The Joy of Using Vintage Lenses on Modern Cameras

Modern lenses are perfectly sharp and crisp. But perfection is overrated and can be rather boring. I have a solution to add some character back into my photography and videos.

As a professional photographer, I’ve been pleased with how technology has helped improve digital cameras and lenses over the past 20 years. It’s certainly made my life easier.

I can clearly remember attempting to make the transition from film cameras to digital in 2004 and being frustrated that the image quality wasn’t good enough for many of my client assignments. I remember shooting magazine covers being a challenge. But as we reached the end of the Noughties, digital cameras became usable for most projects, and life was good. As a long-time Nikon user, I could use all my older pro-spec F-mount lenses I had accumulated in the 1990s when shooting on my trusty F5. Perfect.

Let's jump to 2022. This is when I realized there’s a huge problem. I’m now using a Z6 for photography and bought a Z9 for video. At this stage, I also have a Z50 as an everyday carry (EDC, as the kids say), and a bunch of wonderful Z-mount lenses. Yes, I’ve made the transition to mirrorless 100%. My F-mount lenses have a film of dust on them. So what’s the problem, I hear you ask?

I realized that all the camera manufacturers are making perfect or near-perfect lenses. It doesn’t matter what the brand is—they’re all designed and made by computer and create incredibly sharp, chromatic aberration-free, flare and ghost-free, perfect images. Everyone is producing technically perfect photographs that are clinically sharp, sterile, and all look the same. None of them appear to have any kind of personality. Don’t get me wrong; perfect images are a blessing when shooting products, where the rendering of crisp details is important. A perfectly sharp image is good for a lot of things—fashion, automotive, lifestyle, food, interiors, architecture. Clients love the results, so why am I complaining?

This started to be an issue the more I got into video and filmmaking. I’ve found clinically sharp images don’t cut it for me. I want some character, some personality. Crisp, sharp images don’t look very film-like, or dare I say it, “cinematic.” I started putting diffusion filters on all my lenses, and that worked really well. Then I started doing the same with my personal photography projects. I soon found myself dusting off my F-mount lenses, even some of my really old lenses from the 1970s, and began using them for both video work and photography. This became—excuse the hyperbole—a game-changer.

I wanted my work to stand out and be different. Vintage lenses were the answer. One might go so far as to say it became an addiction.

Why? Allow me to share a few thoughts:

There’s Beauty in Imperfection

Vintage lenses are full of imperfection, from soft edges, vignetting, unusual and sometimes weird bokeh, color shifts, and lens flare. You can create a distinct aesthetic in your photos—something modern lenses can’t do. The Japanese have an expression for embracing imperfection: wabi-sabi. I’ll take character over perfection any day.

For videography, vintage lenses offer a more organic, film-like look. Clinically perfect sharp lenses are used for making sample footage that is played on 4K TVs in stores. Do you want your video to look like that? I can’t imagine anyone wanting to, unless they enjoy documenting colorful tropical birds with a 600 mm lens and want to capture every single feather.

Build Quality

Vintage lenses tend to be better made. My old Japanese-made Nikkor lenses are made of metal and built like tanks. I've thrown them around, dropped them, and they keep on working. I’ve knocked or dropped two light plasticky Z-mount Nikon lenses over the past two years. They broke.

Affordability

New lenses are expensive. It’s possible to find an older lens with an equivalent focal range for a fraction of the cost of a new version, even premium quality German brands. 135 mm primes are a good example. A new one can cost a few thousand dollars. I have one from the 70s that you can pick up for $15!

Vintage lenses are getting popular now, and I’ve noticed prices for many have risen by huge amounts. It is still possible, though, to find them. Some brands are desirable and can fetch silly prices, but some brands are less trendy and people show no interest in them. I often find great lenses in junk stores and flea markets for $15-$50 that are fantastic bargains and offer lots of opportunities for experimentation and fun.

Usability 

There’s something rewarding about manually focusing a lens, and they’ve become my preferred choice. Maybe because it can mean slowing down, giving you time to think about what you’re doing, which can offer more creative control.

Some of my old lenses have incredibly smooth focus rings, and you can feel the quality of them as you focus. This hands-on experience makes them a pure joy to use.

The biggest advantage of older manual focus lenses is the distance markings on the barrel. I love street and travel photography, and set my focal distance using these markings. As I walk, I don’t need to think about focusing—I know the distance range that is in focus, and all I need to do is react to something and compose. Often I shoot from the hip, not looking through the viewfinder. You can’t do this with new focus-by-wire lenses that have no markings on them or even a manual mode switch.

Portability

A benefit of vintage lenses is their size and weight. They can be a fraction of the size of a modern counterpart, and despite being made of metal, still weigh a fraction of the weight too. This makes them perfect for travel and street photography, when you don’t want a huge lens drawing attention.

Adaptability

Using a lens from another manufacturer means a different mount, and in the past, this could be an issue. But no more. There are many companies making a huge variety of adapters.

Fancy a Leica vibe, without buying into the Leica system and selling your kidneys? No problem, there’s a mount adapter out there just for you. OK, even older Leica lenses might require the sale of one kidney. Fancy some crazy Cold War-era Soviet glass? Go for it. Want to try a really ancient rangefinder lens on your new mirrorless camera? Not a problem.

I Recently Mounted a 1920s Designed Lens on a 2020s Designed Camera

I have a Soviet-made Zorki 4K camera, with a Jupiter-8 50 mm f/2 lens on it. I’ve had it for a while—it came from a gentleman who owned it from new but barely used it. It’s in mint condition, not a mark on it. It cost $60. I would have happily paid that just for the lens.

The Zorki 4K is a copy of a Leica III from the 1930s. The Jupiter-8 lens is an exact copy of the German Zeiss Sonnar, invented in the 1920s and released with Zeiss Contax rangefinder cameras in the early 1930s, and it’s as good as the original. The Russians aren’t known for quality, so how come it’s so good? After the war, and when Germany was split up, the USSR controlled East Germany and got their hands on the Zeiss formulas and machinery. They started knocking them out first with a Contax mount—they nabbed that camera’s machinery too—and then a 39 mm threaded mount. Manufacturing continued up until the mid-1970s. One could argue this lens isn’t really a copy—it is a Zeiss Sonnar, going under a different name.

My camera and lens combo was made in 1974, one of the last to be made. I’ve been meaning to run some film through it, but it seems like a lot of trouble and expense, so I kept finding excuses not to.

Recently, K&F Concept asked if there was anything they could send me to play with and use in a video on my YouTube channel. I had a brainwave. I’ll ask for a 39 mm thread-to-Z-mount adapter. I’ll put that Jupiter-8 lens on my Z6! Brilliant.

When it arrived, I immediately headed to my local conservation area to put it to the test. I decided to put it on my Z9 because I figured I’d be using it for video as much as photography and wanted to test it for both.

The Jupiter-8 is such a tiny, light lens, it looked slightly odd on the big Z9, although it looks and feels very well balanced on the smaller Z6 and Z50. I previously mentioned old lenses being made of metal and built like tanks. Not this one. It’s tough but made of aluminum (weighing in at a mere 130 g), so one must be careful not to bang the thread ring and damage it. I may put on a clear filter to protect it.

I found the lens to be perfectly sharp, although not edge to edge, particularly wide open. But I don’t need that for what I shoot. Besides, it’s what makes these lenses so endearing. When shooting wide open and as close to the subject as I can get—about a meter—I found a little back-focusing is needed. Apparently, that’s the case when mounted on Leicas too. No big deal. The aperture ring is clickless and sits at the front of the lens. The focus ring at the back, surprisingly, is buttery smooth to use. The color rendering is subtle, and the background blur is very appealing. I like this versatile little lens. A lot.

It looks like this lens paired with my Z6 has become my perfect street and travel EDC. Until the next vintage lens finds it way into my life.

Conclusion

Using old lenses and giving them a new lease on life is far better for the environment than buying a cheap new plastic lens that isn’t designed to last. Well, this is what I tell my wife when we go to flea markets. She’s skeptical—or just doesn’t care about our planet. I decide not to say that out loud. I add that old lenses connect you to history and craftsmanship. She smiles yet shakes her head. I tell her I’m spending tens or hundreds, instead of thousands. “You’ve been spending thousands?” Oops.

Using vintage lenses on modern mirrorless cameras allows photographers to combine the best of both worlds—classic character and modern technology. The unique aesthetics, tactile enjoyment, and cost-effectiveness make them a compelling choice for those of us seeking a more creative shooting experience and less hassle from the other half.

And more than anything else, they’re a lot of fun.

Are you using vintage lenses on a modern DSLR or mirrorless? If so, what and why? Leave a comment!