I have an old 300mm prime M42 screw mount lens, and had the idea that it could be used on something like an E-520, giving me a relatively cheap DSLR with IS. The price would be that I would have to manually focus and set the aperture. The aperture is no problem, getting sufficient light is usually such a problem that it would probably be permamently on the widest setting anyway.
I bought an adapter off eBay for a few dollars, and headed off to the camera shop to try it out.
The first shop was fine with it, but wasn't able to advise on how to set the exposure on the camera. I was thinking I should set it to aperture priority, set the aperture setting on the camera to match whatever I've set it to on the lens, and then it would tell me what shutter speed I need to set.
I don't know if that's a bit naive, but they couldn't tell me how to do it, and didn't really seem to understand what I was trying to do. They kept insisting that because the lens wasn't digital, it "couldn't tell the camera how much light is getting through". I can understand that it can't tell the camera the lens settings, but I know lenses don't come with light meters.
I could take photos, but getting the exposure right was hit and miss. I was expecting at least a histogram I could look at while I adjusted the shutter speed. I wasn't going to waste my time or theirs going through the manual to work it out, so I went to another shop.
The second shop refused to let me put it on the camera. They said my adapter would damage their camera. They said I'd have to buy an Olympus adapter (for $200) to attach to my adapter (not directly to the lens). I expect that even if I was willing to do that, surely I'd be unable to focus to infinity. I guess he has a point that the aperture pin thing on the lens could bend or short out the contacts, but it did seem ok in the first shop (luckily).
Has anyone tried this? Does this work? If it does, what do you have to do with the camera to make it work? And can the camera be damaged?
I bought an adapter off eBay for a few dollars, and headed off to the camera shop to try it out.
The first shop was fine with it, but wasn't able to advise on how to set the exposure on the camera. I was thinking I should set it to aperture priority, set the aperture setting on the camera to match whatever I've set it to on the lens, and then it would tell me what shutter speed I need to set.
I don't know if that's a bit naive, but they couldn't tell me how to do it, and didn't really seem to understand what I was trying to do. They kept insisting that because the lens wasn't digital, it "couldn't tell the camera how much light is getting through". I can understand that it can't tell the camera the lens settings, but I know lenses don't come with light meters.
I could take photos, but getting the exposure right was hit and miss. I was expecting at least a histogram I could look at while I adjusted the shutter speed. I wasn't going to waste my time or theirs going through the manual to work it out, so I went to another shop.
The second shop refused to let me put it on the camera. They said my adapter would damage their camera. They said I'd have to buy an Olympus adapter (for $200) to attach to my adapter (not directly to the lens). I expect that even if I was willing to do that, surely I'd be unable to focus to infinity. I guess he has a point that the aperture pin thing on the lens could bend or short out the contacts, but it did seem ok in the first shop (luckily).
Has anyone tried this? Does this work? If it does, what do you have to do with the camera to make it work? And can the camera be damaged?