request for images with 50mm f/2 macro

[cam]

i'm getting an E-1 today and am looking for a good lens to combine with it to shoot in the rain (so weatherproofing is a must). i keep on being drawn to this lens (despite the slow focusing), most probably because it's the only prime that fits the bill.

i would love to see some examples of real world shots if you have any. i am not as interested in the macro capabilities or examples, unless they were shot in the rain.

actually, anything shot in the rain (just tell me which lens if it isn't the 50mm).

i know this isn't a sexy topic right now (that goes to micro 4/3rds), but i thought i'd give it a shot.

thank you in advance!

cam

 

[helenhill]

Eric LOVED to shoot with an R 50 cron on his E1....
fab cam the E1 ....durability & weatherproof made it awesome
I will ask him to post some Pixs
Best - Helen

 

[cam]

thanx, helen!

i was asking about the Zuiko that is weatherproof...

however, K has a 50 R cron that i am *dying* to try as well! i just don't think i'll risk taking it out in the rain

still, i'd love to see Eric's pics to get a better idea of what this is capable of and how he worked with the perspective.

ta!

(and, yes, i am very excited -- i've been wanting to shoot in the rain for a long, long time! of course, now that i'm getting it, we'll probably have sunshine all week...)

 

[Godfrey]

i'm getting an E-1 today and am looking for a good lens to combine with it to shoot in the rain (so weatherproofing is a must). i keep on being drawn to this lens (despite the slow focusing), most probably because it's the only prime that fits the bill.

i would love to see some examples of real world shots if you have any. i am not as interested in the macro capabilities or examples, unless they were shot in the rain.

actually, anything shot in the rain (just tell me which lens if it isn't the 50mm).

i know this isn't a sexy topic right now (that goes to micro 4/3rds), but i thought i'd give it a shot.

The E-1 is a delightful camera and the 50mm f/2 Macro a superb lens for it. I use this combination an awful lot for my tabletop and portrait work. I also use this lens in combination with the EC14 quite a lot. A couple of photos I've posted to flickr ...

This one with the E-1 + 50mm:

​

And this one with the L1 + 50mm + EC14:

​

I love working with the E-1. Despite its age, low Mpixel resolution and lethargic write speed, it is still one of the best cameras in the hand I've ever used. LR3's new raw conversion engine extends its useful sensitivity by almost two stops due to the advances in noise control too!

 

[cam]

ooh, Godfrey, thank you! not pics i'm likely to take (my limitations -- i tend to like human subjects), but it's nice to see what is possible. very gorgeous tonality and colour.

the E-1 will be my first (gasp!) DSLR so i thought i would go with one that seems much beloved (not to mention that it was quite inexpensive). i care much more about the handling and enjoyment factor than megapixels or speed (writing to card, i mean. shutter lag would infuriate me) at this point... though i am a bit spoiled in terms of glass.

did you have to mention LR3? arghhhh! i already have five different RAW processors on my laptop (two standalone, two i got with cameras, and Adobe RAW in Photoshop). please please please tell me i don't need another... is C1 really not good enough? no specialty profiles ever made?

 

[Jonas]

pBase have a lot of images available here. Probably very few of them are taken in the rain but anyway...

And no, if you have ACR there is no need to buy LightRoom, at least not for the raw converter; ACR and LR share the converter engine (if one can call it that).

 

[cam]

thank you, Jonas. off to look!

my E-1 is almost here -- eek!

as for ACR, yuck... i was hoping i could use Capture One...

 

[Godfrey]

ooh, Godfrey, thank you! not pics i'm likely to take (my limitations -- i tend to like human subjects), but it's nice to see what is possible. very gorgeous tonality and colour.

the E-1 will be my first (gasp!) DSLR so i thought i would go with one that seems much beloved (not to mention that it was quite inexpensive). i care much more about the handling and enjoyment factor than megapixels or speed (writing to card, i mean. shutter lag would infuriate me) at this point... though i am a bit spoiled in terms of glass.

did you have to mention LR3? arghhhh! i already have five different RAW processors on my laptop (two standalone, two i got with cameras, and Adobe RAW in Photoshop). please please please tell me i don't need another... is C1 really not good enough? no specialty profiles ever made?

The E-1 is a pro-grade DSLR, albeit an old one, and has the shutter responsiveness of a professional camera. It's got a 12-exposure RAW buffer so as long as you're not hooked on the silly "shoot and chimp" routine I see so many people doing, even the slow write speed it rarely gets in the way. (First thing I do on every camera I own is turn off auto-review ...) Don't expect state of the art AF speed (I never rely on AF anyway other than for convenience) and it will do great for you. Olympus pro-grade lenses are superb, some of the best in the business.

I love the old thing. I'd sell a couple my other, supposedly higher performance cameras rather than the E-1.

I'd delete all the other raw processors and just use Lightroom 3. I use it almost exclusively for all my work. While I have Photoshop CS4 and do use it, it's more for things which are NOT photographic image processing (like compositing, stitching, making borders and framing, etc). LR3's excellent new raw conversion time noise controls extend the acceptable, usable ISO range of all my cameras, including the E-1, by one to two stops.

(I've personally never bothered with hunting for "the perfect raw converter". I've tested many and stuck with Adobe's raw conversion engine for all my work since 2003. Camera Raw until 2006, then Lightroom. I find it much better to be expert in a very good image processing solution and learn to exploit it to its limits than to constantly be trying to find a better one.)

 

[cam]

thank you, Godfrey -- i got it last night and it was, indeed, a joy to use!

responsiveness was all i could want (no shutter lag in manual) and i had no issues with the write time. any issues i had were really down to me, not the camera, and that is down to the learning process (and remembering it is not a rangefinder).

i played with a few different lenses, but spent most of the night with an f/1.2 50mm Nikkor. i think i'll quite like that focal length for playing in the rain. a little wider lens would be nice, but i definitely do prefer a fast prime.

off to play with it some more so i can get a better idea of the file quality... i'm afraid my silliness last night didn't return many keepers -- had i bothered to pay attention to my shutter speeds, i would have realised that there's no way i could have held it without shake from either myself or the subject

but first to figure out what the mysterious spots are that appeared overnight after adjusting the diopter... the other joys of a new (old) camera!

 

[Godfrey]

thank you, Godfrey -- i got it last night and it was, indeed, a joy to use!

responsiveness was all i could want (no shutter lag in manual) and i had no issues with the write time. any issues i had were really down to me, not the camera, and that is down to the learning process (and remembering it is not a rangefinder).

i played with a few different lenses, but spent most of the night with an f/1.2 50mm Nikkor. i think i'll quite like that focal length for playing in the rain. a little wider lens would be nice, but i definitely do prefer a fast prime.

off to play with it some more so i can get a better idea of the file quality... i'm afraid my silliness last night didn't return many keepers -- had i bothered to pay attention to my shutter speeds, i would have realised that there's no way i could have held it without shake from either myself or the subject

but first to figure out what the mysterious spots are that appeared overnight after adjusting the diopter... the other joys of a new (old) camera!

I understand this is your first SLR ...
Spots in the viewfinder are most likely just dust on the focusing screen. They will not appear on the captured image. First order of business to clean them is to use a hand-blower (NOT compressed air) to blow out the focusing screen with the lens off (above the mirror). Removing and cleaning the focusing screen is also possible but be very very careful handling the focusing screen as they scratch extremely easily.

It's hard to keep the focusing screen in an SLR absolutely dust free ... and irrelevant really. Olympus' ultrasonic wave sensor cleaning system keeps the dust off the sensor very very efficiently.

 

[cam]

yes, and i feel a bit like a fish out of water....

gave it to my resident DSLR/Olympus expert and he sorted it out... very odd, though. they suddenly appeared out of nowhere, were only slightly better after cleaning, and have now gone into hiding again... shy little buggers!

meanwhile, i am continuing to play with various 50's. i am happy to say i can focus after all

it might mean i have to go into no-man's land of ISO's to resolve shutter shake at night and with darkened skies, though. still, i'd rather grain than an unusable image... for that reason, sharper should be better... besides, most of my images are destined for b/w (my own personal preference and what i shoot for).

by the way... can you set the JPEG for b/w? i am only shooting RAW (and always will), but prefer to see b/w on the screen. i don't think you can but though i'd ask anyways.

cheers!

(and i will gladly treat you to a beverage of your choice someday -- a token of my appreciation as well as a huge thank you for holding my hand.)

 

[Godfrey]

it might mean i have to go into no-man's land of ISO's to resolve shutter shake at night and with darkened skies, though. still, i'd rather grain than an unusable image... for that reason, sharper should be better... besides, most of my images are destined for b/w (my own personal preference and what i shoot for).

I finally got around to doing a fast test of Lightroom 3's noise filtering with the E-1 yesterday. The E-1's "high speed" ISO settings (1600 and 3200) involve software processing outside of hardware sensor gain adjustment, only Olympus raw processing software knows what it's doing and can adjust directly to the ISO setting. However, the base adjustment in Camera Raw or Lightroom is to boost Exposure to +1 for 1600 and +2 for 3200. This has meant that there was little real benefit to shooting at these elevated ISO settings since you basically just adjust the exposure to suit anyway and deal with the noise, but I wanted to see what a nominal exposure would behave like given Lightroom 3's new noise processing capabilities. I'm pretty impressed ... it's quite usable even with ISO 3200 (a two stop underexposure, essentially). Here's the testing sample composited into an image file:

http://homepage.mac.com/godders/lr3_noisetest_oly-e1.jpg

by the way... can you set the JPEG for b/w?

No such feature on the E-1.

 

[cam]

that is impressive!

i am still playing around, including going up to 3200 to keep the shutter shake down, but god forbid i shoot a keeper yet... as lovely as the camera feels in the hand, i can not seem to hand hold as steadily as my rangefinders which, i imagine, will improve in time.

the shutter is beyond exquisite, however, it is deceptively quiet! on my clunkers i can hear when the shutter speed is too slow -- on the E-1, it just fades away and i don't realise it... not that i'm complaining, mind you. i've always been obsessed with silence

leaning heavily towards getting the 50mm macro now as, after playing with a ton of lenses, i know i need just one to concentrate on or i will never get comfortable with shooting it. (okay, i am already comfortable, just producing a lot of ****e rather than concentrating on taking something worth capturing.)

i'm enjoying the long FOV but realise that probably is part of my issue with shake... does the Anti-Shake button work at all? is this what it's for?

(and, oh, thank god that PanaLeica lens isn't weatherproof!!! talk about lust, my heart skips a beat at the thought of it! i am an affirmed Leica slut and the lens looks to die for, perfect in every way...)

 

[Godfrey]

The "anti-shake" function is designed for tripod use. It incorporates an adjustable delay between when the mirror is lifted and the shutter is released to allow vibrations caused by the mirror movement to die out.

I wouldn't worry so much about mirror vibration, though. The E-1 mirror and shutter are very well damped and gentle in operation. I think you're simply trying to shoot at too long an exposure time. With a 50mm lens on FourThirds, the general rule of thumb says that 1/100 of a second is the longest exposure you can hand-hold with crisp results. Obviously we all break this rule often, but it's a bit of a telephoto focal length so you can expect some camera motion hand-held at 1/30 second.

The Summilux 25/1.4 is a superb lens and the normal for the format. Worth it... The Olympus ZD 11-22 and 35 Macro are two other favorites of mine. (The 11-22, 25/1.4, 35 and 50 - plus the EC14 teleconverter - describes my entire lens kit ...

 

[cam]

so for tripod use, cool. glad it is switched off (as is everything but the ISO boost)...

and, yes, i was trying to handhold it beyond my capabilities... i have also been trying to shoot in ridiculously dark conditions where i'd slip my M8 into full manual. as i didn't (don't) know the E-1 as well, i was simply putting it into aperture priority and it was overexposing something fierce. i have a feeling the E-1 isn't keen on legacy f/1.2 or f/1.4 lenses when it comes to metering

your kit sounds lovely! but, whilst i'd prefer a weatherproof 25/1.4 (which doesn't exist), i think i have settled on the 50mm macro for the rain. that is what i bought the E-1 for after all... now if only it would rain!

 

[Godfrey]

so for tripod use, cool. glad it is switched off (as is everything but the ISO boost)...

and, yes, i was trying to handhold it beyond my capabilities... i have also been trying to shoot in ridiculously dark conditions where i'd slip my M8 into full manual. as i didn't (don't) know the E-1 as well, i was simply putting it into aperture priority and it was overexposing something fierce. i have a feeling the E-1 isn't keen on legacy f/1.2 or f/1.4 lenses when it comes to metering

your kit sounds lovely! but, whilst i'd prefer a weatherproof 25/1.4 (which doesn't exist), i think i have settled on the 50mm macro for the rain. that is what i bought the E-1 for after all... now if only it would rain!

Operation of the anti-shake setting would be pretty annoying hand-held and very obvious: you'd press the shutter button, the mirror would swing up and viewfinder be dark for a minimum of a second before the shutter was released. You can set it for up to 10 seconds, if I recall correctly. Usually, with a very long lens (200-400mm) and exposure times in the 1/8 to 1/30 second range, I set it for 2-3 seconds. It (and the IR remote release) is also very useful when doing high-magnification macro/copy work.

The E-1's metering with adapted manual lenses is funky, just like the Panasonic L1 actually, which is why I long ago stopped using adapted manual lenses on these SLRs. Manual metering with centerweighted averaging setting is about the most accurate, but I gave up and only use FourThirds lenses on these cameras now. The Panasonic G1 handles metering with adapted manual lenses FAR more accurately, and with less metering range restrictions. It's also worlds easier to critical focus manually, particularly with a slow lens, in dark conditions.

I've shot with the Summilux in dense fog and light rain taking only normal precautions, no problems. It may not be weathersealed but it seems to be adequately sealed anyway.

The 11-22/2.8-3.5 *is* weathersealed, however, and is a wonderful pick for inclement conditions with a range from ultrawide to nearly normaly FoV. It's a super useful lens.

Just to get you going ...

Moonrise Over The Quad - Stanford University 2008
Olympus E-1 + Summilux-D 25mm f/1.4 ASPH
ISO 400 @ f/1.4 @ 1/200 second (hand-held)
​

];-)

 

[cam]

Godfrey, you're evil!!!

metering at night just seems to suck, period! or maybe it's me? whatever, it was quite loathsome on the 12-60 last night so i figure i'll just have to suck it up and learn proper manual metering for night (as i already know and do on my M8). playing with the Leica R Cron wide open last night, i found about -1 EV to be about right... sigh.

i considered the 11-22 because of the weather sealing but, as i'm likely to use it more as a normal lens, it gets far too slow.

and i am having an issue of shutter shake (shattered elbow left me with a dodgy trigger finger) that is harder for me to keep control of on the E-1 due to the placement of the shutter... with practice, i hope to adjust (as i have on my RF cams).

as for the beauty above, more more!!!

seriously, if you have more examples of the E-1 and the Lux, i'd love to see them. (i love to be tortured!)

 

[Godfrey]

Godfrey, you're evil!!!

metering at night just seems to suck, period! or maybe it's me? whatever, it was quite loathsome on the 12-60 last night so i figure i'll just have to suck it up and learn proper manual metering for night (as i already know and do on my M8). playing with the Leica R Cron wide open last night, i found about -1 EV to be about right... sigh.

i considered the 11-22 because of the weather sealing but, as i'm likely to use it more as a normal lens, it gets far too slow.

and i am having an issue of shutter shake (shattered elbow left me with a dodgy trigger finger) that is harder for me to keep control of on the E-1 due to the placement of the shutter... with practice, i hope to adjust (as i have on my RF cams).

as for the beauty above, more more!!!

seriously, if you have more examples of the E-1 and the Lux, i'd love to see them. (i love to be tortured!)

I'd get comfortable using a monopod at least if you are coping with an arm injury. A slim, carbon fiber monopod can give you much of the stability of a tripod but with much more mobility for tight places and crowds. Practice and accommodation time will likely help too.

Metering in available darkness is always hard. My best "lightmeter" for this is a ©1969 Kodak Pocket Photo Guide book's "available light calculator" which suggests exposure settings based on scene type and sensitivity rating. Pick scene, set camera manually, bracket like you mean it.

Regards photos made with the E-1 and Summilux and posted for public viewing, I see about 160 of them in my LR "finished work" catalog. They're scattered in many different locations so it's hard to find just them specifically. But ...

These are photos I've posted to Flickr.com searching on "Summilux", taken with E-1, L1 and G1 bodies:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=23913128@N02&q=summilux&m=text

These are photos I've posted to Flickr.com searching on "Olympus E-1":
http://www.flickr.com/search/?ss=2&w=23913128@N02&q=Olympus+E-1&m=text

Neither is a complete listing ... !

 

[cam]

monopods are not for me... i'd probably trip over it

i just need to teach my poor arm to get used to it... i've slowly done it fairly successfully with my rangefinders so i'm confident i can do it with this -- in time (patience is not always one of my virtues).

i checked out most of your photos already (loved Hole in One! -- the most like stuff i do), but it's always nice to see more and what it's capable of... it is most definitely lust worthy (bordering on a must have)!

i will check out the book (if it's still available)... but, i've found different cameras and different lenses (even at the same aperture, it's different because of the focal lengths and light gathering capabilities of the lens) are not the same and so i need to accommodate each individually, rather than stand by a hard and fast rule. it may only be a stop or two and bracketing isn't an option as i try to capture moments.

i am trying out a suggestion by a fellow here that says he uses EV comp on his M8 to see if that will work for me (i don't have that camera back so i can't comment). do you find you do that or do you normally go into manual in low light situations?

also, i was wondering if you have been able to use the aperture ring on Summilux and have the E-1 read it and/or are able to set f/1.4 on the body?

 

[Godfrey]

... i will check out the book (if it's still available)... but, i've found different cameras and different lenses (even at the same aperture, it's different because of the focal lengths and light gathering capabilities of the lens) are not the same and so i need to accommodate each individually, rather than stand by a hard and fast rule. it may only be a stop or two and bracketing isn't an option as i try to capture moments.

The Pocket Photo Guide presents a setting estimate based on the type of light in the scene. It has to be modified based on what you're trying to achieve.

i am trying out a suggestion by a fellow here that says he uses EV comp on his M8 to see if that will work for me (i don't have that camera back so i can't comment). do you find you do that or do you normally go into manual in low light situations?

also, i was wondering if you have been able to use the aperture ring on Summilux and have the E-1 read it and/or are able to set f/1.4 on the body?

The basic issue is that the E-1 and other FourThirds SLRs' metering systems are designed to work with all the information presented by both body and lens. When you're working with an adapted lens, critical parts of the information are missing so the body has to make do with what it has to work with. Olympus didn't plan for the camera to be used this way, so exactly how it behaves you have to work out for yourself. The Leica M8's metering system was also designed to work with some (less) lens information, but I bet that Leica spent a lot more time experimenting with it using lenses that had not been coded. So it might behave a little more consistently than the E-1.

I use aperture priority and the EV compensation control to set exposure most of the time, and when I don't I switch to manual most of the time. Kind of regardless of the lighting situations. It's only got a +/- 2EV range on the E-1, however, and when the scene's needs go beyond that manual exposure is the only option.

Low light is always the most difficult metering situation as both metering range, pattern and scene needs are often quite tricky ... but since I've been doing this for 40+ years now, most of the time I can hit within a half stop just by guessing the settings on manual so I do that a lot.

The Summilux' aperture ring is not recognized by any Olympus body, it's only functional on Panasonic bodies. The E-1's on-body aperture control wheel sets the Summilux' aperture in the range from f/1.4 to f/16.