Author Topic: Good portrait lens for E-P1? (Read 4862 times)

jcross · « **on:** September 16, 2009, 01:20:51 AM »

Hello,
I am new to interchangeable lens cameras (lots of super-zoom experience :-).
I am looking for a nice, fast, but relatively inexpensive lens for portraits mostly.
I currently have the 14-42 kit zoom lens.
Suggestions anyone?

Requirements:

Must be fast (F/1.7 or faster)
Must be small (portable).
Would rather avoid adapters if possible.

I am considering:

20mm F/1.7 from Panasonic.
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.4 MC (a bit out of my price range with adapter...)
Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f/1.4
Cheaper (used) OM lenses (50mm-1.4 for example)

Questions:

For someone who is serious, but still learning, what would you suggest?
What is a good focal length for relatively close-up portraits?
Do the manual-focus lenses work well with E-P1? (For example manual-focus assist zoom?)

Concerns:

20mm seems great, but probably too wide???
Voigtlanders are expensive with $150 adapter.
OM lenses seem a bit clunky (lower quality optics? perhaps damaged if used...)

Thanks in advance!

-Jonathan

mod2001 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 16, 2009, 01:54:59 AM »

try to get a G.Zuiko 40/1.4, fantastic lens, much better bokeh than the Voigtlaender.

Yogi

e_dawg · « **Reply #2 on:** September 16, 2009, 04:58:19 AM »

I wouldn't use the CV Nokton 35/1.4 or 40/1.4 for portraiture, as their bokeh IMHO is edgy and distracting. I would recommend the CV Nokton 50/1.5 Asph as the ideal portrait lens with unusually good bokeh from a fast 50 (most fast 50's have mediocre bokeh in my experience).

cosinaphile · « **Reply #3 on:** September 16, 2009, 05:58:55 AM »

if you want a cheap solution buy a used fast 50 slr lens and adapter used on ebay or other selling venue i have heard good things about the om lenses

i purchased a used 50 2.8 pentax auto 110 slr lens from the 1980s for $10 and used a $5.95 ep-1 body cap as an "adapter" and fixed them together with a little carefully applied crazy glue at the correct infinity focus wiith the lenns at infinity it an awesoome combination , quite tiny with an image circle that is perfect for the ep-1 sensor, this i would think is the most inexpensive option ,optically excellent,and just fun to use

2.8 the dof is pretty shallow and i find the pentax 50 2.8 110 auto slr lens incredibily sharp and good,

2.8 seems as if it is not fast enuf for you as you stated , however if you giive this under $16 solution a chance im sure you will consider it money well spent

the voigtlander cosina 50 1.5 nokton about $250 [340 new] used is an amazing lens i use it more than any other on my ep-1 and havnt looked back

jcross · « **Reply #4 on:** September 17, 2009, 07:46:00 AM »

Wow, thanks so much everyone!
I hadn't considered the 50mm lenses, but will look into it.
If there is a small enough solution, I'll go for it.

>> cosinaphile
Thanks for the $16 suggestion!!!
I have never seen most of these things in person and generally lack the understanding to put together these homemade solutions people are doing. I love the idea though and will see what I can find.

Price of these new adapters seems outrageous, they don't even facilitate auto-focus!?!
The "body cap as an adapter" seems much more my style.

What a great forum!

Thanks!

sriyukteswar · « **Reply #5 on:** September 23, 2009, 04:11:43 AM »

Quote from: cosinaphile on September 16, 2009, 05:58:55 AM

i purchased a used 50 2.8 pentax auto 110 slr lens from the 1980s for $10 and used a $5.95 ep-1 body cap as an "adapter"(..)

Hello

I planned to to just that. Do you have any pictures of the camera with lens and the bodycap?

darkspark · « **Reply #6 on:** September 23, 2009, 02:44:47 PM »

I have a Pen-F 38mm f/1.8 lens for sale. It's actually a great portrait lens for E-P1 because of the m4/3 cropped sensor and fast aperture. Pretty smooth bokeh too, imo...

http://e-p1.net/index.php?topic=747.0

pkloo · « **Reply #7 on:** September 23, 2009, 06:13:39 PM »

OM-50mm f1.8 is already good for portrait.

dpexpert · « **Reply #8 on:** September 25, 2009, 08:23:40 PM »

The OM 50mm 1.4 is pretty good -- used here with the genuine Olympus MF2 adapter...

cosinaphile · « **Reply #9 on:** September 25, 2009, 10:53:19 PM »

Quote from: cosinaphile on September 16, 2009, 06:58:55 AM
i purchased a used 50 2.8 pentax auto 110 slr lens from the 1980s for $10 and used a $5.95 ep-1 body cap as an "adapter"(..)

Hello I planned to to just that. Do you have any pictures of the camera with lens and the bodycap?

see the thread pentax 110 lenses on the ep-1 , there are some pictures there , for examples of the image quality i posted 3 images in the ep-1 user pics gallery section

cosinaphile · « **Reply #10 on:** September 25, 2009, 10:56:13 PM »

dp expert, what a expressive and mood filled portrait youve shot!

Luke · « **Reply #11 on:** September 26, 2009, 07:01:57 AM »

Yes dpexpert, that is an incredible portrait. I hope that one day I can take photos like that.

davide · « **Reply #12 on:** September 28, 2009, 02:52:58 PM »

Quote from: jcross on September 17, 2009, 07:46:00 AM

Wow, thanks so much everyone!
I hadn't considered the 50mm lenses, but will look into it.
If there is a small enough solution, I'll go for it.

There can't be a small solution from a SLR lens (because of the flange distance), but there are plenty from rangefinders, and a few from "specialized" lenses.

I posted the two parts of a three parts review on my choice of the portrait lens (adapted from C-mount). Enjoy it here: http://www.javacorner.net

Bye,
;Dav

jcross · « **Reply #13 on:** October 04, 2009, 08:01:42 PM »

>> davide... Pentax/Cosmicar 50/1.4
Sounds interesting, I'll look into it more.

Has anyone made a home-made C-mount adapter?

jcross · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2009, 05:38:07 AM »

Does anyone have detailed instructions on how to make these home-made adapters like cosinaphile suggested?
I ordered some extra E-P1 body caps and got some super glue

Is this possible with any lens?
Any tips?

Any leads on cheap, simple adapters in case I find a lens I'd rather not super-glue?

Thanks!

PS: dpexpert, great portrait, I'll definitely check out the OM 50/1.4, thanks!

-Jonathan

cosinaphile · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2009, 06:53:48 AM »

you can adapt a rear lens cap that has its center drilled out to a ep-1 body cap with its center drilled out , that way when you have the configuration at the perfect spot for infinity focus , [this takes some patience and determination] you need only glue body cap to rear lens cap and not muck up the back of the lens

the first lens i did this with was a nikon 50 f2 with rear lens cap to drilled ep-1 body cap when it was all finished i did put the tiniest drop of crazy glue on the rear of the lens cap so it would not loosen from the lens too easily, it can be detached by a little force and the tiny residue oon the rear metal portion removed with come care some acetone and a q-tip, should i ever desire to use the lens another way . the thing is many older fast primes are available for next to nothing on e bay at b& h used , flea markets etc , if you really want a blast get a 24 2.8 pentax 110 lens it is literally the size of a soda bottle cap and altghough it is a fixed 2.8 f stop ,its perfectly usable as a "normal" lens on the ep-1. see the thread pentax 11o lenses on the ep-1 for other posters who have added some very interesting and informative links
you can make a recess in the edge of the ep-1 body cap one everything else is finished by filling the hollow s ppace in it where it would align with some epoxy pastr and then drilling a little recess hole lined up with the ep-1s locking pin so it will not fall off

read my first post here , its in the welcome to the forum section where i talked about my first conversion . i have pictures posted of the nikon somwewhere too

cosinaphile · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:06:38 AM »

http://e-p1.net/index.php?topic=676.0

http://e-p1.net/index.php?topic=3.msg3382#msg3382
or

http://e-p1.net/index.php?topic=626.msg4383#msg4383

the last is a thread i created on august 31 with the ambitous title " how to make an adapter for almost any lens on earth", with some details on the process,read only 121 time but alas, never commented on

Federico Alberto · « **Reply #17 on:** October 05, 2009, 11:58:34 AM »

Never thought the legendary OM 100mm f/2 ED could be so useful for portraits...

The Time is Near

marcello · « **Reply #18 on:** October 06, 2009, 12:45:00 AM »

Quote from: mod2001 on September 16, 2009, 01:54:59 AM

try to get a G.Zuiko 40/1.4, fantastic lens, much better bokeh than the Voigtlaender.

Yogi

Which adapter is needed for this lens ? I saw a couple of them very well prized on ebay and am considering buying this instead of the new Panasonic pancake 20/1.7. What do you think ?

edch · « **Reply #19 on:** October 06, 2009, 01:25:45 AM »

Very good E-P1 portrait photos from a Chinese OM Users site:

http://www.photofans.cn/forum/showthread.php?forumid=60&threadyear=2009&threadid=86436&action=&word=&searchusername=&page=1

jcross · « **Reply #20 on:** October 12, 2009, 03:16:10 PM »

Thanks for the links!
On another note...
Has anyone made an adapter for a Konica Hexanon 50/1.4?
Its not so small, but I have access to the lens and a BC-2...

jcross · « **Reply #21 on:** October 13, 2009, 01:53:37 PM »

Just bought one of the Pentax 110 50mm lenses (with rear lens cap

) , got my E-P1 body caps and am ready to attempt the cosinaphile adapter.

I purchased a Panasonic 20mm/1.7 a couple weeks ago (still waiting for Amazon....... like many others... :-)

Now I'm exploring macro prime + DIY lenses...
I see a lot of C-mount lenses on eBay which look pretty cool (aluminum 25mm/1.4, etc).
Seems there are inexpensive adapters (any good?) and a wide range of lenses available.
Anyone have experience with any of these?

I saw davide's page about the Cosmicar/Pentax 50mm f/1.4 -- it looked pretty blurry at 1.4... waiting for more updates...

I think I have given up on the OM lenses because of the huge adapter + relatively large lenses -- just defeats the point to me.

davide · « **Reply #22 on:** October 21, 2009, 08:35:02 PM »

Quote from: jcross on October 04, 2009, 08:01:42 PM

>> davide... Pentax/Cosmicar 50/1.4
Sounds interesting, I'll look into it more.

Has anyone made a home-made C-mount adapter?

No me, but it's feasible. I completed my series on http://www.javacorner.net/ with the machine shop work I made to focus infinity. Enjoy.

Now that dpreview has published its test of the Leica 45mm f/2.8 I believe even more in my choice of Pentax 50mm f/1.4 described in the website! But I do miss autofocus :-/

Dav

fatcatmatt · « **Reply #23 on:** October 25, 2009, 07:37:54 AM »

my favorite portrait lens is the cv 35/1.2

Author Topic: Good portrait lens for E-P1? (Read 4862 times)

sriyukteswar

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