digital pics , do you know

[head clansman]

hi all

I have packed away a beautiful old olympus OM10 complete with all the original lenses , is it possible to buy a digital camera body that these lenses could possible fit on to.

 

[Dibs-h]

http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00FGVK

might have some answers for you.

 

[lurker]

I have the same dilemma.

I bet I have £1000 (which were bought when £1000 was big money) worth of olympus lens gathering dust

Every so often I think about dipping my toe into the digital SLR market and then back away in confusion.

 

[Smudger]

I've got a few grand's worth of Nikon and Mamiya 6x6 stuff in the loft. It has no value at all, as far as I can see, I just can't bring myself to chuck it away. I've thrown all the developing tanks etc. in a skip.

 

[head clansman]

hi guys

digit. thanks for the link ( seem's like it can be done ) lurker. me to , I have two digital camera one is a toshiba 3million meg and my phone camera is a samsung 5million meg but hmm there ok but, when viewing the pic you just taken on either of the digital camera the pic is ok on the camera, but as soon as to transfer to pc you just cant expand them without seeing all the little pixels so i'm hoping with a decent digital body with a much higher pixels limit and my zuiko lense i may improve the quality, as you say it is confusing which way to go or start. hc

 

[TonyW]

This might be of some help:

http://asia.olympus-imaging.com/product ... nses/mf-1/

Four Thirds System
http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/index.html

Cheers
Tony

 

[big soft moose]

you can get an adaptor to fit the OM lenses to E system Olympus DSLRs
http://www.fotosense.co.uk/olympus-mf-1 ... meras.html

for about a hundred notes

however note that there are a few draw backs particularly that there is no AF and the spot metering doesnt work - also the distance scales on the OM lenses may not be accurate when used on a E system camera

and as regards the DSLR itself this is the cheapest new E system model i can find http://www.srsmicrosystems.co.uk/2898/O ... -Body.html at 300 notes (there are a few cheaper arround second hand)

so you'd be looking at total 400 notes minimum to use your OM lenses

 

[TonyW]

however note that there are a few draw backs particularly that there is no AF and the spot metering doesnt work - also the distance scales on the OM lenses may not be accurate when used on a E system camera

so you'd be looking at total 400 notes minimum to use your OM lenses

For me at least this says it all i.e. the drawbacks and cost would seem to far outweigh any advantage - unless of course you have all the lenses for the old system.

Like others here I have old systems including a nice Minolta Classic, Rollie TLR and even an old 5"x4" camera (glad I sold my Bronica ETRS system prior to the digital onslaught). These are all mothballed as somehow I just cannot find the incentive to try and sell - i.e. no one likely to want them at a price that I would find acceptable.

Cheers
Tony

 

[big soft moose]

i think you might be suprised with the 5x4 - the second hand prices for those (especially if its a good make rather than a russian/chinese knock off) are still quite high

 

[cutting42]

I've got a few grand's worth of Nikon and Mamiya 6x6 stuff in the loft. It has no value at all, as far as I can see, I just can't bring myself to chuck it away. I've thrown all the developing tanks etc. in a skip.

Nikon lenses will still fit as they have not changed their lens fitting. Depending on the age of them you may have limited metering but a good lens is always a good lens. Also there is a significant collectors market for nice old Nikon stuff. Don't throw away until you check them out. Mamiya I have no clue but they are still making top camera's so you never know.

 

[TonyW]

Unforunately 5x4 is not seen as a 'good make' as it is a Kodak monorail although may have appreciated in value due to rarity - must dig it out of the loft and see if it is still in good order and search the net for value :lol:

Also have a Grafmatic 5x4 film holder which takes 6 sheets of film in the one unit - a truly inspired idea - unfortunately marred by the fact that in use due to the way the fresh slide brought forward often resulted in the film bowing with the result that focus would be way out in the centre

Tony

 

[RobertMP]

Ebay is the easiest place to find what old camera kit sold for and get an idea of what yours is worth.

You can get adaptors for various old lenses to fit on Digital SLRs and you don't have to have the same make of camera as lens. Canon tend to have the most third party adaptors made for them as the body is shallower and the spacing effect of the adaptor not such a problem.
It might be OK using manual focus lenses on a full frame camera like the 5D but would be difficult on most others with their smaller sensors and smaller view in the eyepiece.

If you enjoyed SLR photography and can get by on a computer for editing then you will love the freedom of Digital. Experiment as much as you like and no film costs.

I wouldn't let old lenses influence choice of a new camera and lens system too much.

 

[Racers]

Hi, Smudger/lurker

Part chop the lot for a digital camera thats what I did with my olympus stuff.


Smudger, What Nikon lenses do you have? I might be interested in them.


Pete

 

[big soft moose]

Smudger, What Nikon lenses do you have? I might be interested in them.


Pete

lol - great minds - i just sent him a pm re the mamiya gear

 

[Smudger]

To my amazement, the Mamiya is worth about £3-400, according to both German and French ebay. Who'd a thought? It is a lovely camera, though.

I'll have to dig out the Nikkor lenses - some 50mms, some old zooms (the 83mm one) and a couple of medium telephotos, a couple of good bodies and a cheapo one. I also have an autofocus body, but the lenses for that got involved in the digital gear.

 

[cambournepete]

I have an OM-E-series adapter bought off Ebay for around £15.
Not the olympus one, but it works.
Cheapest E-series body I've seen is the E420, £249 inc 14-42 lens in Currys (yeah I know it's not a real camera shop but...)
If you have enough good OM glass and can focus manually then I'd at least try it. If it doesn't work for you you've still got a pretty good and small digital SLR for £249.
I have one OM fit lens, but poor eyesight so struggle to do the manual focus bit even wearing glasses or contact lenses.

 

[Charlotte]

Why i it I can answer the photo stuff but not anything about wood?!

You can adapt your olympus lenses to most cameras with an adaptor. the problem is that most digital cameras are not full frame; you get a correspondingly small viewfinder. This makes manual focus hard work. Recent cameras however have live view (like a digicam, focus on the screen) and this may make things easier. Pick Canon/Nikon/Panasonic/Olympus and you will be away. Sony I don't know about but the new A850 looks something of a bargain (if you have the money!) and would be excellent for adapting since it is full frame and I would be surprised if the Olympus lenses couldn't keep up, I think they are wonderful.

Please don't bin darkroom stuff though - I'll collect/pay postage/find a good home for it! 35mm (except Leica and collectable) is worth next to nothing now but for those of you with MF and bigger, there is still a market of some sort. I shot my brother's wedding on a Yashicamat many many years older than me and the results were excellent.

 

[tekno.mage]

I'm so glad I went Pentax all those years ago. Between us, my partner I have a collection of manual focus Pentax K-mount prime lenses that are still worth over £1500. Luckily Pentax digicams accept their old K-mount lenses.

The smaller frame size of the digicam is a nuisance (especially as I lose the extreme wide angle my 20mm F4 used to give on 35mm) and the lenses work in manual focus mode only. However, in practice none of this has been a problem.

I bought a refurbished 1stDx digital SLR body from Pentax a couple of years ago for £250 and I'm really pleased with the system. I mostly use the camera in complete manual mode (just like my old SLR) with TTL metering and take all mu photos as RAW images (not JPEG). I'm short sighted and wear glasses, but I don't find manually focusing the digital camera any more difficult than it was with the old film SLR and the benefit of not using film and having an instant view of the photo taken is just marvellous. In terms of picture quality, the digicam pictures are as good as those I took on Ektachrome 200 ASA slide film and and scanned using a high-end slide scanner in the 1990s, and a little better than any I scanned from print film negatives.

One thing that is *really* noticable, though - the difference in quality between my old Pentax prime lenses (non zoom) and the those taken using the Pentax "digital" AF short zoom lens that came with the camera. The old lenses are far, far better. The modern zoom is no better in terms of lens abberations (both chromatic distoration and barrel distortion) than my old Tamron manual zoom from the early 80s. Disappointing - I would have thought zoom lens technology would have moved on some since the early 1980s. The practical upshoot of this is that I very rarely use the zoom at all and usually have to take a bag of lenses with me when I go out to take pictures - just like I always had to with a film SLR.

In terms of your olympus lens problem, I'd certainly look into finding a digital body that could take your old lenses by means of an adapter of some kind, unless your main reason for going digital is to use the other features that digital cameras offer (like anti-shake & auto-everything). Olympus lenses had a very good reputation and may well be optically better than some of the modern offerings.

tekno.mage

 

[Vormulac]

Crikey, another Pentaxian!

Comparing your old primes to your kit lens zooms is not entirely fair, you're absolutely correct that the primes will outperform the zooms every time, Pentax primes especially are beyond compare for the most part, but you would be surprised if you put them next to a modern high end zoom like the DA* range. I shoot modern zooms and a combination of old manual zooms and primes - I'm a sucker for old glass and it just works so sweetly with Pentax bodies.