Olympus Pen F wide angle options

jagarch

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Oct 27, 2008
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Hello,
Olympus Pen F wide angle lens cost a fortune.
Has anyone used a "T Mount" adapter with the Olympus Pen F?
This seems to be the cheapest adapter available and opens up some cheap lens options. However I'm a little confused by Tamron nomenclature.
It seems that over the years they made a number of revisions to the T mount, which they called T2, T4, Adaptall, etc. I'm assuming that only the original "T mount" lenses would work with the Olympus Pen adapter. Is that right?
If that's the case, then would an original Tamron 35mm F/2.8 T mount work on a Pen FT? Not very wide, I know, especially on a half frame. What about the Vivitar 28mm 2.8 or 2.5 in T Mount?
Would all of these also operate on my Leica iiif with a T mount adapter, solving the problem of expensive wides for that set up as well?
 
EDIT: What I wrote below I was thinking of a more expensive adapter, and not a T-mount. I still think it would be better to have said adapter with a Screwmount over Pen :EDIT OVER

I would say that it is probably easier to get wides for your screw mount than your Pen F, if you are using an adapter. Pen adapters are pricey to begin with, and then you have to add then lens. To get the equivilant of a 28 mm you need a 20mm lens adapted to the pen. Your Tamron 35mm would be really close to the Pen 38mm (a normal lens in fullframe terms), so it really would not be worth adapting - especially since you can get and excellent 38mm for less than an adapter!

The vivitar 28mm would be the equivilent of 40mm in fullframe terms. KEH has a Pen 25mm F4 for sale for $165.

KEH has an Pen 20mm for sale, but it is high.

The other thing to realize is that you would have you use stopdown metering for all your adapted lenses. The only exeption to this is the OM-PEN adapter, which is pricey. My opinion is to only get an adapter for your Pen to mess around with lenses you already have, but not to "save money" on lenses - especially wides.

I think in your situation, I would look for a wide VC lens for my IIIf, if money was an issue and I wanted a wide lens.

I have a Pen 20mm, but I can not comment on it yet, because it (with all my Pen lenses) are being CLA'd by John Hermanson. I just got the kit from my Dad this past fall, and sent it to be CLA'd because the camera was in the attic way to long and everything was seized up. From other comments I have heard that Pen lenses are great. I don't know how they compare to screwmount lenses since I don't own a screwmount or M system.
 
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