Types of lens mounts

[brian_bahn]

I posted my first thread a couple of weeks ago asking if it was worth pulling

out my old OM1 and using. Well, I was very happy with all the responses I got.

Over the weekend I stopped at the store and picked up some 675 zinc air

batteries and a roll of 400 film. Basic Kodak Max film. Didn't need anything

great film wise as I just want to run a roll through it and see how everything

works/looks. Plus I'm spending more and more time on this site and what a

great site it is. So now I'm really getting the fever. I hope to be getting

out this week to start getting some photos. I started to get the phot bug 15

years ago when I bought the OM1 used but it kind fell tot he wayside but now I

have more time and resources and want to pursue it more.

 

So, on with my question. I have two lenses I got with the camera, a Zuiko 50mm

and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm 3.5 which thru this sound found out was a

pretty good lens. Also I have a Vivitar 2x converter. I want to get a 28mm

lens shortly and have been watching the Bay for one. Seems there are plenty.

So as I look for lenses I am trying to figure out how many different mounting

styles there are? As an example a friend tells me his son has an older Canon

with quite a few lenses that he no longer uses. So I need to educate myself on

which lenses fit on which cameras. Is there a link to a site or here on this

site that has a list or spreadsheet or something that can tell me this?

 

Thanks

[leandro_dutra1]

There are almost as many lens mounts as there are manufacturers, but you just look for OM mount lenses. They were manufactured by Olympus, Vivitar and a few others.

 

By the way, the lens mount for the digital autofocus era used by Olympus is the Four Thirds one; with adapters you can mount your OM (and most other systems) lenses on newer Four Thirds bodies by Olympus, Leica and Panasonic.

[godfrey]

As a general rule, each camera manufacturer has their own lens mount (or mounts). Lenses

made for one lens mount usually cannot be easily adapted for use on another lens mount.

There are exceptions to this but it is a good assumption in most situations.

 

So, Olympus OM series Zuiko lenses, and third party lenses made for Olympus OM mount, fit

the Olympus OM series cameras and no others. Similarly, Canon and third party lenses made

for the Canon FL/FD or EOS lens mounts fit only Canon cameras.

 

The most common exceptions are Pentax M42 thread mount, Pentax K-mount and T-mount

lenses. Several manufacturers offered cameras that used the Pentax lens mounts (Ricoh,

Mamiya/Sekor, Practica, etc etc). There are also Tamron AdaptAll lenses ... third party lenses

designed with a universal mount and adapters for a variety of individual manufacturers' lens

mounts with full lens functions. And then there are a few lens mount adapters that allow use

of some lenses on other brand bodies (eg: Pentax to Canon EOS, Nikon to 4/3 System, etc),

but these kinds of adapters generally eliminate any coupling between body and lens,

representing some inconvenience and occasional challenges to operation.

 

In short, if you have an Olympus OM system body, buy Olympus OM system compatible

lenses only. You'll get the most function and the best usability out of the camera that way.

 

Godfrey

[brian_bahn]

Thanks for the quick responses. Much appreciated. Actually makes it simple when it's based on manufacturer. Less confusing actually. Just wanted to make sure I didn't overlook an opportunity to pick up some lenses.

[patrick j dempsey]

Yeah, if you are looking at lenses at thrift stores and used camera shoppes you can ignor all the big names that don't say Zuiko or Olympus on them. If the lens says "J.C. Penney", Sigma, Tamron, Kalimar, Vivitar or Tokina... then turn the lens over and look at the mount. They almost always have letters stamped onto the bottom. If it doesn't have OM stamped on it, skip it.

[robin_terrey]

Here is a link to lens mount identification.

 

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-99.html

 

A good identification point for OM lenses is the lens release and depth of field preview buttons are opposite each other.

[tim_huggins]

Stick with zuiko lenses. They are readily available and very reasonable. Anything else would be a waste of money.

[harold_gough]

"Anything else would be a waste of money."

 

A very biased statement!

 

There are some excellent independent lenses. By checking specifications and test results, I have built up a set of Tamron Adaptall-2 lenses which can be used on my OM bodies or my Canon FD or a number of other makes I might choose to use. Apart from use on the OM bodies, the Olympus lenses would be "a wast of money" in those circumstances.

 

I have OM lenses for macro work.

 

It is said that there are only a couple of lens manufactures of consequence in the world today anyway, the various makers attaching their brand names to such lenses.

 

It is the whole system which keeps me using mainly OM bodies, the great range of dedicated flash in particular. Independant lenses work equally well with the flash system.

[matthew_newton]

I agree. Most of my lenses are actually 3rd party lenses. Zuiko made some very good lenses, but 3rd parties also have made a lot of beautiful lenses and in some cases lenses that Zuiko never made. For example I have a Sigma 28mm f/1.8 Aspheric lens that is stellar, Zuiko only ever made 28mm lens that is slower then the Sigma 28/1.8. Tamron makes some truely excellent lenses. I have a 28mm f/2.5 that is superb and a 35-70mm f/3.5 macro that is also excellent and can focus to 1:2.8 reproduction.

 

My Vivitar series 1 70-210mm f/3.5 is also an extremely good lens.

 

If you look 3rd party I would, in general, stick with Tamron, Sigma, Vivitar and Tokina. Most of the time you are probably going to get a decent lens if you go with one of those 4 manufacturers. It is also probably going to be 1/2 the price of the equivelent Zuiko lens.

 

On Ebay just search using the search terms "Olympus OM lens". Pretty much all of the results will work on your Olympus OM-1 camera.

 

Or if you want you can search for Tamron Adaptall (check search title and description). Any Tamron Adaptall lens will work on your OM-1 with the proper adaptor. All you need to do is get an Adatall OM adaptor to make it work. Basically the adaptall system was meant to work on any camera, so all of the lenses are a basic lens that an adaptor fits on the back of to make it work on the camera of choice.

[matthew_newton]

Oh, one note, if you go the Tamron route, make sure the description says Adaptall in it (or adaptall-II or adaptall 2). If it doesn't it might be one of Tamron's newer mount specific lenses. As a generalization, anything manual focus that Tamron made is adaptall.

[harold_gough]

After much research, I now have the optimum Adaptall-2 zooms in these ranges: 24-48mm model 13A (best at its wide end), 35-80mm f2.8-3.8 model 01A and the 70-210 model 19AH. For macro I alternate between the 90mm f2.5, usually with the teleconverter 01F, and the OM 50mm macro. I have other tamronlenses for other purposes. Check in the SP section here:

 

http://www.adaptall-2.com/

[robin_terrey]

I spent time looking at Robert Monaghan's Cult Classic lens page.

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20030415043752/medfmt.8k.com/third/cult.html

 

Apart from my Zuiko's, I bought a Tamron 35-80mm f2.8-3.8, A Viv S1 70-210mm f2.8-4, a Viv S1 90mm f2.5 amongst others. The third party manufacturers produced lenses that the OEM's didn't, such as the Kiron 28-210mm f4-210mm. I bought my copy for $25 attached to a ratty looking OM-PC, missing rubber covering but fully functional. All of ekbay. Just decide on your price and bid using something like bidding scheduler, this puts in your bid 10 sec before the auction ends. Aother thing, check prices at KEH. This gives you an idea of market price. No need to get carried away in a bidding war and pay more than KEH sell it for.