My Favorite Vintage Lenses

"Corkscrew'd" (corkscrewd)
06/17/2019 at 20:16 • Filed to: PHOTOGRAPHY, AUTOMOTIVE PHOTOGRAPHY, CAMERA, CAMERAS, COOL STUFF, LENS, LENSES, VINTAGE LENSES

Reposted from Corkscrewd.blog

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!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , I talked about vintage lenses, how to find them, and how to use them. Over the years, I’ve collected a few interesting vintage lenses that I’ve used for various things. Some are pretty common, while others are very uncommon or even rare. Here are some of my favorite vintage lenses!

Canon FD 50mm F1.8

Photo by Little Visuals on Pexels.com

The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! lens was a lens I found in a glass case in a Goodwill somewhere in Santa Clara. While this is a common lens, it’s one of the indispensable tools of budding photographers and cinematographers. The lens has an excellent combination of usability, versatility, and price. A precursor to the “Nifty-Fifty” prime lenses, this lens shines in situations where you want a sharp center focus, but a soft background. While at higher apertures, the picture is decently sharp. I tend to shoot at F5.6 when I want a sharp image, but the lens really gets interesting when you step below F2.8. Around that aperture, the background seems to fall away and the edges around the picture become softer, creating a kind of dreamy look. Step down to F1.8, and the picture turns into an impressionist painting, which is pretty useful if you’re filming a dream sequence!

I think I spent $12 for it, but I’ve reached into my camera bag for it more than enough times to realize that this lens is a keeper. The first time I used this lens was during the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 2017. I was very impressed with its smooth focus, decent bokeh, and sharpness at the center of the image. It’s great for portraits and close-ups!

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Spiratone Pluracoat 20mm F2.8

The Spiratone 20mm F2.8 Lens with the Fotodiox FD-EOS (EF, EF-S) Adapter.

This particular lens has the distinction of being the first vintage lens I ever bought! This lens is very interesting because it’s a lens that has some historical value. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was an American company that produced low-cost lenses and lens accessories from 1941 to 1990. Its heyday was during the ’60s and ’70s when Spiratone had a Manhattan Loft-style store. This particular lens I bought on a whim during a visit to a Goodwill in Scotts Valley, CA. Little did I know how rare this lens actually is!

This is a highly versatile lens, thanks to its smooth focus throw, sharpness at higher apertures, and wide focal length. While the 20mm focal length is limiting, I find it great for landscape photography. I used this lens almost extensively during a family vacation to The Grand Canyon in 2018, and I took some breathtaking panoramas of the canyon as a result! Just like the Canon FD 50mm F1.8, it has decent bokeh and focus at F2.8, with softness around the edges of the photo. It could also produce some dream-like portraits at that aperture. I think I bought this lens for $12 too!

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Vivitar 75-205mm F3.8 Macro Focusing Lens for Pentax

The Vivitar 70-205mm F3.8 Macro Focusing Lens. Found on PentaxForums.com

This lens is one of my unlikely favorites because it’s actually defective. I found it in another Goodwill, but I can’t recall where exactly. When I bought it, it was around $16. However, when I came home and tested it I found that the aperture iris wasn’t working. As it turned out, the iris is engaged with a small lever on the rear of the lens. When the lens is attached to a Pentax K-mount camera, the lever is pressed down, allowing the iris to open and close. Because I’m using an adapter, the lever is never pressed, so the iris stays open. On the other hand, this ended up becoming one of my favorite portrait lenses because of the permanently-open aperture!

Vivitar made all sorts of rebranded lenses for various cameras, so finding a Vivitar lens is very common. In fact, I would say that the majority of the lenses you could find in thrift stores are either Vivitar or something similar. The lens I got was made for Pentax K-mount cameras, so I needed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I’m amazed at how well this lens does Macro imaging in addition to shooting portraits at a distance. Thanks to the broken aperture, the background is very “creamy” while the subject is almost tack-sharp! Additionally, the one-touch Focusing/Zoom ring is incredibly easy to use. I first used this lens !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , and I’ve been using it for “artsy projects” since!

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Still on the hunt

This is just a small selection of some of the lenses I’ve used and still own, but (as of right now) are my favorites. I’m still on the lookout for some really cool vintage lenses whenever I pop into a thrift store, so who knows? I might append this list later!

DISCUSSION (35)

Aremmes > Corkscrew'd
06/17/2019 at 22:17

Re. the Vivitar K-mount, you’ve got the operation of the aperture lever backwards. When off the camera, the iris is supposed to stay at whatever setting the aperture ring reads (or fully closed in the case of lenses without an aperture ring), and pressing the lever opens the aperture for metering. Moving the aperture ring should change the size of the iris while the lens is off the camera, while when mounted it should remain fully open until the shutter is released, at which point the camera closes the aperture momentarily.

Corkscrew'd > Aremmes
06/17/2019 at 22:46

Ah, so you're saying it's broken? Well, it still works lol.

Aremmes > Corkscrew'd
06/17/2019 at 23:18

Heh, yeah, it’s broken. But as far as failure modes go, you got lucky. There's a chance that it could be fixed easily, though.

Corkscrew'd > Aremmes
06/17/2019 at 23:32

Yeah, I’ve always wanted to take it apart and see what the iris needs. If I hold down the lever and change the aperture, the iris opens and closes as it should, but stays open when the lever isn’t pressed down.

I’m thinking it needs to be lubricated or something?

phenotyp > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 01:46

The two Leicas I use on my 5D2 are a 1969 50mm f2, and a ‘78-‘80-era 35-70mm f-something (much less often). The 50 is amazing. And it’s easy to see why it was the industry’s benchmark lens for so long. The focus is super-sharp, but paper-thin at wide aperture, and the results look like swirly watercolors, and I can’t get enough of it.

Aremmes > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 08:09

It sounds like someone modified it in the past (probably by accident) to make the aperture lever work backwards. By your description, it does exactly the opposite of how a normal K-mount lens should behave.

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/18/2019 at 08:47

The 50mm a Sonnar or a Summicron? I’ve got the Russian Sonnar knock off (Jupiter 8) for my Bessa L. I bought a cheap LTM to E mount adapter for my a6000 but haven’t really used any of my LTM lenses on it much.

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/18/2019 at 09:16

https://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-wiki.en/index.php/50mm_f/2_Summicron-R_I

Summicron, with a Fotodiox adaptor. On mobile right now, but I’ll dig up some of the shots I’ve posted from COTA. I miss so many, thanks to manual-everything, but the ones that look good are soooo pleasing.

thejustache > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 09:36

I agree it sounds like yours isn’t working right. I adapt pentax k lenses more often than not, and I have 4 different adapters. They all will hold the DOF preview tab (for lack of a better term) down so that the lens will stay in whatever aperture you select. In this way they work exactly the same as how an earlier m42 lens without that tab would work. In a film SLR this would be a little annoying, as it’ll get harder to see through the viewfinder when you stop down. On a digital with live view that’s not so much of an issue and it will give you a nice view of the exact depth of field/focus you’ll have in your shot.

I’m pretty sure I have that same lens in my wife’s camera bag, I’ll have to try it on one of my adapters and report back. I’ll admit I didn’t think much of it so I haven’t actually tried it on my digital!

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/18/2019 at 09:43

Found this little comparison, https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151046 that is a nice lens. Too bad it doesn’t look like an m39 version was made. Ya I miss a lot with my jupiter 8 too, but the results are still fun.

Kinja'd!!!

I switched to a voigtlander 35mm color skopar f2.5 to get a bit of a wider angle but still miss sometimes.

Kinja'd!!!

I’ve got a search setup for Bessa R bodies so I can still use my LTM lenses but actually have a viewfinder.

thejustache > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 09:46

Nice list! I agree completely about the love of the canon FD 50 f1.8. It’s a great lens, compact and light and sharp when stopped down. I tend to adapt a Pentax k 50 f1.7 more for that role, but that’s just because I run an all pentax bag so I can double on film with a k1000 or mx . Of the pentax 50s I have the f2, f1.7 & f1.4 as well as the m42 f1.4. The 1.4s have their own special quality (especially the radioactive m42 lens), but the f1.7 is probably the sharpest wide open, and super cheap to boot.

That S piratone looks like a really cool lens, and I’ve definitely never seen one before. I didn’t even know the US had lens manufacturers outside Kodak or Agfa.

I am a little surprised to see no m42 lenses on the list - they seem to pop up pretty often where I am and are perhaps the simplest to adapt. I have a R ussian Helios 44-2 that I don’t use a ton (because I stupidly attached a k mount adapter to it with loctite and now can’t get it off) but it does that ‘circular bokeh’ thing like a champ!

Corkscrew'd > phenotyp
06/18/2019 at 11:49

I love everything about this thread!

I'm on the hunt for a Helios 44-2 lol

Corkscrew'd > Aremmes
06/18/2019 at 11:50

Lol did I find someone's project lens then? Possibly!

Corkscrew'd > thejustache
06/18/2019 at 11:53

You should check out some of my pics from when I crashed the Concorso Italiano back in 2017 lol. I used that lens for all of the shots!

https://corkscrewd.blog/portfolio/crashing-the-concorso-italiano/

Corkscrew'd > thejustache
06/18/2019 at 11:56

I'm looking for one of those actually! The majority of these lenses come from what I can find in thrift stores, so im thinking no ones going to give up the Helios lol.

Corkscrew'd > thejustache
06/18/2019 at 11:57

Also that Spiratone is pretty bad ass. It's quality metal and glass on excellent condition. I actually have a mirror lens from them that I use as a spy lens lol. It's called the Minitel-M 500mm F8 mirror lens.

diplodicus forgot his password > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 13:13

That looks like an interesting lens, looks like they came with the m39 mount as well. I might have to try one.

Threw the Jupiter 8 and color skopar on my a6000 at lunch to show how they are on digital.

Jupiter 8 50mm

Kinja'd!!!

Color skopar 35mm

Kinja'd!!!

Course the color skopar isn't exactly a cheap lens like the Russian ones.

thejustache > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 13:19

Nice work! I’m a fan of using macro lenses to shoot cars, works great for getting close ups of logos and details. I have a Canon fd 50mm macro f3.5 that I’ve used at car shows, but only with film so far. Need to get an FD -> e mount adapter still

thejustache > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 13:23

Well I have a theory that those exists in 2 states: being discarded along with the soviet camera they came on, or being sold as a lens only on ebay after someone who knew what it was scooped them up and separated them. I think it was the kit lens on a Zenit-E SLR, which is where I got mine ($10 at an estate sale). I was excited to try out the camera which was working at the time, but the shutter locked up the next day before I could load some film. The lens alone made it worth it though!

Corkscrew'd > diplodicus forgot his password
06/18/2019 at 15:05

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing these photos!

Corkscrew'd > thejustache
06/18/2019 at 15:35

The Fotodiox adapter I linked in the post works really well. They even have a version with AF!

Corkscrew'd > Corkscrew'd
06/18/2019 at 15:35

Also, thanks!

Corkscrew'd > thejustache
06/18/2019 at 15:37

Wow, what a lucky find! I agree; it's more likely that the camera were discarded but the lenses were kept, since they were still useful. The prices are going up I think.

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/19/2019 at 13:50

Kinja'd!!!

Here’s some shots I’ve loved with the 50mm on the 5D2. So great when you nail it, the composition is one thing, but the colors, with Leica glass, are somehow more... poignant? with the old glass . At some point I’ll have the time and money to replace the focus screen in the 5D; I have a matte screen sitting in a box, but there’s a japanese company that makes a split-screen.

Either way, I love the results of the old glass on modern bodies. Wish I had more time to do this stuff.

phenotyp > Corkscrew'd
06/19/2019 at 14:00

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1835658908

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/19/2019 at 14:06

These are awesome! I wish I could get split focus on my a6000, guess that’s one of the downsides of being mirrorless, I just have to use focus peaking.

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/19/2019 at 14:15

Thanks! I’m glad they look good enough small, but they’re all shots that I’d print 6 feet wide and be happy with where the focus is, and the composition would really work so much better at that scale.

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/19/2019 at 14:30

You have a printer that big? What kind of dpi would you print that at?

Other than my negatives I haven’t seen any of my pictures on anything but screens.

I really want to do some dark room printing and I know a couple of people with enlargers that are collecting dust, but I haven’t done it yet. Those wouldn’t be anywhere near 6ft though!

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/19/2019 at 15:06

I have friends who’ve done my printing. Done a few shows over the years; the combos of museum-rated prints and archival paper weren’t cheap, so I don’t really do it anymore.

Kinja'd!!!

Corkscrew'd > phenotyp
06/19/2019 at 16:15

Excellent shots! I recently discovered a blog that features some pretty interesting lenses, so im going to use it as a shopping list!

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/19/2019 at 16:29

Thats pretty cool

phenotyp > Corkscrew'd
06/19/2019 at 16:30

Every one of those is a small me mento of a good day. Ultimately, it’s about what works for you. For me, figuring out how to use my grandfather’s lenses on my digital body, and then being able to develop them digitally— he would have been overjoyed at the possibilities.

Weird how life works.

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/19/2019 at 16:51

I thought I did OK.

diplodicus forgot his password > phenotyp
06/19/2019 at 17:33

Definitely! I dont think i could ever do something like that. How did you get that turtle shot out of curiosity? Just using a waterproof case for your Canon or a special underwater camera?

phenotyp > diplodicus forgot his password
06/19/2019 at 17:44

The picture I’m probably still most proud of! Canon G10 (still use it and will love it forever) in an underwater case. Held my breath as long as I could, dove down and just tried to tell her that I was her friend. She hung around for a second, then decided to take off.