These are some of the legacy manual focus lenses designed for 35mm film cameras that I have modified or adapted to fit the 4/3 bayonet system.
Olympus Zuiko 11-22mm
Reasonably sharp. Probably better at the "long" end
Modern semi-pro design for digital AF camera. Metal and Plastic construction
Olympus Zuiko 50mm Macro
7 blade diaphragm
Very very sharp, even wide open. "Close to technically perfect lens".
Modern semi-pro design for digital AF camera. Mostly metal construction.
From the sublime to ... A Pentacon 29mm f2.8
Cheap on ebay. 42mm screw mount. 6 blade diaphragm and 1/2 stop aperture ring.
Soft and unpleasant in the corners wide open. Not recommended .
Vivitar 28mm f2
Slight coma wide open that improves rapidly as you stop down. OK at f2.8, quite good at f4.
This is a strange looking rather rare lens, and needs modifications to fit 4/3rd but it can produce excellent results (see below).
6 blade diaphragm, 1/2 stop aperture ring. All metal construction.
Hexanon 40mm f1.8
Again - slight coma wide open that improves rapidly as you stop down. This lens is reputed to be one of the sharpest 35mm format lenses produced.
It is certainly sharp at f5.6 (see below) but tends to flare on highlights when wide open.
This lens has a good reputation but needs modifications to fit the 4/3 bayonet.
6 blade diaphragm. All metal construction.
Hexanon 50mm f1.8
Again - fair coma wide open that improves rapidly as you stop down. This lens is not generally regarded as legendary, the results are a close second to the 40mm.
Requires bayonet modification. 6 blade diaphragm. Partly plastic construction.
Nikon E Series 50mm f1.8
Not tuned for maximum sharpness like the Hexanon, but it gives less flare on highlights wide open. Good enough from f4 onwards.
This can fit 4/3 bayonet with a commercial adapter and is an under-rated lens in my opinion.
Nikon E Series 100mm f2.8
Even a beaten up example with scratched front element turned in an excellent performance wide open.
This lens will fit 4/3 bayonet with a commercial adapter. Compact for 100mm design. 7 blade diaphragm. All metal construction
Tamron Adaptall 17A 35-70mm f3.5
I think this is almost as sharp as the famous 01A model below.
My example suffered from a touch of fungus, despite that it turned in decent results. Mechanically - a joy to use. Under-rated lens.
It uses a modified Tamron/Konica adapter. 8 blade diaphragm 1/2 stop aperture ring. All metal construction
Tamron Adaptall 44A 28-70mm f3.5-4.5
Mixed metal and plastic construction. The zoom ring is a little stiff but the optics are actually rather good.
The wide end of the zoom has some barrel distortion and seems sharper. Gets dark at the long end. 6 blade diaphragm 1/2 stop aperture ring.
Tamron Adaptall SP 01A 35-80mm 2.8-3.8
Supposed to be the sharpest zoom in its class, however my example was slightly soft at the wide end.
Some barrel distortion at the wide end. Very sharp at the long end.
8 blade diaphragm 1/2 stop aperture ring. All metal construction. Slightly stiff to operate.
Tamron Adaptall 03B 135mm f2.5
Slightly soft wide open, very narrow dof and therefore difficult to focus manually, it is good by f8. The Nikon 100mm E is a better lens
8 blade diaphragm 1/2 stop aperture ring. All metal construction. Mechanically - a joy to use.
Tamron Adaptall 52B 90mm f2.5 macro
Quite sharp wide open, it is good by f4 and excellent beyond that. Almost as sharp as the Zuiko digital 50mm macro
8 blade diaphragm 1/2 stop aperture ring. All metal construction. Mechanically - a joy to use.
Hexanon 28mm f3.5:
Passable wide open, OK at f5.6 Good at f8
Pentax SMC Takumar 55mm f1.8.
No better than the Nikon 50mm until f5.6, then slightly sharper.
Pentacon 50mm f1.8 and Jupiter 85mm f2.
Both very poor wide open - still not good at f4.
Focus accuracy can be a problem. I am not even certain that my Katzeye screen helps. Setting focus using Live View solves the problem completely - but it's a slow process.
Image quality. With around 5 micron pixel size, modern digital sensors are a lot more demanding than film, therefore you need to choose your manual legacy lens very carefully.
So far I have only found a handful of lenses I would trust wide open on a 4/3rds camera:
Firstly, the Nikon E series 100mm and the Tamron 52B 90mm macro.
As good second choices, the Tamron 17A 35-70 zoom and the Tamron 03B 135mm
Size: If a compact lens is a priority, you can get some very nice pancake lenses such as the Hexanon 40mm or the Nikon 50mm E
Flare resistance is almost certainly less good than modern multicoated designs
Cost is almost certainly lower than an equivalent modern AF lens. Some of these legacy lenses are very cheap indeed!
This was one of my first weekend conversion projects: Take a low cost Konika Hexanon AR lens (in this case a 28mm f3.5) and convert it to the Olympus 4/3rds mount.
Here is the lens as it arrived from e-bay, almost mint condition. Note the two spigot things poking out of the back - they will have to go!
Out with the watchmakers screwdrivers and we remove the mount flange and the black light baffle. These screws are also glued in, so be prepared for problems.
Next to go is that sliding T shaped aperture control pin in the lens mount. From other information published on the web - I know that you need to make up a 1.5mm spacer to get the bayonet to fit the camera correctly.
My solution was to use some blank single sided electronics circuit board. This has a thick copper coating on one side, is pretty close to 1.5mm thick and can be cut with tin snips and filed fairly easily.
However I discovered that the lens flange has a 0.2mm step on it - so I had to chamfer the inner edge of the glass fibre all the way round so that it would seat properly.
If you want the lens to mount the right way up on the camera, you need to drill a new hole for the long aperture spring 180 degrees round from the existing hole.
The low friction copper side ends up facing the camera mount, the glass fibre side faces the lens flange.
(Here is a final conversion for a Hexanon 40mm f1.8 pancake lens)
Finally you need to drill and countersink the new 1.5mm spacer on its copper side so that the retaining screw is just below the surface. Here is the spacer fitted and almost finished.
Where possible I re-use the original Konica plastic baffle, it will need trimming so that it is flat. You need to check that its metal mount screws don't short on the camera connector pins.
The modification is not quite complete: If you wish you can add a further thin shim on the other side of the chrome lens mount to align the infinity focus setting. I have shimmed my lenses so they focus just past infinity.
Statue of King Alfred in Wantage town square: Hexanon 40mm lens.
The Hexanon 40mm does seem to deliver the goods when stopped down a bit. This is a December sunset on St Nicolas church IS0 200, 1/100th hand held.
Here is a nice little Vivitar from ebay. This had the same treatment as the Hexanon above: Remove the pins and linkages, fabricate a 1.5mm glass fibre/copper washer, rotate the lens on its mount by 180 degrees and cut the lens latch slot. Trim the protruding part of the light baffle and spray it black.
It looks a bit uncomfortable on the camera, like its permanently extended. However, looks are not everything: It certainly produces nice results stopped down beyond f2.8, and it does close-focus.
I like this Vivitar 28mm. It is not brilliant at f2, its much better at f2.8 - and check it out at f5.6!
This close up was taken at 0.3m and shows the pleasing bokeh of the Vivitar design.
No modifications needed, but you do need an adapter to 4/3 bayonet. This may need shim adjustment for infinity setting. This E series lens is a very good performer for its price. Well worth trying!
This Nikon E Series 100mm f2.8 is a rare thing: A legacy lens I am happy to use wide open!
© snaar Ltd 2008. Last updated 16-06-08