Old Manual Lenses!

Chance White

Chance White

Well-known member
I found an Opteka 85mm 1.4 for 250 bucks on Amazon. There are several other cheap manuals. These seem like great deals. Anyone have any experience with Opteka lenses?

Any other cool manual lens suggestions?
 
Equipment Section~

Old lenses are fun. I'm going to have some footage up from Takumar glass soon and some choices for people to look ati.

These things are all about fun, might as well buy cheap glass and see where it gets you.
 
I'd stick to the camera brands (Nikon, Pentax, Olympus) if possible. Old Vivitar Series 1 lenses are also decent.

I'd say that anything else is a crap-shoot. But honestly, there's hardly such a thing as a "bad lens." All modern lenses (even old manual ones) are more than acceptably sharp, are of decent speed, and can render a decent image. Even super-cheap lenses made out of plastic instead of glass can produce OK images. Dirty and scratched lenses perform just fine. The only bad lenses, besides broken ones, are ones infected with fungus.

But the better brands will produce nicer images. That's what makes the difference. $250 seems like an awful lot for an old third-party lens.
 
I recommend KEH. Seriously consider the "BGN"-grade lenses. They're about the same condition as most of the stuff that you'll find on eBay, including many that sellers claim to be "excellent." BGN lenses will have noticeable cosmetic blemishes on the lens barrels; mechanics might be rougher; and there might be some light scratches and/or dust. But scratches and dust don't have a noticeable effect on images. In case you're skeptical, look at these eye-opening results:
http://www.deansphotographica.com/deans_of_idaho/old_stuff_pages/dirtylenstest/dirtylenstest.html
http://kurtmunger.com/dirty_lens_articleid35.html
http://www.certo6.com/gallery/planar.html
 
i've bought from keh in the past... enjoy them a lot. while you may pay a bit more than ebay or whatever for used stuff, you get the peace of mind in knowing that what you buy is going to be of the quality grade they say it is.

later,
Jason
 
Okay so I found some great lenses on KEH, mostly old Canon manual lenses. My question is, based on my research, I've read that it is kind of hit or miss regarding if you can even focus or not. So is it really a safe bet to by old manual lenses? How do I know they will be usable for video?

For instance I found a Canon 50mm 1.2 manual lens (SSC whatever that means) at a great price but can I be sure it's going to work?
 
Opteka 85mm

Opteka 85mm

A friend of mine swears by this lens.

also, I have the option of grabbing the canon 50mm 1.4 usm and the 85mm 1.8 usm for a great price. These are AF of course, is there a downside to the AF lenses being used for video? Should I get the manual lenses instead?
 
Chance White said:
Okay so I found some great lenses on KEH, mostly old Canon manual lenses. My question is, based on my research, I've read that it is kind of hit or miss regarding if you can even focus or not. So is it really a safe bet to by old manual lenses? How do I know they will be usable for video?

For instance I found a Canon 50mm 1.2 manual lens (SSC whatever that means) at a great price but can I be sure it's going to work?
Click to expand...
Just don't buy Canon manual focus lenses. Why buy Canon? Nikon is the best all-around choice because it offers the greatest compatibility with other camera brands.

Only long lenses will be usable. I had a Canon FD 35mm f/2.0, and it was only able to focus a few inches in front of the camera. A 50mm lens will maybe do a couple of feet. The adapter didn't allow the aperture ring to work either.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top