Ping TOG: Digital SLRs

*ding*

The EF and DX standards already have *years* of history behind them,
there's a proven market, and huge saturation. 4/3 offers no functional
improvements, the lenses are no cheaper, and the choice is limited.

Sounds a bit like HD-DVD, IYAM.

 

For starters, have a quick look at how many companies are actually
producing four-thirds lenses, then subtract the number of lenses made by
Olympus.

There aren't that many left over after this exercise.

 

OK. I hear what you say.

I see you can get a Nikon D40 for around the same money.

Any idea if they'll take a Nikon Pronea APS SLR lens with full AF and
metering functionality?

I ask, because I have a Pronea with 2 zoom lenses....

 

Doesn't look like it according to this:

http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080109151646AA8Xi1w

 

Well, that's just about the only reason why Katie wouldn't have the
Olympus over the Nikon.

If the lenses I have aren't compatible, we're effectively starting from
scratch.

 

Actually, have a look at this week's Amateur Photographer - they've got
a comparison test in there between the Nikon D60, Sony Alpha 200 and the
E-410.

The E-410 came third...

 

Hi Steve,

I went through this (or a similar dilemma) a while back. Canon or Nikon
really seems the best way to go as they both make some really quality
bodies, and some cheap bodies. The important thing is they both make
good glass, and are 'standard' enough to have third parties making some
cheap and/or good glass that fit them. I can only really talk about Canon
as I've never had a Nikon.

I see one of the examples given later in the thread is the Canon 400D -
now superseded by the 450D - but that doesn't change the fact it's a
bloody good camera. The kit lens that comes with it is often derided,
but actually it's not a bad lens - it's (IIRC) 18-55 - and it's actually
quite sharp if a little slow.

I still have a 350D as a backup camera and it's still an adequate
camera. For walking about I went for the 40D which, with a good choice
of glass is quite good enough for most uses.

Canon make a good range of lenses - from fairly cheap to nose-bleed
pricey, but even the cheap ones aren't too bad. Just don't by a 28-80mm
cheap on Ebay... The one real dog!

If she gets back into photography then the 350/400/450 is still a good
camera and I'd suggest investing in good glass. The Canon L series
lenses are (IMHO) fucking superb. I've got a few of them now to cover
different uses and can't fault them (other than the weight of the longer
lenses).

Honestly - buy now into a system (maker) with a well supported lens
system - Canon or Nikon and it means you wont have to throw the baby out
with the bathwater when she want to upgrade the body.

 

Don't know about the others, but you can get adapter rings to fit almost
any old lens to a 4/3 camera. I got mine off eBay for £10, and I can
also use my old Zuiko 50mm prime, as well as a couple of old Zooms I
have. These can be got on eBay very cheap now too. OK you have to use
them in manual mode (they also work in aperture priority mode too), and
manually focus them, but you can get some good glass for not a lot of
money.

I thought about the range of available lenses too, but it's very
unlikely that I'm going to be buying more anyway - how many do you want
to carry about?

If I could afford to buy unlimited lenses, I wouldn't have bought a
budget level DSLR in the first place.

 

Interesting. We have some Sigma lenses from a Minolta SLR here as well
as a couple with Practika bayonet fitting.... I need to do a bit of
research.

 

AFAIK the adapter rings you mentioned are for Zuiko/Olympus OM fit
lenses, aren't they? Maybe I've missed something but I didn't think that
you could fit other lenses to four-thirds cameras apart from OM
ones. Didn't the E-1 originally come with one of these adaptors?

 

No, you can get loads of these on eBay to fit different lenses. The
OM-4/3 adapter that Olympus sells is silly money, but you can get them
for a tenner or so in various places.

I have also sucessfully connected my E500 to my two telescopes using a
'T' adapter.

A quick look on eBay finds adapters for Nikon, Pentax, Contax, M42 and
Leica R, and even an EOS adapter with AE confirm, to connect to a 4/3
camera.

 

http://photography.search.ebay.co.uk/olympus_Lens-Mounts-Adaptors_W0QQdf
spZ1QQfromZR4QQsacatZ30059QQssPageNameZWLRS

 

Interesting, especially given that I've got a few Contax-fit Zeiss
lenses. I was under the impression that the only digital camera that
could use those were Canons. Good to know that.

 

[..]

I've had another look on this, and because the 4/3 sensor is a little
smaller, it means the 'flange-back' is such that any legacy lens can be
used, as they all need a small amount of packing to fit correctly.

 

Your Minolta lens (assuming old Minolta manual) will fit an Olympus (via
adapter) but nothing else, because of register distance. See here...
http://www.markerink.org/WJM/HTML/mounts.htm

Praktica bayonet will fit Praktica bayonet and nothing else, because of
its sheer bloody awkwardness. It's the same register as M42, but there's
no adapter available for anything as yet. Some PB lenses can be butch...
modified, but it's a pita.

I'd suggest you have a look here to get the feel of manual lenses on
digiSLRs...

http://forum.mflenses.com/

http://forum.manualfocus.org/index.php

There's also plenty of forum typ info on flickr via flickr groups.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."

 

Nice capture, but 'kin stupid.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."

 

I wouldn't quibble over 80 on the price of an SLR when you're going to
end up spending hundreds on lenses. Bodies are the cheap bit.

 

How many lenses do people buy? - and how much do they spend on them?

Katie has a city & guilds in photography, yet I can still count the
total number of lenses we own, spread over 3 different brands, on the
fingers of one hand.

For 99% of use you need a short zoom and a long zoom. Whatever we buy
will just need a single additional lens.

 

Much, much less than they cost new and many of them are still like new.
--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

"A scone and tea at half past three
Makes the day a little brighter
Keep your cakes and fancy tarts
And stick them up your shiter."

 

It really depends what you want to do. I've got a couple of fast primes
- mostly because they were a bargain and are just so good. A long Zoom
(100-400mm L series), a medium lightweight zoom (75-300mm IS USM) a
longish tele - 500mm L series. A general walk-about lens (17-85 IS USM)
and a wide angle (10-20mm).

That seems to cover what I use the camera for at the moment, but it's
about 3 grands worth of glass.