Olympus E.Zuiko Pen-F 100mm f/3.5, A Lightweight Compact

Cameras and Lenses: Impressive handheld tele shots with a legacy E.Zuiko Pen-F 100mm f/3.5, a vintage, medium-telephoto prime lens built for the Olympus Pen F half-frame SLR system, mounted on a mirrorless Olympus Pen E-P5.

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The Zuiko FT 100mm 1:3.5, or officially the E.Zuiko Auto-T 100mm 1:3.5, another lens from the series produced for the Olympus Pen F/FT half-frame Camera Systems of the 1960s, is an outstanding lens as portrayed on a series of web pages, including an image series by kuuan on Flickr, a discussion of MFlenses, a showcase thread on Mu-43.com, and a discussion thread on Fuji-X forum.

My well-used and slightly battered copy of the E.Zuiko Auto-T 100mm 1:3.5 is, however, far from perfect. It has a thin layer of fungal infection across one of its inner elements, and although the aperture ring is soft and smooth, the focusing ring is rather stiff.

Olympus E-P5, E.Zuiko Pen-F 100mm 1:3.5

At a 100mm focal length, the lens will be equivalent to a 200mm lens on the 2x crop-sensor Olympus E-P5, placing it in the medium telephoto category, making it suitable for close sports or action shots. Bright ambient light should give you the shutter speed you need, recommended at 1/200 second minimum, to shoot with the lens handheld.

Olympus E-P5, E.Zuiko Pen-F 100mm f/3.5

An advantage you have with these cute and compact Olympus Pen-F/FT lenses is the need for a lens adapter that is very shallow. On the E-P5, the whole extension, including the lens hood, is only 115mm long.

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