Pentax Lenses for Olympus EPL5 ??

Mark Johnson

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My very old SLR was a Pentax Its D

Alas the camera seems to given up the ghost, won't record s photo.....

Had some long lenses for it, 500mm, 300mm etc.

The idea has been planted by Ugly Hedgehog reader that I can use these lenses with my Olympus EPL5.

I have bought an adaptor from Ebay, yet to be delivered. (£9.00)

I know the lens/camera won't be automatic, ie I will have to set the fstop and focus manually, but am hoping the bigger diameter lenses might prove to be a faster lens for moon pictures etc.

Anyone done this? And do you think its worthwhile. Hopefully might be able to answer that myself later next week.
 
i see no reason it won't work fine for astrophotography. you will likely need to manually focus the lens anyway and also use manual metering so no real loss in using the lenses you have. I have heard that the adapters can be a bit variable in quality, but for £9 what can you expect!
 
Should be fine - I've done it with some Pentax lenses and my older e-pl3 a while back.
On more modern lenses you can lose aperture control but think older lenses work.
Have a quick google specifically for your exact lenses and adapters just to check no-one reporting issues with lenses getting stuck on adapters, some have protrusions that can get trapped. V. unlikely with Pentax though.
 
Thanks for comments...

Will report my findings next week hopefully.

Assume I can leave the Olympus on Aperture priority, the camera will sort the speed.

What I like about the old lenses, is that they have a focus ring that can be read, so can be set to infinity for star work. The Olympus automatic lenses don't have any scale. Focusing is my big difficulty with stars....

Cross fingers and hope it will be successful.

Mj
 
Using old lenses with adapters is one of the benefits of the micro 4/3 system. Remember, as well as setting the aperture, you'll have to close it down manually before shooting, (And open up after if you want to). Metering will likely be at the taking aperture. With my Pannys I have to set "Shoot without lens", in the menu. Don't know about Olympies. Good luck and please share the results.
 
Great guide to using adapted lens on µ43 here:
http://www.mu-43.com/threads/12347/

Olympus cams don't need setting changes (shock!) and will just meter constantly whatever state the aperture's in - stop down and you'll see the measured eV/histogram etc change.
 
Thanks for comments.

I have. A 500mm Corsica lens for the Pentax. But alas it must be broken, as the aperture does not move when the ring is moved around. So its permanently on f32. Might take the end of it to see if its fixable.

I have a Tamron 70-250 or thereabouts which I have used on the Olympus, and works well as a manual lens. But no significant advantage in doing so yet. I have not really worked on it yet so not sure if it is a faster lens or not.

May be best sticking with the Olympus lens.....

Mj
 
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