Leica 50mm Summicron Lens

[dinkydi]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I have an M2 Leica with 3 lenses (35, 50 & 90mm) and have recently purchased an E500 4/3 DSLR Olympus camera. I believe the M mount will enable me to use all 3 lenses (bayonet mount) on the E500 with the M adaptor, I would really appreciate confirmation that this is fact. The lens I was really wanting to use is the f2 50mm Summicron for portrait work.

 

Waiting advise, thank you.

[Ruhayat]

I don't think you can use M lenses with the Olympus 4/3 format of the E500. You can use Leica R lenses, though. I'm currently using 28mm Elmarit-R and 50mm Summicron-R with an Olympus E-1, with good success (Aperture Priority works). The E-500 viewfinder might be a bit dim for manual focusing, especially when stopped down.

 

You can, however, use M lenses with the newer Micro 4/3 format, which is used currently on the Panasonic G1 camera. Olympus (and reputedly Sigma now, too) are coming out with theirs next year.

[dinkydi]

Hi Ruhayat,

 

Thank you for taking time out to help me, appreciated. I am aware that there is an adaptor for the Leica R lens which I think have a screw in type mount, however, the mount I'm looking for is for the Leica M BAYONET MOUNT. I do believe I may have found one that is in the final stages of development on a Japanese site but I haven't been able to confirm whether or not this mount is for the bayonet type lens, the following link is the translated English info about this mount.

 

Translated version of http://photofan.jp/camera/html/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=5605&forum=2&post_id=50572#forumpost50572

 

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Bob

[LeonardT]

Hi Bob,

 

The E500 you just purchased is a standard 4/3 mount camera body. The adapter you are looking at will not fit the E500. It is designed for a new MICRO 4/3 mount developed by Olympus and Panasonic this year. The difference between the two different mounts is the new cameras which use the MICRO 4/3 mount do not have a mirror like a SLR camera. This allows the lenses to mount much closer to the sensor, like the Leica rangefinder cameras which do not have mirrors. So far it appears only the Lumix DMC-G1 camera uses this mount. It is because of this much closer flange to sensor distance that may allow rangefinder lenses like the Leica M series to be used. If an adapter was made for M lenses to fit the normal 4/3 bodies, they would only focus like a close-up lens where the adapter would act like an extension tube. I'm afraid if you want your M lenses to fit on a 4/3 sensor body you will need to buy the Lumix.

 

Just a correction for future reference. . The Leica R lens mount is a bayonet mount but different from the M bayonet. R lenses can be adapted to the E500.

 

Cheers,

Len

[dinkydi]

Hi Len,

 

Thanks for that information, now I can get on with it and forget about using my Leica lenses.

 

I might even think about selling them and get a couple of the Olympus better quality lenses.

 

Thanks again, appreciated.

 

A safe and happy Christmas to you and yours,

Take care,

Bob