As you may have noticed from recent posts, I've been using a lot of legacy manual focus lenses recently. The reason for this is to slim down the number of lenses I have and to select the best lens in each focal length to use with my Sony Nex system.
The next few posts will be about these lenses because I believe there are quite a few photographers out there who are still using these lenses with modern digital cameras. Personally I'm using the Sony Nex system and all kinds of m4/3 cameras (especially the old Olympus E-PL1). And just to add an OT comment here, the Olympus E-PL1 is still going strong and delivers perfectly good images. It's still a great camera (although it's got the old 12MP sensor in it) and the one I find the easiest to focus on when a legacy lens is used.
One of the lenses I raved about some time ago was the Olympus OM 50 f1.8 albeit on a m4/3 camera. I find using these lenses easier on the Nex system because of focus peaking, I have come to the conclusion that I get better results when using these lenses on the m4/3 cameras. This is largely due to the smaller sensor where the edges of the image are not used. Because the Nex incorporates an APS-C sensor (i.e. larger sensor) if a lens is not optimal the edges of the image will be soft. This is exactly what I have been experiencing with the lenses I have used in last few weeks.
The above image was taken with the OM 50 f1.8 on a Nex-5N body and the results show a decrease in image quality, corner to corner. When using focal lengths of 75mm and greater there is hardly a difference between the two systems. Wide angle lenses are, however, a different kettle of fish, and the lens used has to be of very high quality.
The next few posts will be about these lenses because I believe there are quite a few photographers out there who are still using these lenses with modern digital cameras. Personally I'm using the Sony Nex system and all kinds of m4/3 cameras (especially the old Olympus E-PL1). And just to add an OT comment here, the Olympus E-PL1 is still going strong and delivers perfectly good images. It's still a great camera (although it's got the old 12MP sensor in it) and the one I find the easiest to focus on when a legacy lens is used.
One of the lenses I raved about some time ago was the Olympus OM 50 f1.8 albeit on a m4/3 camera. I find using these lenses easier on the Nex system because of focus peaking, I have come to the conclusion that I get better results when using these lenses on the m4/3 cameras. This is largely due to the smaller sensor where the edges of the image are not used. Because the Nex incorporates an APS-C sensor (i.e. larger sensor) if a lens is not optimal the edges of the image will be soft. This is exactly what I have been experiencing with the lenses I have used in last few weeks.
The above image was taken with the OM 50 f1.8 on a Nex-5N body and the results show a decrease in image quality, corner to corner. When using focal lengths of 75mm and greater there is hardly a difference between the two systems. Wide angle lenses are, however, a different kettle of fish, and the lens used has to be of very high quality.
