I got me a pancake

[oscroft]

I've always fancied trying a 40mm "pancake" lens. My SLRs are all Olympus OM, but the Zuiko 40/2 goes for far more than I'd want to spend (and thought it's smaller than 50s, it's really a bit too chunky to be called a "pancake" anyway).

So a Pentax-M 40/2.8 and a Pentax body is about the only real option, but whenever I've seen either the lens or an MX body (which is about the only one I'd want) on eBay it's gone a bit too high and I've been outbid, and I've been reluctant to go a bit higher because then there'd be an urgency to get the other half of the duo which would probably lead me to paying too much for that.

But I just bought this, which should be here any day.

I'm not sure whether I'll keep it for long - it depends on how much I like it, so I'll have to have a play first. But does anyone here use a 40/2.8, and what do you think of it?

 

[oftheherd]

That is nice. I thought the f/2 I got with my XG-1 a couple of weeks ago was small. Are you sure someone didn't cut that lens in half? 😀

 

[oscroft]

Are you sure someone didn't cut that lens in half?

Hehe, it does look like that! But yes, it's tiny - on the MX it should make for possibly the most easily pocketable SLR there is.

 

[shadowfox]

That lens will look even cooler on a black MX 😀
Let me know if you don't like it or got tired of it, ok?

 

[oscroft]

That lens will look even cooler on a black MX

It would, yes.

Let me know if you don't like it or got tired of it, ok?

Will do 🙂

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I have the Zuiko 40mm f2. Yeah, it's horridly overpriced. I paid $500 for mine, but it is a swet lens. Much better bokeh than any of the Olympus 35mm or 50mm lenses. I have the 50mm f1.4 and the f1.8 MIJ, as well as the 35mm f2.8 and the f2.0. The 35's have better bokeh than the 50's (very harsh on the 50's yuck!) but the 40 beats all of them and is a great focal length for street work.

 

[ChrisN]

I've used the Pentax DA40 (the autofocus lens) on a Pentax MX-5 body. I love the FOV, and the IQ is fine, too. That will make a great outfit, on the MX.


Correction: That should be MZ-5, not MX-5 (there's no such animal!).

 

[Doug]

About as compact as it gets, I think, Alan! Hope you enjoy. I have an MX, but my 40mm is not as thin as yours.. it's the f2 Voigtlander Ultron SL (it has the KA mount). The 40 is probably my favorite focal length for general use.

Couple of nice crisp shots there, Chris... as usual I like the solid-seeming shadows.

 

[rxmd]

I've used the Pentax DA40 (the autofocus lens) on a Pentax MX-5 body. I love the FOV, and the IQ is fine, too. That will make a great outfit, on the MX.

How do you set aperture?

Philipp

 

[skhan]

Cool, a MX! It was the first real camera I've ever used 🙂 Its really small (I think as small as, if not a bit smaller than, any Leica M). As much as I love my M3 and Hexar RF, its the last camera that I'll ever sell (since it was my dad's camera). Enjoy!

Edit: I just checked: its much smaller than my M3 (excluding the prism).

 

[ChrisN]

How do you set aperture?

Philipp

Philipp, I need to make a correction! The body I use it with is of course a MZ-5, not an MX-5. The MZ-5 body controls the aperture. And of course it works very well with the Pentax digital SLR as well, albeit with the field-of-view of a 60mm lens (on 35mm).

 

[oscroft]

Thanks for the thoughts folks. The MX and pancake arrived this morning and are really nice - the MX is even smaller than my OM bodies, and the lens is really cute (and the glass is spotless). The whole thing fits in my (quite small) hands very comfortably, and I find the lens quite easy to focus - I'd thought the tiny focus grip might be tricky. And I do like the FOV. So that's my next weekend of shooting accounted for 🙂

I think I'd still like a Zuiko 40/2, but I've only seen two here in the UK and they went for more than £200, which is a bit too much for me.