Nikon Ai/Ais on an OM3

[lewis_henning]

Hi

 

Does anyone know if you can get an adaptor to fit a Nikon Ai/Ais to the Olympus OM range?

 

If you can, does it work well? Can anyone recommend an adaptor?

 

Many thanks

[craigd]

<p>The F-mount's flange distance is slightly greater (half a millimeter) than the OM mount's, so it's conceivable, just barely, that an adapter for Nikon lenses on OM bodies could allow infinity focus without corrective optics -- though 0.5mm doesn't leave much room for an adapter to fit in between the two. I don't know if anyone actually makes such an adapter.</p>

<p>With most mount adapters, you don't get automatic aperture control, meaning you have to use stop-down metering.</p>

[mtk]

<p>Hi Lewis!<br>

Just a thought, I know that you asked about specifically mounting Ai lenses to the OM, but for about the price of a good adapter a bargain or ugly grade F mount Nikon body could be had from KEH.com<br>

Just a thought........<br>

Mark</p>

[lewis_henning]

<p>Shame about there being adapter out there. Thanks for the info.<br>

Mark, this might be lack of knowledge on the subject but I'm a little confused. Haha</p>

<p>Cheers</p>

[SCL]

<p>Hi Lewis - it shouldn't be too confusing. The distance between the front flange on a camera body and the film is known as the flange focal distance or film to flange distance or register. When you mount a lens onto the front flange of the camera, you normally assume you can focus the lens to infinity or at least a quite distant object. If, however you move the lens elements further away from the film, you can focus on nearer objects. Lens manufacturers construct their lens mounts (usually) so that when a lens is mounted to specific body, and the lens is at its closest distance to the film, it is focused at infinity. When a Nikon lens is mounted on a Nikon body, that distance is 46.5mm; when an Olympus OM lens is mounted on an Olympus body, that distance is 46mm. Hence if you wanted to mount an OM lens on a Nikon body you have 0.5mm to spare and still get infinity focus...meaning it can be done, but the room you have to work with in designing the adapter is only 1/2mm...which practically speaking is too thin to support an adapter holding a lens to the camera body. So your choices become three....1) remove the lens mount from the rear of the Olympus lens and machine a new one with the increased depth to fit a Nikon body, 2) find an adapter to fit OM onto Nikon ( it will be thicker than 1/2 mm) knowing you can only focus on close objects, or 3) find an adapter (unlikely for this combo) which incorporates another lens in it which changes the point of infinity focus. Unfortunately choice 3 designs usually degrade the quality of the image because of inferior optics incorporated into the design. Nevertheless many people opt to try this out with certain lens mounts which once enjoyed immense popularity but the manufacturer discontinued the mount and introduced a new incompatable one...such as the infamous Canon switch from their FD lens mount to EOS lens mount. I hope this explanation helps.</p>

[SCL]

<p>Sorry my fingers aren't working properly tonight. To continue, one can see that mounting a Nikon lens onto an OM body (the reverse of what I discussed above) would be impractical because you couldn't get infinity or distant focus at all, so it is unlikely that any manufacturer would construct a 3rd option adapter like I mentioned above for the Oly-> NI. </p>

[craigd]

<p>Stephen, you've got it backwards. You have the numbers right: Nikon's flange distance is 46.5mm, Olympus' is 46mm. This means you have 0.5mm of extra space when putting a Nikon lens on an Olympus body, so if someone can make an adapter that fits into half a millimeter (sounds pretty fragile, at best), it would work without the need for corrective optics. But when mounting an OM lens on a Nikon F-mount body, the lens will be 0.5mm too far away, so infinity focus will not be attainable without corrective optics.</p>

<p>You're right that replacing the lens mount would probably be the only way to make this work, but my recommendation in that case would be not to bother. If the OP wants to shoot with Nikon lenses, I think he'd be better off picking up an inexpensive Nikon body like an FM or FM2.</p>

[craigd]

<p>(please ignore double post -- not sure how this happened, I only hit "Confirm" once)</p>

[ariel_s1]

<p>Lewis, your best bet is to buy an Nikon F2, FM2, or F3. It's not realistically possible to adapt those lenses to your camera. Or, sell your Ai/Ais lenses, which sell for a good amount of money thanks to them still working great on Nikon DSLRs, and use that to fund yourself an OM lens-buying binge. Even if there were an adapter, the lens wouldn't couple to the camera, meaning that the meter won't work correctly, and you'd have to stop down the lens manually for each shot, and then open it back up.</p>

[lewis_henning]

Thank you Stephen for your in depth explenation. And everyone else.

 

Yes, you are right... Best to shoot with Nikon, I have an FM2, I love it. But I was thinking of buy an OM4, I'd really like to

use one. The reason for the Nikon lens is because I would have liked a bright 35mm lens. The brightest I think Olympus

did was the 35mm f2. Is there any other brands that would fit... Leica? (Although I can't afford it! Haha) But then one of

the main reasons of having the OM4 is for the meter... And if that won't work maybe there is no point. Just stick to f2!

[david_carroll4]

<p>If finder brightness is the issue (as opposed to absolutely having to have the f/1.4 max aperture), you could consider an OM3/4 with a 35/2 and tracking down an OM 2-13 Lumi-Brite focusing screen, which will gain you 2/3 stop extra VF brightness - this will almost compensate for the loss of the 1 stop in lens max aperture.</p>

[lewis_henning]

<p>Interesting thought... It was mostly the fact I wanted brighter lens to help give me a faster shutter speed at night and it's nice to have a little less DOP sometimes. Haha</p>

[rob_h5]

<p>Lewis, I have the Olympus OM-3 camera and have shot with the camera for years, and I wouldn't put Nikon anything on it!</p>

<p>The whole point of the Olympus OM system besides it being a Leica-size-compact-like camera is the <strong>legendary Zuiko glass. The Olympus OM 35/2 Zuiko has amazing bokeh ! </strong><br>

<strong></strong> <br>

<strong>There is no way to put Nikon anything on Olympus OM anyway</strong> so just shoot with Zuiko glass. Why would you want to anyway since Zuiko glass is so good! The closest WA lens you can put on a OM camera under f2.0 close to 35mm is the Vivitar Series 1 28mm f1.9. Other than that your only choice is the OM Zuiko 50/1.2 or OM Zuiko 55/1.2 ... plenty fast for shooting at night.</p>

<p><strong>Just get the 35/2 OM Zuiko and enjoy!</strong></p>

[lewis_henning]

<p>You make a good point! Haha It was also to save money...</p>

<p>I'll get one, one day.</p>