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OK I don't have a G1 and expensive leica lenses...

kevinparis

Member
but I do have a Oly 510 ... and the spending habits of a true scotsman... There are lenses out there that give great results for little outlay...

share your shots of your dime store lenses.... those forgotten classics that with cheap adaptor might make you look at the world in a different way...

here are a few from me... not saying they are the best you can take.. but i took them because I had that lens on the camera... if you get what i mean

OM 50/1.8 - 30 euros

Nikkor 28/3.5 - 80 euros

Sigmatel 135/1.8 - 100 euros

Happy new year

Kevin
 
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R

Ranger 9

Guest
Sorry, I never paid much attention to Four Thirds until Micro came along, so I don't know much about it. Are these 35mm-SLR lenses that you're mounting on your Four Thirds camera via some kind of commercially available adapter?

What's got a lot of us interested in Micro Four Thirds is that since there's no mirror and the body can be thinner, that leaves enough room to create adapters for lots of crazy lenses that currently are hard or impossible to use on a current-tech digital camera.

But it's obvious from your shots that there's a lot of potential in regular Four Thirds as long as you're using lenses with enough back focus. Maybe this is well-trodden ground for everyone else here, but I'd be interested in a brief description of how you're using these lenses on your camera and what kinds of compromises or inconveniences are involved.
 

kevinparis

Member
hi there

the basic deal is that there are third party adapters for the olympus and panansonic regular 4/3 cameras. As the flange distance is similar to classic SLR's and the throat or width of hole in the front is large enough then you can attach all sorts of lenses to your camera.

I have adaptors for Olympus OM and Nikon... they cost about 30 bucks... and attach to the lens to make it fit the body.. you can quickly move these adaptors from one lens to another. There are adaptors for Leica R, Contax/Yashica, Pentax and others... so there is a worls of neglected lens out there you can use ... orr you can spend more money and experience 'classic' lenses from oter systems

the down side is that
1) there is obviously no auto focus you have to focus manually
2) Basically have to set you camera on A for aperture priority, open the f stop up to focus if needed, then stop down before shooting

on the plus side.. with the olympus 510/520/e3/e30 you can set the image stabalisation to work with these lenses.

hope this helps

K
 

monza

Active member
Essentially, 4/3 = µ4/3 + Panasonic DMW-MA1

Anything you can fit on a 4/3 will work on µ4/3 if you have the DMW-MA1.
 

monza

Active member
This will be a cool thread. I'll be using some dime store lenses like the Rokkor-X 45/2 ($12) and Zeiss Jena Tessar 50/2.8 ($20)
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Kevin,
That ashtray is just perfect. Maybe I should start smoking again..... or would it be sufficient just to buy an Olympus? I miss my E-1 :(

How do you find focusing manually with the E-510?
 

kevinparis

Member
thanks Jorgen...

focusing on the 510 manually is a bit hit or miss.. kinda miss the split prism thing you had in old slrs
 

Brian Mosley

New member
How do you find focusing manually with the E-510?
Hi Jorgen,

you just hit the nail on the head - no other camera can compete with the G1, imho for use with cheap legacy lenses.

The E-510/E-520, E-30 and E-3 all offer in-body IS for legacy lenses which is extremely useful imho - and actually the E-520 is much better weighted for use with heavy legacy lenses, but without ELVIS, focusing is too difficult.

Kind Regards

Brian
 

Amin

Active member
thanks Jorgen...

focusing on the 510 manually is a bit hit or miss.. kinda miss the split prism thing you had in old slrs
I had a split image/microprism collar (Katz Eye) installed on an E-410 and it was better, but still hit or miss. I recall shooting an indoor birthday party with the OM 24/2 on that camera and probably had the focus where I wanted it 60-70% of the time.
 

Amin

Active member
Here's one with the inexpensive ($60-$175 depending on condition) Vivitar 135mm f/2.3 adapted to the E-410:

 

helenhill

Senior Member
Just Outstanding that ashtray shot Mr. K ...:)
Tell the missus that I also LOVED her most recent hand /smoke shot & the bar shot...Just Divine her zeiss sonnar & your OM 50 1.8

Drinks & Smoke.... Very Europe.... Atmospheric B&W Noir

Best to Y'all- :grin: H
 

fordfanjpn

Member
I have adaptors for Olympus OM and Nikon... they cost about 30 bucks...
I have been looking at adapters here in Japan (all made by Rayqual) and they are all around $150. Where did you find adapters for $30? I'd definitely buy a few at that price.

Bill
 

kevinparis

Member
I picked my adaptors up at a camera fair here in France - but a search on ebay should reveal some more. I just typed in "Olympus Adaptor" and found a whole bunch.

Maybe others here will have further reccomendations

They are not complex bits of metal - at 150 dollars then somebody is making an awful lot of profit!!!
 
R

Ranger 9

Guest
They are not complex bits of metal - at 150 dollars then somebody is making an awful lot of profit!!!
It would be interesting to hear what John Milich might have to say about that...

Anyway, the cost of making stuff out of metal always comes down to volume because the tooling cost is high. If you're sure you can sell 100,000 units, that cost gets spread out and the unit price can be low. But if you can only sell 100 units, each unit is going to be a lot more expensive.

If M43 causes Four Thirds to really take off and lots of people show interest in using wacky older lenses with it, then the Chinese OEMs will get involved and you'll start seeing adapters sold on eBay for $20. (Just don't expect them to be as nicely-made as a Milich or RayQual or Novoflex.)
 
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