C-mount lenses

[Sugarman]

I'd be interested to know if any members are using C-mount lenses on Micro 4/3s and their opinions.

Some sample shots would be intertesting to look at as well.

Thanks

Joe

 

[JkTsang]

Fujian 35mm CCTV lens

I have this lens for a while, and the performance far out-weight it cost. First it did cover the whole sensor, second the aperture (f 1.7)is great for indoor low light photos.

I will send a sample for you.

 

[JkTsang]

CCTV sample

Please take a look at the sample shot
35mm CCTV Sample shot - Mu-43 Gallery

 

[apicius9]

I am using quite a few of those. My favorites are the Angenieux 25/0.95 and the Macro Switar 75/1.9, but they are a bit of an investment. If you don't mind light vignetting, the Computar 25/1.3 CCTV is one of the best deals out there. Otherwise, all lenses > 35mm work without vignetting, but not all of them work with the adapters because the back of the lens is too wide to fit inside the adapter. For pictures, the easiest is to go to flickr.com and search for c-mounts, there are tons of pictures...

Stefan

 

[RetroBoy]

My favourite:
Cosmicar 75 f1.9. Beautiful feel and look, great to use on the epl1

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroboy07/5213804759/" title="EPL1+ Cosmicar 75 1.9 by Retro.Boy.07, on Flickr">

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"640" height="467" alt="EPL1+ Cosmicar 75 1.9" /></a>

Example of the bokeh when opened up a tad...

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroboy07/5213804623/" title="PB110546 copy by Retro.Boy.07, on Flickr">

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"640" height="480" alt="PB110546 copy" /></a>

Sharp and contrasty indoors - OOC jpeg:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/retroboy07/5214398750/" title="PB110521 by Retro.Boy.07, on Flickr">

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"640" height="480" alt="PB110521" /></a>

 

[deirdre]

Oh, it has swirly bokeh.

 

[lenshoarder]

Oh, it has swirly bokeh.

Most C mount lenses do. They have crazy aperature shapes. Some of mine are slits and others are stars.

 

[apicius9]

And none of them nicer than the old Cooke Kinic 25/1.5

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[iliakoltsov]

JkTsang as you said the Fujian covers the M4/3 format but if you notice the sharpness is gone on the sides, the aperture 1.7 is great , the size is great. I find them more like special effect lenses than actual proper day today use, if you are happy with the limitations obviously at this price you will never find any other lens with such an aperture. Other thing the aperture is not constant throughout the frame , simply because it covers the M4/3 format does not mean it has the same light intensity in the center and the on the sides.

 

[OPSSam]

I had a couple lenses from the 1940's (from my grandfather), so I spent the $20 on a fotodiox adapter. I have a 25mm(I think) lens and a telephoto, both did not explicitly indicate what focal length they were. The 25mm is showing slight vignetting at each corner, but that is all. The telephoto covers it all.

As seen above, you can get some interesting effects out of these, plus you can apparently use any modern cctv camera lens because they share the same mount. I'm not sure I'd pursue more lenses of this type, but it was worth the money to be able to experiment with the ones I have.

 

[lenshoarder]

JkTsang as you said the Fujian covers the M4/3 format but if you notice the sharpness is gone on the sides, the aperture 1.7 is great , the size is great. I find them more like special effect lenses than actual proper day today use, if you are happy with the limitations obviously at this price you will never find any other lens with such an aperture. Other thing the aperture is not constant throughout the frame , simply because it covers the M4/3 format does not mean it has the same light intensity in the center and the on the sides.

Just get a longer lens and it'll be more even. I have a Fujian 50mm F1.4 and it's pretty solid.

 

[lenshoarder]

I had a couple lenses from the 1940's (from my grandfather), so I spent the $20 on a fotodiox adapter.

Is the fotodiox good. I have the $10 cheapies and they don't allow for infinity focus even though they say they will. It's the powder coating. I have to adjust each lens by a smudge to get it to infinity focus.

NVM. It is one the cheapies that don't allow for infinity focus as per the review.

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Lens-Mount-Adapter-C-Mount/dp/B003EAY5S6

 

[Sugarman]

Hello

I am pleased that after a few days there have been some comments here. Thanks to everyone and especially to Ilia who got me on to the subject.

Since I started the thread I have done a fair bit of research for myself and also had further contact with Ilia.

A few things from Ilia... firstly, zooms no. Secondly, under 25mm we are looking at heavy vignetting.

OK... I found a very interesting flickriver on C mount with Micro 4/3s, 5000 odd photos... I've been through the whole thing! Some very interesting shots and as Ilia pointed out earlier here, many of the c-mounts do lend themselves very nicely to more artisctic types of shots. The swirling bokeh that some produce may not be to everyone's taste, but it has it's place.

Back to flicriver: after about 2000 shots something become strangely aparent to me. Without even checking out exifs or more information, there were two lenses that I could identify immediately. One is the Angenieux 75mm f0.95 and the other, surprise, surprise, is the Angenieux 25mm f0.95. Shots from these lenses just seem to jump out of the screen and say "Angenieux"... incredible.

I will die/kill/sell my wife/rob banks/blackmail/sell my mother/anything for these two lenses.

Life is a dream.

Yep, the BEST of these lenses get very pricey so I have decided to do a local hunt inj garage sales and fairs as well as contacting anyone I can think of who has connections with the film world to see what I can turn up.

Once again, thanks for your comments and your shots

Joe

the flickriver link is:

http://www.flickriver.com/groups/c-mount_/pool/interesting/

 

[apicius9]

Hi Joe, that sounds like you did some good research. If you find any extras, please let us know i never tried the 75mm but I liked everything I have seen from it. There are a number of 75mm lenses out there that combine the benefits of the c-mounts. Unfortumately, the prices have gone up quite a bit on the good ones (and I sold mine too cheaply ).

Stefan

 

[Wlodek]

Indeed, the 25mm 0.95 Angeniuex is a great lens. I am lucky enough to have it from my 16mm movie days (some good 4 decades ago...) and one of the reasons I bought the E-P2.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/matra46/5465283241/" title="Angenieux-25 by Laineferous, on Flickr">View attachment 157827"493" height="378" alt="Angenieux-25" /></a>

 

[OPSSam]

Is the fotodiox good. I have the $10 cheapies and they don't allow for infinity focus even though they say they will. It's the powder coating. I have to adjust each lens by a smudge to get it to infinity focus.

NVM. It is one the cheapies that don't allow for infinity focus as per the review.

Amazon.com: Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter - C-Mount Movie Lens to Canon EOS Camera Adapter, fits Canon 1d,1ds, Mark II, III, IV 5D, 5D Mark II, 7D, 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, 60D, Rebel xt, xti, xs, xsi, t1i, t2i, 300D, 350D, 400D, 450D, 500D, 550D, 1000

Every Fotodiox adapter I have bought seems to focus past infinity, which I prefer over no infinity at all. It's only a small inconvenience to turn on the live zoom on my e-pl1 to dial it back to good inf. focus. The great thing about that is once you get there, you don't have to worry about the focus ring moving (the lenses I have require a deliberate amount of force to rotate).

The link you posted is for canon though, so I can't speak for that one. All I know is this one works well on my E-PL1:
Amazon.com: Fotodiox Lens Mount Adapter, C-Mount Movie Lens to MFT Micro 4/3 Four Thirds System Camera Mount Adapter, for Olympus Pen E-PL1, E-P2, Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, G2, GH2, GF1, GH1 G10: Camera & Photo

 

[wonglp]

Metabones Cmount adapter

I am using this metabones c mount adapter so far it focus infinity on every lens I've had (pentax 25/1.4, fujia 25/1.4, fujinon 75/1.8).

Bought it from ebay user "lasjashk" and I did a google and found he's also a mu43er:smile:

 

[msawdey]

Here are a couple of images made with a Wollensak 25mm f1.9 C-mount lens on a Lumix G2. This lens seems to have pretty good central sharpness but some softness farther out. The light fall-off seems moderate. I have also tried a Kodak 25mm f1.9 Ektar, which seemed sharper at the center but had very noticeable vignetting (light fall-off) at the corners.

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