nikon 35mm f1.8 + cheap nikon G adapter rocks

Hunter Hampton

Carbonite Member
FYI- This combo works wonderfully; I grabbed a cheap $25 nikon G to m4.3 adapter on ebay and the nikon 35mm f1.8G DX is less than $200 on Amazon.

Aperture control works fine, lens mounts nice and tight. The lens is insanely sharp, even wide open (crazy sharp wide open way more so than my 50 1.4 nikon!)- close focuses to just a few inches and the focus ring is decent for an AF lens.

This set-up will probably live on my gh2 now, highest quality/cheap lens set up - perfect m4.3 fov and surprisingly weightless (almost forgot: beautiful bokeh). Just sharing.
 

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Not the sharpest example (gh2 1080/24p grab handheld and 1/60th) but im digging the bokeh, color, contrast, and perspective on this little lens. Nikon didnt know that this lens looks best on a m43 body! ; )

35mmdx.jpg
 
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thx for your post,
I heard about the 35 1.8 being a bargain b4 and was hoping someone would test it on GH2.
Would you please post more samples?

BTW, how does the Aperture control works?
Is the focus by wire or mechanical?
(I'm new to adapted lens, thx)
 
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werd
24, 28 and 35mm are my fave focal lengths on m43

edit:
can you post a link to the adapter? looks different to the bolt versions from last year
is that an circular ring that connects to the leaver inside the f-mount?
 
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Awesome...I have this lens and was just looking at that same cheap adapter but couldn't find anything that confirmed it operated the aperture properly. Great to know, and that lens does seem pretty nice for the price.
 
I have the same adapter. The aperture control is nice, and for the price you can't beat it. But I can already tell that the m43 side of the adapter is getting eaten up.

Aluminum is too soft and I change lenses a lot. I am looking for an adapter that had brass on both sides.

That 35mm looks good.
 
I got my G adapter from rainbow imaing here on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320610983944&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_1862wt_1032

Its just a ring on the adapter that say "lock-> open" but when you twist it it adjusts the aperture smoothly- better than I thought it would anyway. No specific marks, but that doesn't really bother me for this application.

focus past infinity?

I have the same adapter. The aperture control is nice, and for the price you can't beat it. But I can already tell that the m43 side of the adapter is getting eaten up.

Aluminum is too soft and I change lenses a lot. I am looking for an adapter that had brass on both sides.

That 35mm looks good.

try ceicio 7 (link) more expensive but hard metal, however design means you need a spacer under your cam when on sticks or bolt hits quick release plate
 
Hunter,

Thanks for the heads up about this lens. I'm kinda of a lens neophyte, though I understand speed, sharpness and bokeh. What are the advantages / pluses of using the 35mm with an adapter rather than the pancake 25mm? Is the image better? Could it be that the form factor might be easier to use than the pancake? Curious, as my GH2 14/140 is being delivered tomorrow.
 
Bt4tb- I don't think I've tried the 50mm f1.8, just the 1.4.

Dvxherb- I have a 20mm pancake and I really like it, but it's pretty wide for shooting people. The 35mm on a micro 4/3 sensor is a great in-between lens for shooting people, not too wide like a 25mm might be or too long and tight like a 50mm might be.

The field of view is close to putting a 50mm lens on an aps-c camera, just a great semi telephoto.
 
Always appreciate your findings Hunter. I will definitely pick one up. Do you have any footy to show it off?

I can also confirm that rainbowimaging has sent me some very good adapters for Canon FD and M42 as well. He ships from the U.S. so he does get your mounts a little faster for those based in the U.S.

Thanks Hunter!
 
I don't have any footage quite yet, but I'm shooting a job on the gh2 next week and I'll probably use this lens a lot. I'll post that stuff later.
 
Thanks for the explanation Hunter.

Now can I ask you another favor? Can you help cure me of the idea of buying a Nokton 25mm 0.95? ;)

While it looks like you're around, could you list any other lenses you think are must haves to go with the 14-140 kit lens? Should I sell it and get something better?
 
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Seems like a really great lens, if you think you'll often shoot at f0.95, grab it. Looking at samples, I would probably shoot it at around 1.4-2.0 and a already have a sigma 24mm f1.8, so while it's tempting to have such a fast lens, I personally can't justify the spending.

Might be good to wait for panasonic's new 25mm f1.4, which is coming out very soon, should be quite a lot cheaper than the nockton and have af/ae if you like taking stills too.
 
Sorry, missed the other question. I would pick up a 20mm pancake and this 35mm nikon & 50mm nikon.

I got rid of my 14-140 and grabbed a 14-42 instead, not that the 14-140 isn't a pretty sweet lens- Its just that I prefer primes and rarely would use a zoom like that, I only got the 14-42 to have the option of a little compact zoom that goes to 14. Just depends on what you like- a zoom like the 14-140 would be great for documentary work.
 
I got rid of my 14-140 and grabbed a 14-42 instead..
How do you find the 14-42. I keep hearing nothing but bad things about it, ie: not sharp, poor optics compared to the 14-140 etc. etc.
I only want it for the 14 wide part also, just can't seem to find any real info on it.
 
More complex question, which still has no conclusion: How about comparing 14-42 vs 14-45. We know that 14-42 has plastic mount and missing OIS switch.
Can someone please compare the Optical Quality between two? coz, I am very soon to buy one.
 
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