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Worst lens ever tried on μ4/3 camera
  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    We have many topics about good lenses. This topic should help us to exchange our bad experiences with the lenses.

    No matter is it vintage or new lens design, is it more or less famous manufacturer or lens type - just every lens model has its "caviar" but also "lemon" copies. Also many lenses get worse after unprofessional interventions and service.

    Please describe here your worst lens experience and the kind of problem with that lens. If you tried good copy of somebody else's nightmare lens please inform about that. Whoever can, please upload crops of the images made by your bad lens. Also links to the videos are welcome.

  • 5 Replies sorted by
  • apefosapefos

    vivitar 28mm f1.9 is a very atractive lens, rear element is large, super fast for a full frame 28mm, but completely soft at f.19, get very good from 2.8 and above. But there is a positive thing, if you want a very pleasant soft look, dificult to achieve in computer effects, it is the best one.

    rainbow 3.5mm f1.6 ultra wide angle 1/2 inch sensor c-mount lens, to be used in ETC mode. Corner quality is one of the worst I ever saw, but if you stop down to f8 or f11 the image is very good corner to corner. also there is a very pronounced barrel distortion but can be turned to rectilinear with software correction. Great for BW 16mm film look in ETC mode at iso 1600 and dynamic bw.

  • sammysammy

    Zenitar 16mm Fisheye

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    Tokina zoom 24-40 for Nikon, tried it on my GH1 by vintage lenses dealer: CA from hell, never really sharp, ghosting, bad contrasts and color blur - a nightmare sample.

    Surprisingly, some of my old good Canon FD wide angle primes which performed great on the SLR Canon T90, turned to kind of disappointment on the GH1 and GH2: not so sharp, colors blur (especially red). I bought the Nex-7 in hope they will perform better on the bigger APS-C sensor, but it turned even worse: CA in the corners was just horrifying, this concerns FD 17mm f/4, FD 20mm f/2.8 and 35mm f/2 (with concave front element).

    Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (non VR) had the worst build quality I ever tried. Cheap piece of plastic, using its MF on the GHx is nearly impossible as the focus ring has only some 1/4 circle from nearest to endless, and its shaky, plasticy thin front is almost impossible to fix. Just a small shake or motion with camera up or downwards and focus can "jump" where you don't need it to be. Nevertheless, the lens had astonishing IQ but its build no-quality makes it overall just bad, not recommended.

    And this: I tried some 6 months ago in the store really bad, brand new fish-eye lens for μ4/3. Unfortunatelly, I don't remember what it was- I gave my best to forget it soon as possible: quite unsharp pictures and strange color rendition. The rule "try before you buy" was worth it....

  • apefosapefos

    some vintage lenses tested here and how to improve them

  • jpbturbojpbturbo

    Vivitar 300mm.

    It's a t4 or something lens with the m42 adapter on it.

    The CA is so bad it looks like old school red/blue 3D.

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