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Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian

Post Number: 61
Registered: 08-2006

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Posted on Monday, June 18, 2007 - 07:57 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

I'm a bit of a novice with anything made since I was born... I've just got one of the above lenses, Olympus OM-system mount, and I'm yet to try it out in any serious way. Google is less than helpful - they're all either ebay sales or in French - and I was wondering whether anyone here can offer me any advice. All I have used it for is four snaps of flowers finishing a roll of film. None are pin-sharp, though as I was taking pics of tiny orchids at a distance of five feet I am not hugely surprised, especially without a tripod! Between wobble and not-quite-got-the-focus-100%-right I doubt that such things are a fair test of the lens.

Has anyone any better suggestions as to what I should be using it for - other than a doorstop, which it would be superb at, it weighs a ton!

Adrian
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M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie

Post Number: 61
Registered: 07-2006

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Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 - 03:30 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

You'll never really give it a good test without a tripod, because that focal length, especially if it's heavy, is hard to hand hold.

But Tokura doesn't seem to be a very prominent manufacturer or vendor, so I also wouldn't be too surprised to find that the lens is a less than stellar performer.

To get a better idea of what it's capable of, I'd dedicate a roll of film just to the job. It hardly matters what film. Any cheap print film is fine. Get a tripod, and take some pictures of the same thing or a couple of things at different focal lengths and different apertures, take notes as you go, and compare the results for sharpness. Try to find subjects that will give you a test of sharpness and distortion right to the edges. A lens might be acceptable in the middle range of focal length and sharpness, but poor wide open or at the extreme ends, and once you know where it is best, you might find it more useful and reliable.
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Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian

Post Number: 62
Registered: 08-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Posted on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 04:04 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Thanks for that. I'll find a moment and give it a test.

I'll confess now that it was an "accidental" purchase! The manual adaptor on my OM10 is long-since defunct, and I found a dead OM10 on a stall at local tat market with one on that appeared to work still (well, it still turned, unlike mine!). The camera was £20 with an extra lens - the Tokura, body had the standard OM10 lens - and a flash. The flash is fairly crummy, but with a change of batteries and poking the shutter curtains back onto their runners I now have a second working OM10!

And after all that, I had forgotten that I cannot use the manual adapter on my older body anyway as the lightmeter in the viewfinder is kaput!

So I now have two OM10s, two standard ON lenses and the Tokura... Might as well find out how well they work!

Adrian

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