Digital Moments, F.Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F1.8

Digital Moments, F.Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F1.8

'Malaysia Photography Blog - Image samples with the manual focus Olympus F.Zuiko Auto-S 38mm F1.8 legacy lens mounted on the Olympus E-P5'


Adapting legacy manual focus lenses, whether primes or zooms, to your interchangeable lens digital camera means that you are not only giving yourself the option to select a lens from thousands of mainly low priced options offered by different manufacturers, or picking one that is not available from your current camera brand range, but also giving yourself the choice of lenses which have been acknowledged to have outstanding optical qualities.

Using these lenses, however, means that you need to mount the lens to your camera via an adapter, and learning to shoot (if you are a newbie), or shooting in full manual mode. A lens adapter is also specific to the lens and the camera you are using, with exact measurement to provide for the correct focal flange distanse for the lens to focus properly.

An example of a very good and compact lens for adaption to mirrorless digital camera bodies is the F.Zuiko Auto-S 50mm F1.8. The lens is from the series produced for Olympus Pen F/FT, the half-frame SLR camera system which was designed with a body thickness and focal flange distance almost resembling current mirrorless digital cameras.

Adapting the lens, for example, to an Olympus Pen E-P5 requires an adapter with only a very shsort thickness of 10mm, a far cry from adapters which are from 30mm to 50mm thick for lenses from a normal SLR film camera. While Zuiko Pen F/FT lenses are not on the lower priced end of auctions sites, they may prove their while as these lenses are known to have excellent optical qualities and are of robust construction.

The 38mm F1.8 is 6 elements in 5 groups construction, comes with a 5 bladed diaphragm, and is a lightweight at 135 grams. Minimum focus distance is a short 0.35 meters and filter threads are standard 43 mm. The lens is said to have a degree of softness which seems to the main trait of Olympus manual focus lenses, characteristic neutral mid-tone colors, and a pastel creaminess to the backgrounds that adds to the classic touch of the images.

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Resource Links:
F.Zuiko 38mm f1.8 Lens Review - My Favourite Lens
F.Zuiko Auto-S 1:1.8 f 38mm for PEN F/FT