Purple Bindweed: Canon 5D, Olympus OM H-Zuiko Auto-W 24mm/2.8 @ probably f/2.8

     Today, I am posting just to post.  To keep things going.  This is the Purple Bindweed, or the Sharp-pod Morning Glory.  It grows wild here.  I found this vine in full bloom, climbing on an old tomato cage along the fence. It blooms in the morning, hence its name, and also in the evening.  It's a pleasant surprise to find it.

    This lens is a fantastic little wide angle 24mm for the Olympus OM system, adapted to the Canon EOS mount.  Of course, it is manual focus only. It is sharp and has great color rendition. As you can see, there is a nice quality to the out of focus blur.  This was my first copy of this lens.  I have recently purchased a second one, which is even sharper than this one.

     My first copy looks as though someone used some sort of penetrating oil to lube some of the moving parts, and as a result, a little of that oil ended up on one of the elements.  I will go into this more in detail in another post, as I attempt to remedy the problem.  My second copy had a loose part connecting the aperture to the aperture ring.  I had to take it apart to repair it, so I am starting to get comfortable digging around inside these old lenses.

    With my track record so far, it seems like these lenses are prone to needing maintenance.  They are, however, very nice lenses, especially for the price, once they are working properly.  I purchased my first copy for about $130 and my second copy for about $90.  An old canon EF 24mm f/2.8 would have cost around $300,  and would probably not perform as well. Canon's luxury EF 24mm f/1.4L II USM sells for over $1500. so you can see, old manual lenses can be a poor man's path to better image quality.