MF macro lens for olympus digital

[koulosb]

Hi I'm Vagelis from Greece....

I have an olympus e-520 and I'm searching for a cheap (under 100 euro) old manual focus macro lens.

I searched ebay and i found 2 cheap lenses....1) olympus OM 28 f/2.8 macro
and 2) Tamron 90 f/2.5 MF macro

I'm also searching for a cheap MF lense for portraits if you have something in mind.

Thank you....

[poilu]

welcome koulosb
the Tamron 90 f/2.5 is one of the best portrait lens
on 2x crop = 180mm is maybe a little long

[Attila]

All ~50mm macro lens from good brands like Nikon, Minolta etc are cheap and you can mount on Olympus. I am Olympus user too, my favorite cheap macro lenses : Olympus OM 50mm f3.5 (it has incredible accurate red , which is quiet unique compare with others) Nikon 55mm f3.5 NON-AI one of the cheapest stunning lens. Volna-9 from Russians also an excellent one.

[WolverineX]

If you search carefully you can find nice macro lenses
like micro nikkor 55mm both 3.5 and 2.8 for around 100$
Volna-9 50mm also
Panagor/Vivitar 55mm/2.8 (or some other brand under which name this lens came)

[koulosb]

I found also takumar asahi 50 f/4 , yashica 60 f/2.8 and yashica 55 f/4.

Does anyone test the olympus 28 f/2.8?

[Attila]

[koulosb]

I'm not looling only for olympus label.....

I just want a cheap old MF macro lense for my oly e-520

[WolverineX]

[Attila]

[koulosb]

Thank you.... i'll search for micro nikkor 55mm both 3.5 and 2.8 and Volna-9 50mm.

[Attila]

[koulosb]

Ok....With your help i found 5 cheap lenses and i want to ask which one to buy?

1)micro nikkor 55 f2.8

2)Volna -9 50 f2.8 macro

3)vivitar 28-90 f2.8 macro

4)Takumar Asahi 50 f4 macro

5)Tamron SP Adptall 90 f2 macro

Thank you....

[WolverineX]

[koulosb]

Thank you...

[Attila]

Take any what you find first , all just good one.

[koulosb]

Hi again....

I buy the vivitar 55 f/2.8 macro and it's a great lens but a have one problem.... when i want larger f than 2.8 my camera doesn't see it.

I change the f from the lens but nothing.

I see the hole inside the lens and it close when i change the f, so the lens is working.

Do you have any idea?

I use a olympus e-520 camera.

[nemesis101]

Hi

f2.8 is the LARGEST aperture (i.e. the 'biggest' hole for the light to get through), f3.5, 4.x, 5.x etc. are the smaller apertures. As the lens in question is a f2.8 then your camera couldn't see it any 'smaller' if by smaller you mean f2, f.14 of course which are in fact smaller numbers but larger apertures...

If you mean that the thing is not 'seen' as a smaller aperture at f3.5 4.x or whatever then two possibilities spring to mind. Are you actually expecting the camera to register the aperture in the viewfinder?

The Olympus digital SLR camera has no way of knowing what aperture the lens is set at as the coupling of the lens is mechanical, not electrical, so the camera relies upon you setting the aperture on the lens itself (which won't show in the viewfinder) and then in aperture priority the camera will measure the light coming through 'in real time' and set the shutter accordingly..

I focus at maximum (here f2.8 ) aperture then have to shut down the lens by hand to my chosen aperture, and wait whilst the camera calculates the exposure then selects its chosen shutter speed and fires.. I COULD focus the lens shut down to my chosen aperture but often this is too dark to focus properly, and if one relies on split image focus screens then when using tele-zooms or long focal length prime lenses, the phenomenon of 'darkening' can happen, where one half of the split image area turns black making focus impossible to achieve.

If you fit your manual lens - Oly adapter with a focus confirm chip then the camera itself will tell you when focus is achieved... but in my experience these too like a decent amount of light! It's for this reason (and that it had live view when most didn't) that I chose the Panasonic L-1 rather than the Oly, as the Panasonic's focus confirm works WITHOUT a 'chipped' adapter!

The other is that the lens has the ability to be 'hard set' at a particular aperture (for cameras that used a mechanical connection) and did their metering using this 'set' position (often marked AE or just AA on the aperture ring) before shutting down when the exposure actually occurred...?

Hope this helps?

Doug

[koulosb]

Sorry i mean smaller apertures....

At the problem now.... i know that the camera can't tell the number of f.

The story is that the camera can not calculates the exposure when i change apertures....

I think that is the adapter but i can't test it.... the lens is minolta MD mount.

[nemesis101]

Hmm to what camera are you attaching it? If it is an e-300 or e-30 Olympus the aperture pin / lever fouls the body so the aperture never closes it just cuts a hole in the camera.. You can shave .3mm off the pin or use an E-1 E-3 or any of the 400 500 and 600 Olympus bodies.. No idea what they are like on an EOS..

So more details, please?

Doug

[koulosb]

It's a olympus e-520 and i use a minolta MD to 4/3 adapter.
The lens is MD mount.

[nemesis101]

Should be no problem.. I use a similar adapter on my E-1 with great success.. I'd also recommend the Minolta f3.5 50mm lens which is effectively a 100mm lens on the 520.. I got mine for 7 dollars and that included the case and the extension to give true 1:1 as well!

Doug.

[koulosb]

So what do you think is the problem with mine?

Maybe the lens if it's not the adapter?

[nemesis101]

Hard to tell at a distance.. can you borrow a lens from anyone to determine where the problem is? I suspect that's the solution?

Doug

[koulosb]

I will test the adapter with another minolta lens and i will test the lens on a minolta slr camera.... so i see if is the lens or the adapter the problem...

All the adapters that sells on ebay it's the same model.... so it will be difficult to choose wich will solve the problem...!!!