Don Ravine on adapting MFT lenses on L-mount cameras
Don ravine posted this interesing report on our L-mount facebook group:
There have been people asking if they could adapt a micro four thirds lens to the L mount. Personally, I can’t think why you’d want to as the two systems have nothing in common but, hey, people love to experiment!
So … I grabbed a m4/3 lens and simply held it flush against my only L-mount body. This lens is a prototype Noktor 12mm (which later was sold under the SLR Magic name). It has manual focus and aperture, which bypasses all the electronic issues you’d face with most m4/3 lenses.
With focus set on infinity and lens held tight against the body, focus was achieved at only 9 inches. That effect would be less with longer focal lengths but nothing would achieve even close to infinity focus.
Even on APSC, there is significant vignetting, as you’d expect. However, the image circle on that particular lens is tighter than most so other lenses may be better in that regard. Good news is that the lens misses the electronic contacts and there is no mechanical interference. Bad news is that any adaptor has to lift the lens even further from the mount. On a positive note, colour, contrast and sharpness near the centre were stellar on my test pic!
In conclusion, it can be done but it’s only ever going to work for macro. Further, only the mechanical lenses (Voigtlander and the like) will have any real chance of controlling aperture or focus.
