I've recently become interested in vintage lenses and have been using the Olympus OM 50mm f1.8 for a couple of weeks now. As I'm quite enjoying the lens and have already used it for a few challenges, I've been looking for other interesting lenses with an OM mount.
On Sunday I picked up a Formula 5 80-200mm F4.5. The lens is a bit large and heavy for my liking (about 150mm long and 550g in weight), but it was so cheap I couldn't resist.
I've searched Google, but can't find anything about this particular lens. Does anyone know anything about Formula 5 lenses?
I hadn't heard of them, and there does seem to be very limited discussion of them. The little I could glean seems to indicate that they were 3rd-party lenses. There may well have been multiple manufacturers that produced lenses labeled "Formula 5." As with most lenses from this era, you should not expect stellar sharpness (especially since it is a zoom).
As with most lenses from this era, you should not expect stellar sharpness (especially since it is a zoom).
I realise that. This is more about experimenting to see if vintage lenses give me a different look to what I get from my Canon glass. And this lens was so cheap that I'm not too concerned if it's a dud.
As with most lenses from this era, you should not expect stellar sharpness (especially since it is a zoom).
I realise that. This is more about experimenting to see if vintage lenses give me a different look to what I get from my Canon glass. And this lens was so cheap that I'm not too concerned if it's a dud.
Indeed that's the fun of the old manual glass. And sometimes the results are really special.
I'm enjoying my OM 50mm f1.8, though to be fair I haven't done a proper comparison between the photos with that lens and my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II yet, so I'm not sure whether the photos would be that different with the Canon. I hate using that lens though because the auto-focus is really clunky.
