Everything I know about OM Zuikos

[sesser]

Great write up! I've had Zuikos for about 10 years (maybe longer, I can't remember) and I wish I had something like this back when I was looking for lenses.

One thing that concerns me, for example, is the effort required to change the focal length setting for the IBIS when jumping between manual lenses. Olympus could make this easier, but it is pretty quick to adjust focal length from the quick menu without leaving live view. I've seen screenshots of Sony cameras with this option buried in menus, which would be a huge pain for someone shooting multiple manual lenses.

It's easy enough to assign that particular feature to a custom function button. I do this on my A7II and it's actually faster than the SCP. Press button, scroll to focal length using the front dial, take picture.

I don't dislike the Sony, but on pure operational satisfaction, it can't touch the E-M1 it replaced. Sure the Sony has a nice big sensor and offers better focus peaking and some other handy features, but shooting experience is bland and the menus are kind of atrocious.

 

[Taurahe]

Awesome post!!!! Have found myself using manual lenses more frequently. I have recently picked up an om 135 3.5 and an om 50 1.8 and have less than 25 bucks in both of them together. They gave been a ton of fun to shoot with so far

 

[P Hopper]

I've become interested! I found an OM 75-150 on ebay and bought for $24... On unboxing I've found the aperture blades dont move at all... cant even tell if they are there as its wide open. I'm thinking trip to a repair shop for a diagnostic. Any thoughts pls

 

[0000]

I've become interested! I found an OM 75-150 on ebay and bought for $24... On unboxing I've found the aperture blades dont move at all... cant even tell if they are there as its wide open. I'm thinking trip to a repair shop for a diagnostic. Any thoughts pls

OM Auto-S lenses need to have an internal mechanism moved to close the blades. Most adapters will do this, but you can also squeeze the lock buttons on the sides of the mount to do it manually, at least on the lenses I have.

 

[P Hopper]

OM Auto-S lenses need to have an internal mechanism moved to close the blades. Most adapters will do this, but you can also squeeze the lock buttons on the sides of the mount to do it manually, at least on the lenses I have.

*SWEET* I havent got any other lens with these little wings!

Cheers fer that!

 

[sesser]

I've become interested! I found an OM 75-150 on ebay and bought for $24... On unboxing I've found the aperture blades dont move at all... cant even tell if they are there as its wide open. I'm thinking trip to a repair shop for a diagnostic. Any thoughts pls

The 75-150 isn't a terribly reputable lens in the OM lineup... don't think it would be worth the gas money to drive to the repair shop. I'd stick with the primes.

 

[P Hopper]

The 75-150 isn't a terribly reputable lens in the OM lineup... don't think it would be worth the gas money to drive to the repair shop. I'd stick with the primes.

Keeping an eye open..

 

[Snowonuluru]

A fair question. I'll give it a shot:

1. I mentioned a dumb -- but big -- reason I use the Speed Booster is because it's physically shorter than a standard adapter. If I used my OMs on a full frame camera, I'd have to use the full-size standard adapter. I admit I'm a sucker for aesthetic -- both visual and tactile -- and an OM mounted on an A7 just doesn't look that appealing to me.
2. IBIS is a must for me, focusing at 10x magnification without IBIS is not fun. So that requirement limits my options, none of which are cheap.
3. I really like how the E-M5ii handles and operates. I haven't used a Sony camera extensively, possibly they would be just as agreeable for me, but possibly they would be worse. So there's some risk for me to buy a new camera and discover I don't like the operation with manual lenses.

On point #3, some justification for the apprehension. I have shot on Panasonic quite a bit and much prefer shooting on Olympus. Primarily it comes down to (a) the much better histogram on Olympus, and (b) Panasonic's inability to lock exposure preview in live view when the shutter is half pressed and the shot reframed. That second point is particularly frustrating. And not that Sony cameras are going to have these same annoyances, but they're examples of small differences in operation that make a big difference in my enjoyment, and I know that Olympus suits me, and do not yet know if Sony suits me.

One thing that concerns me, for example, is the effort required to change the focal length setting for the IBIS when jumping between manual lenses. Olympus could make this easier, but it is pretty quick to adjust focal length from the quick menu without leaving live view. I've seen screenshots of Sony cameras with this option buried in menus, which would be a huge pain for someone shooting multiple manual lenses.

The option that makes most sense is a Sony A6500, which I'm interested to try, but unlikely to any time soon. The camera is not cheap, I'd need to get a new Speed Booster, and for what? Maybe slight improvement in IQ, different FOV through my lenses, and unknown advantages/disadvantages.

Ultimately, I'm very satisfied with the E-M5ii coupled with my OMs, and don't have any problems I'm trying to solve with a different camera. Though I do dream of an OM-1 body with a digital sensor, EVF, and IBIS...

Regarding the need to change focal length setting for effective IBIS, I was just thinking about this yesterday. I have not set Myset for anything yet, so I am thinking of using Myset to store settings pertinent to my MF lenses. I am sure the number of lenses that you own exceeds the number of Mysets available, but I imaging it would be possible to rank their usage by frequency and select the top 4 for special treatment.

I have just started playing around with MF lenses and am not yet advanced enough to decide which ones i'll stick with.

I like your idea of sticking with one consistent series though. With that approach, the way of handling and operations can easily become habitual and then one can truly focus on the real purpose - making images.

 

[0000]

Regarding the need to change focal length setting for effective IBIS, I was just thinking about this yesterday. I have not set Myset for anything yet, so I am thinking of using Myset to store settings pertinent to my MF lenses. I am sure the number of lenses that you own exceeds the number of Mysets available, but I imaging it would be possible to rank their usage by frequency and select the top 4 for special treatment.

I don't know about your camera, but on my PL6/7 the IBIS focal length setting is global, and not stored/changed with Mysets... which kind of makes sense, I guess. I think that's what lens profiles are for on the bodies that have that feature...

 

[MarkRyan]

I don't know about your camera, but on my PL6/7 the IBIS focal length setting is global, and not stored/changed with Mysets... which kind of makes sense, I guess. I think that's what lens profiles are for on the bodies that have that feature...

Unfortunately this is the case for my E-M5ii, as well. I understand the Pen-F and E-M1ii have an interface for preset focal lengths.

 

[Snowonuluru]

@junkyardsparkle; @MarkRyan
Just shows my ignorance! I was simply assuming that the settings changed in SCP will all be saved to myset, but indeed that is not the case at least with focal length selection. What a bummer!

Perhaps whoever in Olympus team monitoring this thread may see fit to let the development team know that a requirement exists for a function button to be assigned to call up focal length setting, or to allow myset to fix a selected focal length?

 

[0000]

@junkyardsparkle; @MarkRyan
Just shows my ignorance! I was simply assuming that the settings changed in SCP will all be saved to myset, but indeed that is not the case at least with focal length selection. What a bummer!

Well, my method of using Mysets has always been to have a few known states for shooting that could be instantly set (by mapping them to the unused slots on the mode dial)... different combinations of auto/manual ISO, spot/grid focusing, spot/matrix metering, etc... and always want them to work regardless of which lens I'm using. Since changing a lens doesn't happen instantaneously, I don't mind having to hit a couple of buttons to change a lens-specific setting. I've never used SCP, don't like touchscreens much.

 

[Snowonuluru]

Well, my method of using Mysets has always been to have a few known states for shooting that could be instantly set (by mapping them to the unused slots on the mode dial)... different combinations of auto/manual ISO, spot/grid focusing, spot/matrix metering, etc... and always want them to work regardless of which lens I'm using. Since changing a lens doesn't happen instantaneously, I don't mind having to hit a couple of buttons to change a lens-specific setting. I've never used SCP, don't like touchscreens much.

Thanks for sharing! I don't like to use the touch screen either.

I am still hanging on to my em5 that I bought in 2012. As you know, the buttons are small and close together. I have set up so that with OK, SCP comes up. I then use dials to scroll from function to function, and pressing OK to select the function, I scroll dial to change the attribute, then press OK again. Once you get used to it, it works quite well.

 

[PakkyT]

I've never used SCP, don't like touchscreens much.

Touchscreen is not required to use the SCP. Buttons and scroll wheels do the job as well and you don't even need to remove your eye from the viewfinder (if your camera has one).

 

[0000]

Touchscreen is not required to use the SCP. Buttons and scroll wheels do the job as well and you don't even need to remove your eye from the viewfinder (if your camera has one).

Yeah, but the regular old "live control" (or whatever they're calling it these days) works just as well for this, for me, and doesn't obstruct the screen. I generally assume the reason people use SCP is for touchscreen purposes, apparently I'm wrong.

 

[Gerard]

Touchscreen is not required to use the SCP. Buttons and scroll wheels do the job as well and you don't even need to remove your eye from the viewfinder (if your camera has one).

I have always done it this way. Only recently discovered the touchscreen possibility on my EM5.

 

[PakkyT]

I generally assume the reason people use SCP is for touchscreen purposes, apparently I'm wrong.

Ya, I use it all the time to quickly change settings, especially ones I may not use all that often and/or are not assigned by Oly or assignable to a button by me or ones that Oly has put on buttons but I have no committed them to memory.

I have always done it this way. Only recently discovered the touchscreen possibility on my EM5.

Since I am kind of anti back screen I have very rarely used the back touch screen let along accessing the SCP on it.

 

[snaimpally]

Thanks for this great post reminding folks about the wonderful OM legacy glass. My first camera was an OM-1 w/50mm f1.4 back in the early 70s. Inspired by your article, I have picked up some of those older lenses. I remember when the OM1 came out what a sensation it created because it was so much smaller than other SLRs - everyone was talking about it, which was one of the reasons I bought the OM1 over Nikon etc. The OM lenses are tiny jewels of precision craftsmanship compared to the massive lenses of other makers.

 

[loribincal]

Late to the thread, but I’ve been building up a pretty extensive collection of OM lenses over the last couple of months.

Once the last one —for now — arrives (a 50mm 3.5 macro) I’ll take a picture of the collection.

They run the gamut from 28mm right up to a monster 300mm f/4.5

Favorites are

50mm f/1.4
85mm f/2
135mm f/2.8

All those are giving me fantastic results with the speed booster ultra and a pen e-p3 and my newly purchased OM-D M5 ii

I also shoot 35mm on an OM1 .. no crop factor there

 

[sesser]

I had a mint copy of the 85/2 for a while. Traded it for a PL25, which I later sold. Wish I would have kept the OM.