[shoplink 16724 ebay]
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This is a modified Kowa 55mm f/1.0 lens. You can use it on your Micro Four Thirds camera without using any adapter. It is currentlz for sale on [shoplink 16724 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. Didn’t find any image smaples taken with that lens 🙁
A High quality alternative is the [shoplink 14988 ebay]Canon 50mm FD 1.2 (Click here to see current auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]
P.S.: As you might know Kowa announced that they will be making the 350mm f/4, 500mm f/5,6 and 850mm f/9,6 telephoto lenses for Micro Four Thirds.
17 Responses
quite pricy …
without image stabilisation as well i guess.
gotta find some test images with it.
is it only for sale at ebay or also be added on amazon etc later?
This appears to be the same lens for sale in the US for half that..
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Panasonic-G1-GH1-GF1-Olympus-E-P1-E-P2-M4-3-55mm-F-1-0-/320581913032?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item4aa42bc9c8
And this one is even less expensive: $395
http://cgi.ebay.fr/GH1-GF1-G10-G2-Micro-Four-Thirds-M4-3-55mm-F-1-0-lens-/110594685847
with such a fast lens, no IS isn’t THAT big of a deal…
Micro Four Thirds isn’t one word.
What about AF, electronic exchange with camera, IS?
IS is always useful, completely regardless of widest aperture. For indoors, dawn and when you just close the aperture to get more DoF.
Speculation on DPI forums was that these lenses use a negative (Barlow) lens to adjust the register distance. And are therefore not f1.0 anymore but much slower. (the focal length will also be off)
Googled and found this – apparently was designed for video capture of displays in X-Ray machines, which are now being discarded. People are now making mounts for these to unload the stock of lenses. The lens itself is only worth about 30 bucks.
Hi,
I’m currently finishing the modification of a Fuji 50mm f1.2 in Fuji X mount (Porst Branded).
I’m doing that because i bought the lens very cheap (55 EUR) and the quality is amazing! you can also get them it now on eBay Garmany for 129 EUR.
If someone is looking for and affordable fast manual lens, and has some skill (and tools) to do a simple mount change, this lens is a must!
Cheers!
Jose
55/1.0 Why????
are ultrafast lenses the new fad? Why someone would need a very big lens, hard to focus at anything below 4 (manual ones) and expensive? Please do not give me the DOF story or I’ll ask you to show me the difference between a 1.4 and 1.7 shots.
Because Panasonic bodies don’t have sensor IS. So you really need bright lenses for handheld shooting. And f1.0 is two time faster than f1.4.
I use a Canon nFD 50/1.2 because of the same reason.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miklosrabi/5051359032/
DOF is out of question with m43. Need thin DOF? Buy a FF camera.
It’s probably more effective as a body cap than as a serious image maker.
With lenses as fast as 1.0 the DOF is very low, so it might be difficult to focus exactly on the object. I don’t see why I should need such a fast lens. My Minolta 50mm/1.7 is sufficiently fast for me. 😉
I have an Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.2 on my OM4-Ti
Ironically, it performs best at f5.6 and 8 and is rather soft at 1.2
Isn’t there a OM mount to 4/3 adapter? what would that give you, the equivalent of a 100mm f1.2? 😉
Why not use fast lenses? I don’t get the point of not trying to get fast manuals.
1 – Easier focusing – even if you’re not shooing at f2 or f4 or whatever, focus wide open, then open up for accuracy.
2 – Cause DOF isn’t too small on m43. People say it’s a disadvantage, I think it’s an advantage. F1.2 on m43 is like f2.4 on full frame. That’s quite nice. Enough to keep both eyes in focus 😉
3 – You can relax your high ISO quests. I don’t like using flash much. I like to take pictures that reflect the atmosphere at that point in time. This Kowa is known to pentax users btw to be too soft wide open (i.e. softer than it should be).
http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/showproduct.php?product=712
I’d bet that this is simply adapted to m43.
I think the Canon FD f1.2s are some of the best bargains at this point. you can get 50-58mm FDs with F1.2 for under $200 from keh and other sites.
I don’t expect pin sharp images at f1.2, but they’re still great. F1.4 is awesome, and f2 is extremely sharp.
At f1, you’re not 4 times brighter than a standard kit lens’ f4, you’re 16 times brighter. A sharp f1 wont have too small a dof on m43, and you snap at a fraction of the required iso, or with a much faster shutter.
And lenses seem to not be their best wide open, so when you start with f1.0 you might get the best out of it at f1.8-2.4, which negates the razor thin DOF disadvantage, and is still fairly fast.
While it probably isn’t razor sharp, the voigtlander 25mm f0.95 is decent wide open. with lenses this fast and of that level of quality, you dont even have to go as far as f1.8/2.4. f1.2 to f1.4 can give great images.