550D with Olympus Zuiko OM lenses

[Colin Rowe]

I just picked up 3 Olympus OM lenses, 50mm 1.4, 28mm 2.8 and a 35-70 f4 zoom, all in mint condition, total cost £95 + £13 for an OM to EOS adaptor. The 1.4 is amazing in low light. These lenses are incredably well made, really solid chunks, but much smaller than most older lensed from Canon, Nikon etc.Check it out here.

550D with Olympus Zuiko Lenses on Vimeo

The first sequence, working on the shoot, was shot from early to late evening. The light was really low toward the end, I am still getting used to setting the exposure on this lens, 1.4 to 16 with no half stops. The butterflies were shot earlier today, using the 35-70 zoom. The sun was up and so was the wind, as you can see. The 3rd section, down on the shoot, again, was shot using the 28mm 2.8, it was evening, but not as late, or as dark as the 50mm footage. All shot at 1920x1080 25, the clips were converted to Cineform, using Neoscene Ver 5, which performs the10 bit correction for luma range and colour space on Canon DSLR clips. Edited and encoded for Vimeo in Edius. These Olympus lenses are a joy to use, and at the price I paid, virtually impossible to beat for quality.

[Martyn Hull]

You had a bargain for sure Colin, where do you shop for them,if its anywhere with paypal involved thats a no go i dont use it anymore.The trouble is i have spent far more than i should have with the 550 and stock lens, also a tamron 28-300mm, a hodloupe which is useless ,a couple of cards,my eyes are not too good for lcd focusing i have to be about 12" away and it takes a long time for me to be sure of perfect focus.
Regarding your film it looks like most of what i have done using neutral but today i tried portrait i have not checked it yet only briefly, what i find hard is losing resolution against my HV30.Thanks for your help.

[Andy Wilkinson]

Yep, the OM lenses are sure nice on these Canons (I have several from my youth that have been sitting gathering dust until recently when they sprang into life again, in my case on a 7D). Some info on this link about the adapter I bought that might help someone considering this route.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...s-adapter.html

[Steve Phillipps]

Originally Posted by Martyn Hull

You had a bargain for sure Colin, where do you shop for them,.

These guys https://secure.ffordes.com/index.htm always have plenty of stock.

Steve

[Colin Rowe]

Good link Steve, Thanks.

[Colin Rowe]

Originally Posted by Martyn Hull

You had a bargain for sure Colin, where do you shop for them,if its anywhere with paypal involved thats a no go i dont use it anymore.The trouble is i have spent far more than i should have with the 550 and stock lens, also a tamron 28-300mm, a hodloupe which is useless ,a couple of cards,my eyes are not too good for lcd focusing i have to be about 12" away and it takes a long time for me to be sure of perfect focus.
Regarding your film it looks like most of what i have done using neutral but today i tried portrait i have not checked it yet only briefly, what i find hard is losing resolution against my HV30.Thanks for your help.

Of all things they were advertised in the local paper, I was amazed when I saw them, absolutely mint condition. I got the adaptor from Ebay, its a simple £13 job, I had read that some of the adaptors can be a bit on the loose side, this one fits like a glove. I had an Olympus OM2 in the 80s, always liked the lenses.
Shots were taken using Faithful.
sharpness at 1
contrast down 2
saturation down 1
colour tone central
I am still playing with the picture styles.
Converting to Cineform really helps with its 10 bit correction for colour space and luma range, and of course, the converted files make editing a breeze.

[Joel Peregrine]

Nice score Colin! Besides being more compact than Nikon lenses I like that the iris ring on OM lenses is out in front by the filter threads rather than tucked in against the camera body.

Originally Posted by Colin Rowe

I just picked up 3 Olympus OM lenses, 50mm 1.4, 28mm 2.8 and a 35-70 f4 zoom, all in mint condition, total cost £95 + £13 for an OM to EOS adaptor. The 1.4 is amazing in low light. These lenses are incredably well made, really solid chunks, but much smaller than most older lensed from Canon, Nikon etc.Check it out here.550D with Olympus Zuiko Lenses on Vimeo
The first sequence, working on the shoot, was shot from early to late evening. The light was really low toward the end, I am still getting used to setting the exposure on this lens, 1.4 to 16 with no half stops. The butterflies were shot earlier today, using the 35-70 zoom. The sun was up and so was the wind, as you can see. The 3rd section, down on the shoot, again, was shot using the 28mm 2.8, it was evening, but not as late, or as dark as the 50mm footage. All shot at 1920x1080 25, the clips were converted to Cineform, using Neoscene Ver 5, which performs the10 bit correction for luma range and colour space on Canon DSLR clips. Edited and encoded for Vimeo in Edius. These Olympus lenses are a joy to use, and at the price I paid, virtually impossible to beat for quality.