Olympus OM lenses with DSLR body?

[valleyforge]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering investing in a DSLR camera.

Having been a fan of Olympus since I acquired an OM-1 with my first wage back in the mid-70's, I am drawn to the compactness of the Olympus E-Series.

My question is ... does anyone know for sure if it is possible to get good results using OM series Zuiko lenses on an Olympus DSLR body ... an E-420 or E-450 perhaps (as that's probably all my budget could stretch to meantime) ... I know there's a converter ring available for instance?

With a good, useful range of existing lenses, I would obviously like to utilize these if possible ... but if anyone has any other options to offer, I'd be interested to hear.

[Jim Ford]

There's people that get acceptable results from 'old' OM lenses on their 4/3rds cameras, but as they're not 'designed for digital' like the 4/3rds lenses they don't give such good results.

I'd recommend that if money's tight, you try to get the 14-42mm kit lens, which according to dpreview's test has "Consistently good image quality across all focal lengths, even wide open" and:

"this really is one of the best budget standard zooms currently available, and the ideal complement to Olympus's compact DSLRs such as the E420, where the trade-off between portability and flexibility makes most sense."

Olympus Zuiko Digital 14-42mm 1:3.5-5.6 ED Lens Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

This is a good site if you intend getting an Olympus DSLR:

Olympus UK E-System User Group

I guarantee you won't be disapointed if you get an Olympus!

Jim

[valleyforge]

Cheers Jim ... thanks for the feedback.

I would intend getting the 14-42mm lens kit, but I just wanted to get some use of my old lenses too, especially the longer telephotos and especially the 300mm mirror lens, which although aren't worth that much now I know, were a bit of an investment at the time.

[Jim Ford]

If the mirror lens is a Zuiko, then apparently it's one of the best.

Jim

[ellen h]

I guarantee you won't be disapointed if you get an Olympus!

I am certainly not disapointed in mine!
I have the e520 body and use the ED70-300mm lens most of the time.Its light enough to carry round on my walks-no problem and I get(mostly)good photos too-well for me
Still finding out what the camera can do-slow learner
ellen

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by ellen h

I have the e520 body and use the ED70-300mm lens most of the time.Its light enough to carry round on my walks-no problem and I get(mostly)good photos too-well for me
Still finding out what the camera can do-slow learner
ellen

I bought a 70-300 for my E3, but shortly after bought the 50-200 because it complemented the weather proofing of the body. Since then I've not used the 70-300.

If you want to spoil yourself sometime, get the 50-200 - the 70-300 is very good, but the 50-200 is in a different league. After that, get the EC-14 teleconverter. It's exepnsive, but you won't see any reduction in image quality and it integrates seamlessly with all the lenses.

Jim

[ellen h]

Originally Posted by Jim Ford

I bought a 70-300 for my E3, but shortly after bought the 50-200 because it complemented the weather proofing of the body. Since then I've not used the 70-300.

If you want to spoil yourself sometime, get the 50-200 - the 70-300 is very good, but the 50-200 is in a different league. After that, get the EC-14 teleconverter. It's exepnsive, but you won't see any reduction in image quality and it integrates seamlessly with all the lenses.

Jim

If I had the money I would definitely follow your advice Jim
ellen

[WhiskyBottle]

Also a long term OM user, I still have an OM4Ti and a few lenses.

Anyone tried using them with Nikon digital?

I'm particularly thinking about the 80mm bellows lens with variable extention tubes.