Travel Photography - Biting the bullet - Olympus lenses

I have an OM-1 film camera with numerous lenses that continues to make superb images, but the advantages - convenience chief among them - of DSLR appear to have surpassed those of film.

But I'll still want good ol' emulsion if I need terabit resolution. What are my options (other than shelling out for an entire new kit and kaboodle)?

I have an OM-1 film camera with numerous lenses that continues to make superb images, but the advantages - convenience chief among them - of DSLR appear to have surpassed those of film.

But I'll still want good ol' emulsion if I need terabit resolution. What are my options (other than shelling out for an entire new kit and kaboodle)?

the short answer is you may be able to use the lenses with an adapter but it's not really worth the trouble.

the long answer is that there are adapters for olympus 4/3 and canon (maybe others) but you will be stuck with manual focus and manual aperture (and possible metering errors because of that). you'll get stabilization with a stabilized 4/3rds body but in-lens stabilization is generally better at longer focal lengths where it really matters. you won't get all of the exposure modes such as shutter priority, since the camera can't control the lens, nor can it read the lens id, focal length, focus distance or f/stop to write into the exif tags of the image.

also keep in mind that there will be a focal length multiplier with your existing lenses. on 4/3rds, everything will be 2x. thus, a 50mm lens will have the field of view of a 100mm lens. that will be a bonus if you like to shoot telephoto, but if you prefer wide angle it will be a huge handicap. with canon, the multiplier is 1.6x, 1.3x or 1x, depending on the body and with nikon, pentax and sony it's 1.5x or 1x (although i don't know if adapters exist for those). therefore, you'll probably want some new lenses anyway.

Thanks. I've been making some panoramic shots with my point/shoot digital by stitching with ICE. I wonder if doing that with a DSLR and my old lenses could sort of end-run the whole f.l. multiplier issue.

Can I finesse the f.l. reduction by using my existing lenses and stitching, like with ICE?

Thanks. I've been making some panoramic shots with my point/shoot digital by stitching with ICE. I wonder if doing that with a DSLR and my old lenses could sort of end-run the whole f.l. multiplier issue.

you can certainly make panoramas with a dslr, but that's not a replacement for a wide angle lens.

For old OM lenses, your best bet at the moment is a 4/3 DSLR. One problem you'll find here though is that the size of a modern view finder will make manual focusing difficult. With that in mind, your best bets are:

1. A second hand Panasonic L1 body plus OM adapter (wonderful ergonomics, awful dark VF but has a manual focus confirmation feature with the latest firmware).

2. Any Olympus DSLR with live view (you don't have to worry about the size of the VF as long as you're happy to compose through an LCD, just like a little point and shoot camera).

3. Olympus E-3 (pro option with nice big VF).

4. Wait a few days. Olympus might announce an OM adapter with their first Micro 4/3 offering, in which case the Panasonic G1 with its large, cutting edge Electronic View Finder (complete with automatic magnification for critical manual focusing) might be just the camera you're looking for....

I know this is an old thread to resurrect, but I just saw it. I sometimes use OM lenses on my Leica Digilux 3 (which is the Leica-branded version of the Panasonic L1). Once you get the feel of how to focus accurately, it's a great combination. The new Olympus E-P1 is about the size of my old OM-1 bodies, and I'd have bought one already if there were any kind of decent eye-level viewfinder for it. Rumours suggest that the next Olympus micro4/3 body will be out in December and will have a built-in electronic viewfinder. If so, I may pick one up.