I boiught myself a converter flange for Christmas (Yes, I'm a real big spender!) so that I can use my old screw-mount manual lenses on the Eos dslr, and have been so happy with the results, and the feel of using these pre-digital lenses again, that I have been using them exclusively for over a week now., with very satisfying results.
The first shot below was taken with a 58mm/f2 Helios, the famous 'cheap' lens from the USSR (based on the pre-war Zeiss Biotar) which graced the entry level Zenit slr in the 1960s ....
... and the second was with a 135mm/f2.8 Hoya - (I bet you thought they only made filters!)
It felt so right, somehow, taking a b&w shot with a lens of this vintage, but the colour results were excellent, too.
Can anyone else show us some results from their 'recycled' pre-digital lenses? There are flange converters available now for nearly every lens for most dslrs, at a small fraction of the cost of a modern autofocus lens, and for me at least they bring back something that has been missing since automation took so much of the satisfaction out of the hobby.
My New Year's Revolution is to use these old lenses (and I have more!) as much as possible and enjoy the retro experience!
I like this photo. How did you get the camera's electronics to work with the older lense on ? Did the light meter still work ok? When I tried my old Nikon lenses on my new digital, the light meter didn't work though the lenses fitted ok.
Nan
@waterlil ... Good question, Nan. The light meter still works fine with the basic flange on the Canon if you set the camera on aperture-priority, and if you use the upgraded flange with a microchip, the little green "focus confirm" light also appears ih the viewfinder. All you need to do is focus at full aperture, look for the green light, then stop down to the required f/stop, and go! (The shuitter speed will still be set automatically by the camera's internal electronics).
I imagine the Nikon should behave similarly. Good luck!
@wordpixman Very cool shots Arthur! I have a multitude of lenses from my vintage cams, but so far haven't gone down the route of buying mounts to try to use them with my DSLR. I've freelensed a couple, but that's about it. :)
I have a manual Vivitar close focus 70-100 mm that I've also had a lot of fun with. Manual definitely takes some getting used to. Here are a few from earlier in the year ...
The main reason that I went with a Sony dSLR was because my Minolta lenses from my Minolta 35MM camera were compatible. I just couldn't imagine spending the money on new lenses when I had perfectly good ones sitting in the case! Especially my zoom lens, a Minolta AF 70-210 that I used for this shot -- I really like this lens!
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Nan
I imagine the Nikon should behave similarly. Good luck!