Olympus OM 55mm 1.2 lens to Nikon D50 body

Zebbedee

Is this ok for doing this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Olympus-OM-Lens-to-Nikon-1-Camera-Adapter-J1-V1-free-shipping-/270933559402?pt=UK_Photography_CameraLenses_Lens_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET&hash=item3f14e6086a#ht_4558wt_782

Gregor Samsa

Zebbedee wrote: »

Is this ok for doing this?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Olympus-OM-Lens-to-Nikon-1-Camera-Adapter-J1-V1-free-shipping-/270933559402?pt=UK_Photography_CameraLenses_Lens_caps_hoods_adaptors_ET&hash=item3f14e6086a#ht_4558wt_782

No, the D50 isn't a Nikon 1 camera, so the adapter won't work.

Zebbedee

phutyle wrote: »

No, the D50 isn't a Nikon 1 camera, so the adapter won't work.

Ok thanks. Is there an adapter that will work?

Gregor Samsa

Zebbedee wrote: »

Ok thanks. Is there an adapter that will work?

It's doubtful. All lens mount systems have a "Flange Focal Distance" - that's the distance from the mounting ring of the lens to the sensor/film plane. This distance is different for each mount system, but needs to be maintained within any given system in order for the lens to focus light on the sensor/film.

The FFD for the Olympus OM mount is 46mm. That for the Nikon F mount (that the D50 uses) is 46.5mm. That only leaves half a millimeter for a possible adapter - which obviously isn't nearly enough.

The Nikon 1 system, on the other hand, has an FFD of just 17mm - which leaves more space for an adapter.

Mirrorless cameras, like the Nikon 1 series, Sony NEX, Micro 4/3, etc tend to have the lens mount much closer to the sensor, as they don't need to make room for the bulky mirror. Hence, by having a much smaller Flange Focal Distance, they have scope for using adapters for lenses that are designed for a larger FFD. SLRs, having a larger FFD, have less scope for such adapters.

DaireQuinlan

phutyle wrote: »

The FFD for the Olympus OM mount is 46mm. That for the Nikon F mount (that the D50 uses) is 46.5mm. That only leaves half a millimeter for a possible adapter - which obviously isn't nearly enough..

actually it means that no matter what you do the lens will be at least 0.5mm further from the focal plane than it should be. All is not lost though, there's probably an adapter out there that you can use, but you'll lose infinity focus. Depending on the lens you should probably still be able to focus at portrait distances or closer.

There might also be an adapter with some sort of optic included, which will allow the olympus lens to be mounted and focus to infinity, but cheap adapters will have cheap adaptive optics so it's a bit of a trade-off.

The M42 FFD is more than a mm shorter than the F-mount FFD but I've successfully mounted and used M42 lenses on my Nikon gear, albeit just at portrait distances as above (58mm Helios, only focuses to about 2 metres or so max).

www.flickr.com/search/?q=helios+nikon&w=31589949%40N00&s=int

Gregor Samsa

here's something that might be of use:

http://www.leitax.com/OlympusOM-lens-for-Nikon-cameras.html

A DIY kit that lets you replace the mount on the OM lens itself with a Nikon F bayonet. It allows infinity focusing too. It's not an adapter as such - it requires actual modification of the lens.

A quick search for "Olympus OM to Nikon F mount"

leads to threads like this: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1030&message=41622394

which seems to suggest that an adapter isn't currently available. But a more detailed search might throw up something.

cnocbui

I use an OM Zuiko 50mm f1.2 on a Micro 4/3 body via an adapter and it works very well indeed.

Zebbedee

Thanks to all for the detailed replies.
@Phutyle, my 55mm 1.2 lens isn't on that list.
I wonder if the 50mm adapter would cover it.