Olympus E-P1 with Voigtlander Lenses
By ervinelin • Jul 19th, 2009 • Category: Latest RamblingsI’ve been wanting a decent camera that will fit in between my Nikon D3 and my mobile phone’s camera. The D3’s just WAY too bulky to consider it as an everyday day walk around camera, and my mobile phone.. well let’s just keep it as a phone. I was considering the Panasonic LX3 for a while it was compact, I found it TOO compact for my stubby fingers.
So I held on for a while, and then along came the Olympus E-P1…
I won’t bother to go into the details of the Olympus as you can easily google it. I will however go through one of the main draws that led me to purchase the E-P1, that is the ability to use my Voigtlander rangefinder lenses (poor man’s Leica M8 anyone?) via an M to m4/3 mount adapter (locally available from www.chiifcameras.com). In fact the adapter was the very first accessory I bought even before I unboxed the E-P1.
So what’s the big draw about using Voigtlander lenses?
Well firstly, I already have 4 of them, the Super Wide-Heliar Aspehrical 15mm F4.5, the Snapshot Skopar 25mm F4, the Nokton 40mm F1.4 and the Color-Heliar 75mm F2.5. All of which are fine lenses when used on my Bessa R3a, but now have a dual use since I’ve gotten the Pen. With this 4 I can cover pretty much everything that needs to be covered.
Secondly, for those who have never done manual focusing or had to adjust the apeture on the lens itself, it’s just more fun! Sure the 17mm pancake is a great lens and there’s autofocus, but what’s the fun in that! The manual focusing on the 17mm is also rather unnatural, because you are not physically moving the lens elements.
Manual focusing makes you think more before taking any shot (less with the E-P1 of course, but still there’s a need to think) and the more thinking you do, the closer you get to your subject and the better photos you tend to get. The Voigtlanders also look really handsome on the silver E-P1. Don’t believe me? Here’s a photo I took of them in the studio.
My Voigtlander lenses used with the Olympus E-P1 (Black Leatherette kit bought from http://www.aki-asahi.com/store/)
So why not Leica M lenses you ask? Well firstly I don’t own any, and secondly it’s odd to have a lens that costs 2-3 times more than the body! Maybe after I strike tomorrows $1.5million lottery.
The biggest issue of course is the crop factor of 2x. So my ultra wide 15mm now becomes a moderately wide 30mm, my portrait 75mm becomes a whopping 150mm! Well I suppose there’s no perfect camera now is there? Leica will probably come up with a full frame M9 or something but that’ll buy you every Voigtlander lens out there, a few E-P1s and still have some spare cash to go test them all out in Hawaii!
Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar Aspehrical 15mm F4.5
Okay enough nonsense, let’s just start with some photos from the 15mm F4.5, which is my favourite lenses on the Bessa.
For those who are familiar with this lens, you’ll know that it is not range finder coupled. To focus you have to do zone focusing, essentially you estimate the distance between you and the subject, then fire away. Considering it’s 15mm, this was never much of an issue unless you are trying to focus at 0.3m. Now on the E-P1 however, you can critically focus this lens!
I can now focus at 0.3m accurately with my Voigtlander Super Wide-Heliar Aspehrical 15mm F4.5! Try doing that on a Bessa and I’m sure the focus will be slightly off more than half the time.
There is however one big problem that I have noticed (although not obvious in the photos), the corners are oddly soft wide open. This is strange considering the lens is pretty sharp on a FF body, not to mention the cropping SHOULD make the corners even sharper. I’ve spoken to some other E-P1 users and they have noticed this as well. All I can think of is perhaps there are microlenses on the E-P1’s sensor which cause this odd looking softening.
Even so, considering this isn’t my “work camera” I’m not going to let this bother me too much. Sure F4.5 is slow but hey the E-P1’s noise control is pretty decent so just bump up the ISO or if you are so anal about it, just swap back to the Olympus 17mm pancake.
Voigtlander 25mm SnapShot Skopar F4
The next lens is the 25mm F4 Snapshot Skopar, this too is not range finder coupled but can now be focused with the E-P1’s live view LCD. Here are some photos:
After getting the 15mm I hardly ever used this on my Bessa simply because it meant I needed to swap the viewfinders, something which just irritates me. Now on the E-P1, there’s no need to swap viewfinders.
At an equivalent 50mm, it’s quite a useful focal length on the E-P1. There is however a tiny problem when using this lens on the Olympus, one of the features of the Snapshot is that it has focus stops, meaning the focusing ring actually “snaps” to a few pre-determined distances. This feature is very useful when zone focusing on the Bessa, but gets a little irritating on the E-P1 when you want to critically focus between two “snapping” distances. Still at the price I paid for it 2nd hand, I’m not complaining!
Voigtlander Nokton 40mm F1.4
This is my most often used lens on the Bessa, the 40mm F1.4. Fast and well built (I dropped it from >1m, it tumbled, rolled across the floor and only had a tiny dent in it!). Sure the bokeh is nothing to shout about but hey, it’s cheap!
On the Olympus E-P1 the 40mm explodes to an 80mm, good for headshots, but a little tougher to use on the street. Still, really nice lens to use with the Pen and surprisingly I could still get some nice shallow DOF shots with this.
No issues with it on the E-P1 except that when placed on the table, the lens almost tips the camera over because of it’s weight.
Voigtlander Color-Heliar 75mm F2.5
Now for the longest lens in the lineup, the 75mm F2.5, a 150mm on the E-P1. There are times which I like to force myself to use a long focal length as it makes you think look at the surroundings differently and allow you to pick out details which would otherwise have gone unnoticed on a wider lens.
Again, the E-P1’s live view comes in useful when trying to do close focusing. Try shooting at F2.5 on a Bessa and you’ll know what I mean.
Manual focusing at an equivalent of 150mm without a viewfinder is a rather bumpy affair. Try doing this on your SLR but with your camera away from your face, you’ll notice that the camera shakes a lot more. Not impossible to do, just really bumpy.
Manual Focusing with Voigtlander Lenses on the Olympus E-P1
Quite a number of people ask me how does one do this. Here’s how:
Firstly you have to make sure you didn’t disable the manual zoom info screen, this allows you to zoom into a particlar point in the photo to allow for critical focusing (you large format guys think of it as a digital focusing loupe).
Once you are in the focusing screen (get there by cycling through the different live view screens with the INFO button, get to the one with the green box in the centre of the frame), you’ll need to hit OK. This zooms in to the area bounded by the green box. You can reposition the box if required.
Then hit OK again to exit the zoom mode, recompose and take a shot. There are many who wonder why Olympus didn’t allow the half press of the shutter to allow the photographer to exit the zoom mode. Hitting the OK button again really quite irritating and destablises the camera a lot. It also makes for more chances that you’ll accidentally hit some other buttons with your thumb (or maybe it’s just me and my big stubby hands).
Hopefully Olympus will have a firmware update to fix this.
That said, with a little practice there shouldn’t be that much of an issue getting a shot that’s in focus. It takes about the same amount of time as with a regular rangefinder, but this can be much more accurate.
Tips
Enable the custom menu, there are TONS of customisable options within the custom menu that you just have to adjust to make shooting on the E-P1 a more pleasurable experience.
These include disabling rather useless live view modes which just waste your time to cycle through. You can also customise the left button on the main dial as well as a Function button to do various tasks. Swap the direction in which the 17mm focuses, swap the functions of the two dials, etc etc etc.
I was rather surprised that there were so many customisable options for a tiny camera like this. Thumbs up to Olympus for doing this.
I’m not sure if others have noticed this but I find the metering to be a little on the conservertive side, often under exposing by 0.3-1stop from my ideal. I would think this is done on purpose in order to retain highlight details, as is so with many other digital cameras. I’ve set the main jog dial to adjust for exposure compensation, as such with a simple flick of the thumb I can adjust the exposure, really quick to do!
Gripes
While it’s size is one of the main draws, it’s size is also its Achilles heel, at least for me. My thumb has more often than once accidentally hit one of the dials and/or buttons, messing up settings along the way.
I’ve also found that the AF with the 17mm is decent, but far from snappy and if olympus had included a real viewfinder it would really have been the ultimate “poor man’s M8″.
Other than that, the rest are just nit picking.
Overall Impression
Overall, shooting with Voigtlander lenses are really fun, the camera’s compact size makes for discreet shooting, it’s styling is just fantastic and of course most importantly, I’ve found the photo quality from a m4/3 sensor is surprisingly good even at high ISOs. On the web you can hardly tell which photos were taken with my D3 and which with my tiny Olympus Pen!
Well anyway, here are more photos I’ve taken in the first week that I’ve gotten my hands on the Pen. More to come in the future!
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Wonderful shots and write-up. I’ve linked your post in my review of the EP-1.
http://reviews.davidleetong.com/?p=1189
I’m glad you liked them Dave. Your review’s much more in-depth than mine, well done!
thanks for sharing… esp on the source for the Black Leatherette kit! great pictures! great camera!
No problem, glad you found the article interesting.
hey ervine, to complement the EP-1’s kit pancake, between the Snapshot Skopar 25mm F4 and the Nokton 40mm F1.4, which would you pick? i love shooting with my canon’s 50mm f1.8… so taken the EP-1’s crop factor of 2x into consideration, i think the Snapshot Skopar 25mm F4 would be closer to what i’m looking for? my only concern is that F4 is “slower”… your thoughts?
I love the 40mm on my bessa, but at 2x it greatly limits the range of subjects to photograph and I feel should no longer be considered a “street photography lens”. Your 50mm will be even more limiting.
Yes the snapshot is indeed slower, but with the inbuilt IS and the relatively acceptable high ISO noise on the E-P1, I find it still usable. Do note that the snapshot has focus stops (i.e. it snaps to certain fixed focal distances), which can be a little irritating when focusing with the E-P1.
You might want to consider other brands, maybe a nikon or something, but the problem with those are that they become a little too big and heavy in my opinion to be used with the E-P1.
ok i guess that means more searching around for me then… thanks again for being so helpful
Hi,
great images…will the file size once converted from raw be good enough to sell to stock library’s?
as I do a lot travel phoography and this set up looks just the part I tarvel to india a lot and I get real hassal with the customs with my photographic gear….also i want to focus more on street photography in mumbai and I don’t point my
my 5D at people.
If you know of any alternative gear I can look at (except leica not that rich yet) your advicewould most grateful,
please have alook at my web site it gives an idea of the style of work I do also any comments on my work would be must appreciated I an amature wishing to go pro..
Kind Regards
Arvind
Hi Arvind,
I’m still waiting for Adobe to release an update so that I can process the E-P1’s raws via lightroom. As of now I’ve only shot in JPEG, if you are selling microstock, I would say go ahead and use the E-P1, the quality of it is decent, not perfect but pretty decent.
I understand the problems you have with doing street photography with a 5D, however do note that the E-P1’s autofocus is sluggish, and using manual focus lenses will make it even more sluggish. Unless you are comfortable with range focusing, you might want to reconsider. I usually shoot only inanimate objects, spaces, and places, as such slow autofocus is not that much of an issue for me. However, I’ve looked at your work and it seems that you shoot a lot of environmental portraits, which in my opinion is one of the worse things you can shoot with on the E-P1 especially with MF lenses.
In addition do note that there are no ultrawides currently available. Even the 15mm is cropped down to a 30mm, which can be limiting at times, not to mention the fact that it only opens up to F4.5.
If you ask me, honestly if you want to go pro, then give a miss with the E-P1. It’s too slow for street photography, you consider using primes with your 5D, that will greatly reduce it’s physical size. Lose the grip and the flash as well if possible. Or heck, shoot film. Buy a bessa or an old canon AE or something. I’ve had great photos I shot with an old Nikon FE2.
As for your work, I think it’s great, keep it up! But I did have problems loading your website as it seems a little sluggish for me.
Hope this helps!
Erv.
Hi ervine,
Pardon as I’m a first time photography enthusiast. Where and how much does the lens and adapter costs?
Thanks.
Regards,
Dennis
If you’re in Singapore, go to http://www.chiifcameras.com to take a look… have fun!
Hi,
Excellent write-up.
And yes, I wish the half-press would undo the Magnify option, maybe the designer had a sixth finger to press the OK button.
One problem with the E-P1 is that it is difficult to manually focus in bright daylight, how do you manage to do that when one can’t see ?
Thanks
Thanks!
As for focusing in daylight, I don’t understand why people keep complaining about not being able to see the LCD in broad daylight. Sure it’s a little difficult, but it’s still visible.
I really don’t think it’s that big a deal, I recently came back from Bali and we were shooting with the E-P1 at all times of the day, never had any time when I could not see the LCD.
If you are talking about judging exposure, okay it’s a little tricky, but that’s when the histogram comes in.
I guess it just takes a bit of practice that’s all.
Hi Ervinelin,
thank you for the great descriptions of your experiences with the Pen. Because of some disease, I have to reduce the weight of my camera set. So I decided to switch to the Pen. Your images and impressions were very important for my decision!
Now I’m looking for a suitabel bag which should have some vintage look. I remembered on your first image a kind of leather bag with you equipment on it. Is that right?
Could you please give me some informations about it? An image, the manufactor and may be where it can be bought?
Thank you in advance!
Ralph
Hi Ralph,
Sorry to hear about your condition. Unfortunately that leather bag in the background was just a prop. It’s actually a document bag not a camera bag.
For vintage looking camera bags, you can try Billinghams or Artists & Artisans. Both make quite nice leather bags although I’ve never had the chance to own one for myself.
I hope this helps!
Ervine
hey ervine, after reading your site plus doing a bunch of research, i’ve got myself 2 voigtlander lenses to use with my EP-1 in the last couple of months and i’m lovin’ it!
started off with the nokton classic 40mm f1.4 as recommended by you then got an ultra wide heliar 12mm f5.6 – having loads of fun with both!
now thinking abt getting a 3rd lens: would you go for a ultron 28mm f2 or color-skopar 25mm f4?
Hi again Charles,
Ah the 12mm, I wanted that but it’s slowness is a deterent when shooting with film. On the E-P1 it’s not SO bad because you can just bump up the ISO. Not so easy with film.
Does the 12mm have issues with a lack of sharpness as compared to the pancake 17mm?
If money is not an issue, then go for the Ultron 28mm, the snapshot skopar that I have has click stops, which is great for using with a film rangefinder, not so when using with the pen. Not to mention the extra 2 stops of light you’ll get with the Ultron! Of course instead of an equivalent 50mm, you’ll be getting a 60mm… a wweeeee bit longer but useable nonetheless.
I got my snapshot skopar for a dirt cheap price 2nd hand, so I’ll just stick to it.
Happy shooting!
i haven’t had any probs with the 12mm’s sharpness right now as i’ve only been doing various landscape shots at infinity
but i’m sure i will run into probs when shooting closer subjects
thanks again for the tips on the lenses… will check em out again for comparison!
Hi, do you just shoot and upload these pictures? the colours and effects are very nice, as compared to when i use my
e-p1 to take pictures with the 17mm pancake. Did you use any of the filters or change the modes/ post process the pictures? or it came straight from the camera??
Hi Paul,
You can try playing around with the settings in camera to get the colours that you want, I believe there’s quite a lot that can be adjusted in camera.
Other than that, I usually put the images through Lightroom but I would say that not much has been adjusted for these particular images. No filters. Seldom use them.
Hope this helps!
Ervine
Ervine!
thanks for your information, really like how you opened up possibilities to the e-p1. i think the ep-1 is quite a decent camera. you mean just the amber-blue and green magenta adjustments right??
currently i have the 17mm pancake and 14-42 mm zoom lenses as well as a 50mm OM Zuiko 1.8 and 28mm OM Zuiko 2.8.
The 50mm is good for portraits but i think focusing is not very clear wide open.
will getting the voigtlander lenses make a big difference to my pictures? the 2x crop factor is a key factor here. If i want a portrait lens i have to try to get something like the 40mm voigtlander lenses.
so, till now, how do u think the e-p1 shapes up besides ur bessa and other cameras??
Hi again Paul,
No, the amber-blue adjustments you mentioned are just the white balance adjustments I believe. I’m referring to the contrast adjustments. I suggest you pick up a book on Lightroom to learn more.
I’m unfamiliar with the OM lenses so I can’t really say. What I can do say is that getting voigtlander lenses will NOT make a big difference to your pictures. It’s not that Voigtlander lenses are bad, it’s just that I doubt there’s much optical differences between the two.
If you need wide angle lenses then I would say the Voigtlanders make more sense simply because they are smaller in size than the OM lenses. As such there will be a nicer balance between camera and lens.
I have the Voigtlander 40mm but I seldom bother to use it on the E-P1, the 2x crop factor makes it too long for most use. I usually just shoot with the 17mm.
I also think that if it’s really portraits you want to shoot, I rather stay clear from the E-P1 & manual focus lenses as there are cameras systems better suited for this.
Lastly, to put the E-P1 up against the Bessa (or any other camera for that matter) is not fair for either camera. I won’t say one is better than another, I will just say that they are meant for different things. I love both cameras and have taken many photos with both, in fact in my most recent trips I bring both cameras out.
I hope this helps!
Ervine
Hey ervine,
glad you reined in my impulsiveness to get these lenses. i was just very surprised with pictures that people display on their blogs / sample pictures of some good camera or good lenses (eg leica website) that simply look fantastic! the details, the colours, the sharpness. However when i take pictures with my e-p1, they turn out to simply look ordinary.
So i suppose that it all depends on the skill of the photographer and not the adjustments via olympus master / lightroom.
i mean is it possible to just capture such awesome shots straight out of the camera??
its the beginner’s confusion to understand whether the pictures are due to the camera body, lenses, technique or after shot adjustments. you know what i mean?? For me my om lenses its really difficult to get very sharp images i think.
what other lenses would you suggest for the ep-1 then?
also, since u use it so much, what photography do u use it for the most??
inanimate objects right?
(btw sorry to bore u with such basic questions but you have no idea how much this helps.)
Hi again Paul,
It’s hardly ever the camera body or lens that is an issue, most (if not all) of the time it’s just the photographer. I’m surprised you have not seen the TONS of crappy photos taken by uber expensive cameras.
This issue of sharpness is also a little overrated, try shooting your OM at F8-F16, I don’t believe it won’t be sharp then.
I use my E-P1 for snapshots mostly, it’s my P&S camera.
Again my advice is to just concentrate on your technique first. The rest will fall into place later.
Erv.
Hi Ervine
I’m just getting back into the SLR world as a result of wanting to photograph my architectural work.
I have been completley seduced by Olympus and the E-P1….the form factor and, well, just the form itself!
Also, looking into wide angle lenses (Voigtlander amongst others) bought me here to your website.
Just to clarify, due to the Olympus 2.0x crop factor, the 15mm Heliar lens is actually 30mm…just wider than the kit 17mm Digital M.Zuiko (35mm), and just narrower than the 14-42mm Zuiko (28mm). Is this correct? I was looking into the Super Wide-Heliar 15mm F4.5 and even the 21mm or the 25mm as options thinking these could help me get the wide angle shots required for architectural work, especially smaller spaced internal shots.
The Voigtlanders are beautiful forms themselves….and seem to compliment the E-P1 very well.
The composition of your photgraphs is just wonderful. Very beautiful.
Cheers,
Anton
Hi Anton,
Thanks for you kind words, however I’m not sure if the E-P1 is your best choice for architectural photography. Sure it’s possible, but it’s not the most effective tool out there.
You are right about the crop factor, the 15mm does become a 30mm. Do also note that I’ve found the 15mm to be soft in the corners. You can also consider the Voigtlander 12mm, that’ll give you 24mm on the E-P1 or E-P2 but I have no first hand knowledge on how that works.
21 & 25 are too long to be used in tight interiors unfortunately.
If you have the budget I would suggest going for a full frame SLR, like the D700, or 5Dmk2. These would be more suitable mainly because of the lack of a crop factor.
I hope this helps!
Ervine
Hi Ervine
THanks for the response. Very clear now.
Unfortunately budget wont stretch that far…at least not for a camera. For I am but a humble architect….just trying to do my bit one plan at a time….as you may well know with your background.
Leica’s are completely out of my range…..so my aim was to get an entry level (or there abouts) SLR untill I came across the E-P1.
Being an Architect…form is just as important as function…and at times, more so. We learn to live with things with all their idiosyncrasies (faults)…if they look good enough….my wife…oops, did i say that!
Now the photo with the palm trees and the white and black tower. Where is that? Interesting facade. Apartment tower? Hotel? I noticed some more detail in one of the other photos.
I particularly love the photo of the waiting chairs (is that an airport?). Symmetry of the chairs broken by the counter in the background, balanced on either side by the handrails and at the top the strong signage – That would make a great building. I can only guess you must spend a decent amount of time setting up your photos.
Cheers and thanks again
Anton
Hi again Anton,
Ah, I have a degree in Architecture, so I know exactly what you mean. I went for the E-P1 too because it’s just too sexy for me NOT to own it! I have in fact used the E-P1 to shoot a few architectural related articles for our local architecture magazine (Singapore Architects Magazine). But those were done so not because the E-P1 was optically better, but because I needed the small form factor (I too can’t afford a Leica).
The tower with the palm trees is taken for the magazine, it’s actually a public housing project. If you are familiar with Singapore you’ll know that 80% of Singaporeans stay in public housing as land is just too expensive here. The particular project here is a massive 50 story tower just next to town but sold at public housing prices.
As for the waiting chairs, yes that’s our airport. But no, I usually shoot quite quickly, I seldom “camp” for my shots, it’s just how I shoot most of the time. These shots were done up just for fun and to get to know the camera better, nothing serious.
By the way, I hope you have heard that the E-P2 is already out. Almost the same as the E-P1 but with a few more bells and whistles.
Okay happy shooting!
Ervine
So ervine you use the mamiya 6, bessa r3a as well as the olympus e-p1??
I am using a lomo lc-a as , e-p1 as well as the OM-1.
And i have to agree the colours on film are simply different, you get very good composition with your pictures, which is something I have a lot to learn from.
I think its good you can use your voigtlander lenses from the bessa on the e-p1, making it more versatile.
what other cameras do you have??
Hi again Paul,
Yes it’s quite useful to be able to adapt the voigtlander lenses to the E-P1, although the 2 x crop factor really bums me out at times. Still it’s a fraction of the price of an M9.
I have quite a few cameras, the R3A, E-P1, Mamiya 6, Nikon D3, D200 & FE2, Yashicamat 124G and a few more odd balls. Actually that’s not really a lot, there are many collectors out there with way more cameras than me. If I had spare cash lying around I would love to have a Hassey, an Xpan, a Phaseone 645, etc etc etc…
Every camera is for a different use, so they all have a place in my work/play.
Yups!
yeah but i looked at your bali pictures and mine taken with me e-p1 with kit lenses. your colours are so much nicer, are they just film effects? you mentioned i can change the settings on the camera, but all i can find would be contrast, sharpness, maybe iso, thats it right?
If i would like to augment the contrasts more i need to put the pictures through lightroom?
where did u go in bali? those places look amazing!
sell these prints to balinese restaurants!
I think you are mistaken, my Bali photos that I have posted up were not shot with the E-P1, they were shot on film with my Bessa R3A. I use my E-P1 for “fun shots” only, it’s my P&S camera. In fact most of the photographs I post online here were shot on film.
As for the E-P1 settings yes, play around with them till you get something you like. There’s quite a fair bit of customisation you can do. In fact I even turned off a few functions which I found were pretty useless (digital level, etc).
As for Bali, I went to Ubud, Sanuur and one other obscure place I can’t remember the name of. As for the prints, yes I have in fact sold a few already, but it’s far from enough to cover the cost of travelling there..
Hi Ervine, when I was searching for articles about voigtlander lenses on oly body, I got into your website and saw your photos. I just want to say I like your photographs, especially the composition of a photo that shows elevator and a man sleeping, taken from above.
I would like to know does your E-P2 lightmeter work with voigtlander?
Thank you and bravo.
toga
Hi Toga,
Thanks for the comments! Just to clarify, I’m using the E-P1 not the newer E-P2.
The metering works as it should, you simply adjust the f-stop on the lens and the camera does the rest. I did however set the main dial (not the one at the thumb) to adjust for exposure compensation. As such if the image on the screen looks under or overexposed, I adjust the dial accordingly.
I hope this helps!
Ervine
Ye Ervinelin that helps me to soon get the voigt lense and the adaptor for E-P2. Thanks. Hope to see your new photographs.
toga
Hi, thank you for such an informative write-up on voigt lenses on e-p1.
I just recently bought the e-p2 and was looking into getting the nokton 50mm f1.1, but was unsure if i can use the lens because I’ve never used a manual lens before. Thank you for all the tips too. They’re very helpful. I’m not so worried now.
I was also wondering though, will it be hard to do street photography (moving objects) using voigt lens?
thank you again for such useful info!
Hi again,
The Nokton 50mm 1.1 is a nice lens, but I don’t think it’s that suitable for use on the E-P2. Because of the smaller sensor size, it’ll translate into a 100mm, which in my opinion is a little too long for street photography.
In general, I think most street photos would be taken at an equivalent focal length of 35-50mm. That means you’ll need a lens that’s between 17-25mm and not a 50mm lens.
As for shooting moving objects with a manual lens. Lets just say it’s not impossible, but not ideal either. You’ll need to learn how to pre-focus (judge the distance by eye, then adjust the lens accordingly). I think the E-P2 makes this slightly easier, but still not the most ideal scenario, but hey, most street photographers who shoot with manual rangefinders can do it, why not you.
Lastly, remember that you’ll need to buy an adapter to mount the M-mount lenses onto the E-P2.
I hope this helps.
Erv.
Hi again Erv, thank you so much for clarifying that. I’m so new to all of this.
I was thinking on getting the 50mm f1.1 because of this blog: http://blog.yanidel.com/
he took amazing pics and I’m looking for a lens that can achieve that kind of street photography. Since he’s using 60mm f1.2 for most of his shots, I thought the 50mm f1.1 might achieve that as well. I’m not quite sure though if I’m making any sense, since I’m a newbie here.
Oh, by the way I’m using my e-p2 with the panny 20mm f1.7 and I love it but haven’t really get the chance to take it on the street. Based on what you said, then the 20mm f1.7 (which becomes 40mm) will do fine for street photography, but I’m not sure if I can achieve that shot I want.
Do you think maybe I should consider getting getting the 35mm f1.4 or the 40mm f1.4 instead? And it’s much cheaper too!
Thank you so much, I really appreciate your suggestions and thoughts
Hi again,
I think you need to understand that he’s using the M9 (costs ~10x more than an E-P2), which is a full frame rangefinder. It’s handling, crop factor, quality are totally different from the E-Ps.
Again, a 60mm on the E-P2 will translate to 120mm. That’s way too long for street.
I suggest you just play around with the Panny 20mm first, then consider what other lenses you want to try out. Even 40mm is still too long IMO.
I’m an advocate of shooting with what you have first, get used to it, then add on what you think you need to expand on. It’ll make you a better photographer AND save you money at the same time.
Hope this helps,
Ervine
You’re right. I think I should spend more time with the Panny 20mm first before jumping into new lenses.
Thanks again!
hi ervine, what flash would u use if u used the bessa r3a at night?? taking pictures of people for example??
Hi again Paul,
I’ve never used a flash with my Bessa actually, so I can’t really answer you.
Most rangefinder shooters also don’t use flash as the RF lenses are usually fast enough to capture what you need.
Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Erv.
Hi,
have you tested the voigtlander 35mm f1.4 mc? If yes, do you compared this with the 40mm 1.4? Thx;)
Hi there,
No unfortunately I have not tested it.
Ervine
Excellent article, nicely written and backed up with beautiful photography and wonderful colours, thanks for sharing
Hello Ervin once again great article, I’m a big fan of your blog. Keep up the great work.
I forgot to ask a question. Were the first 4 shots in the airport taken with a ep2 and 15mm voigtlander? Thanks
Hi there,
They were taken with an E-P1, not E-P2 and yes with the 15mm.
Thanks!
Ervine