profile (that I created with the XRite Color Checker Passport) to get those, but now that I do, they're truly excellent).

Nov 29, 2011 at 12:49 PM

Jman13
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p.1 #6 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

httivals wrote:
hi jman. how do you know that the samyang fisheye is less wonderful than the panny? i just got the samyang and am impressed by the image quality. it's pretty sharp corner to corner by f5.6, and very good to excellent at f5.6. another impressive aspect of this lens is that i see no chromatic aberration whatsoever. of course it's only manual focus...... just wondering if you've seen or done any side by side comparisons?

I have not personally used the Samyang fisheye, but I have seen many full size image samples, and the shots I get out of the Panny are sharper. The Samyang is a very good fisheye...I'm not saying it isn't, but the Panny 8mm is the best fisheye I've ever used, and that includes the excellent Sigma 15mm on full frame. The Panny 8mm is tack sharp corner to corner with zero CA and very good flare control. Excellent color and contrast as well.

Nov 29, 2011 at 04:26 PM

surf monkey
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p.1 #7 · Thinking of adding a 4/3 system to the collection

kevmaughan wrote:
I have a 7D and plenty of good lenses, but I've had an itch to try out the 4/3 system. Either a EP3 or the GX1 coming out soon. I'd probably get a few 4/3 primes, but I'm curious about using some of the older manual focus lenses with an adapter. It would appear that I need to get something with an adjustable aperture since there is no way to change it with the body. Has anyone any suggestions for some reasonably priced MF lenses that would provide me with very good optics for the 4/3 system. I can't swing high-dollar Leica glass, but $500 or less is doable.

I recently picked up a much reduced E-P2 to test the micro 4/3 waters. I didn't want to carry my Canon 5D2 or 7D all the time and find it to be a good solution. One plus for the Olympus is the built-in image stabilization.

I've tried a few of my old MF lenses, but for the most part I use my Panasonic 14f2.5 and plan to get the Oly 45f1.8. The small form factor of the m4/3 system is somewhat enlarged when using old MF lenses, but I do like the results when using my Contax 50f1.7 & Canon FL 55f1.2. The adapters for these lenses add quite a bit of bulk to the overall setup.
See this guys adapted E-P1 with old Oly lens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicprins/5283048008/
Or this with a Canon FD lens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicprins/5285286522/in/photostream/

Nov 30, 2011 at 01:40 AM

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