Any sense to switch Olympus?

Hello,

I have used Pentax cameras for years, but lately smaller and lighter system has started to interested me.

So shortly...would there be any sense to switch from Pentax to Olympus? I have

considered the new small E-620 body (+ battery grip). Today I have Pentax K10D (and still film body MZ-S) and some of the best Pentax af-lenses (one zoom, 6 primes).

I know that Zuiko's wide angle zooms are pretty good, and there are

25mm Pana-Leica f1,4 prime for 4/3 system, but how about longer telephoto lenses? Expecially if you still would like to keep your system unnormal small/light? There seemed to be good Zuiko 60-200mm zoom, but if you still would like to have longer than that? Zuiko 150mm is too short, and Zuiko 300mm is absolutely too expensive, as well as 90-250mm zoom. I once tested Bigma (Sigma 50-500mm) with KAF-mount and for me it was much too soft, and slow. So would there be any other real option for me with Olympus than just use 60-200mm zoom or 150mm prime together with some tc?

My present lenses are:
Sigma EX 14mm f2,8
Pentax FA* 24mm f2
Pentax FA* 28-70mm f2,8
Pentax FA* 85mm f1,4
Pentax FA* 200mm f2,8
Pentax F* 300mm f4,5
Tamron SP 300mm f2,8 (with Pentax F 1,7X TC...if needed)

What lenses you would buy to have similiar (quality) system in
Olympus?

Any idea what will be future of 4/3 bajonett systems (because of micro 4/3)?

PS: There might be a adapter for KAF to 4/3? If that is true then (for example) that lens of mine could be nice together with E-620...of course with using manual focus?

It's small/compact for 300mm telephoto lens and sharp/good as well.

Your Pentax lenses would work (with a 2x factor) but with the adapter (you can buy those on ebay for about 20usd) you would loose anything like autofocus and full aperture reading. The following quote is taken from a sales add on ebay. The adapter fits K mounts.

'Although the lens will fit physically, automatic diaphragm, auto-focusing, or any other functions will not operate correctly while using this adapter. In this case "stop-down mode" will need to be used when metering since the lens does not have the ability to have its aperture controlled by the camera body. You can shoot with manual mode or aperture priority mode with E-Series body.'

The lenses will also focus to infinity but will need to used like in the old days. I use a lot of manual lenses (most with M42 screw mount with adapter) without really any problems. It all depends on the type of shooting that you like to do. You also have to make sure that your lens apertures can be manuallly stopped down. I am not sure that your lenses have this capability. Most older Pentax, Praktica, Russian M42 lenses had a manual switch on the side to manually close the aperture or even a pre-set aperture ring.

did you consider getting something like the e420 + pancake for portability/daily use and keeping your pentax stuff for when the size and weight doesn't matter? (I have mostly minolta/sony stuff but recently I have been using a lot of the E420 with the pancake, just because it always stays in my backpack and it's so much better than any p/s at a similar size!). sony/minolta gets the action on vacation and weekends along with all the fancy lenses)

The Zuiko 70-300mm F4-5.6?

It's the standard grade tele-zoom in the lineup, and while it's not particularly fast, it is light weight and relatively inexpensive (and doubles as a macro)

The pro grade 50-200 is faster, sharper, and weather sealed, but larger and nearly twice the weight and price.

Also remember that on 4/3, a 300mm lens has the same field of view as a 600mm on a film or 'full frame' digital body.

With the right adapter, you should be able to use your old lenses on the E system, as long as you have controls on the lens for aperture and focus.
--
Art P



Select images may be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8131242@N04/

you can get the 410 and pancake for a song (I got the 510 with kit lens for $500 almost a year ago), the 14-42mm kit is just an excellent all around light weight sharp lens for the cost you can carry and never even know it's on you. Keep your high end gear with pentax, why dump the system when you have that great glass, for the weather sealed tough body.

I dont know what you shoot.

If you have time during shooting, why not having two systems.

Olympus is - in my eyes - the perfect system for zoom lenses,
and Pentax the perfect system for prime lenses.

Of cause one small pancake exists also for olymus to be able to take the camera everywhere.

I would in your situation think about adding the E-620 and keeping yor pentax system.

but I think there also exists and adapter.

one warning: Oly is know to deliver very vey good quality, but there is one exception: do not buy the camera within the first month when the camera comes to the market - sometimes olympus has to correct problems in the first production weeks.
--
regards
Martin F.

Finnish Flash said:

So shortly...would there be any sense to switch from Pentax to
Olympus? I have
considered the new small E-620 body (+ battery grip). Today I have
Pentax K10D (and still film body MZ-S) and some of the best Pentax
af-lenses (one zoom, 6 primes).

Click to expand...

Finnish Flash said:

My present lenses are:
Sigma EX 14mm f2,8
Pentax FA* 24mm f2
Pentax FA* 28-70mm f2,8
Pentax FA* 85mm f1,4
Pentax FA* 200mm f2,8
Pentax F* 300mm f4,5
Tamron SP 300mm f2,8 (with Pentax F 1,7X TC...if needed)

What lenses you would buy to have similiar (quality) system in
Olympus?

Click to expand...

First, the suggestion of buying a 420 and a pancake without switching is a great idea. Whatever you do, don't get a kit with just the 14-42 zoom: getting the 14-42 + 40-150 double kit is always worth it - the 40-150 is a wonderful lens for the price. The 14-42 + pancake kit should be a good deal too.

I bought a 420 as my first SLR half a year ago. The choice back then was between Pentax and Olympus - I'm a great fan of Pentax. I only have the double lens kit, but I have been lurking in this forum for quite a while.

My first thought upon reading your post was:
1. Why not just buy the Pentax K-m?
and my second thought:
2. You have a lot of primes for someone wanting to buy 4/3.

The first question stands, but the second isn't necessarily a problem. However, you will lose lens speed under several circumstances - there's nothing faster than 2.8 in this system that's wider than 48 mm equivalent (Sigma 24/1.8). Well yes, there's the 14-35/2, but it has focus and price issues. In the portrait range, the only 1.4 is again a Sigma, the 50/1.4.

Bottom line: if you really use the full potential of thin depth of field on your current system, a wholesale switch doesn't make sense - one can get thing DOF in this system, but the prime-heavy Pentax system will ultimately win out here.

A warning about the Leicasonic 25/1.4: aside from costing like a Leica and being very big and heavy for what it is, it's really hard to get outside Japan - you will have to ask this forum for advice on how to get your hands on one. Owners of this lens rant about how good it is to the point of being annoying though.

If you can deal with the 70-300 being a bit cheap (many do), then it should be an excellent long solution coupled with in-body IS. The 50-200 does well with the 1.4 extender if you can afford it.

Whatever your thoughts are, this link is always good to have:
http://four-thirds.org/en/products/lense.html
--
http://flickr.com/photos/iskender

"A warning about the Leicasonic 25/1.4: aside from costing like a Leica and being very big and heavy for what it is, it's really hard to get outside Japan - you will have to ask this forum for advice on how to get your hands on one. Owners of this lens rant about how good it is to the point of being annoying though."

I bought mine through amazon.com. It shipped almost immediately and the price was fine, too.

I'm a pretty die hard Olympus fan, but I wouldn't switch systems if I were you -- unless you are willing to consider switching from primes to zooms. If you are really concerned about small and light, you're not going to get it just by switching to Olympus with an adaptor and keeping your current outstanding collection of lenses.

That said, if you are willing to sacrifice a little lens speed and cover your needs with zooms, Olympus is a great system. You could cover more than your entire current focal range using three Olympus zooms and the 1.4 TC (EC-14). The ZD 9-18mm, ZD 14-54mm, and ZD 50-200mm along with the EC-14 would give you a an effective 35mm focal range of 18mm to 560mm at a much lower weight and mass than your current lens collection. All four of those Olympus lenses are razor sharp, and all but the 9-18mm are weather sealed.

There are trade offs in using various systems, so the question for you is how much are you willing to trade lens speed and prime lens coverage for convenience, less weight, less bulk, and a much smaller camera bag?

God Bless,
Greg
http://www.imagismphotos.com
http://www.pbase.com/daddyo

That's a very complete Pentax system you have and moving out of it is probably not the best idea since Pentax is a prime heavy system while Olympus is the opposite.

I second the notion of getting a 400 or 600 series kit to try out Olympus and then making a decision.

--Agreed. I would look at a lighter Pentax body. Unless money is no object, if I had your lenses, I would be reluctant to switch systems.

Why not the K20D or the Km (for small).

Not that the E-620 is sour or that Zuikos are fabulous, but it seems you have some good lenses. I'd say go dual system or stay with Pentax.

If you want to try it out. Why not the E-330 or E-420? Inexpensive used. I love the E-330 because it's unique and the IQ is very good. The only down side for me is the AF and VF. Fine for entry level, but...

Cheerio,
Seth

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
wallygoots.smugmug.com
wallygoots.blogspot.com

--
Get the E620 and see if you like Olympus. It's not that expensive.

I think other people have covered this but there is the 70-300 lens, which gives a 140-600mm zoom range on the 4/3rds system. Then there is also the more professional 50-200 f2.8, which can also be used with the very good 1.4x (and weather proof) adapter. Lastly, the 150mm f2 becomes the equivalent of a 300mm f2 on 4/3rds.

Juergen Hahn said:

"A warning about the Leicasonic 25/1.4: aside from costing like a
Leica and being very big and heavy for what it is, it's really hard
to get outside Japan - you will have to ask this forum for advice on
how to get your hands on one. Owners of this lens rant about how good
it is to the point of being annoying though."

I bought mine through amazon.com. It shipped almost immediately and
the price was fine, too.

Click to expand...

If you do not mind sharing it with us of course. And is it not big and heavy? Does it work well?

--
http://www.pbase.com/sngreen

I agree with the posts above mine. That Pentax glass is excellent. I would consider an E-420 with a lens of your choice for light weight walk around gear.

I love my Oly gear. Don't get me wrong, but I think you should slow down things a little and think about this more.

Pentax is a very good company, producing some very good cameras and your investment in their glass was not such a bad idea.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Dan
--
Student, Mentor, Philosopher, Servant, Father, Husband

Consensus seems to be with that amount invested in quality Pentax lenses you don't really want to be switching systems.

I would only add one more observation which I haven't seen above:

I would say the only valid reason to switch to Olympus is if you were fed up with lugging all those primes around. It's generally recognised on this forum that, of the two, the Pentax system is the best for a large choice of primes and Olympus the best for quality wide aperture zooms.

The initial lenses offered in 4/3s were the 14-54 f2.8-3.5, the 50-200 f2.8-3.5, the 50 f2 macro and the EC1.4 teleconverter. That gives you a very lightweight system from 28-560mm equivalent. To me it is still the sweet spot of 4/3s as far as quality and value for money is concerned.

You could now add the excellent standard grade 9-18 f4-5.6 to extend down to 18mm equivalent.

But if you love those Penatx primes don't even consider switching.

--
Vaughan
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/jvwpc/
http://tuesdaytravels.blogspot.com/

Thank's for everyone who replied. Nice to see that people are friendly in Oly forum (this was actually my first visit to this forum).

*************************************************************

I just heard that Pentax & Hoay has informed that new Pentax dslr

camera will be coming in this summer. It'll be more advanced than K20D, but totally new (smaller body ect.). It won't be called K30D. It'll start a new camera serie. Somehow Pentax liked to do that time to time...starting from the K-mount debut in the mid-70s: K series, M series, A series, P series, SF series, Z series, MZ series, *ist series, *istD series, and KD series. They take a concept, work it up to a certain level of performances (generally mid-range: K20D, MZ-S or Z1-P are good examples) and then start over with a different one (smaller, bigger).The don't go straight like C & N, they advance like crabs: sideways...

I'll wait and check that camera before doing anything. Maybe it's what I have been waiting for. It won't be FF anyway. I'll also visit in some locall camera shop and test E-620 without battery grip + togehther with battery grip.

You're quite invested in Pentax and if you can afford to keep your gear and get the older e-420 or maybe the e-620 and a small kit lens then you're going to have the best of both worlds.

There are going to be a lot of 410/420 for sale with the 620 coming out .. although the 620 with IS is going to be the ultimate small/light camera.

You can use adapters for your lenses manually. If you just don't use your old gear or don't want to lug it around anylonger then you can get rid of it. I would definitely hold off until I got the new camera to make certain that I can do without the equipment I know ... if at all possible.
--
Sergio
My soul is painted like the wings of butterflies..
http://www.surgedesigns-az.com

Hi Finnish Flash,

Are you sure the 150mm is too short given the 2x factor of the Four Thirds system? Olympus has amazingly fast and long lenses when compared to any system in terms of price for performance. The affordable 50-200mm f2.8/3.5 is the 35mm equivalent of 100-400mm. The ridiculous 90mm-250mm f2.8 (180-500mm f/2.8) can be had for $5000 if you have that kind of money.

If you need more convincing, check out the community at http://www.myfourthirds.com for sample images.

Zguy

Sounds like you made the right decision, based on the timing and the amount of gear you already have.
--
D620L -> D540 -> C750UZ -> E-500 -> E-510 -> E-3 + E-30