Rebel T3i and Olympus lenses

[slag]

I recently bought an EOS Rebel T3i combo on black friday and have been taking a lot of shots. I really like the camera, and then my dad mentioned to me he has an old Olympus OMG camera from the 80's and a lot of lenses for it. He said if they would fit, I could have them...

soo....

I just bought the adapter off amazon.com for my camera to accept the lenses. Was this a good move, or should I have stuck with the Canon lenses? Will the quality of the older lenses be on par or better than the canon ones? I'm a newbie to the DLSR world, but figured for $15.00 for the adapter, the Olympus lenses might be fun to play around with.

 

[tfinch2]

Depends on the lenses. Some of the old Zuiko OM mount lenses are great.

 

[ElFenix]

a lot of the olympus OM primes are pretty legendary.

 

[slag]

So what should I look for when going through his lenses?

 

[fralexandr]

the biggest advantages of going with newer lenses is autofocus, image/optical stabilization, and coating.
sticking with the same make (Canon) would also probably allow for some auto-correction of distortion/CA/etc in-camera.

Other than that, lenses are EXPENSIVE, $15 for the ability to use a few lenses is a deal (unless it's an old fungusy/cracked/beater cheapo old 50mm f2.0)

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I would look for some prime lenses to play with, and if he has any focal ranges you are missing such as extreme telephoto (400mm+, 50mm prime, 24mm prime, etc). You aren't likely to find ultrawide angle on old lenses (due to Full Frame sensors), though you might find a fisheye.

You could just ask your dad which his favorite lenses were (if he remembers).
If he doesn't use them anymore, I'm sure he'd want them to go on taking pretty pictures.

 

[blastingcap]

never turn down free lenses if they are good.. and a lot of those lenses were good back then and might still be good now. Some of the higher-MP digital sensors demand more out of lenses than film.

 

[Kanalua]

Either way, you can't lose for free (and just a $15 investment in an adapter)!

Check this out, too: http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=96.0

 

[Scooby Doo]

Sometimes older lenses can be quite surprising, especially for the price!

Don't forget to look at older Pentax K and M42 alone with manual Nikkers. Avoid Canon FD/FL and Minolta's not adaptable without major modifications.

 

[slag]

Either way, you can't lose for free (and just a $15 investment in an adapter)!

Check this out, too: http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=96.0

This is the adapter I purchased.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ls_o00_s00_i00

 

[SecurityTheatre]

You obviously don't get autofocus. This can be a problem on newer cameras, especially APS-C crop-frame with their tiny tiny dim viewfinders.

An old manual focus camera will have a really nice prism viewfinder with a focusing screen, etc. The modern camera has no such benefits which makes it hard for me to use MF lenses with any precision.

Also, using old plastic lenses just isn't worth it. The optical formulas from the 80s and prior just don't meet quality standards for high-resolution digital sensors. Very few zoom lenses from prior to the mid-1980s is going to be doing a comparable job to the cheap kit lenses of today.

A few of the really high-end pro lenses might be an exception, and many simple prime lenses are still great... Just be aware.