Which is the best digital body to use Olympus OM lenses?

[matt_mitchell]

<p>Has anyone used OM lenses on Canon EOS digital slr (consumer level slrs not full frame) AND on olympus/panasonic 4/3 bodies with IS? In your opinion do the om lenses work better on the Eos or 4/3 bodies given that EOS has a larger sensor but the 4/3s have in body image stabilization?<br>

I mainly want to use my OM 85mm 1.2 and 135mm 2.8. I have used them for a brief time on an Olympus E510 and these two lenses were by far the sharpest (at f8 and f11 especially) compared to the 50mm 1.8, 50mm 1.4, 50mm 1.2 . I have an OM adapter for eos and 4/3rds cameras. What can I expect with the EOS, for example EOS 400d or 450d, and experiences?<br>

thanks in advance.</p>

[machts gut]

<p>I used OM lenses both on an E-410 and on an EOS 400D. I found the sensor of the 400D far better than the Olympus, b ut that was not your question. Focusing via screen was very dificult with both cameras and the Oly has a slight edge becuase it offers live view. But still I found it not very convenient. Sold both cameras and am thinking about getting either a Panasonic G 1 or 2 or a Sony NEX 5.</p>

[matt_mitchell]

<p>Thanks stefan I know it can be tricky to focus but the E-410 doesn´t have Image Stabilisation so was wondering if the IS in cameras such as the E-510/20 and E-630 etc improves the image quality over the EOS aps-c</p>

[rapyke]

<p>I haven't used my Zuikos on a Canon body, but, IS will not improve the image quality of any shot other than those you wouldn't have been able to get at all due to low light or intentional/unintentional movement of the camera (panning, etc). Pixel peeping will quickly show much sharper images without the stabilizer if the camera was still, the light was good, etc.</p>

<p>As for focusing manual lenses on a digital body... it is a learned skill. Godfrey DiGiorgi - a frequent poster here in the past and all round 4/3s guru has a great article about focusing manually on his website: <a href="http://www.gdgphoto.com/articles/01-manual_focus_practice.pdf">http://www.gdgphoto.com/articles/01-manual_focus_practice.pdf</a></p>

<p>I would be interested to see comparison shots taken with the same lens on different sensors though... some of the technical reviews of Zuiko lenses on Canon full frame have not been good...</p>

[rob_h5]

<p>I have experience using OM Zuiko lenses on Full Frame Canon EOS Digital for many years. The professional Canon full frame digital cameras such as the 5D/5DMKII are the best digital cameras in the market to adapt OM Zuiko lenses IMO. Not only do these Canon digital cameras adapt very well because the flange to focal plane is similiar to Olympus but they are also 'Full Frame" allowing 100% FLM that the OM Zuiko lens was intended to be. As for "live view" the Canon 5DMKII offers this.</p>

<p>My experience with OM Zuiko and Canon Digital have been excellent and many other reviews using Canon full frame digital with Olympus OM Zuikos concur with me that they are excellent. My experience with the OM Zuiko 100mm f2.0 ED lens with the Canon 5D especially were excellent, that particular lens rivals another lens I own, Canon's own top-of-the-line lens: the Canon EF 135mm f2 L lens, the closest equivalant lens to the OM Zuiko 100mm f2 ED. Both lenses have whats called "ED" or "L" glass , Extra Dispersion" or Low dispersion or Ultra Dispersion glass, Canon and Olympus have different names for this type of special (and expensive$$$) glass but they are basically the same thing and I have shot with both lenses on Canon digital and I can say both lenses IQ are equally superb!</p>

<p>As for focusing manual its a art for sure and takes practice, the article from Godfrey is a good primer if you have never focused manually on digital cameras before. For those looking for a OM/EOS or OM/4/3rds adapter Fotodiox (link below) makes the best adapters in the market.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.fotodiox.com/index.php?cPath=21_29_32">http://www.fotodiox.com/index.php?cPath=21_29_32</a></p>

[ken_max__parks]

<p>If your Canon EOS requires ES-type lenses, surprisingly most legacy lenses (35mm format) will produce soft focus.</p>

<p>I've tried several of my OM-2 lenses on my Canon EOS 7D and the results were unfavorable. Soft focus was the major problem. I also tried one of my Hasselblad lenses, 80mm Planar T* f/2.8 and obtained the same poor results. I have done several points of focus testing the distance and regardless of the manual focus variations, the results in comparison of the Canon lenses of the same focal length showed a consistent problem with soft focus. This is unacceptable as a professional photographer.</p>

<p>The same OM lenses work fine on my E-3 and E-30 and the same goes for the Hasselblad lens, my favorite for portraits. I love the 55mm f/1.2 lens on the E-series cameras... low light conditions can be handled with ease.</p>

<p>I hope this information helps and warrants not wasting your time/money on OM/EOS adapters.</p>

<p> </p>

[ashleypomeroy]

<p>Over the last year or so I've collect a bunch of OM lenses, which I use on my 5D MkII. Most recently a 24mm f/2, which is excellent when stopped down, and pretty good in the middle at f/2.8:<br>

<a href="http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/olympus-24mm-f2-stay-frosty.html">http://women-and-dreams.blogspot.com/2010/12/olympus-24mm-f2-stay-frosty.html</a></p>

<p>For Canon shooters the wides are very seductive because Canon doesn't sell any good small wide primes; very few good wide primes; and for that matter not many good wide lenses whether prime or not. And not for less than £1,000. Whilst writing the aforementioned blog post I found the following resource, which has sample images taken with OM lenses shot on an EP-1:<br>

<a href="http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_ep1.html">http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_ep1.html</a></p>

<p>The results seem unimpressive at the wider end of the range - not awful, but basically pointless if you have the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7. At the telephoto end the results are more impressive, but that's because he's shooting from a tripod at a static subject. I wouldn't like to manually focus a 400mm-equivalent f/4 lens at f/4 handheld with live view even <em>with</em> image stabilisation, certainly not on an EP-1. A 170mm f/1.2 would be horrible. I'm sure people have done it; I bet they gloss over the sweat and tears and missed shots, and in the end I doubt it was worth it.</p>

<p>Having said that, the previous poster is unconvincing, to say the least, on so many levels. I can understand how the tightly-packed pixels of an EP-1 might not flatter a full-frame lens, but the difference between the pixel density of my 21mp full-frame sensor and e.g. a 400D (with its "<em>ES-type lenses</em>") is not that huge. This chap seemed to have no problem with his OM lenses on a 550D:<br>

<a href="http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=32641098">http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1031&message=32641098</a></p>

[ken_max__parks]

<p>Ashley,</p>

<p>I believe you may be comparing apples to oranges. The very first sentence of the initial posting was:</p>

<p><strong>"Has anyone used OM lenses on Canon EOS digital slr (consumer level slrs not full frame) AND on olympus/panasonic 4/3 bodies with IS?"</strong></p>

<p>This is not related at all to the full-frame Canon 5D mk II. The question is posed for the EOS cameras such as APS-C sensor cameras<strong>. </strong>The lens types, ES and full-frame lenses are quite different, especially the depth and size of the rear flange. The ES lenses use a deep flange so as to eliminate light bounce problems in most Canon APS-C cameras. And the OM lenses that I used all have a shallow flange, hence the reason for soft focus issues.</p>

<p>I used an adapter for the old Voigtlander 36-82mm f/2.8 Zoomar lens. It has a deep flange and there was not any soft focus issues when attached to the Canon 7D. And it's pretty impressive as a portrait lens, equivalent to 58-131mm (35mm format).</p>

<p>I would recommend the initial poster (Matt) to experiment with the chosen Canon EOS model with the OM/EOS adapters and specific OM lenses, check for focus issues, chromatic aberration issues, and other lens problems.<strong><br /></strong></p><div></div>