The Vintage Lens Thread

kostas said:
Sure, faster is better, and some vintage lenses that indicate f 3.5 tend to be actually closer to f 3.8 or f 4.0 which is slow, but when budget is a concern, half a stop of light (from 2.8 to 3.5) could be well compensated by cranking up the ISO by half a stop.
Unless you are already shooting all the time at f=2.8 and ISO=1600.

Regarding the Samyang 14mm, it is a trully brilliant lens on full frame, especially for photography. Sharp and fast, wide wide wide.
However, the strange moustache type distortion (that cannot be corrected in video) makes it a bit awkward to use for videography. Even on crop sensor.
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What moustache distortion are you talking about? I was planning on buying it for my events. It looks fine in this footage I do not see any problem http://youtu.be/eSrhCwo74tI.
 
Of course on crop sensor the problem is less pronounced. So you could probably just be ok with it. But I have also seen some footage where there was a bit of distortion at times. Most probably with the right frame composition you will get amazing results nonetheless...
 
There's an awful lot of information here.

If I were looking for a few primes for cheap to fit a T3i for video, at 1.4 or 1.8 (the former preferred), what would you suggest? I know I'd like to start with a 50mm, but what other values would you recommend for a set of primes?
 
I have a... well, what can only be referred to as a pile of vintage lenses. I know very little about them; I'm a videographer, I don't shoot stills, but I got them in a trade.

I was wondering if any would be on any use to me with a Canon T3i, native or using an adapter, or if I should sell them to someone who'd get me use out of them.

I have...


Yashica Yashinon DX 45mm 1.7
Koron 70-210mm 4.5 macro 1:4
Yashica 75-150mm 1:4
Yashica ML 50mm 1:1.9
Takumar 70-210mm 1:4-5.6
Takumar 28-80mm 1:3.5-4.5
Minolta Five Star MC 35-75 1:3.5-4.8
Minolta Five Star MC 75-200mm 1:4.5
Rikonon 135mm 2.8
Rikonon 50mm 1:2
 
I'm looking for a Nikon to Canon adapter. Are there any other "features" I can get besides focus confirmation? Is this the best adapter to get if I want one with a chip (it was posted earlier in this thread)? http://amzn.to/vhhAZj
 
pulp said:
I have a... well, what can only be referred to as a pile of vintage lenses. I know very little about them; I'm a videographer, I don't shoot stills, but I got them in a trade.

I was wondering if any would be on any use to me with a Canon T3i, native or using an adapter, or if I should sell them to someone who'd get me use out of them.

I have...


Yashica Yashinon DX 45mm 1.7
Koron 70-210mm 4.5 macro 1:4
Yashica 75-150mm 1:4
Yashica ML 50mm 1:1.9
Takumar 70-210mm 1:4-5.6
Takumar 28-80mm 1:3.5-4.5
Minolta Five Star MC 35-75 1:3.5-4.8
Minolta Five Star MC 75-200mm 1:4.5
Rikonon 135mm 2.8
Rikonon 50mm 1:2
Click to expand...

You'll have to figure out what mount they are first. Are they Canon FD, Nikon F, C/Y, etc., etc.?
 
That's a good question. That I'm uncertain of. Would they make the same lens in the same values with varying mounts?

I read the entire thread... I have a list of possible lenses as long as my arm. That said, aside from maybe the MCs, none of my lenses were really mentioned.

Here are then cameras and lenses I picked up today, just for fun, as you can't read the values and info on all the lenses.



Now it's time to figure out what's worth keeping and what I should get rid of.

http://imgur.com/a/0u90K#0


Here's another good question: with these 50mm, there's often not much room for the focus ring... So what do you do when using a follow focus? This was mentioned earlier, but not a lot came of it.
 
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Looks like you have a couple of Yashica MLs in there, and those have definitely been mentioned. LINK (Not sure about the Yashica DX, never tried them.)

As for the Minolta lenses, they've also been mentioned and are most likely the Minolta mount which requires an adapter with an extra glass element. That's not terribly ideal as it means loss of light and loss of infinity focus.


pulp said:
Now it's time to figure out what's worth keeping and what I should get rid of.

http://imgur.com/a/0u90K#0
Click to expand...

Looks like you've picked up some stuff that's in pretty rough condition. If the lenses aren't clean with smooth action, then there's no point in hanging on to them (especially if there's oil on the aperture blades, or lots of dirt inside the lens).

pulp said:
Here's another good question: with these 50mm, there's often not much room for the focus ring... So what do you do when using a follow focus? This was mentioned earlier, but not a lot came of it.
Click to expand...

I have the Yashica ML 50mm f/2 (pretty much the same as the f/1.9) and my lens gears fit perfectly on the focus ring.
 
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Thanks for the post. The lenses seem pretty alright, at least as far as fluidity and the glass being clean (though they could use wiped down), the bags look terrible though. They were all from an antique store that was going out of business, and they just had wall-to-wall stuff, so much junk he couldn't even get to it to sell it. It's taken them two months to sell off all the stuff.

So I guess the Minoltas are out, the Yachicas I should give a better look at.
 
Hey, I'm hoping someone can point me in the direction of a reliable seller for a couple of adapters I need. I just got my T3i a couple of days ago and I want to try out a few of my old SLR Praktica lenses.

It looks like the two adapters I need would be a M42>EF and a PB>EF.

Has anyone had some good experiences with these types of adapters and somewhere they could recommend that I buy from? I've read quite a few reports of people having trouble with adapters not fitting right or having issues with infinity focus and would like to avoid running into the same problems.

Thanks for any help!
 
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Thank very much Abe. Would you recommend the AF confirm over the un-chipped adapters, is there a big advantage?
 
T3i. Why is that, do you think?

I also just picked up these. It's hard to tell about any of them really, but for that price, if one works, I'm good.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LENMAR-COLI...23498142218&autorefresh=true&autorefresh=true

EDIT: I just read about the EOS/FD issue. Guess that'd be pointless.

I also just had someone suggest that a lot, or even all, of those "lenses" I just purchased were adapters. I'm hoping at least one or two are of use to me. Anyone wanna take a look?
 
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I picked up a T3i recently (its in delivery at the moment). I'm hoping to use a bunch of old Nikon mount Primes that I have lying around with it.

I ordered a Fotodiox Pro adapter to use them.

I read somewhere that some vintage nikons will interfere with the mirror in the DSLR - is there any way to find out if there will be a problem (I don't want to try it and damage it)?

The lenses are:

Vivitar 28mm f2 (nikon mount)
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-O 35mm f2
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4
Helios 81M 55mm f2 (nikon mount)
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-O 85mm f1.8

Anyone use any of these era lenses with Canon DSLR's?
 
simonpwood said:
I picked up a T3i recently (its in delivery at the moment). I'm hoping to use a bunch of old Nikon mount Primes that I have lying around with it.

I ordered a Fotodiox Pro adapter to use them.

I read somewhere that some vintage nikons will interfere with the mirror in the DSLR - is there any way to find out if there will be a problem (I don't want to try it and damage it)?

The lenses are:

Vivitar 28mm f2 (nikon mount)
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-O 35mm f2
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-S 50mm f1.4
Helios 81M 55mm f2 (nikon mount)
Nippon Kogaku Nikkor-O 85mm f1.8

Anyone use any of these era lenses with Canon DSLR's?
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I'm under the impression that any F-mount lens will work fine on a T3i. I think what you were reading was referring to the full-frame mirror on the 5D, which might collide with lenses that have elements too close. The same is true of Canon's own EF-S lenses (which are made for APS-C cameras)- you can't use them on the EF full frame cameras due to the possibility of damaging your mirror, however vice versa is fine.

Nippon Kogaku is just the original name for Nikon, isn't it? Do you have lenses that were made in occupied Japan or something? Because that would be some serious vintage!
Meanwhile, the Nikkor 50 F/1.4 is a staple around here, and one of the most recommended vintage lenses I can think of.
I also have the Vivitar 28 F/2, but I'll be honest- Its my least favorite lens. The color and sharpness of it just don't impress me the way Nikkor lenses do.
I don't have personal experience with the others, but I don't think there is anything to be concerned about.
 
M. Gilden said:
I'm under the impression that any F-mount lens will work fine on a T3i. I think what you were reading was referring to the full-frame mirror on the 5D, which might collide with lenses that have elements too close. The same is true of Canon's own EF-S lenses (which are made for APS-C cameras)- you can't use them on the EF full frame cameras due to the possibility of damaging your mirror, however vice versa is fine.

Nippon Kogaku is just the original name for Nikon, isn't it? Do you have lenses that were made in occupied Japan or something? Because that would be some serious vintage!
Meanwhile, the Nikkor 50 F/1.4 is a staple around here, and one of the most recommended vintage lenses I can think of.
I also have the Vivitar 28 F/2, but I'll be honest- Its my least favorite lens. The color and sharpness of it just don't impress me the way Nikkor lenses do.
I don't have personal experience with the others, but I don't think there is anything to be concerned about.
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OK, thanks!

No, I think the Nikkor lenses were made in the late 1960's - they have the large knurled silver ring on them (though I wish they were from the 40's). Pretty sure there are some more in a box in the attic somewhere....
 
Hey M. Gilden,

Any input about the lens lot I bought earlier? I asked the seller for a specific list of what's there, but...
 
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