OM Lenses in today's world...

[bigandy]

I've been very tempted by a good deal on a Canon EOS 400D body. Obviously, that won't come with lenses, but around our family home, we have a bunch of Olympus OM lenses.

There are loads of adapters floating around t'interwebs for converting OM to EOS, but I was wondering are the OM lenses we have going to work on this adapter?

It sounds like a silly question, but the lenses all mount perfectly on an OM-101 (the only Olympus camera we still have)... And I seem to remember that the OM-101's powerfocus feature made it incompatible with other OM lenses. However, these lenses that we have are all manual focus.

I know that these lenses prolly won't do the 400D justice, but it'd at least be a start, and I'd have a working camera again, other than the iPhone's excuse for one.

Cheers for any input

 

[robbieduncan]

Unless I am much mistaken they will be manual focus only, and may well be manual aperture/no aperture control too...

 

[bigandy]

Oh I know they'll be manual focus, but I can deal with that... In fact I prefer it muchly compared with AF.

The lack of any aperture control would be annoying. I might just buy an adapter and take some of the lenses around to a shop and play about with the camera to see before I make a decision. It would be great if they did work though, as there are so many good lenses here


I noticed one of the adapters mentioned that the lens would just operate one stop down from the camera, meaning a bit more manual adjustment, but I could deal with that. Fingers crossed..

 

[66217]

You could give it a try. But you might also consider buying the kit lens, it shouldn't be expensive and would be nice for certain occasions.

Remember that manual focusing in the 400D is not that easy. This new cameras were made to use AF. MF in old cameras was fairly easy, they had huge viewfinders and the thing (I don't know its name in english) that helps you see if the image is in focus.

 

[Westside guy]

Unless I am much mistaken they will be manual focus only, and may well be manual aperture/no aperture control too...

Well, given that the OP says they are manual focus on the Olympus (third paragraph), it'd be quite a trick for the adapter to make them autofocus.

 

[M@lew]

I have an Olympus -> EOS adapted for my OM lenses that I use with my OM-4. If it mounts it should be able to work fine with manual focusing and stop down metering. I'm not 100% sure if the OM standard mounts are different to the OM autofocus lenses so you'll have to check that one up yourself.

 

[indierthanthou]

If you want to sell a few of those lenses for some money for EOS lenses, let me know, i still use an OM-1n. Actually I'm looking to get another one, mine belongs to my stepfather and my mom is kicking him out in a few weeks because she is *******e crazy.

 

[Mr. G4]

I've been very tempted by a good deal on a Canon EOS 400D body. Obviously, that won't come with lenses, but around our family home, we have a bunch of Olympus OM lenses.

There are loads of adapters floating around t'interwebs for converting OM to EOS, but I was wondering are the OM lenses we have going to work on this adapter?

It sounds like a silly question, but the lenses all mount perfectly on an OM-101 (the only Olympus camera we still have)... And I seem to remember that the OM-101's powerfocus feature made it incompatible with other OM lenses. However, these lenses that we have are all manual focus.

I know that these lenses prolly won't do the 400D justice, but it'd at least be a start, and I'd have a working camera again, other than the iPhone's excuse for one.

Cheers for any input

There is another way to go.
Just get any E-510, E-520 or E-3 and this adaptor you will have Image stabilization and AF confirmation with all your OM lenses.

 

[Lone Deranger]

I recently purchased two Olympus Zuiko lenses (18mm f/3.5 MC and 28mm f/2.0 MC) and did quite a bit of research on the subject of using Zuikos on Canon bodies before I did so.
The main reason for buying them was my dissapointment in Canon's wide angle lenses. Even the big and expensive L lenses left me unimpressed on full frame bodies.
Turns out I'm not the only one to feel this way as there is loads of research and information on this very subject to be found at the Fred Miranda ~ Alternative Gear & Lenses forum.

I also ended up buying two HappyPageHK OM-->EOS Focus confirm adaptors. They're made to the finest tolerances to ensure that the lens is mounted at exactly the correct distance from
the sensor (very important for maximum optical performance). There is some circuitry mounted on the adaptor that interfaces with the camera and activates it's focus confirmation system.
You'll get that nice beep plus the red rectangles lighting up in the viewfinder when your manual focus is attained.
Also, the guy from HappyPageHK can encode the chip on the circuitry to provide EXIF info (Focal Length and Aperture) to the Camera for Meta Data recording. Always handy to have.
There are cheaper alternatives out there, but I've heard too many stories from users reporting poor image quality due to inadequate manufacturing standards.

But be mindful.. as Roco already pointed out, manual focussing on a 400D is tricky due to the smaller viewfinder. It will be much easier on a 5D or 1Dx body with a split screen focussing screen installed.

As for OM lenses not doing the 400D justice... Hmm... Don't be so sure about that. Yes there are some underachievers in the OM line-up, but it turns out (as experienced by many 1Dx and 5D users)
that quite a few of the (mainly wide angle) Zuiko's can give the best lenses of today a run for their money.
Which lenses have you got? You can check their 'worthiness' at this unofficial Zuiko lens test site.