One of the greatest aspects of mirrorless cameras is that you can adapt just about any SLR lens to them, making it easy to take full advantage of decades worth of lenses to explore your creativity or find an often much more affordable alternative to modern lenses. Are they worth the cost and effort, though? This great video discusses the issue.
Coming to you from Carey West, this interesting video discusses using older lenses on modern cameras. One thing that I think is important when adapting older lenses is managing your expectations. Without a doubt, they will almost never compare to even a middle-of-the-road modern lens in terms of technical image quality. However, they often have a lot more "character," namely the different combinations of optical imperfections inherent in various deigns and manufacturing processes that lend a certain lens a certain rendering that can be used to creative effect. And as cheap as many older lenses are, you can usually afford to enjoy a bit of creative exploration without breaking the bank. The major drawback is that most such lenses are manual focus only, but with the assistance features on many modern mirrorless cameras, they are easier than ever to use. Check out the video above for the full rundown from West.
Doesn't really say much. It is one lens. Is it a good copy of the lens? I can't find this lens online after several minutes of searching. Vivitars I've found with the same specs don't match the design of this lens. And I see no Telesors. There are some Telesars, but they don't seem to match. It may not be a Vivitar copy.
And what good is it to come to a conclusion with one lens? As I asked above, is it a good or bad copy of the lens? Zooms of the past tend to be more inferior to present day zooms than primes of the past compared to modern primes. And modern zooms are not always as good as modern primes. Since I can't find a Vivitar that matches this design, it may not be a Vivitar. Let's not assume Vivitar sucks. The Series 1 lenses were pretty good, though they seemed to go downhill at some point. For instance the first five versions of the 70-210mm f3.5 and f4.0 for decent lenses. After that Series 1 labeled lenses were not as good. Change in Vivitar ownership? Change in manufacturer/s? Those first five version in this example were put out by four companies.
What about old lenses from the camera manufacturers? Stick to the big names. Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Pentax and the like. Their lenses, zoom or prime, tended to be much better than most third party lenses.
A single copy of a third party (and not even one of the better companies) lens, and a zoom at that does not make a compelling reason to judge if old lenses are useful. I still use my old Zuiko lenses. The most useful is my 50mm macro since I have no modern macro. I can't complain about image quality. Maybe gear heads will complain about technical issues. I look at the overall image, and if it is pleasing, I don't sweat the small stuff.
This is a bit of a pointless question to ask. The fact that old lenses offer vintage character and not clinical perfection is the whole point of them. They are for people who want something different to modern clinical lenses and the obvious digital look and will be relatively affordable. Lot's of photographers adapt vintage lenses and learn to cope with manual focus too. Asking are they any good depends on people's view on character over clinical perfection, manual lenses vs autofocus and adapting vs native mount. Yes they are good if you want some cheapish manual lenses with character and don't mind adapting otherwise you will stay clear.
I'd put my older Nikon glass up against new Nikon glass any day!
I’m getting ready to watch this . But I love the character of many older lenses. Character of old glass doesn’t mean it’s perfect but has characteristics that give it something special and specific. It doesn’t have to have that perfect “look” jus a look that gives it something special on for specific.
Here's where Pentax cameras shine. I can use vintage lenses on my camera to.get nostalgic looking shots. I can also use old 600mm telephoto lenses for wildlife shots astrophotography. All shots with these lenses is autofocus and most of the shots I take with my old lens collection are completely manual. There is an option on my Pentax K3 II that will allow me to enter the focal length of the lens and all I need to manually control is focus, but with my old collection I prefer to control ISO, exposure time, etc.
This video is not going to be enough for someone who's interested in vintage lenses. Hopefully that person will do more research and just skip this one.
I've used tons of vintage lenses on Sony A-mount and also the current E-mount. None of them capture "perfect" images but they can produce a ton of detail and color.
You have to do more than watch a video like this.
I have all my '70's Canon FD lenses. I used them for a year on my A7s in '14 when I went Sony only using the FD lenses and my Canon EF-S from my T2i both using a $20 adapter. First Sony only had a few lenses at the start but also could not afford more than 1. Sony mod 1's and 2's have on camera apps one is Lens Compensation that lets you record lenses Focal Length, FNumber, etc. to a metadata file. Lets you also have a list of lenses to recall this info when you use the lens again. Also you can adjust the image in different ways to make it look better using say graph paper and the just the image you want to shoot. I did a capture of my first Lunar Eclipse over the Sidney Lanier bridge in October 8, '14 using the Canon FD 100 to 300mm lens . Also some sunrises using a Canon EF-S. and a Shrimp Boat at Anchor Canon FD lens 100 mm to 300 mm @300 mm @ f/8 ISO 1000 5 frames +/- 2 ev, yes A7s was only Mod 1 that had 5 at +/- 3EV.
Advantage of the old FD lens is the old prism filters, lenses are all fast glass like the 14mm f/2.8L, FD 20mm f/2.8 S.S.C, New FD 24mm f/1.4L, New FD 50mm f/1.2L, New FD 85mm f/1.2L, New FD 135mm f/2. Mainly for handheld shooting but on a digital with high ISO's like magic on the back LCD instead of waiting a week.
Many today have a layer of film on the inside glass but there is away to fix without taking apart, Mine were mainly in A/C or out of the outdoors while in storage area.
Yes the great Mod 2's like A7Rii and A7sii have the apps or you can download.
Personally I have never seen any distortion or lens imperfections. Also you may have to focus yourself but that does not hurt that much and if you got a good eye no problem.
and for those who can pick up a low cost Sony camera and some basic primes and a telephoto they could sell images to buy the new glass.
This isn't remotely informative. How old are we talking? How about the well-loved 70-200 VR released in 2003? Its a fantastic sharp lens that works very well for a lot of people. A used model can be found on ebay at 1/3 the price of the current Z model new.
Yes for photographers, no for content creators.
Odd comment. I used to make videos with a couple of other people and we regularly used old vintage lenses.