It's a little sad that some of us, myself included, since Olympus
has pulled the plug on the OM system now are casting about for
other ways to use our lenses, whether with MF or digital. Anyway,
I went back to the drawing board -- actually, the tripod-mounted
6x9 Century Graphic -- with some more lenses to see just how much
they would cover. I didn't try every lens, but I think I covered
a fairly representative sample, and here are the results.
The 35/2.8 shift will cover 6x6, but would vignette at 6x7, and
would really vignette at 6x9. Plus, even at 6x6, the shift would
be pretty much useless because of the small image circle. One
advantage, though, is you wouldn't have to use a Rube Goldberg
device to stop it down.
The only lens I found that actually covers a full 6x9 at infinity
is the 135/4.5 Macro, and it does the job corner to corner, which
means it has an image circle of at least 11.5 cm. I was
surprised, to say the least. Nothing else came close.
Here's how some others fared (lens + approximate image circle):
17/3.7 Tamron, 6 cm
21/2 Zuiko, 5 cm
28/2.8 Carl Zeiss Jena, 6 cm
35/2 Zuiko, 5 cm
50/1.4 Zuiko, 5 cm
50/3.5 Zuiko Macro, 5 cm
80/4 Zuiko Macro, 6 cm (nearly covers 6x7 at 6 in. or less from
subject, so it could be used for macro work)
100/2 Zuiko, 7 cm
135/2.8 Zuiko, 7 cm
180/2.8 Zuiko, 7 cm
300/4.5 Zuiko, 6 cm
I didn't try any of the longer lenses, such as the 400 or 500
Zuikos, or the Tamron 300/2.8 (too heavy to hold with one hand
while fiddling with the camera). The only zoom I tried was the 35-
80/2.8 Zuiko, and it produced a 6 cm circle at all focal lengths.
End of story.
Walt
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