I've been somewhat intimidated by the prices for lenses to fit my Olympus Pen-FT, so I was surprised recently to find an ebay listing for a 100mm telephoto for just forty bucks, shipping included from Japan. It was clearly a risk on several levels, but there are no blemishes on the glass or the external surfaces and the focus is smooth. The small size of the lens is a bit shocking, particularly because the 100mm actually corresponds to 140mm on a full-frame 35mm camera
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I loaded a roll of Kodak Gold 200 in the Pen-FT and started off with some shots of familiar subjects around the house and in Old Town for the sake of comparison.
The next day I mounted the new telephoto and finished off the roll at the Zoo.
No complaints about the image quality from the 100mm; it seems to me that the contrast and resolution are up to what I expect from Olympus. However, the 3.5 maximum aperture did challenge my focusing ability with the cloudy day lighting.
3 comments:
You read all sorts of horror stories about buying from sellers in Japan, but I have had great experiences. I've bought several cameras and a few lenses and each has been better than advertised with reasonable shipping and prompt delivery. I think if a pile of money ever fell from the sky into my lap, I would make a trip to Tokyo and visit some of those amazing used camera shops. Nice lens and great photos Mike!
I don't offhand recall getting anything else from Japan, but I'll certainly remain open to the possibility in my search for a wide-angle for the Pen-FT.
I have bought two Canon rangefinder lenses from Japan, and both were exactly as advertised. But beware that a lot of the mid-century optical stuff from Japan has fungus.
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