Gifted lenses

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October21

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Kate
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My grandad has given me a few old film cameras and also some lenses. The lenses are mostly olympus and I have Nikon. I only have a kit lens and a 50mm which I've been using for a couple of years and I'm itching to try something new. Is there a way I can get these lenses, mostly wide angle, to fit my Nikon? Seems a shame to waste them.

There's one lens in there which is a Nikon and it's a macro converter. I gave it a quick try and I don't seem to be able to get it to come out sharp. Is this just because its a cheapy converter and not the real thing or can these things produce decent results?
 
Macro converters are usually pretty nasty. Which end of the lens does this converter sit? If it is at the outside end of the lens, I doubt it could ever be any good. If it sits between the camera and another lens, it is possible for it to work well so long as it passes on all thee electrical messages.
 
You might be able to get an adaptor to attach your Olympus lenses to your Nikon body but be prepared to lose some functions e.g. AF and metering.
 
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In the same situation, I would trade them and
work with the right stuff for your camera! :cool:
 
You may find issues using old non-Nikon lenses. The flange distance on Nikon SLRs means that you’ll not be able to focus to infinity unless you get an adapter with a built-in lens to compensate. Unless you buy a high quality adapter, you’ll likely be sacrificing image quality as a result. On the plus side, if you just want to use the lenses for closer distances, then you’ll be able to focus closer than normal.
 
How old is old?
Do they have manual aperture and focus?
I used ancient manual lenses bought off eBay for pennies on my Pentax K100D - they used the same mount and they produced some brilliant images albeit I had to do the focus and exposure by hand.
You can get adaptors on Amazon or eBay for a few quid.

Of course as he's given you some film bodies you could always try that?
 
The old Olympus (OM mount) lenses were very well regarded, especially the Zuiko line.
I have a few Olympus lenses like this, they came with an Olympus OM20 film SLR, which is actually very good. I've used these lenses on both the film SLR and my Canon DSLR (using a cheap adaptor).

In my experience of using old manual lenses on a DSLR, prime lenses (eg 35mm, 50mm, 135mm are common ones) with wide apertures (f1.8/f2.8) are worth trying out and can be lovely and sharp. The zooms of the same era tend to be less sharp than many modern kit lenses unless you're talking about some very high quality zooms. It's even more noticable on long zooms like a 80-200mm.

It's possible that they might be worth something to the right buyer (on here or maybe via a specialist). Ebay is flooded with old lenses so unless it's something special (for example an Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.4), it may not be worth ebaying them.
However if you did sell them all, it might give you the cash to get a cheap Nikon 35mm f1.8 or a longer zoom.

If you can either list the models of camera and lens or post a photo of them, then it'll be easier to advise on whether they are worth using.
You could just buy an adaptor and try them on your Nikon.
 
FishyFish said:
You may find issues using old non-Nikon lenses. The flange distance on Nikon SLRs means that you’ll not be able to focus to infinity unless you get an adapter with a built-in lens to compensate. Unless you buy a high quality adapter, you’ll likely be sacrificing image quality as a result. On the plus side, if you just want to use the lenses for closer distances, then you’ll be able to focus closer than normal.
Click to expand...

That's the big problem - Olympus and most other common 35mm mounts have a shorter register than Nikon F:

https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

EOS users have a larger choice of lenses (including OM) that will work and focus to infinity with simple glassless adapters, and mirrorless users have a huge choice.
 
Retune said:
That's the big problem - Olympus and most other common 35mm mounts have a shorter register than Nikon F:

https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

EOS users have a larger choice of lenses (including OM) that will work and focus to infinity with simple glassless adapters, and mirrorless users have a huge choice.
Click to expand...
Only trouble with that is lots of peeps have caught on and prices have increased a hundredfold in the last year or two
 
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