Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.)
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So, I'm still waiting for the Russian Federation to mail me the two circa 1960 lenses I purchased. I also have a Pentax K1000 coming in the mail that has an old K-mount 50mm attached. And I have this weirdass 50mm plastic lens that came with an instant camera I have lying around.
But what I want to do is use either my new autofocus lenses, or these old lenses, on whatever camera I have lying around. I also want to be able to use the filters I have.
So, I had to get a shitload of accessories: mirrorless mount adapters and step up/step down rings, to be precise. (Klaus knows what's up.)
Here's how they work:
Because this lens's original focal distance is longer than on a mirrorless camera, you can get a mount adapter that not only converts its M42 screw-mount to the modern X-mount adapter on my Fuji, but it also extends the lens back to its original focal distance, so its original focal range isn't screwed up.
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible. Here's everything assembled:
The fun thing is, you can still use the most helpful features of a mirrorless camera on a vintage lens. Not sure if your subject is in focus or not? Focus peaking with digital zoom works just fine, as do the zebra readouts for blown-out highlights and crushed shadows. (I don't use those, though, as I just look at the histogram.)
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So, I'm still waiting for the Russian Federation to mail me the two circa 1960 lenses I purchased. I also have a Pentax K1000 coming in the mail that has an old K-mount 50mm attached. And I have this weirdass 50mm plastic lens that came with an instant camera I have lying around.
But what I want to do is use either my new autofocus lenses, or these old lenses, on whatever camera I have lying around. I also want to be able to use the filters I have.
So, I had to get a shitload of accessories: mirrorless mount adapters and step up/step down rings, to be precise. (Klaus knows what's up.)
Here's how they work:
Because this lens's original focal distance is longer than on a mirrorless camera, you can get a mount adapter that not only converts its M42 screw-mount to the modern X-mount adapter on my Fuji, but it also extends the lens back to its original focal distance, so its original focal range isn't screwed up.
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible. Here's everything assembled:
The fun thing is, you can still use the most helpful features of a mirrorless camera on a vintage lens. Not sure if your subject is in focus or not? Focus peaking with digital zoom works just fine, as do the zebra readouts for blown-out highlights and crushed shadows. (I don't use those, though, as I just look at the histogram.)
@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible.
Can you still use the lens on maximum aperture, then?
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@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible.
Can you still use the lens on maximum aperture, then?
@klaus said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible.
Can you still use the lens on maximum aperture, then?
Yep, no problems whatsoever. I think there are two reasons for this:
- These lenses were made for a 35mm camera. The adaptor pushes the lens out to the distance it was designed to be at, but my mirrorless camera isn't a full-frame. The sensor's an APS-C. So there's a crop factor.
- Check it: the step down isn't that great to begin with, when you consider the diameter of the outermost element:
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@klaus said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
Also, the filter thread size for this lens is 52mm. All of my filters are 46mm. So, I needed a step-down ring to make them compatible.
Can you still use the lens on maximum aperture, then?
Yep, no problems whatsoever. I think there are two reasons for this:
- These lenses were made for a 35mm camera. The adaptor pushes the lens out to the distance it was designed to be at, but my mirrorless camera isn't a full-frame. The sensor's an APS-C. So there's a crop factor.
- Check it: the step down isn't that great to begin with, when you consider the diameter of the outermost element:
@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
These lenses were made for a 35mm camera. The adaptor pushes the lens out to the distance it was designed to be at, but my mirrorless camera isn't a full-frame. The sensor's an APS-C. So there's a crop factor.
Ah, so you are not using the Metabones Speedbooster or the like
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@aqua-letifer said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
These lenses were made for a 35mm camera. The adaptor pushes the lens out to the distance it was designed to be at, but my mirrorless camera isn't a full-frame. The sensor's an APS-C. So there's a crop factor.
Ah, so you are not using the Metabones Speedbooster or the like
@klaus said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
Metabones Speedbooster
Nah, nothing nearly that fancy. My adapter was about 40 bucks. But cost actually wasn't a factor in not getting those.
- One of the biggest problems with cheap or older lenses is that they're soft around the corners. The crop factor helps immensely with this.
- Aperture limitations are also not a thing.
- You could argue that the image degrades somewhat with the crop factor but I mean, hello, I'm using old lenses. I like them precisely because they're imperfect. If I wanted tack-sharpness I'd go with the modern lenses I already have. (They're only the f/2 versions but I'm not a bokeh whore so that's more than fine for me. And hey, if you're talking image quality, extremely rare is the lens that provides its optimal image quality at its most wide-open aperture. The sweet spot for most is in the center apertures anyway, so that's yet another reason why purists are silly.)
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If you like the look of old lenses, did you ever look into Petzval lenses?
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If you like the look of old lenses, did you ever look into Petzval lenses?
@klaus said in Making Everything Compatible. (More camera experiments.):
If you like the look of old lenses, did you ever look into Petzval lenses?
Nope, but I'm going to have to now!
I'm kinda picky about them, though. I don't necessarily want rare ones or lenses that create some kind of strange effect—I have an idea in mind for how I hope certain types of pictures would turn out, and then look for lenses that (hopefully) provide that. More fun, more comprehensive of an effect, and a hell of a lot faster than Photoshop in my opinion.
