Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Jan 11, 2013 8:19:26 GMT -5
Olympus should be appointed the Keepers of the Secrets, the instructions are impossible to follow for the more special settings, they are buried under layers of other stuff, but at least you can turn on and off most things. I only wanted the focus assist, blowing up the screen for manual focus, it was next to impossible to find with the instructions, as to get to it you have to engage the selection of the right menus to get to the menu you want!!! The Secret Police have easier codes to crack!
I found it in the end by working through the settings without the instructions.
A much better idea for the camera makers would to be to put a proper USB port on the camera and have all the cameras settings on remote setting control from a PC/Mac, (as well as in the camera), with a proper over view screen and full remote control of all settings, and to display the screen on the monitor with all the function buttons in the view.
At last the Leica adaptor to Micro 4/3 is here, so with a Leica to Pentax mount of my own design, it is now well equipped with a good selection of older lenses......for which I need the focus assist!!!!
Stephen.
|
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Jan 24, 2013 11:15:58 GMT -5
A couple of weeks on, and I have now found out what the Olympus can and can't do, and it weaknesses are not very many, but the instructions are one! In general it delivers very good results indeed.
The extras are here from Ebay, Micro 4/3 to Leica, Exakta, C mount, and Pentax M42 adaptors, a nice quality leather case, remote release, Micro 4/3 extension tubes, and are all good quality Chinese made items. I have extra batteries on order, I was surprised the battery can't be charged via the USB lead, unlike Olympus compacts.
This was a surprise the accessories are very good, as many comments on other sites complained about the quality of the Chinese made adaptors, but they seem quite all right, accurate, bar the C mount, which although it works on the camera 100%, it s a looser fit on the extension tubes, despite the extension tubes working with other lenses and adaptors. It is down to the flange on the C mount being a fraction thin.
Infinity focus is generous on all adaptors bar the Exakta, where it is 100%, and the Exakta mount is well duplicated, no slack or play. It takes the small extension adaptor from Ihagee, very useful, and the full Ihagee tubes and bellows.
The Pentax and Leica converters have rings retained by Small Allen screws, that can be slackened and the marks on the lens brought around to be readable at the top the ring can also be put in a lathe to remove a small amount to correct the infinity scale mismatch.
I have not yet saved enough money for the standard zoom lens, so all shots so far are with 35mm lenses, and all work well, after adjusting the settings on the camera to suit the lower contrast on some.
An odd issue is the back of the Leica and Russian rangefinder lenses, the focus ring that bears on the rangefinder arm are always finished bright and reflective, and I found that the contrast is reduced due to reflection from the sensor being reflected back, and reducing the contrast by about 10%.
A black card ring can be temporary attached to the ring, acting as a mask and the contrast increases a lot.
Most other types of legacy lenses have black or no reflective backs, and give no problems with contrast.
I find it is best to try to use the lowest ISO setting, normal sharpness, and one step increase in contrast and saturation, which brings the older lenses up to match more modern designs. With the remote release in use, it pays as well to use the shutter delay setting to minimise any chance of vibration from the focal plane mechanical shutter taking the edge of the sharpness.
The digital image stabilisation is useful as the lenses are acting as double the original focal length. It plays to experiment with the IS settings to get the sharpest results.
The best standard lens so far is the Leica, obviously!, but a surprise is the Meyer Domiplan, which seems to like operating with digital sensors. Not quite as sharp as Zeiss Tessars or the Periflex Lumax, but it has better colour rendition,and low flare. Russian telephotos work fine, as do most longer focal length lenses. I may get a mirror lens later on, as the doubling effect is worthwhile, the Russian ones would be the best to seek out.
Wide angle legacy lenses are next to useless, due to the doubling of the focal length, I will try a 25mm C mount when funds permit, I know they vignette a bit but they are good for close up work on rings etc.
The standard Zoom goes to 14mm, (28mm equivalent), so wide angle shots will have to wait till that is purchased later on. Prime 4/3 wide angles are pretty expensive!
Enlarger lenses work fine on bellows, and auto exposure makes the setting easy. I have also tried a TTH Cooke 100mm T2.5 flat field pancro, (ex 35mm Cine camera), which is exceedingly good on bellows for close ups. The back focus is long enough to use at infinity on the bellows, and provide focusing, which this model does not have, relying on a Mitchell focus unit normally. Provides a fast 200mm equivalent.
As soon as the weather improves a bit I will take some more sample shots with the various lenses and post samples. There are also some very vintage lenses to provide mounts for to use them, mainly off view and folders in larger formats.
Stephen.
|
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Feb 6, 2013 16:15:26 GMT -5
The extras are here now for the Olympus PM-1, several extra mounts, set of extension tubes, cable remote release, extra flash gun, spare batteries. Still to come is a secondhand 14mm to 42mm Olympus Zoom, the Mkll version, in black to match the camera body. Very reasonable purchase via ebay.
So far the best lenses on the legacy front are the Corfield Lumax lens, with the Russian Sonnar copy the best. I tried my older Leica lens and they are no better, except a bit sharper.
But sharpness is not everything and the colour balance is better with the Russian F2.
One nuisance coming is with the EV finder, when in use it means no flash at all. All right, I have not got one yet, but it is a real nuisance that Olympus have blocked the port via the EV finder, which covers the hot shoe, the only source of firing the flash.
I spoke to Olympus about this, and then E-mailed Japan headquarters, and there is a solution, which Olympus do not mention anywhere in the paperwork or instructions, that there is a duplicate HDMI feed on the USB socket on the end of the camera body, which can feed an external monitor or HD TV.
Useful for close up work, and even saves buying an EV finder for now. It leaves the flash hot shoe free for flash, and the view is very good indeed on the computer monitor, via a converter. For outdoors flash it can feed a mini Casio TV, again via HDMI adapter, giving a cabled monitor.
It still fails to answer why Olympus do not fit a flash socket elsewhere on the camera body! It is ridiculous that the designers failed so badly on this point.
A curiosity of the rangefinder lenses is that the rangefinder ring on the back of the lens acts as a reflector from the sensor surface, and reduces contrast, it needs a black card ring added to mask the back of the lens to get the best results. Any lens with a plain back is OK.
As soon as the weather improves I will get out with a couple of batteries and run off a larger batch of shots to test the camera out more, so far the results are impressive, not anywhere near full film sharpness, but OK for all reasonable enlargements. The colour depth is far better than scanned film, which is a bonus, and of course no film or processing costs.
Originally I had thought of the Sony NEX series, but the Micro 4/3 has proved just as good, the slightly smaller sensor allows more choice of C mount and other "odd" lens, and with the body and lens costing me only £170 odd, it was far cheaper.
If I could afford it, what I would really like is a 9mm wide angle, only on Zooms so far, so I may be reduced to the wide angle adaptor lens that Olympus make for the Kit zoom! At least the 14mm is the equivalent of 28mm, but it would be nice to get lower than 20mm equivalent.
I did buy a Cosmicar Pentax 12.5mm C mount, which vignettes slightly, but the example bought is faulty and needs attention, but it only cost £10, and the seller refunded on hearing it was faulty. Not sure exactly what the problem is, but the back lens parts have been "got at", not really sure if an element is in the wrong way around.
Stephen.
|
|
Stephen
Lifetime Member
Still collecting.......
Posts: 2,718
|
Post by Stephen on Feb 17, 2013 17:44:27 GMT -5
The 14mm to 42mm Zoom purchase went through on ebay, a secondhand lens, but latest type and under £70, condition 100%, and works well, used at Chinese Parade today, posted on another thread. Works well, pity these lens have no depth of field scale. I tried the PM-1 Art Filter, "dramatic" on this shot, adds grain etc., and strange contrast levels. View of Rochester Upon Medway from Chatham, the Old Dock.I will do some more general digital shots with older lenses over the next few days as the weather improves, the further try the lens out. Stephen.
|
|