I have written about vintage lenses before, a long time ago. Back in 2015, I was first getting into shooting 4K video stock. Whilst I could just about afford a 4k mirrorless camera (Panasonic G7), I had little to no money left over for lenses.
Even back then, however, adapters existed to put older film based lenses onto modern cameras. In my case two very clean and very cheap Canon FD lenses. Having cut my teeth on the Canon system in the late 80s and early 90s I knew just how good some of the FD glass was, and so it proved.
However, it was a clunky way of doing things, the adapter didn't always work well, focussing, despite the camera’s aids could be very hit and miss. Overall it was a less than satisfactory option, to the point I binned the idea and eventually invested in dedicated modern glass. That remained my mindset, right up until last week. Let me explain.
A YouTube Video Changed My Mind
YouTube is an amazing resource for photographers. Gear reviews, technique videos, and post production guides all help us along in our photographic journey. However, it wasn’t watching a YouTube video that changed my mind, it was creating one.
My own channel focuses on “in the field shooting” and then looking at the results in post production. Last year I wrote about shooting film again with my late father’s Minolta X300. It was a cathartic experience and one that I enjoyed. The lens on the Minolta was a 35-70mm f/3.5. A simple, cheap kit lens, or so I thought. More on that in a moment.
Anyway, I came up with the idea of shooting a YouTube video where I put this 50 year old manual focus lens on a Sony a7Rv, the current pinnacle of full frame, high resolution cameras. The video shoot went really well, I really enjoyed shooting this lens on the Sony, using a Kentfaith adapter that cost me around £20.
The real surprise was when I got the images into Lightroom. The results genuinely blew me away. It was as sharp in some focal lengths as the much more expensive and modern Sony 24-105mm that I was comparing it to. The video went live and garnered a lot of views, and several comments.
Some of those comments related to the fact that the Minolta 35-70mm was not a mere kit lens but a collaboration with Leica. It was, in fact, a very good lens. Yet, looking online, whilst there is a small premium to pay for these lenses, they are still extremely cheap compared to modern third party lenses. The fact is that there are some absolute hidden gems out there, the Minolta being one of them.
And I could end here, except this is not the end of the story.
Technology Moves On.
Remember how clunky I said it was using old Canon lenses on my Panasonic G7? Some 12 years on and the technology that we have within our cameras have made it so much easier to shoot with old manual lenses.
The first and most obvious advance is in electronic viewfinders and the LCD screens. They are brighter, much higher resolution and much easier to use. My Panasonic had a 2.6 million pixel viewfinder. It was low resolution, not very bright and updated slowly even in bright light.
In contrast, my Sony a7Rv has a 9.44 million pixel viewfinder. It’s fast, bright and shows no lag even in relatively low light. The same is true of the LCD screen which is more than twice the resolution and bigger than the G7. But that’s not the full story. You see, these better screens enable us to use the camera’s tools more easily.
Camera Tools That Enable Old Lenses
The most obvious tool is the histogram. Shooting manually with a manually operated aperture ring, it’s vital that we have a good grasp on the exposure. Having an accurate, live histogram in the viewfinder allows us to quickly gauge exposure and make corrections. We can also add in tools such as zebras or highlight blinks to show us where we might be blowing out the highlights.
However, perhaps the most important tools, at least as far as I was concerned, were the focussing tools. As mentioned, trying to focus on the G7 was a sometimes soul destroying exercise. The lag and general darkness of the viewfinder made pinpointing exact focus really hard. The tools were there but rendered next to useless by the viewfinder and LCD.
On the Sony however, they were a joy to use. For me the most powerful focusing tool was focus peaking. This allowed me not only to see what is in focus, in general, but as I manually stopped the lens down it would show the depth of field increasing. Combine this with the viewfinder, maintaining the same brightness even when the lens was stopped down, focussing with the 50 year old lens was no more difficult than manually focussing with a modern lens.
Adapters Are Better
There is little to no technology in adapters, however as demand for them has increased so has their build quality. The MD to FE adapter I used for the video was cheap yet extremely well made. Not only that, the MD lens fitted on very smoothly, the adapter also went onto the camera easily. There was no faffing around, the aperture ring on the lens stopped down perfectly, the whole set up felt like I was using a modern lens.
Given the price of both old manual lenses and modern adapters, I could see myself hunting down those hidden gems on eBay and simply keeping a simple adapter on each of them. There are so many old lenses that can fill in niche areas for very low low cost, it would be daft not to take advantage of them.
Modern technology has advanced so much that using old film lenses is no longer a budget choice but a genuine creative decision. Many of these lenses have a beautiful aesthetic when adapted to digital cameras. With the Minolta 35-70 not only was I blown away by the sharpness, but also the look it gave my images. It has inspired me to look for some more old lenses to give a new lease of life to.
If you would like to see the video about this lens, you can, in the link below.
Further Reading
- 7 Best Vintage Lenses For Capturing Dream-Like Portraits
- 5 Things To Consider Before Using A Vintage Lens With Your Digital Camera
- How To Calibrate Your Vintage Lens
- The Pros and Cons of Using Vintage Lenses Today
- Using Vintage Camera Lenses With Ease: 5 Simple Considerations
- 10 Things to Look Out For When Buying A Used Lens
