Announcement

**mike_j** · 1 March 2009, 08:16 AM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

Welcome to the LLU (legacy lens user) club - great fun and relatively cheap.

Don't worry - most legacy lenses won't hurt your camera. Just check that there are no parts of the lens projecting backwards into the mirror box that can touch the contacts or mirror.

You need to go into the menu system and select the option to allow the camera to work without a lens. This is because the camera has no electrical signals from the lens so doesn't know it's there.

Some lenses have an auto/manual switch, move this to manual. Others will be put into manual automatically by the adaptor. This is the case with my OM 50mm

After that it is just a matter of working in Aperture priority, manual focus. As the aperture is stopped down you will find the E510 viewfinder gets pretty dark. Live view zoom helps greatly with focussing. Focal length and aperture are as marked on the lens, no change. You may need to adjust exposure compensation and colour balance on some lenses for best effect.

IS will work on the E510. You have to tell the camera what the focal length of the lens you are using is.

We live quite close so if you want to borrow a couple of lenses send me a pm.

Choice of lenses - primes are generally better bets than zooms. OMs apart from the 50mm f1.8 are fairly pricey. Some of the Pentax lenses and Tamrons are good value. Make sure you don't buy any lenses with electrically operated aperture control - it must be manually controllable. That's about it - have fun.

**Jonesgj** · 1 March 2009, 09:08 AM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

Mike,

Thanks for the information - it has put my mind at rest. Also thanks for the kind offer; it would be good to meet up. I'm hoping that things will calm down a little at work and allow me to get out a little more later in March. I have tried to put local (to me, and I guess you!) events in the Calendar. Opportunities to take the family out and the cameras.

Regards

Graydon

**Archphoto** · 1 March 2009, 12:04 PM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

The easy way to get good pic's: set the camera on A(perture prefered).
Works great !

Peter

**HughofBardfield** · 2 March 2009, 02:09 PM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

Lots of info here, including links to other sites:

4/3rds Adapters: Legacy Lenses on 4/3rds (& Micro 4/3rds) Bodies

http://www.flickr.com/groups/om_four_thirds_adapter/

Welcome all users of Legacy Lenses on 4/3rds and micro 4/3rds cameras! Congratulations to Wah2523, our Picture Of The Month Winner Please post any pictures taken with Four Thirds digital SLRs (Olympus E-1 or E-3, E-30, E-3xx, E-4xx, E-5xx, E-6xx, Panasonic DMC-L1, etc.) using lenses created for older film SLRs with some kind of 4/3rds adapter (such as the Olympus MF-1 for OM mount lenses). PLEASE do not post images taken with digital lenses. They will be removed without further warning! It wastes your time and the Admins time, so please don't do it. Please add pictures of your gear to the Pictures of Your Gear .I is fine to use digital lenses for these pics as they are not in the main photo stream. Pictures of gear (just like any other photo) taken with a legacy lens + 4/3rds camera body are still welcome in the group pool, as long as it is clear from the tags and/or description which lens and camera were used. Ein Willkommen an alle Nutzer alter analoger Objektive an 4/3 Kameras. Bitte postet alle Bilder, die mit Four Thirds Digitalgehäusen (Olympus E-1 or E-3, E-30, E-3xx, E-4xx, E-5xx, E-6xx, Panasonic DMC-L1, etc.) unter Verwendung von analogen Objektiven aus der Film-Zeit und einem 4/3 Adapter (z.B. Olympus MF-1 für OM Objektive) gemacht wurden. BITTE keine Bilder mit digitalen Objektiven. Sie werden unmittelbar gelöscht! Ihr verschwendet nur Eure und die Zeit der Administratoren. Bitte nutzt die Tags, um den Objektivtyp und Hersteller zu spezifizieren. Bienvenue sur le groupe des objectifs anciens pour les appareils 4/3. Merci de poster uniquement des photos prises avec les appareils reflex numeriques 4/3 (Olympus E-1 or E-3, E-30, E-3xx, E-4xx, E-5xx, E-6xx, Panasonic DMC-L1, etc.) en utilisant les anciens objectifs fabriqués pour les anciens appareils reflex en utilisant une sorte d’adaptateur 4/3rds (comme l’Olympus MF-1 pour les montures OM). VEUILLEZ de ne pas poster des photos prises avec des objectifs numériques. Ces photos seront supprimées sans préavis. Cela sera une perte de temps pour vous et pour l’Admin. Merci de ne pas le faire. Bem vindos ao grupo das objectivas antigas para as maquinas fotográficas digitais 4/3rds. Por favor submeta apenas fotos tiradas com maquinas fotográficas digitais Four Thirds (Olympus E-1 or E-3, E-30, E-3xx, E-4xx, E-5xx, E-6xx, Panasonic DMC-L1, etc.) utilisando objectivas antigas fabricadas para as velhas SLR utilisando um adaptador 4/3rds (do tipo Olympus MF-1 para objectivas de tipo OM). Por favor não submeta quaisquer fotos tiradas com objectivas digitais. Estas fotos serão apagadas sem pré-aviso. Isso será uma perda de tempo para si e para o Administrador, por isso não o faça. Obrigado. Damos la bienvenida a todos los usuarios de objetivos manuales adaptados para cámaras de formato 4/3. Agradeceremos que incorporéis a nuestra galería todas las fotos que deseéis y que hayan sido tomadas con cámaras deigitales de formato 4/3 (Olympus E-1 or E-3, E-30, E-3xx, E-4xx, E-5xx, E-6xx, Panasonic DMC-L1, etc.), y utilizando en ellas objetivos manuales creados para las antíguas cámaras SLR de película, acoplados mediante algún tipo de adaptador (Ej: adaptador MF-1 para objetivos de montura OM). POR FAVOR no añadan a la galería fotografías obtenidas con objetivos digitales. Serán eliminadas sin advertencia o comunicación alguna. Puesto que esta acción será una pérdida de tiempo para ustedes y los administradores, por favor, les rogamos que no lo hagan. Gracias y bienvenidos. According to www.cameraquest.com/adapt_olyE1.htm, the following lenses can be adapted to the 4/3rds cameras: Nikon F Lens Pentax K Lens M42 Screw Mount Lens Olympus OM Lens Contax C/Y Lens Leica R Lens Minolta MC or MD Lens Leica Visoflex, combine Viso to Nikon F, Nikon F to 4/3 (two adapters) Exakta Lens internal bayonet Topcon Lens bayonet Rollei SL Lens bayonet T-mount Please limit postings to 5 per person per day. Tags: To make it easy to search for your pictures, please tag your pictures with: (lens adapter type ie: OM:4/3 adapter, etc.) (original lens mount ie: OM, etc.) (lens focal length ie: 100mm, 20-80mm, etc.) (lens type ie: Zuiko, Vivitar, etc.) (camera body used ie: E-500, E-1, etc.) If using Leica lenses, please help those of us less familiar with the Leica nomenclature by including the focal length and aperture as well as the lens name (eg Leica Summicron-M 50mm f2) IMAGES THAT HAVE NO TAGS TO SHOW WHICH LENS WAS USED, OR EXIF TO SHOW A 4/3rds CAMERA WAS USED MAY BE DELETED WITHOUT FURTHER WARNING Links: Test of OM Zuiko Lenses on an E-1 by John Foster: www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_e1.html Using Legacy Lenses on Digital SLRs by Andrzej Wrotniak: www.wrotniak.net/photo/quest/q08.html Some other groups you may be interested in: www.flickr.com/groups/olympusesystem/ (for users of Olympus E-system cameras - possibly one of the liveliest discussion groups on Flickr) www.flickr.com/groups/olympus_e-system_information/ (LOTS of information about the Olympus E-system - includes a section on legacy lenses: more info always welcome!) Manual Focus Forum ( www.forum.manualfocus.org ). A useful forum: Discuss how to buy, fix, clean, and use all the old manual focus photography kit you can find. M42, Pentacon 6, Contax, Leica, Canon, Nikkor, Carl Zeiss Jena, Asahi Pentax Takumars etc! I particularly like this thread: www.forum.manualfocus.org/viewtopic.php?id=10905 Which compares the OM 50mm f1.2, f1.4 and f1.8 and shows that faster isn't always better... Similar Groups for our Nikon and Canon friends: No metering lenses on Nikon DSLRs EOS cameras and manual lenses

The most important site for OM lenses, I would suggest is John Foster's "Biofos" site ( http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_e1.html ), which includes comparative tests of many OM lenses.

Some third party lenses (including those made by Tamron, Vivitar and Sigma for OM) also give truly excellent results, and of course, for a few pounds extra adaptors can be had for any of the major 35mm marques excluding Canon. A few medium format lens adaptors are also available.

The rules of thumb seem to be:

50mm and longer focal lengths give better results than wider angles
Faster lenses are not always better than "normal" speeds (ie the 50mm f1.2 is outperformed by the 50mm f1.8 unless stopped down slighly)
Zooms are almost always always slightly soft, but may well still give eminently usable results
Focussing accurately is not easy on the E4xx and E5xx, especially in less than perfect light. Live view helps a lot - split image viewfinder screens are also available, but see the many discussions on these for the pros and cons.

One point not made already: centre-weighted metering tends to give best results. Matrix and (to a lesser extent) spot seem to be fooled by the excess light spilling around from (much larger) imaging area. It has been suggested that cutting and fitting a baffle for the body end of the 35mm-format lens helps, but I haven't tried it myself.

**Graham_of_Rainham** · 2 March 2009, 02:51 PM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

I'm always experimenting with various different setups. One of my favorites is the Olympus Bellows with the 80mm Bellows Macro. I can use the Digital to get the composition as I want it, then swap the body to shoot on slide film.

As far as I tell the best results come from my 24mm f/2.8 However I have (having been following this thread) just tried my Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 (the lens Olympus really should have made) The results were very good and surprisingly so considering I only tried it hand held at 200mm. The IS was set to 200 and it does a fantastic job.

I've rarely had a problem with focusing, but now we have live view and magnified assistance, it's all becoming very easy.

The big problem now seems to be, that as a lot of people have cottoned on to this the prices on ebay have gone up.

**mike_j** · 2 March 2009, 03:01 PM

**Jonesgj** · 2 March 2009, 10:09 PM

Re: OM Lenses on 4/3

Many thanks everyone for the useful advice.

Regards

Graydon

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OM Lenses on 4/3

OM Lenses on 4/3

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