Can Olympus lenses be adapted to a Pentax K camera?
Asked 1/1/2015
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I found some Olympus lenses at an estate sale and want to know if they can be used on a Pentax camera. Does Pentax make an adapter for Olympus lenses, and if not, what are the options? I'm especially interested in whether infinity focus and metering will still work.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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Pentax doesn't, because Pentax doesn't make any adaptors for other people's lenses. However, assuming this is an old Olympus OM lens, you can get a third-party adaptor — for example, this $40 one from FotodioX.
Note that the flange focal distance of the K mount is 45.46mm, while that of the Olympus OM mount is 46mm. In order for an adapter to be a simple, glassless affair, it would need to be just 0.54mm thick — clearly impossible. So, these adapters are going to need to have glass elements in order to focus to infinity. That means there will be some image quality loss (maybe a lot, from cheap adapters), and inherently, the adapter doesn't provide aperture information to the body, meaning you'll need to use the green button to meter.
An alternative would be to have the lens itself changed. You'll still need to do stop-down metering, but no glass will be involved. If the lenses are really nice (and there were some very nice OM lenses!) this might be worth it.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Pentax does not make an adapter for Olympus lenses.
If your lenses are older Olympus OM lenses, third-party options exist, but OM-to-Pentax K is a difficult adaptation. The OM mount’s flange distance is only about 0.54mm longer than Pentax K, so a simple metal adapter is not practical if you want infinity focus. Most adapters therefore need an optical element, which acts a bit like a teleconverter and can reduce image quality.
With these adapters, the lens will also be fully manual: no electronic aperture communication, and metering may require stop-down metering using the camera’s green button.
A better option for OM lenses is sometimes a mount replacement kit, such as those made by third parties, which replaces the lens mount rather than adding an adapter.
If the lenses are newer Olympus digital lenses rather than OM film-era lenses, compatibility depends on the exact mount, so identify the lens mount first before buying anything.
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