Newbie question

[Bobapingu]

My main gear is Sony FF but I am going to try MFT as lenses are smaller and lighter and I am getting older!!

Have an OM-1 arriving tomorrow with 12-40, have a s/h 300mm f4 and s/h 2x TC so am hoping for some decent weather so I can go out to play.

This might be a silly question but do Olympus bodies work OK with Panasonic lenses and vice versa? Any other makes of lens compatible? Pros and cons?

A great combo. I have a similar setup. A word of warning, I use the 300/4 +MC-20 a lot, in fact, mostly. Good light is necessary because you are down to f8. I have it wide open all the time. I notice no degradation using the MC-20 but it is a beast to handle, not because of the weight, but finding the target with that 1200mm FF equivalent reach. It takes a lot of practice and a strong steady left arm. Don't be disheartened, just practice and practice. The synced body and lens IS is magic.

 

[Skeeterbytes]

My main gear is Sony FF but I am going to try MFT as lenses are smaller and lighter and I am getting older!!

Have an OM-1 arriving tomorrow with 12-40, have a s/h 300mm f4 and s/h 2x TC so am hoping for some decent weather so I can go out to play.

This might be a silly question but do Olympus bodies work OK with Panasonic lenses and vice versa? Any other makes of lens compatible? Pros and cons?

A great combo. I have a similar setup. A word of warning, I use the 300/4 +MC-20 a lot, in fact, mostly. Good light is necessary because you are down to f8. I have it wide open all the time. I notice no degradation using the MC-20 but it is a beast to handle, not because of the weight, but finding the target with that 1200mm FF equivalent reach. It takes a lot of practice and a strong steady left arm. Don't be disheartened, just practice and practice. The synced body and lens IS is magic.

Yes! It's an amazing combo and a real handful. Even on a tripod with gimbal the tiniest nudge sends the field of view to the next county. The moon shoots across the frame pretty quickly, too.

 

[alcelc]

The only rub is that if the lens itself has stabilization, then that stabilization of the lens can only be paired with a camera body of the same brand. So the OM/Olympus body with a 12-100 lens can use dual stabilization. But if you mount a Panasonic lens then you can use either IBIS of the body, or OIS of the lens, but not both at the same time. In most cases this is not an issue. The matched combo only brings about 1 stop more potential, which only makes a difference when one needs to really push things in poor light.

One of my two favorite lenses is the PL 8-18 used on my EM1 which performs perfectly!!! Lots of people use the Panasonic 100-400 on their Olympus bodies, and choose either IBIS or OIS. The later bodies have the better IBIS so that tends to be the better option.

Interestingly the Olympus 12-100/4.0 on Panasonic bodies shuts any Panasonic IBIS down and prefers its lens IS.

I think this is actually the IS policy used by Panny.

Panny uses a policy of the best IS the gear will support or no IS. Its priority is:

DUAL IS 2 > DUAL IS > lens IS > IBIS. (Panny out IBIS at the last of the priority).

Therefore when a non DUAL IS supported IS lens, e.g. 12-100 f/4 is mounted on Panny, lens IS will be used or no IS. It is the handling of Panny, nothing related to the 12-100. Unlike Olympus, it offers an option for shooter to select using either lens IS or IBIS (not sure how it deal with Synchronized IS).

A summary on the IS of Panny is as below:

Luckily lens IS is pretty good whether it is Olympus or Panasonic lens IS.

It is true for the type of frame by frame Still shooting.

But for video, IBIS could be more efficient (smoother result) for the type of continuous shooting, specially on run and gun.

Makes using camera bodies that don't have IBIS pretty stable platforms.

Could try an Olympus body with IBIS shut down whilst using a Panasonic lens IS - not sure that any real practical difference might be noticed.

20 years of only lens IS hardly slowed down the appreciation of the dslr body type.

--
Albert
** Please forgive my typo error.
** Please feel free to download my image and edit it as you like **

 

[alcelc]

Interested to hear your impression and experiences.

Panasonic lenses do work, they are recognised and AF works. Only extended functions do not.

• Buttons and aperture rings might not work across brands
• in-lens-stabilisation works but only on its own, not in conjunction with a cross-brand body;

I think it is better to say the DUAL IS (called by Panny) and Synchronized IS (called by Olympus) is not cross platform supported.

However for Olympus cameras, shooter has an option to use either Lens IS or IBIS. Therefore OP can select to use either IBIS or lens IS when an IS Panny lens is mounted on his OM camera.

This might not interest OP, but lens iS of Olympus lens is also supported on Panny camera. However Panny does not allow shooter to select using which IS, only according to a priority list (DUAL IS 2 > DUAL IS > lens IS > IBIS).

• Pro capture works on all Olympus lenses; on Panasonic you have to use ordinary burst;

• Focus bracketing works but focus stacking-in-body only works on a few Olympus lenses.

 

[drj3]

I don't have the 12-40, but I do have the 300mm with both TCs. My tests indicate the MC14 images are somewhat better than a crop and the MC20 images are far better than a crop even when shot at 2 stops higher ISO.

The dual stabilization with the 300mm f4 works extremely well. I routinely shoot it with the MC20 down to 1/10 second. I use the MC20 with the 300mm about 80% of the time. My CAF burst shooting is at 20 fps with IS Priority (effective rate 7-10 fps), since I am often shooting a very low shutter speeds.

 

[G Pik]

Thanks to everyone for your replies, much appreciated.

 

[techie takes pics]

Interested to hear your impression and experiences.

Panasonic lenses do work, they are recognised and AF works. Only extended functions do not.

• Buttons and aperture rings might not work across brands
• in-lens-stabilisation works but only on its own, not in conjunction with a cross-brand body;
• Pro capture works on all Olympus lenses; on Panasonic you have to use ordinary burst;
• Focus bracketing works but focus stacking-in-body only works on a few Olympus lenses.

I don't have a P. lens to test with but are you absolutely sure about your third point?

I use pro cap low and high on an E-M5 III and an E-M1 III using old, c. 1980, 35mm manual focus lenses with no electrical contacts whatsoever. The major difference between Pro Cap and normal sequence is that the photos are not saved to SD until the shutter is fully pressed. I don't see why O. would intentionally disable it for non-O. lenses (but wouldn't be surprised).

You are right, it is only Pro Cap Low that does not work on AF lenses that are not Olympus. It does work on adapted prime lenses, and pro-cap high works on everything.

It is probably the focussing between shots that does not work off-brand. Vintage lenses don't have AF, hence no problem.

 

[Bassam Guy]

Interested to hear your impression and experiences.

Panasonic lenses do work, they are recognised and AF works. Only extended functions do not.

• Buttons and aperture rings might not work across brands
• in-lens-stabilisation works but only on its own, not in conjunction with a cross-brand body;
• Pro capture works on all Olympus lenses; on Panasonic you have to use ordinary burst;
• Focus bracketing works but focus stacking-in-body only works on a few Olympus lenses.

I don't have a P. lens to test with but are you absolutely sure about your third point?

I use pro cap low and high on an E-M5 III and an E-M1 III using old, c. 1980, 35mm manual focus lenses with no electrical contacts whatsoever. The major difference between Pro Cap and normal sequence is that the photos are not saved to SD until the shutter is fully pressed. I don't see why O. would intentionally disable it for non-O. lenses (but wouldn't be surprised).

You are right, it is only Pro Cap Low that does not work on AF lenses that are not Olympus. It does work on adapted prime lenses, and pro-cap high works on everything.

It is probably the focussing between shots that does not work off-brand. Vintage lenses don't have AF, hence no problem.

What if you are in MF mode with a Panny lens?

 

[ahaslett]

Interested to hear your impression and experiences.

Panasonic lenses do work, they are recognised and AF works. Only extended functions do not.

• Buttons and aperture rings might not work across brands
• in-lens-stabilisation works but only on its own, not in conjunction with a cross-brand body;
• Pro capture works on all Olympus lenses; on Panasonic you have to use ordinary burst;
• Focus bracketing works but focus stacking-in-body only works on a few Olympus lenses.

I don't have a P. lens to test with but are you absolutely sure about your third point?

I use pro cap low and high on an E-M5 III and an E-M1 III using old, c. 1980, 35mm manual focus lenses with no electrical contacts whatsoever. The major difference between Pro Cap and normal sequence is that the photos are not saved to SD until the shutter is fully pressed. I don't see why O. would intentionally disable it for non-O. lenses (but wouldn't be surprised).

You are right, it is only Pro Cap Low that does not work on AF lenses that are not Olympus. It does work on adapted prime lenses, and pro-cap high works on everything.

It is probably the focussing between shots that does not work off-brand. Vintage lenses don't have AF, hence no problem.

OP may find "Pro Cap Low" confusing, since the OM1 only has Pro Cap, Pro Cap SH1 and Pro Cap SH2.

Pro Cap SH2 focusses before each shot and attempts to AF any lens up to 25fps. For a defined set of Olympus lenses, it goes up to 50fps.

Pro Cap only works with Olympus lenses.

Andrew