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Metabones C - M4/3 adapter
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 12:23 pm    Post subject: Metabones C - M4/3 adapter Reply with quote
I had my first C-mount lens experience today.

Recently I picked up a cheap C mount to M4/3 adapter. Measuring it I came to the conclusion that it was probably not deep enough and that any lens fitted to it wouldn't focus to infinity. So I then bought a Metabones C - M4/3 adapter figuring that this one would surely avoid any problems.

Today my first C mount lens arrived, a Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 16mm 1.9. Tiniest thing Smile

I mounted this Schneider lens on the Metabones adapter and mounted it to my Olympus E-M1 Mk.II camera. Sensor will not turn on. Tried it with my Olympus E-M5 Mk.II. Same problem, sensor will not engage. Next tried it with my Panasonic GX-7: works fine and does focus to infinity.

I have seen this problem of the sensor not turning on before with certain adapters on Olympus cameras: apparently there is a slight difference between Olympus and Panasonic in the pin that protrudes from the camera mount and slots into a gap on the mount side of the lens. If this pin doesn't slot into this gap all the way then the camera assumes the lens isn't mounted correctly and the sensor does not turn on; the picture is black, only showing the extra info like battery life, shots remaining on your card, EV settings, etc. Seeing the extra info you know that the camera is turned on and working. I guess that on the Panasonic this pin is just a little bit shorter and so does not cause a problem. What I had not expected was to run into this problem on a Metabones adapter. I guess Metabones tested it on a Panasonic and not on an Olympus.

Using the cheap adapter it will, as anticipated, not focus to infinity. Other than that no problems and it does mount correctly on both Olympus and Panasonic.

So warning: there is a strong possibility that the Metabones C to M4/3 adapter will not work on your Olympus M4/3 camera.

Regards, C.


PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 3:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Metabones C - M4/3 adapter Reply with quote
connloyalist wrote:
I had my first C-mount lens experience today.

Recently I picked up a cheap C mount to M4/3 adapter. Measuring it I came to the conclusion that it was probably not deep enough and that any lens fitted to it wouldn't focus to infinity. So I then bought a Metabones C - M4/3 adapter figuring that this one would surely avoid any problems.

Today my first C mount lens arrived, a Schneider Kreuznach Xenon 16mm 1.9. Tiniest thing Smile

I mounted this Schneider lens on the Metabones adapter and mounted it to my Olympus E-M1 Mk.II camera. Sensor will not turn on. Tried it with my Olympus E-M5 Mk.II. Same problem, sensor will not engage. Next tried it with my Panasonic GX-7: works fine and does focus to infinity.

I have seen this problem of the sensor not turning on before with certain adapters on Olympus cameras: apparently there is a slight difference between Olympus and Panasonic in the pin that protrudes from the camera mount and slots into a gap on the mount side of the lens. If this pin doesn't slot into this gap all the way then the camera assumes the lens isn't mounted correctly and the sensor does not turn on; the picture is black, only showing the extra info like battery life, shots remaining on your card, EV settings, etc. Seeing the extra info you know that the camera is turned on and working. I guess that on the Panasonic this pin is just a little bit shorter and so does not cause a problem. What I had not expected was to run into this problem on a Metabones adapter. I guess Metabones tested it on a Panasonic and not on an Olympus.

Using the cheap adapter it will, as anticipated, not focus to infinity. Other than that no problems and it does mount correctly on both Olympus and Panasonic.

So warning: there is a strong possibility that the Metabones C to M4/3 adapter will not work on your Olympus M4/3 camera.

Regards, C.


My MFT cameras are still all panasonic so the not turning on issue won't effect me.
Regarding infinity focus are your lenses nearly there or way off?

I've brought several lenses sold as c-mount that turned out to be cs-mount the only difference is a need to sit 5mm closer to the sensor! It should be possible to make a CS adapter for the Pentax Q (which has a tiny sensor & registration of 9.2mm) but as far as google can tell no-one sells them. Very few other cameras would be suitable for adapting cs-mount.
Other posibilities may be the rear of the lens is too wide for the adapter, or the lens could be one of the other weird c-mount varients such as the Bolex H8RX (15.31mm registration)

My c-mount lenses typically focus a little beyond infinity if mounted direct to an adapter & a thin shim is needed to get infinity to match the mark.


PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 2:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Metabones C - M4/3 adapter Reply with quote
DConvert wrote:

My MFT cameras are still all panasonic so the not turning on issue won't effect me.
Regarding infinity focus are your lenses nearly there or way off?

I've brought several lenses sold as c-mount that turned out to be cs-mount the only difference is a need to sit 5mm closer to the sensor! It should be possible to make a CS adapter for the Pentax Q (which has a tiny sensor & registration of 9.2mm) but as far as google can tell no-one sells them. Very few other cameras would be suitable for adapting cs-mount.
Other posibilities may be the rear of the lens is too wide for the adapter, or the lens could be one of the other weird c-mount varients such as the Bolex H8RX (15.31mm registration)

My c-mount lenses typically focus a little beyond infinity if mounted direct to an adapter & a thin shim is needed to get infinity to match the mark.


On the Panasonic, where both adapters work, using the Metabones infinity focus is very close. On the cheap adapter it will not focus to infinity; the adapter is too shallow. I measured the cheap adapter and found it to be about 1mm deeper than M4/3. So not enough. The Schneider lens itself is actually marked on the mount: 17.52mm.

Regards, Christine
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