Minolta 50mm F1.7 MC ROKKOR-X PF

Manual focus on the EPL1 is pretty straight forward but a VF2 is a really nice to have if you plan to do a lot of it. It allows you to hold the camera in a more stable position (I personally do not care for holding the camera at arms length to view the LCD).

 

I have used/tried both the MD 50/1.7 (from somewhere in the eighties) and the MC 55/1.7 (from the late sixties) on my GF-1. The MC55 is quite bad. The MD50 is a good performer, even wide open. The manual focus is OK on a GF-1 and I doubt a PL-1 will differ much in that respect.

But I must add that I don't use it regularly. The main reason to use a 50/1.7 is that the combination of DOF, focal length, and speed fits the purpose of a portrait lens. But I prefer longer teles for that because of the perspective. You'll see me with a manual 90/2.8 instead.

 

I haven't tried the 50mm f1.7, but I have tried the 50mm f1.4 on my G1 with an inexpensive fotodiox adapter. I was blown away by how sharp the lens was when I made a few test shots. Blown away.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to try it out other than testing it a little bit.

I got mine out of a grab bag of an SRT-202 kit. Along with the 202 body, I got this 50mm f1.4, a vivitar series 1 28mm f1.9 and a vivitar series 1 70-200 f3.5. The 28mm was interesting. It wasn't very sharp, and it had this weird look. I hope to use it for the lomo-ish effect it has. The 70-200 I haven't tried much with yet. I checked it out quickly with a couple of shots inside, but it was really too dark at the time to handhold it. I plan to try it out outside when I have a chance.

Total price for everything : $55 shipped. (not including the mft adapter)