Olympus Pen 60/1.5 on m4/3: the perfect portrait lens?

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I was a little embarrassed at myself for actually buying one of these on eBay--but at $479 for the lens, case, and hood, it seemed like money I could easily get back should I change my mind. But holy crap, look at these portraits, taken wide open without more than a moment's thought.

Increasingly, the more I experiment with them, I think Pen lenses are the perfect manual focus companions to the m4/3 system. They render beautifully with this sensor; they feel very "native."

I think this lens would be ideal for bringing, say, to a restaurant in order to snap portraits of your friends across the table...or to a party or reception for candid head shots.

 

[Trius]

Lovely, John!

Do you have an M42 adapater? If so, I'll lend you my Helios 44-M. It's a 58/2, and I'd love to see how it compares.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I don't have one, not yet--I have a few Pentax lenses I'd like to try, though, so I will probably get a K-mount one. And I have a couple K-42 adapters.

The nice thing about the Pen lenses is the size--they are nice and small, and the adapter is quite shallow.

 

[photogdave]

Nice looking shots, but they seem a little soft. Camera shake maybe?

 

[user237428934]

For me my 50mm on my G1 is almost an "extreme telephoto lens". So 60mm would be too close for my taste.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Yes, correct--very narrow DOF and a bit of shake are to blame. I was just testing it out at 1.5 to see what it could do. By 2.8 it's quite sharp...

 

[fotomeow]

the fotos do look surprisinly nice for the age of the lens (how old??).....

At first the fotos did appear a little soft, but the closer I look at them, I think that the area of focus is so shallow (these shots are taken wide open and close to the subject) that everything outside that small focal area appears soft..

I would like to see some shots with the lens NOT wide open and further away from the subject: If these shots are crisp, then that would support the quality of this lens.....
And Mabelsound, if you are willing, could you also post a couple B&W shots??

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

OK, I didn't mean this as a real test, but here are some quick shots taken outside, mostly at f/5.6 and f/8. Forgive the hugeness of the pics, but this should give an idea of resolution.

Honestly, I don't know the data here, but on his site Dante Stella said:

Olympus Pen lenses, by virtue of their short focal lengths (shorter for half-frame), had greater depth of field and ultra-high resolving power (many lenses topped 80lp/mm at multiple apertures).

They are certainly resolving enough for me. These came out of Lightroom2 with default sharpening.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

100% crop of rooster's eye. The lens is certainly getting the most out of the sensor, IMHO.

 

[splitimageview]

Focusing shouldn't be difficult on a GF1 with viewfinder, but off the LCD, it's probably more of a challenge, but these look great, John.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

I'm finding that if I have time to compose, the LCD is no problem at all, even wide open. The LCD on the GF1 is really quite spectacular.

Someday I would like to get a body with a proper viewfinder, though, perhaps a used G1. Or wait for some future Olympus body with the EVF built in.