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Legacy glass on the E-5

Rich M

Member
I learned from Godfrey that my Konica glass would probably need some minor surgery before it could fit on the E-5.

After a scan on the auction site, there appears to be a wide range of adapters to the 4/3 mount. Godfrey has shown that the Nikkor H fits nicely. Any other lens families that anyone has found to particularly do well on the 4/3 mount??
I have a few nice Taks, a bunch of FD's....??

Insight appreciated.

R
 

Michiel Schierbeek

Well-known member
M42
LeicaR
Contax/Yashica ( for example some supurb Zeiss glass)
Olympus OM
Exakta
Nikon
Minolta MD
Pentax PK
and probably some more,
Look for example her: http://stores.ebay.nl/ADPLO/Lens-Ad...&submit=Zoeken&_fsub=489799010&_sid=840395490
Depending on the Quality of the MFlenses, they can all work well. I loved the Leica R lenses on my E-3.

I didn't like taking apart the Konica glass that much. I still have an extra 40/1.8 you can put directly on a 4/3 camera laying around.
There are a few explanations how to fit Konica AR lenses to 4/3, like this one: http://blog.lewander.com/2007/07/konica-hexonon-lens-on-fourthirds-mount.html

Sorry FD doesn't work, only M4/3 and Sony Next.


Best, Michiel
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
My experience is mostly from OM and Nikkor glass. My general rules, which may not fit in all cases are:

- Longer lenses (35mm and above) mostly work better than short lenses, and are more useful anyway, since a great 24mm is just a slow normalish lens on 4/3.

- Some lenses that worked great on 35mm film aren't that great on 4/3 for many different reasons. One is the OM 100, f/2.8 that has to be stopped down to at least f/4.0, preferably 5.6, to be enjoyable. I still used it a lot, since it's such an ultracompact telephoto lens.

- Forget about zooms. There may be exceptions, but mostly, a cheap 4/3 zoom will do the job better.

I would start around 50 and/or around 85-100mm.
 

Godfrey

Well-known member
I learned from Godfrey that my Konica glass would probably need some minor surgery before it could fit on the E-5.

After a scan on the auction site, there appears to be a wide range of adapters to the 4/3 mount. Godfrey has shown that the Nikkor H fits nicely. Any other lens families that anyone has found to particularly do well on the 4/3 mount??
I have a few nice Taks, a bunch of FD's....??
I've used a bunch of adapted manual lenses on my FourThirds SLR bodies (L1, and E-1, most were gone by the time I got the E-5). Some borrowed, some bought. I have only kept a couple as I find the Olympus ZD lenses, even the standard grade ones, generally do a better job. And I don't really need all that many lenses anyway.

Manual zooms ... not worth the bother to me. I don't use zooms very often anyway.

Canon FL/FD cannot work due to mount register and other mechanical interference issues. Minolta MC/MD can work, there's an adapter for them but it's a bit fussy. Konica requires the lens' mount be modified but work very well.

Of the lenses I've tried, the ones that seemed to work best were:

Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI *
Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 AI *
Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI **
Konica Hexanon 40mm f/1.8 ***
Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8
Pentax SMC Takumar 135mm f/3.5

* these two were great but 20mm is better covered by the ZD 11-22/2.8-3.5 and I didn't used the 105 enough at the time. I like the 85 more.

** but not as well as the Summilux-D 25/1.4 ASPH, and the much much cheaper and lighter Olympus ZD 25/2.8 is about on par.

*** Still have it but don't use much anymore. The Olympus ZD 35mm f/3.5 Macro is a better lens, but there are times when the extra stop and manual focus only are preferable to me.

**** both work brilliantly, will keep them.

They all work better on the E-5 than the E-1 and L1 due to the better viewfinder and metering system. They all work best on the Micro-FourThirds bodies, or on the E-5 (and other models) with Live View enabled.

Generally speaking, fast lenses 35mm and up are the right picks for adaptation. Stick with the FourThirds lenses for best results with wide to normal focal lengths (up to 25mm on this format).
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
One addition:
One sad omission in the 4/3 (and so far in the m4/3 system) is a 100mm prime. The Sigma 105mm f/2.8 micro was an option, but being a full frame micro lens, it's rather bulky, and now it's been discontinued in 4/3 mount. Olympus had a 100mm f/2.0 macro on the roadmap for years, but alas, it never materialised.

However, there are two stellar options within the OM system: the 100mm f/2.0 and the 90mm f/2.0 macro. Unfortunately, they both sell for premium prices, but if you ever consider spending serious money on legacy glass, those are worthy candidates.

Another great lens, which I use a lot, is the OM 50mm f/2.0 macro (and it's cheaper and much more compact f/3.5 sibling). Unfortunately, the f/2.0 tends to be as expensive as the native 4/3 lens with the same focal length and aperture. The newer lens obviously includes AF, but for manual focus, my bets are on the older brother.
 
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