Hello, first post.

After reading and drooling over some of the posts here I decided to pick up my first Alt. lens.
I found an Olympus 28 3.5 at a local shop. Looks like the 2.8 is the better one??

My questions are: What adapter would you recommend? I'm not sure what, "chipped", means??

I plan to use this lens on a 5D.

Thanks,

C_

ChrizzP wrote:
Hello, first post.

After reading and drooling over some of the posts here I decided to pick up my first Alt. lens.
I found an Olympus 28 3.5 at a local shop. Looks like the 2.8 is the better one??

My questions are: What adapter would you recommend? I'm not sure what, "chipped", means??


The 3.5 was the original Oly 28, and though they're single coated and slower, some shooters prefer them to MC 28/2.8s, for landscapes especially.

Chipped adaptors include a small electronics board which allows the camera to "see" the lens and hence provide focus confirmation, and often allow particulars about the lens such as focal length to be recorded in the image Exif headers.

Good choice for a first alt lens. AFAIK the 28/3.5 is better than the 2.8 version, but that's not based on personal experience. As far as adapters go it's hard to get a bad OM adapter. The ones I use are sold by happypagehk (e-bay user name) but there are other good choices. A 'chipped' adapter had a chip attached that communicated to the Canon camera that an autofocus lens is attached...in manual focus mode. This activates the autofocus system of the camera and just like a autofocus lens in manual mode the focus indicators will light up and the 'beep' will sound when the camera believes that focus has been achieved. It's not perfect since the range that the camera believes is in focus is fairly wide, but it is a help. Some of the better 'chipped' adapters are now programmed with the focal length and aperture that you request. I find this an extremely useful feature, since the EXIF will contain information that allows you to identify the lens used.

olyacme and CVickery,

Thanks for the quick response!

I didn't realize the Exif data would be possible! I'm off to eBay.

Just noticed the search feature with this forum.

C_

2.8 vs 3.5 HUM... I tested these extensivley and found that the 3.5 had a very, very slight edge when it came to corner resolution but it was so small as to be insignificant in real world use. The 3.5 has a wider coverage - probably more like a 26 or 27mm. The 3.5 is much worse in regards to flare and the very small rear element makes the viewfinder go dark around the edges with some aftermarket focusing screens on the 5D. The main problem with the 2.8 was it's lack of depth of field behind the point of focus - must be some optical phenomena due to it's design?? but it was very evident. For distant scenes you needed to focus on the farthest point to get everything in focus whereas on the 3.5 you could focus on a midpoint and get sharpness all over. ( and yes I tested the focus points on each by shooting wide open).

shirozina wrote:
The 3.5 has a wider coverage - probably more like a 26 or 27mm.
I'm glad someone else has noticed this because I thought I was going mad! It is noticeably wider than my Zeiss 28 as well.

ChrizzP wrote:
olyacme and CVickery,

Thanks for the quick response!

I didn't realize the Exif data would be possible! I'm off to eBay.

Just noticed the search feature with this forum.

C_

There are bad adapters for Olys out there, though. Oly adapters have pretty much been bulletproof, but over the past few months I've encountered a chipped adapter with a misaligned chip (battery drain) and now a "de-chipped" adapter that drains the battery all by itself as well.

Conventional wisdom is that if the adapter is causing any battery drain it's interfering with the camera's electronics, and potentially harmful to the camera. Even a used 20D at $350-400 isn't worth sacrificing for a $20-40 adapter.

Hi I'm a bit of an alternative lens user as well, quite new to it but i also own the 28mm Zuiko 3.5 and i think its a brilliant lens, i cant compare it to the 2.8 version, but its colour and contrast are just fantastic. I have just modified mine to fit my new 5DII by removing the aperture arm and grinding down the protruding rear plastic element, just in case, as the last thing i want is something to foul my perfectly brand new camera. I'll go for a walk with it today to see how it performs

I'm surprised that Cogitech has not chimed in yet. Must be busy with his other web-based endeavor.