Hi all,

Im new here. And currently using EP with 14-42mm kit lens. And i realise that the kit lens cannot really do much, and it's sub-standard. Hence i am thinking of purchasing the lecagy lens 50mm f1.8 to try out, since it's cheaper than the 45mm f1.8.

Anyone using the OM 50mm with their EP3? Whats your personal review on it? In terms of color and sharpness etc?

Love to hear from you all. =)

I have one but haven't used it on m43 since I don't have the correct adapter. The build and optical quality is excellent thought.

In the Adapted Lenses Sample archive, here is the thread for that lens:
Olympus 50mm f/1.8 OM Image Thread

In my opinion, the main advantage of the OM 50mm is that it's much faster than the kit lens at maximum reach. My tests (admittedly pretty simple) didn't show much improvement in IQ.

The old OM lens is beautifully put together though. Really substantial feel compared with the plastic kit lens. As others have said, it's fun to experiment with these legacy lenses, and maybe that's all that matters!

There are two cat pictures in my gallery. The orange cat (Fluffy) was shot with the 14-42 kit lens and the white cat (Mr.Puss) with the OM 50mm 1.8. Even at 100% crop I can't say one is sharper than the other.

Hi,

But 50mm has wider aperture until f1.8 right? So it's more convenient to shooot under low lighting right?

Right, that's what I mean by 'faster'.

I have owned mine for awhile now. I don't use it as much since purchasing the Oly45mm, but it is a beautiful lens. Nice and sharp, good contrast and pretty fast. It has a great feel to it, solid, substantial but not too heavy. I've considered selling mine, but there's something hard-to-define about it that causes me to hang on to it. You can find them on EBay for a reasonable price - I got mine attached to an old film camera for $15.

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The OM 50/f1.8 is a fine lens, but I think you are probably underestimating the quality of the kit lens. I don't find the 50 to be noticeably sharper.

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I have to agree, that there is very little better IQ/sharpness in the OM 50 over the kit lenses. I have tried 3 or 4 of the Pany/Oly kits, and they do very reasonable job. But for me after several decades of quality MF lenses, the new crop of plastic ones just leave me let down by the cheap look/feel. Optics are just fine though. If you don't do low light, without a flash, the faster lens doesn't bring much to the party, except pure satisfaction of really well built equipment! That said, I currently, am carrying a Sigma 30mm F2.8 AF lens on my E-p2.
Did a side by side test with my Vivitar 24mm F2.8, and the Sigma is to my eye, very, very, slightly cleaner image. But not worth the price, for the difference in IQ only. But to get very much smaller, lighter package, and AF, makes it worth it for me.
Choices, choices. I have found that, many times, what you have is better, than what you want.

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Steve

The Olympus 50mm f1.8 is faster than the 14-42mm they shipped with the PEN's, but not that much different when both are at f5.6. Wide open, it's going to be a little bit softer. As posted above, the kit lens is not substandard. It's a baseline kit zoom, which means competent but not a lens that will capture edges that cut paper.

Don't get caught up in a buying frenzy to get this lens either. The old OM system was quite popular and almost every body shipped with a 50mm f1.8. It's common and should be a $10-20 item.

Most legacy lenses are faster than the kits (especially the 50s), but they have a tendency to be a little softer and have some ghosting wide open, so they often need to be stopped down for max sharpness. I had an OM 50mm 2.0 macro that was pretty good at 2.0, but excelled at 2.2. I've had several 50mm 1.4, and they were pretty good at 2.0 and beyond.

So, it is likely that you 1.8 will look it's best at 2.0 or 2.2 and beyond. Which is, of course, MUCH faster than 5.6 on the kit lens at 42mm. But the 45/1.8 will be best than either.

So, if you are OK with manual focusing, and your budget is tight, it's actually pretty fun to play with legacy glass. I'd recommend looking for a 50/1.4, as they are only $30-40 more than a 1.8 typically, and they sharpen up around 1.8-2.0, so you get a bit more light. However, if budget is a REAL issue, then get a 50mm 1.8. They are cheap and ubiquitous. Then, if you decide you really love shooting at 50mm wide open, you can save your pennies to get a 45/1.8, and resell the 50mm legacy for very little lost.

side note: the legacy glass really manual focuses best with either the VF2 or using MF assist on the LCD. If you don't have a VF2, and you think you need one for MF, then you are really starting to get close to the cost of that 45/1.8. You can always use the LCD to MF, but it can be cumbersome. Again, nothing wrong with playing to learn with a legacy 50mm. Just giving you a heads up on some of the issues.

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