The Olympus E-System uses a chip that is 18mm x 13.5mm, providing a field of view that is approximately half that of a traditional film body. This means that your 50mm lens effectively becomes a 100mm. The positive side of this is that you get improved telephoto reach, however this does come at the expense of wide angle coverage. The widest Minolta manual focus rectilinear lens is the 17mm f/4, which on the E-300 would become a not-so wide 34mm. Additionally, the 17mm is hard to find and can be expensive.

While this may be an issue if you were only using Minolta manual focus lenses, don't forget that Olympus also manufacture an inexpensive wide angle zoom that can be used if needed, providing coverage down to 28mm equivalent. The E-300 is available new on ebay with the standard 14-45mm lens for under US$400.

With the adaptor in place there is no linkage between the camera and the Minolta lens, and in fact the camera has no idea a lens is even attached. This means that the user must utilise stop down metering, and naturally manual focus.

When shooting at apertures other than wide open the user must accordingly focus at full aperture (for the brightest viewfinder), and then stop down to the preferred aperture using the lens aperture ring. This can naturally make the viewfinder dark at the moment prior to exposure if using an aperture of f/5.6 or smaller, but it is not a real imposition in practice.

With no lens to camera communication there is no way you can use shutter priority or program mode on the camera. Aperture Priority works quite well and manual is naturally always available. Unfortunately, in line with most modern cameras the E-300 uses a two-control system to adjust shutter speed in manual mode, with the user holding down a button and then adjusting the control wheel. While not as simple as the Minolta cameras we are used to, it is easy to become accustomed to with use. In aperture priority a similar system is used to activate the +/- EV adjustment.

I have not found stop down metering or stopping down before shooting a problem at all. If I am shooting landscapes I take my time and compose with the lens wide open before stopping down, if shooting action I usually use zone focusing and a wider aperture. The kit lens available for the E-300 (14-45mm) is f/5.6 at the 45mm end and as a result any Minolta prime of a similar length will allow for a brighter viewfinder and better depth of field control.

The focusing screen is not optimised for manual focusing and focusing in low light can be difficult. I have found that bracketing focus can help. In good light and particularly with faster lenses (f/2.8 and below) obtaining accurate focus is relatively simple.

I have used an extensive range on Minolta manual focus lenses on the E-300, and based upon my experiences I believe that any of Minolta lenses (excluding those requiring mirror lock-up) will work with this camera. My favourite lens is the MC 50mm f1.4 always known for its sharp center, the camera feels well balanced and easy to use with this lens. My second favourite is the MD 100mm f4 macro, now a 200mm macro equivalent making it even easier to stalk butterflies.

Thanks go to Robert for his great review, photographs and time spent assisting me in getting this page available for publication. Robert has recently established a stock website called Imagetank, and if you are interested you can download for free from the site a wallpaper sized image of the E-300 surrounded by his collection of Minolta lenses. To do so simply click on the image below.