<<<I bid on a 20mm f3.5 MC Zuiko to go with the Telescopic Auto Tube 65-116
which is in transit. Does anyone have any experience with this lens or have
any idea what it might be worth? >>>
Skip Williams says $235 for the manual version, but I would put it closer to
$100.00 to $125.00 for a used one. Since the one on evilBay is NIB, the
price would be higher...but that's into the collector-realm, and it would be
difficult to predict what someone would pay for it. Note that no one would
pay $175.00 (or $250.00 to BIN) a minty 38mm/3.5 macro just the other day.
I had this lens at one time but never used it b/c I had the 20mm/f2
Auto-Macro. With that in mind, I would strongly discourage using any 20mm
macro on a 65-116 auto-tube. It could be done, but you would _have_ to have
the focusing rail. The DOF has to be less than a 1mm at f2, so it is next
to impossible to find your subject if you are working in the field. Even in
a studio, you need a _very_ sturdy tripod. Everything must be rock-solid
because precise focusing is an absolute must. The 20mm macro lenses, IMHO,
are relegated for use with the macrophoto stand. Well, that might not be
true...but your setup and 'fiddling' time is greatly reduced with the
macrophoto stand.
Then there is the issue of lighting your subject. At high magnification (up
to 12x), the lens is on top of your subject and lighting it is extremely
difficult. Here you need the macrophoto stand, Lieberkuhn reflectors, light
sources, mirror housing, etc. These things are not easy to find.
Of course, there are other issues like the fact that this lens is manual
aperture control and slower than the auto-aperture 20/2 macro (you'll pay an
extra couple hundred for it, though).
You also have to have the PM-MTob lens mount. These are NLA and difficult
to find. Although, there were some list members who had some 6-8 months
ago.
Okay, so here are my main reasons why you shouldn't get it:
1) you need the NLA PM-MTob mount
2) it is manual aperture
3) it works best on the bellows in a very controlled environment
4) requires precise focusing (but this lens has no focusing helicoid, so you
have to move the lens by moving the film plane to focus or changing the
magnification ratio--hence a controlled environment)
5) lighting is very difficult
Now, I'm sure someone will disagree and has used this lens in the field with
great success. I'll bet the guy who's link someone just posted of photos in
Kentucky would disagree. He uses the exact setup you are thinking about (he
has the PM-MTob mount, for sure), but not having all the 'optional'
accessories I mentioned makes using this lens beyond my
pain-in-the-ass-to-use threshold.
That said, I would buy it for $57.50 if it were NIB...but only as a
collector's piece even though I don't even collect OM stuff.
--p.j.
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