Canon or Olympus body for Yashica manual lenses?

haz

Canon or Olympus body for some manual lenses?

I have a couple of Yashica film cameras and a pile of (manual focus) lenses in different focal lengths. I am thinking of buying a digital SLR body and one of these: "This lens mount adapter allows a Contax/Yashica (CY, RTS) lens to fit on Olympus E-Series 4/3-system camera body..." http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/contax_olympus4-3_adapter.htm or the similar Canon EOS adapter http://www.rugift.com/photocameras/contax-eos-adapter.htm

On first impression the Olympus (probably E410) is lighter, smaller and retains the adapter when changing lenses - the Canon adaptor and lens need to be removed from the body, swapped to another lens and then re-attached. Canon (probably 350D) is cheaper. The auto-exposure will work with either body in AE priority, Stop-down metering modes.

Any comments appreciated.

magicbastarder

bear in mind that the olympus has a smaller viewfinder, which makes focussing harder. plus, the lenses will double in effective focal length.

duffarama

The viewfinder is smaller on the e-410 but isn't unuseable plus you could use live view and magnify up to 10x for focus... there is no focus confirmation though, so it'd be your own skill that tells you when you've achieved focus

magicbastarder

i've shot a fair bit on an E500 with an (official olympus) adapter. it's not ideal for shooting sports, say, but is usable.

Sebzy

Think the E410 has the winning advantage here with that 10x focus zoon and thats displayed on the LCD via the LiveView


Have a look at the video below it demonstrates the feature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUWr05_kG9A
it's at about 4:28

haz

I have a Tamron 90mm macro and 70-210mm zoom on a Nikon D50 using the original Nikon Adaptall-2 mount, and prefer these old manual lenses to anything new in my price range. I like the twist & pull focus & zoom, the continuous F2.8 and the solid construction. I get focus confirmation in anything but poor lighting, but there is no metering, no auto exposure and no TTL flash control - but then the instant histogram is far superior to any metering I ever had for film camera. The Nikon flange-to-film distance rules out using any other lenses, except for close use.

The biggest problem, as you all say, is that the focusing screen in autofocus camera viewfinders is terrible. The best manual focus screen ever was in the Yashica FX3, which had a great matt and clear ground with a diagonal split and sliding bar rangefinder.

I stopped using the film the moment I got a cheapo digital, now another family member wants to dust off all the other antiques.

magicbastarder

if you're based in dublin, dixon's in jervis street currently have the E400 for €529 and the E500 for €499.
caveats: both come with the cheaper standard zoom, the 17.5-42mm, rather than the 14-45mm more usually seen coupled with the bodies, and the E500 does not come a rechargeable battery and charger. i was helping a friend decide what camera to get, and she didn't like the E400 - she's a six footer, and it felt too small in her hands.

Sebzy

magicbastarder wrote:

I was helping a friend decide what camera to get, and she didn't like the E400 - she's a six footer, and it felt too small in her hands.

Well that was the same reason I got rid of the E500 a bit too small but still have the E300 and E1 both with grips. Just right

magicbastarder

you found the E500 too small?