Do all Micro 4/3 lenses have the same fitting

[BADGER.BRAD]

I was doing a bit of window shopping and was looking at the price of lenses generally for micro 4/3 cameras when looking at Jessops site in their lens section it quoted various manufacturer's lenses then Micro 4/3 rds ,Am I being really naive in thinking that all 4/3rds cameras share the same lens fitment and can be swopped for each other ?

 

[Snapsh0t]

No, it's a standard so all µ43 cameras and lenses should be compatible. Olympus & Panasonic can also share flashes.

 

[tijuana taxi]

M4/3 lenses are compatible, but not completely integrated systems.
For example dual IS where the camera and lens stabilisation work together is brand specific for Olympus and Panasonic.
I had a Panasonic lens with an aperture ring, didn't work on Olympus cameras.

 

[Cagey75]

All M43 lenses use the same mount aye, just don't get mixed up and buy '4/3' lenses, as you'd need an adapter for those and they would only work well on the EM1 Olympus models.

More modern M43 lenses will work across the board though, apart from dedicated lens features as tijuana points out. I'm using an Olympus 12-40 lens on my G80 for example, but the Fn button on the lens doesn't work, other than that the lens works and performs perfectly.

 

[the black fox]

You will also find that with the correct adaptors old manual focus lenses work superbly I.e m42 thread lenses which are common and really cheap , and Nikon mount lenses although the lenses tend to be dearer ... but saying that still around 90% cheaper than a modern a/f lens ... and most micro four thirds bodies have some form of manual focus help built in such as zebra stripes . Decent adaptors for most mounts are readily available and usually cost around £20 area

 

[maarten.dhaese]

I was doing a bit of window shopping and was looking at the price of lenses generally for micro 4/3 cameras when looking at Jessops site in their lens section it quoted various manufacturer's lenses then Micro 4/3 rds ,Am I being really naive in thinking that all 4/3rds cameras share the same lens fitment and can be swopped for each other ?

Keith hit the nail on the head: there is the old 4/3 DLSR mount and the new mirrorless m4/3 mount. Old 4/3 lenses can be mounted on m4/3 via an adapter. Old 4/3 lenses tend to be very cheap so make sure you're not accidentally buying one of these.

 

[Mr Bump]

also watch out for subtle things like apature rings on Panasonic leica stuff that function tends not to work on Olympus bodies etc.

 

[gad-westy]

also watch out for subtle things like apature rings on Panasonic leica stuff that function tends not to work on Olympus bodies etc.

Also worth just clarifying in case it's not obvious that you still retain full aperture control via the camera itself with these lenses.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

Thanks everyone for the replies ,much appreciated. I have quite a large collection of M42 lenses so they would be usefull but I do tend to end up needing quite wide angle lenses so with the crop factor I would most likley need some dedicated Lenses. I'm not sure exactly what I'm after yet but will most likely be talking second hand so I can afford to destroy it whilst doing various camera unfriendly activities and thought of micro 4/3 as an improvement to my point an press cameras while still keeping a reasonable size and weight. Graham I take it you mean using those lenses that the camera its self will still control the lens aperture but the camera will not recognize your setting if done from the Lens ? I've not really messed with digital other than a couple of point and press cameras.

 

[Cagey75]

Thanks everyone for the replies ,much appreciated. I have quite a large collection of M42 lenses so they would be usefull but I do tend to end up needing quite wide angle lenses so with the crop factor I would most likley need some dedicated Lenses. I'm not sure exactly what I'm after yet but will most likely be talking second hand so I can afford to destroy it whilst doing various camera unfriendly activities and thought of micro 4/3 as an improvement to my point an press cameras while still keeping a reasonable size and weight. Graham I take it you mean using those lenses that the camera its self will still control the lens aperture but the camera will not recognize your setting if done from the Lens ? I've not really messed with digital other than a couple of point and press cameras.

There's so few M43 lenses with an aperture ring I wouldn't worry about it tbh. The only ones I can think of top of my head are the Pana-Leica 15mm 1.7 and the Leica 42.5 f/1.2, I'm sure there are others but none that would interest me at least.