[Lhorn]

Are people adapting K mount and M42 lenses to MFT cameras with good success? Just got a Lumix GH-3 for a good price primarily to get more use out of my Auto 110 lenses. Not played around much but I'm not real happy so far. In my brief trials I feel like it gets noticably off center. I haven't figured out if that's just a issue with the lens itself, having to shoot wide open (but if I could stop it down, it would be sharper) or if it's just that I'm dealing with a narrow DOF from shooting wide open. It's been getting dark here in the evening when I get home from work, so my testing has been limited. Any advise for using these lenses or advice on adapting M and A series lenses? Seems like there are several really cheap K mount to MFT adpaters. Any that are particularly good or ones to avoid.


I like the camera a lot and feel like with a sharp K mount prime, it could be a good pairing.


Thanks,

[kadajawi]

Are people adapting K mount and M42 lenses to MFT cameras with good success? Just got a Lumix GH-3 for a good price primarily to get more use out of my Auto 110 lenses. Not played around much but I'm not real happy so far. In my brief trials I feel like it gets noticably off center. I haven't figured out if that's just a issue with the lens itself, having to shoot wide open (but if I could stop it down, it would be sharper) or if it's just that I'm dealing with a narrow DOF from shooting wide open. It's been getting dark here in the evening when I get home from work, so my testing has been limited. Any advise for using these lenses or advice on adapting M and A series lenses? Seems like there are several really cheap K mount to MFT adpaters. Any that are particularly good or ones to avoid.


I like the camera a lot and feel like with a sharp K mount prime, it could be a good pairing.


Thanks,

I have a cheap adapter (all that matters is that it has a ring to control the aperture of the lens, as my DA 50 1.8 doesn't have a manual aperture ring. I'm rather satisfied with the results.

[Marcus Rowland]

Since I own a Canon Eos and a lot of adapters for putting weird lenses on that, the first thing I bought was an Eos to MFT adapter with a built-in iris, which gives me compatibility with (deep breath) M42, PK, Olympus OM, Praktica bayonet, Contax/Yashica, Minolta MD, Exakta, long M39 (the early Zenit SLRs), Rolleiflex, Canon FD, Fujifilm X (the 35mm models), Nikon, and probably a couple of others I've forgotten. So it's cost about £12 for the Eos adapter, most of the others are much cheaper than the usual MFT adapters because they're smaller and I think sold in larger quantities, but in this case free because I already own them. The Canon FD, Fujifilm and Minolta MD adapters aren't ideal because they incorporate corrective lenses - I've already ordered a FD to 4/3 adapter because I see a lot of FD lenses, and will probably get a Minolta MD version eventually, I don't see enough fujifilm lenses to worry much about them.

Getting back to the PK adapter, it works well and since it's just a flange there's no reason why it shouldn't, I'd imagine this also applies to the PK to MFT mounts. But the aperture control ring is definitely a good idea for later Pentax lenses that lack manual controls - I have something like it on my Nikon adapter for use with their "G" series lenses that lack manual aperture control, unfortunately there isn't the physical clearance for this with a PK mount on an Eos, so if you're just after this one conversion definitely go for the direct PK to MFT adapter.

[jimr-pdx]

Are people adapting K mount and M42 lenses to MFT cameras with good success?

I use native m43 primes at 7.5/14/20/30mm then shift to Pentax A50/1.7, M100/2.8 and M200/4. I have zooms also (12-40, 45-150, Zuiko 70-300 FT) so I can play versatile or small/fast. The M100/2.8 needs a click or two for best results, but both systems are in-body stabilized (K200, GX7, EM10).

---------- Post added 12-28-19 at 19:56 ----------

Curiously enough my 'standard zoom' is the xiaoYi 12-40 f/3.5-5.6 In my tests with several others it performed comparably and I liked its range. What really sold me was that Oly/Lumix bodies (apparently) do not autocorrect off-brand lenses for distortions - but this lens matches up with the corrected shots! Sure wish it zoomed the Lumix direction, but now I have the 4thirds 70-300 so each zoom makes me think before twisting. Just kidding: I don't think I just twist and act like I meant that result

[WPRESTO]

Crocodile in a spotlessly clean pool.

[UncleVanya]

Tried the Lumix G1 for photomicroscopy earlier today, using the fold-out screen to focus etc. My microscope is an oldish medical lab design that has a fairly high vertical tube and eyepiece for cameras, it's almost at eye level so the screen is much better than trying to peer down a normal SLR's viewfinder. I haven't done much in this field in the last ten years or so, and I really need to brush up my technique etc. Results were OK but could be much better - the slide I tried was a bit of an antique, a Victorian sample of whale bone, the picture is at 30x magnification. My set-up for this was a Nikon microscope adapter, with a Nikon to Eos adapter, then an Eos to Micro 4/3 adapter, which is a stack about 8" high on top of the microscope tube, and really doesn't help. I just ordered a basic Micro 4/3 microscope adapter which is about an inch long, I hope that it will be an improvement. I'm also going to get a remote control to reduce vibration.

Meanwhile I need to read up on things like magnifying the viewfinder image to focus, also tweak the microscope lighting etc., I think it's probably going to need a good clean if nothing else. I'll probably post more next year.

Interesting area to explore. I'm looking forward to seeing your efforts.

[jimr-pdx]

Curiously enough my 'standard zoom' is the xiaoYi 12-40 f/3.5-5.6 In my tests with several others it performed comparably and I liked its range. What really sold me was that Oly/Lumix bodies (apparently) do not autocorrect off-brand lenses for distortions - but this lens matches up with the corrected shots!

The more I look into this topic, the more my head aches
YI states that their M1 does corrections, so I presume that it corrects other brands too? Since TruePic VII (EM1/10) Oly bodies claim to perform the magic with Lumix lenses.. so perhaps the YI 12-40 is corrected in my EM10. But how about Sigma lenses, those reverse-engineering mount specialists: do they conform to the cameras' expectations?

The more I read, the more I see we're all in the same boat. Nearly every post comes from someone who believes they understand it all, but each has a slightly different subtlety that suggests we're not all saying the same thing. I wish these things had an "all corrections off" that I could be certain would do exactly that.

I'm not going to waste a bunch of time testing for variations though, life's too short for that. If someone has a definitive statement on this, I'd like to spend 15 more minutes on the topic and be done!

[WPRESTO]

I was in a zoo when this picture was taken, but this lizard was free, just living on the premises as squirrels do in American zoos.

[cg57]

A funky abstract.

[WPRESTO]

Pottery, an art installation.

[UncleVanya]

The more I look into this topic, the more my head aches
YI states that their M1 does corrections, so I presume that it corrects other brands too? Since TruePic VII (EM1/10) Oly bodies claim to perform the magic with Lumix lenses.. so perhaps the YI 12-40 is corrected in my EM10. But how about Sigma lenses, those reverse-engineering mount specialists: do they conform to the cameras' expectations?

The more I read, the more I see we're all in the same boat. Nearly every post comes from someone who believes they understand it all, but each has a slightly different subtlety that suggests we're not all saying the same thing. I wish these things had an "all corrections off" that I could be certain would do exactly that.

I'm not going to waste a bunch of time testing for variations though, life's too short for that. If someone has a definitive statement on this, I'd like to spend 15 more minutes on the topic and be done!

That's very well said Jim. I'd love to see an article that clarified this from official m43 sources.

[savoche]

I do have a cheap m42->m43 adapter that seems to work well with the old Taks. It's not something I expect to do a lot as I like them better on the K-1 anyway. If I ever get around to do some video I think the Taks will become more interesting to use on the GX80.

For stills I mostly use the kit 12-32. It's small and works well enough. The GX80 works well enough, too, but small it ain't... I love the tilt screen though! Perfect for use as a waistlevel finder

[WPRESTO]

Nepalese temple generally called the Peace Pagoda.

[savoche]

4 pm in mid December. Depressing.

[northcoastgreg]

False color infrared of Carson Mansion, shot with IR converted E-PL1 + Oly 17/1.8: