# From film to mFT



## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Howdy all. Does anyone shot with mFT? Little history here. Anywho, I said I'd post my equipment, and I remembered!
Film body: Canon AE-1
Film glass: Canon FD 50mm f1.8, Vivitar 28-80mm f3.5-5.6 Macro Focusing Zoom (the main lens I used), Canon Zoom Lens FL 55-135mm f3.5
Film accessory: focal MC 2x converter
mFT body: Panasonic DMC-GF5
mFT glass: Panasonic 14-42mm f3.5-5.6, Panasonic 12.5mm f12 3D, Olympus 15mm f8 Body Cap Lens
mFT accessory: Canon FL/FD to mFT lens adapter (in the mail on it's way to me)
General accessories: various 48mm filters, Vivitar Auto Thyristor 225 flash, Phoenix 82 ZBDA flash, Cokin filter holder, Vivitar tripod and a small pocket tripod.

For those who don't know, mFT is short for micro four thirds. I went with it because of the killer deal I got on the camera kit, and because of it's short lens to 'film' distance, with an adapter I can use my Canon glass. Well, any glass from just about the last 50 years can be used with an adapter. So I'll play with it and see if I end up going with mostly legacy glass, or I want to save up and get mFT glass. I also ponied up for the 3D lens because it was also on a killer sale, but because I thought it'd be fun to play with. Now I need to find software that can read MPO files, and convert them to the red/blue images so I can look at them on my computer or in print. I've also found a site that will make View-Master disks of your images, so once I think I have 7 good images, I'll send them off and get a disk. That'll be a fun one for the photo album. Right now I'm mainly focusing on trying to find and buy a house, but once that's done, and it warms up a bit, I'm going to start really spending some time shooting around. My main subjects will be nature, my family, trains of all sizes, and LEGO creations.

This is one of our cats, Thomas:


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

It's the 1st time I've heard of 'mFT', though I've seen the cameras themselves on sale here, it's certainly an intriguing technology. You've got some impressive bits there, it reads similar(ish) to my old 35mm kit :grin:

Hi Thomas :wave:


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## yustr (Sep 27, 2004)

Welcome to the obsession...

My kit includes (if memory serves):

28mm F2.8 **
35mm F2.8 *
50mm F1.4 *
50mm F1.8 *
50mm F4 Macro *
55mm F1.4 *
85mm F1.4 ***
105mm F2.5 *
200mm F4 *
18-55 kit lens ****
28-70 **
70-300 ****

Key:
* = legacy lens circa 1960-1970, screw mount used w/ adapter
** = legacy lens circa 1980's, K mount but not auto focus
*** = newly purchased K mount, manual focus
**** = purchased in 2005 with first DSLR body

I have 2 camera bodies: Pentax ist*D (first DSLR) and K10D bought in 2010 from Best Buy as "refurbished" - it had a total of 11 activations! :grin: I also have a number of 2X doublers, legacy flashes (a caution on these below), 3 tri-pods, a mono pod, filters, and other misc goodies.

My total investment is probably about $1000 as I get most of the gear from folks who have them laying around in "Grandpa's stuff" and are happy to part with them.

Caution: If you're trying to use legacy flash units make sure they're compatible with your camera. Many old units will overpower current cameras and could damage electronics. I bought ONE OF THESE and have no problems. It takes a bit of trial and error (mostly error) to get the exposure right but that's what the delete button is for.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Info on mFT. I like how they are trying to make it a standard.

Good to know about flashes. Mine were made to work with my Canon, so no worry there. My Pany doesn't have a hot shoe, only real downside I can think of as of now. I wish I was lucky enough to be handed glass like that. I want to get some wider lenses and a couple of primes. So we'll see how long it takes to save up. My collection can only get bigger now.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

yustr said:


> Caution: If you're trying to use legacy flash units make sure they're compatible with your camera. Many old units will overpower current cameras and could damage electronics. I bought ONE OF THESE and have no problems. It takes a bit of trial and error (mostly error) to get the exposure right but that's what the delete button is for.


I just found an article about old flashes on new camera. Amazing how Google reader seems to put up things.


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Thought I'd share what my camera looks like with my old glass on it. The photos were taken with my iPhone 4S since my other camera is a Canon AE-1 (And boy do I wish there was a digital conversion kit for it.).









Canon New FD 50mm f/1.8









Canon FL 55-135mm f/3.5 with 2x converter









Vivitar FD 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 with macro


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Here is a photo I took with the 50mm Canon glass on my camera. Post processing done with iPhoto '11 on the RAW.










Not too colorful, but I thought it was neat that this little plant was growing in the pavement crack within sight of the yellow flowered bush that was in the planter nearby. Kind of a ha ha you have to grow there, but I chose to grow here.


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## WereBo (Apr 5, 2008)

That is a superb quality pic Sinclair, the 1st time I've seen real 3D depth on a 2D screen - Most impressive ray:


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

Glad you liked it. On my mFT body this is a film effective 100mm f/1.8 at about 1 foot from the subject. When I have some cash, I think I'm going to try to get some native primes for mFT, since they don't make many fast zooms.


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