Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/03/18

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Subject: [Leica] Olympus OM lenses to E500 (Lawrence Zeitlin)
From: filippini at theramp.net (The Filippini Family- Matt and Blaise)
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:37:41 -0400 (EDT)
References: <49509.207.238.164.226.1237393371.squirrel@mail.expedient.net>

Hi again-

I forgot to mention: the Olympus lens compatibility list also states "The
distance scale on the OM system lens may not indicate the actual
distance. Always use the viewfinder for focusing."

So, scale focusing appears to be out.  Again, whether Olympus is trying to
say that scale focusing is not as exact as viewfinder focusing so one
should use the viewfinder, or that the adapting of OM lenses to 4/3
changes the scale distance wrt actual focal point is unclear.  I have not
tried scale focusing on my adapter non-OM lenses, so I can not speak to
this point.  One would think that the adapter would match the OM register
distance and that would be that.

Thanks,

Matt

> Hi Lawrence-
>
> I have the E-520, and have had some good results using my Exakta lenses,
> particularly the Zeiss Biotar 75/1.5, using the correct adapter.  I have
> tried a number of Exakta lenses, all with good success.
>
> So, my experience has been that adapted lenses work quite well.  However,
> Olympus does not recommend all of their OM lenses for the 4/3 system with
> adapter, and gives specific f/stop ranges for others.  Olympus
> recommendations can be found here:
>
> http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/cpg_files/mf1instcomp.pdf
>
> I suppose they are looking to ensure optimal performance, so they can go
> back to this list to cover themselves.  The list also states that Olympus
> does not recommend using OM lenses not included on the list, presumably
> due to less-than-optimal performance.
>
> Here are a couple of examples of the Biotar on the E-520:
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7747327 at N07/3330274563/
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7747327 at N07/3331111032/
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7747327 at N07/3331110866/
>
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/7747327 at N07/3234053880/
>
> I'm new to digital, and my screen isn't calibrated, so I haven't gotten
> the white balance quite right yet on these.
>
> Matt
>
>> Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
>>
>>> I have an Olympus E500 4/3rds DSLR. It has performed admirably with
>>> the Olympus twin lens kit that came with the camera. This last week
>>> I  tried using some of my Zukio fixed focal length Olympus OM SLR
>>> lenses  on the camera with an Olympus adapter. The results were very
>>> mixed.   With the film camera the images were razor sharp. With the
>>> DSLR half  the pictures are blurred or out of focus. I know that it
>>> is hard to  focus the DSLR with the tiny screen, but even when I stop
>>> down I get  the same bad results. I would like to be able to use the
>>> OM lenses on  the E500. It makes such a small, neat package.
>>>
>>> I know that some of you are successful at using Leica lenses on
>>> Olympus DSLRS. How do you do it? Can you offer some advice?
>>>
>>> Larry Z
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>
>>
>




In reply to: Message from filippini at theramp.net (The Filippini Family- Matt and Blaise) ([Leica] Olympus OM lenses to E500 (Lawrence Zeitlin))