e-p1 adapter review (loads of pics and comparisons)

[gavinlg]

Hi all,

I've noticed of late a lot of people both asking questions about adapters on the olympus pen digital range, and lots of people posting pictures of lenses adapted but without good example pics from the lenses themselves. We all know that some lenses look fantastic on the digital pen, but what's more interesting to me is how they perform.

So out of sheer curiosity, I ordered a Canon ef to micro four thirds adapter from the US. It cost around $40us and allows infinity focus. I received it a few days later and marveled at it's build quality, and how quickly it got to Australia. Very happy with it. Immediately I put it to work, and here are the results.


Firstly, some pictures of my canon ef lenses on the e-p1:

Canon 35mm f1.4L, with the olympus 17mm on camera for comparison. The 35L dwarfs the little pen.

35L on the pen.

Canon 50mm f1.4

Canon 85mm f1.8

 

[gavinlg]

Examples!

Examples!

Now that we got some beauty shots out of the way, here are some examples right from the lenses on the e-p1. All were shot at iso 100, 200, 400 in raw, converted by lightroom 3b and have extremely minimal post processing, including exposure adjustment and sharpening. Thats it!

I'll post a picture from each lens wide open and also one stopped down a little:


Firstly, the 35mm f1.4L

35L wide open

35L at f2

Impressions:
Lens is rather big, and fairly sharp wide open. It's difficult to get a lot of background blur due the e-p1 only using the center of the lenses possible circle of light. The 35L in my opinion is one of the best 35mm lenses ever made, and even with the high demands of the 2x crop sensor, it's sharp wide open and even sharper stopped down. Bokeh is good, but not great on the e-p1 due to only the center of the image being used. To be totally honest, the lens is just a little too big to be good ergonomically with this camera, so i don't think I'll be using it very much. Something like the nokton 35mm f1.4 would be MUCH nicer, but I doubt it will have the same sort of sharpness wide open.

 

[gavinlg]

50mm f1.4

50mm f1.4

Canon 50mm f1.4

50mm f1.4 wide open

50mm f1.4 stopped down to f2

Impressions:
The 50mm f1.4 is a much more manageable size than the 35L and so feels much more suited to the e-p1. It's focussing ring is a bit grainy but it's pretty easy to focus quickly. Unfortunately, I had low hopes for this lens on the e-p1 as I don't really like it on my full frame 5d to start with. With the e-p1 magnifying the center of the projected image circle, what looks soft on a full frame camera will look softer on a crop cam. I was right. Wide open it's a bit nasty, with lots of glow and fairly low sharpness. Very useable in low light, but during good daylight it just looks like you smeared vaseline on the front element. Stopped down to f2 the image improves considerably. Bokeh is really good and sharpness is really high with very low "glow" that is seen wide open. I'd be very happy to use this lens stopped down a little - anywhere from f1.8 to f2.8.

 

[gavinlg]

canon 85mm f1.8

canon 85mm f1.8

Canon 85mm f1.8:

Canon 85mm 1.8 wide open

Canon 85mm 1.8 @ f2.8

Impressions:
The canon 85mm f1.8 is a really good lens, plenty sharp, light, well built and inexpensive. It sings on the full frame digitals and does very well on the e-p1. Wide open it's pretty sharp, with only a light glow and bokeh is lovely. Note that during bright daylight you will see a lot of chromatic aberrations wide open. In lower light they go away. Stopped down to f2.8 it's extremely sharp, has lovely bokeh and no glow about it. It looks very similar to the 50mm at f2 in fact, just sharper. Considering this lens makes a 170mm f1.8 equivalent it's actually pretty useful. Once you get up to this focal length and beyond the camera gets harder to focus though.

 

[gavinlg]

Conclusion

Conclusion

In Conclusion

Well, it was a fun little exercise in experimentation with the ever lovely e-p1. I've almost sold this camera a few times but every time I come close to it I just don't want to. It's one of the few digital cameras that you can grow attached to as it has bucket loads of personality and is such a pleasure to use.

While it's fun adapting lenses and experimenting, I can't help but notice how well the standard m4/3 olympus and panasonic lenses perform on the cameras. They were designed specifically for the smaller sensors, they are tiny, and they work better on smaller sensors then the big full frame lenses do. The 35L for instance, really sings on my 5d. When put on the e-p1 however, it loses almost all of it's character and ability to render a subject in an almost 3d way. For instance, I took this shot for a comparison:

5d with 35L, wide open.

You can see that utilizing the full lens circle on a big sensor camera is bringing out a lot more of the lenses character, and it's also a LOT sharper, with a lot better bokeh.

I personally wouldn't go out of my way to use a wide angle full frame lens on the e-p1. The nokton 35mm f1.4 would be a better match for the Pen size-wise, but is a much softer lens wide open than the 35L, and I can't see it performing that well wide open. Stopped down would be a different story. The Panasonic 20mm f1.7 would be a much better choice in my opinion.

50mm and 85mm lenses seem to work really well on the e-p1 however. I'd be tempted to use something like the zeiss 50mm 1.7 contax lens adapted, as it's sure to be much sharper than my crappy canon 50 wide open, as well as having better focus feel and being smaller. Stopped down a little they gain a lot of sharpness. The 85mm was very nice on the pen, and I'd love to use something like the nikkor or pentax f1.4 85mm lenses, both of which are famously good glass.

I'm going to be looking very seriously at the olympus 9-18mm m4/3 lens coming this month, as well as the lumix 20mm 1.7 as a lens kit, as these cover my most used focal lengths, are tiny, and are more suited to the smaller m4/3 sensor.

 

[ethics_gradient]

Thanks for the pics, I haven't seen too many shots of EF lenses on m4/3s. I've been thinking about getting an E-P1 (pretty much decided on "yes", but I may put it off a while longer) and I already have some nice Canon lenses. Did you use the DoF preview button method on a Canon body to stop down?

I wish someone would come out with an m4/3-EF adapter that allowed aperture control :-\

 

[Mark W]

MY Gawd you use that lovely of subject for your test shots and you want us to somehow be able to critique the lens! You must be kidding.

Actually thanks so much for doing this and posting these results I'm currently looking at the E-P2 and an option for a digital body to use with my Long FD glass. And shots like this are very helpful in gaining an understanding of what I might find with a 400mm f4.5 mounted up on one (with the EVF of course)

 

[gavinlg]

Thanks for the pics, I haven't seen too many shots of EF lenses on m4/3s. I've been thinking about getting an E-P1 (pretty much decided on "yes", but I may put it off a while longer) and I already have some nice Canon lenses. Did you use the DoF preview button method on a Canon body to stop down?

I wish someone would come out with an m4/3-EF adapter that allowed aperture control :-\

No problems - yes I used the DOF stop down on my 5d and then removed the lens holding down the button. Works fine. Typically I'd use the lenses stopped down to f2 or f2.8 unless it's very low light, in which case wide open would be fine.

MY Gawd you use that lovely of subject for your test shots and you want us to somehow be able to critique the lens! You must be kidding.

Actually thanks so much for doing this and posting these results I'm currently looking at the E-P2 and an option for a digital body to use with my Long FD glass. And shots like this are very helpful in gaining an understanding of what I might find with a 400mm f4.5 mounted up on one (with the EVF of course)

Thanks, she's very patient with me! I found the longer the lens gets the harder it gets to focus it. A tripod would be really good in that situation. Interestingly, the 85mm had really shallow depth of field. I was focussing on objects a good 20 meters away and still getting big background blur.

 

[Finder]

Interestingly, the 85mm had really shallow depth of field. I was focussing on objects a good 20 meters away and still getting big background blur.

That would be expected. DoF will be less on the m4/3 compared to a 35mm format. While the field of view would be different, shooting wide open at f/1.8 would be like having a DoF f/0.9 on your 35mm-format camera.

Also, a loss of sharpness with your 35mm lens from the 5D to m4/3 would be expected. Put a lens on a larger format and the image will appear sharper. Or using it on a smaller format will give the appearance of less sharpness.

The wild card is the in-camera processing. There is no processing for these lenses with the m4/3 camera--the 5D will process the image.

But thanks for the post. It is always fun to see what folks are doing with their m4/3 cameras.

 

[gavinlg]

I think you have that the wrong way around finder - an f2 lens on a full frame cam has the depth of field equivalent of f4 on a crop cam. The perceived depth of field is actually larger, because you're only using the center of the projected image circle.

Also the 5d is an old tech camera and doesn't do any lens corrections at all. What you have is what you get.

 

[Finder]

I think you have that the wrong way around finder - an f2 lens on a full frame cam has the depth of field equivalent of f4 on a crop cam. The perceived depth of field is actually larger, because you're only using the center of the projected image circle.

Only if you are comparing the same angle of view, but then you comparing different focal length lenses.

However, if you are simply putting a 35mm lens on an m4/3 camera, you lose DoF because the image is magnified more (and hence the circles of confusion that define sharp and unsharp)--twice as much to be exact which is why the circles of confusion have to be twice as small to appear sharp. So when I use my cv 12mm Heliar, I need to use the f/5.6 DoF scales when shooting at f/11. So when you use that 85mm f/1.8 on your m4/3, you need f/0.9 DoF scales.

Also the 5d is an old tech camera and doesn't do any lens corrections at all. What you have is what you get.

Every digital camera has a processed image, even if it is simple spatial filtering. This is why it is a wild card. What is the Canon doing? What is the m4/3 camera doing? We just do not know. BTW, manufacturers keep their in-camera processing secret.