Second body for my four-thirds lenses?

peckerhead

G'day all, wonder if I could pick your collective brains on something?

I have an Olympus E-510 with the kit 14-42mm and 40-150mm lenses, plus the 70-300mm f/4-5.6 ED and an old OM series 50mm f1.8, all of it picked up very reasonably from an American seller on eBay. I've been thinking of trying to pick up a second body to save lots of swapping around lenses when I'm on a shoot, and wondered what the wisdom might be regarding using these (quite good) 4/3 lenses on a micro-4/3 body, like maybe a Pen E-PL2?

I've read (e.g. here) that even though the appropriate adapter retains automatic metering, IS, etc. the speed of the autofocus can be fairly badly affected — like 2-3 seconds as opposed to the fraction of a second on a standard 4/3 DSLR (older 4/3 lenses are not made for Contrast Detect AF). This would be a fairly major downside for me...

Would I be better off just looking for another secondhand E-510 (or E-500, or even E-400) body instead? I kinda liked the idea that I'd also have a more compact camera (with the option for video, which the E-510 doesn't have) for when I don't want to cart around the whole kitbag (the Zuiko 14-42mm is lovely and compact, and the 40-150mm even more so, considering its range). And I'm afraid budget doesn't allow for buying additional micro-4/3 lenses — I have plenty of glass already, bar maybe a decent fast wide-angle (not cheap, and not easy to buy secondhand/from other manufacturers because of the 2x crop factor).

So — anyone out there using standard 4/3 lenses on a micro-4/3 body? How do you find it? Is there another micro-4/3 camera you'd recommend over the Pen E-PL2? Should I just get myself a good quality compact for walkaround purposes and not bother trying to use my Zuiko lenses?

So many questions...

dirtyghettokid

i have a emp1 that i use with it's m4/3 kit lens, plus an OM adapter with OM lenses (28mm, 50mm, 135mm, 70-230mm)
it's quite good, although can be tricky manually focusing, while trying to hold the lot together. i find you have to turn IS off for long exposures. all metering works grand. my only complaint about the whole setup is lack of optical viewfinder.

peckerhead

Cheers, dirtyghettokid — looks like a sweet little camera alright. Maybe I could lurk around eBay and try to pick one up newsed with something like a Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 Pancake...

Only thing is, one of the major advantages of the camera, according to the reviews I see, is the super-fast autofocus — which I'll lose all the benefit of if I go sticking my existing lenses onto it.

Keep the comments coming, lads (and lasses)!

magicbastarder

i have a 30mm f1.4 which needs a new home, in case you need a new lens to go with that!

dirtyghettokid

yea i found the AF on the mini pen to be great! however, manual lenses hardly leave the body now
it's one of the best value-for-money cameras i've ever bought!

Judge

The new OM-D EM-1 is able to mount, meter and focus four-thirds lenses natively without an adapter. As the top of the range m43 model, it's not cheap however.

cnocbui

The OM-D E-M1 is the obvious choice as it has a new sensor that allows it to focus 4/3 lenses rapidly. It is a professional grade camera and is priced accordingly.

You do need an adapter to mount 4/3 lenses on it.