01/23/13

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Depth of field is very critical with these longer lenses. The 100 f2.8 is equivelent to a 200 lens in 35mm terms. Try manually focusing a lens like that at f2.8. Very difficult and camera shake is also a real concern. Notice the image above, taken a f5.6. Hasn't been cropped at all. I really would have liked to have stopped down to something like f11-f13. When you do this on a m4/3 camera you are well withis the diffraction area and softness will creep into your images. Light gathering is also a concern at those apertures and a tripod is a must. F11 is 4 stops down from f2.8 and halving the light at every stop gets your shutter speed moving into the seconds. No chance of hand-holding.

With the m4/3 system, f8 should be your smallest stop. Normally lenses sweetspots tend to be at f4 -f5.6. After that diffraction sets in.

Notice how much depth-of-field I have in the image above, that is not a lot.

1034

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/200 sec
ISO: 200

Dil 01/23/13 19:01 comments (0)

Viewed 1034

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/22/13

Lenses

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Olympus OM 100 f2.8

One of the few images taken outide during my outing. Notice the light. Really drab. I was still struggling. I tried this image from quite a few different angles and positions. People must have thought I was mad, skurrying around dead and dying flower.

Focusing with these longer lenses on the E-PL1 is really difficult and concentration is required thoughout. The Nex peeking fuction is a real help to people like myself (please take note Olympus). It must have taken me between 10 and 20 attempts to get the focus just as I wanted it, but then the flower wasn't going anywhere and I had a little time. On other occations this might not be the case and this is where the Nex cameras come into their own.

1085

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec
ISO: 250

Dil 01/22/13 19:00 comments (0)

Viewed 1085

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/21/13

Lenses

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Olympus OM 100 f2.8

It was a terrible day, grey and wet (typical when I fnd some time to get out). There wasn't much light and hardly any colour outside. Inside, where most of these images were taken was even worse. I noticed immediately that I was struggling to get a nice sharp image. Tripods are not allowed and even using a monopod is very difficult in these places because the walkways are really narrow and you tend to get in the way of other people. I now don't take any extra equipment with me during these outings and it is sorely missed at times.

7427

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec
ISO: 800

Dil 01/21/13 19:01 comments (0)

Viewed 7427

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/20/13

Lenses

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Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Most of these images were taken at f2.8 or f4. Lighting was terrible and I had to take at least 3 to 5 images of all my subjects. I don't know about you but I find it impossible to tell if an image is sharp or not when reviewing the images on the LCD. It's just too small. Small movement when taking the shot cannot be seen and I tend not to delete any images in-camera. I just wait until I get home and look at them on the montor. SD cards are really cheap these days and I just take a handful with me when I go out. They don't really increase the weight you have to carry around with you.

1011

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/160 sec
ISO: 1000

Dil 01/20/13 19:02 comments (0)

Viewed 1011

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/19/13

Lenses

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Olympus OL 100 f2.8

Again, nice and sharp but you need good light for these lenses, or bump up your ISO. But if you bump up your ISO noise tends to creep in pretty quickly and that is something I just don't like in my images. After a bit of testing to see what shutter speeds I was getting I had no choice but to increase my ISO as high as 1600. Normally 800 is my maximum ISO setting ont he E-PL1 but in this case I had no choice. Some noise reduction in PP was necessary but it hasn't harmed the images that much.

1042

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/125 sec
ISO: 800

Dil 01/19/13 19:01 comments (0)

Viewed 1042

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/18/13

Lenses

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Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Just aquired this lens a couple of weeks ago and I was dying to get out and test it. Sometimes though, life gets in the way and whatever you do, you never seem to get the time to get out and about for some fun photography.

Well, the other day I did get out and I took two lenses with me, the Olympus OM 100 f2.8 and the Olympus OM 135 f2.8. Both are in near mint condition and look very good indeed.

First I'll talk about the 100 f2.8 and post some images to show what's posible with this lens. Some of you are of course much better at this than myself so expect something a lot better than the following images.

The image above was massively underexposed because I wanted the background to black out. It did but not enough, so I gave it a little help in PP. As you can see it's quite sharp but be careful about the lighting. You need a lot.

1068

E-PL1
Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/320 sec
ISO: 200

Dil 01/18/13 19:00 comments (0)

Viewed 1068

• OM • Olympus • 100 f2.8

01/17/13

Lenses

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Legacy Lenses

I really enjoy using legacy lenses on either the m4/3 or Nex systems. At present, Sony have implemented the "peeking" function as an aid to accurate focusing using these lenses. I find it a lot better than using it on the m4/3 system. I find that it gives me real accurately focused images while I do struggle a bit with the m4/3 system, especially with longer focal lengths.

The E-PL1 is my favourite camera for this use from all the m4/3 sytem. Right now you can purchase these for next to nothing but the image quality is really amazing. High ISO is not great but I really don't use high ISO all that often, actually hardly ever so this small camera is pretty ideal for my use. I hope Olympus brings out a firmware upgrade that implements the peeking function found in the Nex cameras. That would make it even more fun than it is now.

The 2 lenses seen in the image are relatively new and they haven't really been tested yet. I hope to get out with the 100 f2.8 in the next few days and I'll report back on how it handled.

1373

NIKON 1 V1
Focal Length: 24.4 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/60 sec
ISO: 250

Dil 01/17/13 19:01 comments (0)

Viewed 1373

• E-PL1 • Olympus • Legacy lenses • OM

01/16/13

Lenses

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Manual Focus Lenses

This is the reason I don't use the Ultron 35 f1.7 much these days. It's the Voigtländer Nokton 35 f1.2 II lens. It really is a beast, heave but built like a tank. You get the feeling it really is undestructible. Since I was purchasing this not really cheap lens I also purchased the Voigtländer adapter to go with it. It just fits in beautifully with this lens and everything works as it should. A fantastic lens to use and renders the images quite like the Leica magic you see in some images.

If you're after a bright lens for your system in the 35mm range, this is the one to get. You won't regret it. Worth every penny.

Talen with an Olympus OM 100 f2 lens mounted on the Olympus E-Pl1.

1138

E-PL1
Focal Length: 0 mm
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/5 sec
ISO: 200

Dil 01/16/13 19:01 comments (0)

Viewed 1138

• Voigtlaender • Nokton • 35 f1.2 • lenses

01/15/13

Lenses

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Manual Focus Lenses

These are some of the smallest lenses that I have evr used. They really are tiny but perform beautifully on the modern cameras offered. You can get all three of these pretty cheaply on the net, only the 40 f1.4 will cost you a couple of hundred. Many will ask themselves why I have so many lenses and the answer is I just like beautifully crafted things. And since photography is my hobby I like to collect these lenses. True I can only use one lens at a time but when I go out, depending on type of mood I'm in, determines which lens I will take. On the Nex cameras I tend to use these small lenses because the Nex-5n is a really small camera. It just makes for a very small system that produce some stunning images. Of course, if the images aren't all that good is entirely the photographers fault i.e. Me. Each lens has it's own character and renders the images quite differently.

So if I like well crafted things why don't I collect Leica lenses some may ask. Easy answer: I just don't have a 100k laying around the house.

These lenses produce stunning images that are really good enough for me.

1103

E-PL1
Focal Length: 0 mm
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/4 sec
ISO: 200

Dil 01/15/13 19:00 comments (0)

Viewed 1103

• Voigtlaender • Skopar • Nokton • lenses

01/14/13

Lenses

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Manual Focus Lenses

A side view of the Heliar, Ultron and Nokton lenses I posted yesterday. Some of you might have been wondering what they really look like. That Nokton does seem fat doesn't it, but only because the other two are really slim...really. I might just post some images of these lenses mounted on the Nex or E-PL1 cameras just so that you can see how small they are. The Nokton is the heaviest of the 3 lenses and is one of my favourite lenses.

1235

E-PL1
Focal Length: 0 mm
Aperture: f/1.0
Exposure Time: 1/50 sec
ISO: 200

Dil 01/14/13 19:00 comments (0)

Viewed 1235

• Voigtlaender • Heliar • Nokton • Ultron • lenses

PhotoBlog of Random Images

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Olympus OL 100 f2.8

Olympus OM 100 f2.8

Legacy Lenses

Manual Focus Lenses

Manual Focus Lenses

Manual Focus Lenses

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