Olympus F.Zuiko Pen-F 38mm f/1.8, A Clear Choice

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Cameras and Lenses: Images with a vintage legacy Olympus F.Zuiko PenF 38mm f/1.8, a highly sharp standard normal prime lens built for the Olympus PEN F half-frame SLR camera system, at 76mm full-frame equivalent on the Olympus PEN E-P5.

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Adapting legacy manual focus lenses to your interchangeable lens digital camera means that you are not only giving yourself the chance 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 that have been acknowledged to have outstanding optical qualities.

An example of a very good and compact lens for adaptation to mirrorless digital camera bodies is the Zuiko FT 38mm 1:1.8, or officially the F.Zuiko Auto-S 50mm 1:1.8. The lens is from the series produced for the Olympus Pen 1:FT, the half-frame SLR camera system that was designed with a body thickness and focal flange distance almost resembling current mirrorless digital cameras.

Olympus PEN E-P5, Olympus F.Zuiko Pen-F 38mm f/1.8

The 38mm 1:1.8 is 6 6-element, 5-group construction, comes with a 5-bladed diaphragm, and is lightweight at 135 grams. The minimum focus distance is a short 0.35 meters, and the filter threads are standard 43 mm. The lens is said to have a degree of softness, which seems to be 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.