@LaserGuidedTaco i have tried everything and i cant focus that lens , maybe we got a faulty adapter , but why would oit focus correctly at 200mm if that was the case

Carl Zeiss C/Y 135mm 2.8 a rarely mentioned lens which works perfectly with the M4/3. For the performance the price is very affordable. Very usable for portraits, for nature/wildlife w. ETC and 720P and with macrorings great for insects etc. small example on my youtube:

@sammy @laserguidedtaco I should be receiving the vivitar 28-200mm fd mount shortly. I will verify if there is a focusing problem, etc...

just got the vivitar 28-200mm from ebay in fd mount .im not sure its the fd adapter to m43 this one http://www.amazon.com/Fotga-Adapter-Canon-Mount-Micro/dp/B00870R1D4 but i cant seem to be able to focus this lens at all unless its set on 200mm ,anything below i get a blurry focus on all the ranges of the focus gear .. is the macro function on this lens only available at 200mm? it seems like its locked (the 1:4 macro option) once the lens is set to anything below 200mm, maybe i have a defective lens, im not sure its the lens or the adapter

@nomad @aki_hartikainen Yes, I've noticed quite a variation in adapter quality - and it has nothing to do with price. I bought a mid-priced MD-m4/3 that was very loose and the lens was slapping about all over the place (even after I tried to adjust the locking pin on it) and then I bought a cheap £11 one that was perfect, so it doesn't surprise me that they can also be slightly different lengths too (which would also affect infinity focus). Certainly my Tokina 28-85 is parfocal on the GH2, so you may have ended up with a dodgy one, or as we said the adapter might be at fault.

Technically, you are right.

But this is the MD version of the Tokina, and the Minolta 35-70mm is parfocal on the same adapter. Nevertheless it's a nice lens and it uses a similar mechanism to keep the aperture constant, just like the Rokkor.

I wish we could have this in the 12-35mm Panny lens instead of the stepping aperture motor…

Yashica ML 35-70 f3.5-4.8 appears to be nearly perfect zoom on the GH1 and focuses close also. Lens body is plastic but otherwise well made. This lens renders nothing but beautiful and zeiss-like images. Anything that is not in the sharp focus is rendered nicely. I can not say the same for all lenses. Perhaps not a hidden gem, but a gem nonetheless. Also, contrast is slightly less than the very contrasty ML prime lenses, perfect on digital with a little less dynamic range.

I went through a box where I had put 'junk maybe gem' lenses, that I acquired from ebay and local stores just before I bought my GH2. I was still tossing up between canon and panasonic.

I think I may have found one, it's a 'Soligor Auto Zoom 75-260mm f4.5' it is a T4 mount, and was according to research manufactured by Tokina in about 1969, also branded as Vivitar.

The front element rotates when focusing.
The barrel lengthens slightly when zooming.
It has a rotating tripod mount.
I haven't shot charts yet - it's looks really sharp at f8 on my DP6
It's parfocal .. I assume that is what they mean by 'Auto Zoom'

Here is a wiki entry:
http://camera-wiki.org/wiki/Vivitar_T-4_75-260mm_f/4.5_Tele-Zoom

Search for 'soligor auto zoom 75-260 review' and you'll find some write ups and sample stills.

The T4 mount adapter are problematic because of scarcity.
Mine came with a Nikon adapter, and I scoured the planet and purchased both a Canon adapter and a Minolta MD adapter.

I don't know enough about Nikon and Canon mounts to identify what mount they are. I think they are FD canon and F Nikon.

I'll add this .. If anybody is Nikon based and want's to try T4 lenses I'll sell the Nikon for $20 plus postage

More recommendations...

M42 screwmount SLR lenses:

• Helios 44-2, Russian 58mm/f2 M42, can be found on flea markets for $10-20. Renders beautiful images, a cult lens.

• Pentacon 200mm/f4 (=Meyer Görlitz 200mm/f4). Excellent super tele lens that can be found cheaply second hand.

C-mount lenses:

• Cosmicar (=Pentax) 25mm/f1.4, the ultra-cheap alternative to the Panasonic 20mm or 25mm lenses. Hardly vignettes on the GH2. Even better, but more expensive: Schneider Cine-Xenon 25mm/1.4, delivers beautiful images, reaches infinity focus.

• Fujian 35mm/f1.7, this Chinese c-mount lens can be had on Ebay new for $20 and even covers the APS-C-size sensors (also available with SLR Magic rebranding for more than $100), reaches infinity focus;

• more from Cosmicar: 75mm/f1.4, the $100 Ebay alternative to the $700 Olympus 75mm/1.8. Sharp, no vignetting, good contrast, reaches infinity focus.

• Cosmicar 22.5-90mm/f1.5 zoom, least vignetting of a c-mount zoom on GH1/GH2 without ETC, reaches infinity focus, example on

• Ernitec 6.5mm/f1.8, vignettes but still beautiful as an extreme wide angle lens - fantastic sharp images with gorgeous colorful flares [used for most of this video:

  ]

C-mount lenses to be used in ETC mode:

• Tamron 4.0-12mm/f1.2 [equivalent to a 10-30mm Micro Four Thirds lens], excellent super wide angle zoom, costs ca. $120; infinity focus with thin adapters.

• Cosmicar 8-48mm/f1.0-1.2 [equiv. to 20-120mm M4/3rds], fastest zoom lens ever, can be found cheaply for around $120.

(Second the opinion on the Jupiter-3 50mm/f1.5. Great lens for the GH2 because of its compact size and stepless aperture. The Jupiter-9 85mm/f2 is great, too, and has a stepless aperture ring as well.)

Try to get a Jupiter 3 these days! It's not a hidden gem any more, you pay premium for any decent sample.

Plus, BTW, I wouldn't call it "stealing", it was openly taken as compensation for war damage. Russian mathematicians improved on German formulas and even at the height of the cold war Soviet lenses won a grand price at Brussels world expo.

Unfortunately, quality control was lacking. For some lenses you need to buy (=hunt down) 3 or 4 samples to get one that's fine. BTW, beware of any early nineties samples. After the end of SU, quality control got too bad. Some lenses are still in production today and got back on track again.

I owned the Kiron version which was a rebranded Vivitar.

Yep, just in reverse, as I know.
Vivitar never made lenses themselfs, they even did not make designs for most lenses.

I just bought a Hexanon 80-200/3.5 .. I have found one available adapter, a kipon (bower). Is anybody aware of any others before I purchase?

The Pentacon 30 mm f3.5 could be, though. I was aware of the filmic quality of the Pentacon 135 mm f2.8, so I was not surprised to get very fine images from it. But I did not know about the Meyer Lydith design 30 mm being so highly regarded by many. And it can be had for a few tenners.

Supposedly the Pentacon 50 mm is not in the same league.

Pentacon lenses were made in East Germany in the lens factories that remained on that side of the border using often the same tools and designs that they had used originally.