I've been wanting a small MF zoom lens for m4/3. For some reason I don't like AF zooms. Preferably something with a little but of personality(I know a bit vague but thats how I see cameras and lenses).

I was thinking of the Pentax 110 zoom, but I've heard that it's not that good.

So if you have any suggestions just post the name and specs and I'll google. Of course if you have samples or links feel free to post them

Thanks in advance :)

well, considering that its 20~40 its not really my thing. The std 14-45 does well in that area. The 50mm on the other hand is a nice lens ... but it is of course not a zoom.

what were you thinking of in range?

An FD28-55mm isn't dear

Here's the beauty of the format. Almost anything you want or desire or need is just about available. Everything works....
What actual use do you want to use the lens for?
That will help us find something for you...

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Blog http://streetshooter.net

No, it's not a zoom, but how about the Konica 21/35mm f3.4/4 M-Hexanon (in Leica M mount)? Smallish, reputedly good, useful focal lengths.

Here's a picture and here's some talk.

It won't be cheap though.

Krang,

Normally you choose your scene/perspective and then use a zoomie to crop the scene the way you want. AF works great here because it's 1 less thing you have to do. Most zooms have focus shift, so with a MF zoom, you would then have to focus also...seems lie a long process....dunno....

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Blog http://streetshooter.net

As far as AF goes I find that if there´s a option for MF I always have to check the focus anyway. Maybe I've got trust issues ;)

And I'm not looking for a fast to operate lens since my shooting style usually pretty mellow. And when I need something for fast and good quality snapshots I just grab one of my 35mm complete automatic cameras. Or if I'm feeling it and the quality is not important I'll just take a fixed pocket camera.

For focal length I'm okay with everything. My current film glass covers anything from fisheye to 600mm, so I'd like to think I could make do with a zoom of any length. I just want it to be as compact as possible. But I must say that I haven't got that much experience with wide zoom lenses. But since I will try to buy the 7-14 m4/3 during the summer, I´m open to all suggestions.

So just as small and compact as possible, and only MF suggestions. :)

Hope my post was atleast somewhat coherent and thanks for all the answers!

Without an idea of range, it's difficult to suggest anything. I'm not a big fan of zooms to start with but I do have two, both in FD mount: 35-70mm f/3.5 and 70-210mm. I don't use the former much (at all, really, as I prefer to use my 50 mm f/1.4) but I do use the latter one quite a bit as it's fantastic quality.

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G1, Canon FD and M42 lenses, My flickr.

The problem with manual focus zooms is that they come from an era when zooms weren't very high quality, most were fairly poor. There are exceptions, such as with cine zooms and some others, but you will need to pay a price premium for the quality. Even then, I think the range from which you can choose is fairly small.

Cheers

Ray

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For good image quality and reasonable price, the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-70f3.4 comes to mind. It is one of the best zoom lenses I have. It is not 'small', it is not fast and has a relatively limited focal length, but it delivers close to prime lens performance and retains most of the Zeiss characteristics.

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Stephen Lau
http://www.pbase.com/stephenl

Ok it's not small but seems nice anyway :) Thanks!