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Question:
I have an Olympus DSLR two-lens kit. What other lenses are available for it? Can I use lenses from my 35mm SLR?
Answer:
Olympus DSLRs are built around a proprietary lens mount and sensor size based on the Four-Thirds Standard—a digital photographic standard developed by Olympus to produce lenses that yield optimum image quality using a unique digital sensor size. Lenses for 35mm film cameras may not produce the best results with a digital sensor because the way the image was projected by the lens onto film could not meet the demands of a digital sensor. For a greater understanding of the technology behind the Four Thirds Standard, go to http://www.four-thirds.org/en/.
Your Olympus DSLR is part of a camera system called the E-System. A camera system is a group of camera bodies, lenses and accessories that are compatible throughout the system. In the E-System, any Four Thirds mount lens can be used with any Four Thirds mount camera body. Some accessories—such as some flash equipment-- may be restricted to use with specific camera bodies (professional bodies) or specific lenses (macro lenses).
> Get more information about Olympus ZUIKO Digital™ lenses for the Olympus E-System
If you have ZUIKO lenses from the Olympus 35mm OM SLR system, they can be used on a Four Thirds DSLR when mounted with the MF-1 OM Adapter.
Micro Four Thirds lenses may not be used on a Four-Thirds camera body, but Four Thirds lenses can be used on a Micro Four Thirds camera body (such as the Olympus PEN M-P1) when mounted with the MMF-1 (Four Thirds Lens Adapter to Micro Four Thirds Lens Adapter).
Olympus OM System Zuiko lenses can be mounted on a Micro Four Thirds camera body using the MF-2 OM Adapter (OM to Micro Four Thirds Adapter).
There may be third-party adapters available to mount other brand 35mm SLR lenses to a Four Thirds or Micro Four Thirds body in a fashion similar to the Olympus adapters, but lenses with an automatic aperture and autofocus are not practical because they cannot communicate with the Four Thirds camera body's firmware. In addition, the optical quality of 35mm lenses may produce poor results when used with a Four Thirds sensor, notably lack of corner-to-corner image sharpness and vignetting.
Archive - E-System:
- Advantages of digital lenses
- Transferring your photos to a CD
- Printing the date on your photos
- Best image sizes for emailing
- Lens connections and F-stop
- Indoor sports photos
- AF illuminator and camera flashes
- Camera locks up while shooting closeups
- Taking photos of the Northern Lights
- Shooting in cold weather
- Pixel Mapping
- Waterfall and Stream Effects
- Camera unable to secure autofocus
- Night sports photos
- Can I use a teleconverter with my kit lens?
- What is MY MODE?
- Saving Your Camera Settings
- What does the Fn button do?
- Tips for shooting holiday lights outdoors
- Tips about memory card usage
- The purpose of IMAGE ASPECT when shooting?
- Tips for digitizing 35mm color slides
- Double exposures and xD card questions
- Taking better indoor photos
- Shooting in RAW
- Battery charging guidelines
- E-System Compatibility
- Cleaning your mirror box
- Studio Lighting
- Tricks for manually focusing
- Focusing E-System cameras in low light
- P, A, S and M modes
- Keeping a zoom lens steady
- What lenses can I use with my DSLR?
- High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography
- Post-processing color controls in OLYMPUS Master
- How do I use bracketing modes?
- Save a zoomed playback image
- How can CONTRAST, SHARPNESS and
SATURATION be applied creatively? - Shooting indoors in the winter
- What does the GRADATION feature in the menu do?
- Using OM-System lenses and accessories
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Please note: Questions submitted to Olympus will not receive individual responses.
If you have a specific tech support issue for which you need immediate assistance, please contact our technical support group by sending an email to distec@cs.olympus.com, or by calling 1-888-55-DIGITAL.

