[Leica] Better (and cheaper) than Fuji.

[lrzeitlin at aol.com (lrzeitlin at aol.com)]

 Enough about Fuji. If you want to use your legacy Leica lenses on a 
different platform without the expense of a M9 or a 240, try this.


Olympus EPL-1 cameras are being sold at near giveaway prices by various 
distributors. I bought two, one body and one with a 14 to 42 mm kit lens 
from Cameta Camera in NYC, both for substantially less than $200 each. The 
sensor and much of the internal electronics are the same as? that in later 
models offered by the troubled Olympus company.?I've written about this 
before so bear with me.


I have had no problem using old film camera lenses on an Olympus EPL-1 
provided I have the right eBay sourced adapter. So far I have used Leica 
screw and M? lenses (35 mm f3.5 Elmar, 50 mm f3.5 Elmar, 40 mm f 2.0 
Summiicron-C, 50 mm f2 Summicron and 90 mm f 3.5 Elmar), Robot lenses (32 mm 
f2.8 Zeiss, 40 mm f2 Biotar), Canon screw lenses (35 mm f2.8 Serenar, 50 mm 
f 1.2 Canon, 100 mm f3.5 Serenar and 135 mm f.3.5 Serenar), Olympus OM 
lenses (35 m f2.8 Zukio, 50 m f1.8 Zukio), and Olympus Pen F lenses (38 mm 
f2 Zukio). That's a lot of lenses and I still have many more. I have had few 
problems focusing using an Olympus eye level digital finder. Usually I focus 
wide open but must remember to manually reset the taking aperture. Shades of 
the 1950s. It is more trouble than focusing a Leica M3 but easier than a 
Leica IIIf.


Are the pictures inferior to those taken with a film camera? Not at all. My 
trusty copy of Morgan and Lester tells me that most older Leica lenses were 
computed for a circle of confusion of 1/500 inch, about 20 lines per mm. 
When the Elmar was new the average Leica picture was 5x7 inches. The Oly 
sensor has much, much greater resolution than that. It can use most of the 
legacy lenses to their full capability.


Here is a LUG Gallery album showing some of these lenses mounted on the 
little camera.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Various+lenses+on+EPL-1/


Also the Canon 50mm f1.2.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/EPL-1+witn+Canon+50mm+f1.JPG.html


Now that I proved to myself that I could do it, I've mostly stopped using 
these lenses. The kit 14 to 42 mm Oly zoom works fine for most purposes and 
autofocus and auto exposure makes it dead easy. The four lenses I still use 
on the EPL-1 are the old 35 mm Elmar, because it is so tiny that the camera 
will easily slip into a pocket, the Canon 35 mm f2.8 because of its needle 
sharp quality, the Pen F 38 mm Zukio f1.8 because it is a small fast lens, 
and the Canon 50 mm f1.2 as a short super fast telephoto with great bokeh. 
Portraits of women are especially flattering with this lens. My wife claims 
it makes her look 10 years younger.


Olympus offers a combination body cap and 15 mm f8.0 lens for the camera. 
The lens itself is just a tiny blob of glass with a clear opening of no more 
than 3 mm. Performance of the body cap lens shows it to be adequately sharp 
with even illumination over the entire frame. Here is a casual, almost 
accidental snap with this lens. It cost $49 new. It lets me slip the second 
EPL-1 body into my pocket with lens attached and carry it like a P&S. It is 
fixed focus and the variable camera ISO handles most lighting changes. It is 
always ready to shoot. No worse than a Box Brownie and much better than a 
Holga. It would be fine for most daytime street photography. Lluis' subway 
masterpieces excepted.
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Various+lenses+on+EPL-1/Bodycap+lens+picture.JPG.html




Larry Z