FrankenSony. OlympenStein. Fun via the U.S. Mail.
Even I have to admit that the headline for this particular blog is way over the top. Hyperbole taken to a new level. But it's a quiet Friday and I'm temporarily stuck inside due to violent yet welcome thunderstorm. Something's got to give.
I've had good luck with the mail this week. On Monday I got my Nikon Lens to Sony Alpha camera, lens adapter. I'm using it to connect brilliant old Nikon F macro lenses to my a77's. They work on the camera and the lenses are quite good despite their age. I plan to use them for a food shoot next Friday. Testing all next week. On Thurs. I got a nice check from my publisher. Delayed gratification for projects finished long ago... Then today, just before the thunderstorm struck and scared the crap out of my dog (not literally) I checked the mail box and found another adapter I'd been anxious to put my hands on: The Olympus Pen F to Sony Nex body adapter. Woo Hoo.
I ordered the Fotodiox adapter from Amazon and I'm happy with it. For about $40 I can mount all the cool Olympus Pen F lenses on the front of my Sony Nex camera, manually focus with righteously good focus peaking and then slam away with 24 megapixel, state of the art files.
The first lens I put on the rig was my favorite, the 60mm f1.5. I can hardly wait to get out and shoot with it. With the APS-C sensor the lens becomes a 90mm (e) portrait lens with a wicked fast maximum aperture. And in my experience it's plenty sharp. I'm heading out to pick up Ben from a video project he's shooting today and I think I'll put one of the 38mm's on the camera. You know how much I love a fast 50mm (e) on my street shooting cameras...
So, now my poor, optically limited Nex system has, in addition to the Sony lenses, a 20mm f3.5 (nice 30mm e), an f4 and an f2.8 25mm set (37mm e), a 38mm (57mm e), a fast 40mm 1.4 (60mm e),the 60mm 1.5 (90mm e), 70mm f2 (105mm e), the 50-90mm zoom (75-135 e) and a 150mm f4 (225mm e). If I add something wide, like the 16mm I guess I'll be set.
Test images and walking about images coming soon to a blog near you...
10 comments:
90mm-e is a great length, Kirk. Do you still have the GH2 and 45mm Olympus F1.8? Would be the same 90mm-e, but of course would add auto focus and eye recognition but would lack the DOF control that you'll have on the Sony. I'm curious about relative sharpness of the two. Just for fun that is.
Peter F.
Dog gone you Kirk! After all the nice things I've said about you, you go and get me all disturbed. Again.
Here's a link for a Fotodiox Olympus OM to Nex-7, Nex-7N (!) adapter: http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Adapter-Olympus-Camcorder-NEX-VG10/dp/B003Y33QMY/ref=sr_1_13?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1344646009&sr=1-13&keywords=fotodiox+lens+mount+adapter+nex-7
Ya know, I've been slumming on the Sony rumor sites, and supposedly Sony is coming out with a Nex-6 that's supposed to be a Nex-7 with an advanced/new 16MP sensor but sell for around $1,000 body only. I wonder if the Nex-7N is that camera. Or not. I've gotten really keen about Photokina. That's why I'm not rushing out to get a Nex-7. But still, working focus peaking with my old OM lenses, a feature sorely missed on my Pens.
We must be living in parallel universes, Kirk. Early this past week I -accidentally- ordered a Pen F -to- Sony E mount adapter. I was flummoxed when it unexpectedly arrived but, having a lovely-but-little-used Pen F, I immediately moved its 38mm lens to my NEX-7.
As with other such adaptations the results are not exceptional. The Pen lenses were just never designed with anticipation of digital sensor capture. But it's still a bucket of good fun to mate, as you put it, "power" with "glory".
"FrankenSony" and "OlympenStein" really got me laughing. Even if these old Pen lenses are hard to get. Hmmm imagine a Hassy to Nex adapter, and how that 80mm Zeiss would do. With its much bigger image circle, it probably would make a terrific tilt & shift, no? I wonder if someone already thought about that...
German company Mirex makes tilt/shift adapters for medium format lenses. http://www.mirex-adapter.de/preisliste.htm Quite expensive, over 400 Euros. Some user say quality isn't great (tilt creeps or something), but I read favorable review drom one Russian photographer. He says it's very convenient for portraits: model can move back and forth without going out of focus.
Nice! I was about to order up Leica M, Olympus OM & Nikon F adapters for my new NEX-7 until it went bang! on only the second day of use.
Had a few pops & crackles from it, then got a white flash through the AF assist sensor and out of the two mic cutaways on the front. Dealer has ordered me a new one in for next week to swap over. Missing it already, had a wedding anniversary party to shoot today too so gutted and can't wait to get my hands on the replacement. Looks like I'm shooting film today now, hey ho. :(
There are Mamiya 645 E mount lens adapters - http://sonyalphanex.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/sony-nex-mamiya-m645-lens-adapter.html
Really looking forward to trying them on the NEX-7. Looking at my Mamiya 150mm f/3.5 N lens right now next to the camera I'll bet good money it's a smaller profile than the Sony E 18-200mm fat boy lens. The 80mm f/2.8 N is shorter than the Sony E 18-55mm, a small bit wider true.
Never even considered being able to use MF lenses on this camera but finding plenty of scope every passing day with the variety of lens adapters out there. And with the excellent focus peaking, manual focusing is a piece of cake on the NEX-7.
So I guess you dont want to sell the Olympus len's now? Go grab yourself a few 49mm screw mount Takumars! They are still cheap, tiny ( relative) and great. You also need to get your hands on a 16mm Voightlander in LTM. Its DOF even wide open is so deep you donr need to foucus til you get under 6 feet.
Mamiya 150/3.5 is a wonderful lens. I use it along with Mamiya 80/1.9 and 55/2.8 on my Samsung NX. All 3 are great, but the 150/3.5 is the best, incredibly clear and sharp corner to corner from wide open. Much better than Samsung lenses, except 30/F2 and probably, 85/1.4. Mamiya lenses are great match for the 24 mp sensor, you won't be disappointed.
Can't believe you considered selling those Pen lenses, even for a second.
If that feeling ever comes over you again (before you retire from photography altogether) count to, say, 50,000 and then think again.
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