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In A World Full Of Digital Cameras, Are Vintage Lenses Still Useful?

by 8 Comments

vintage-lensesTruth be told, there’s a lot of vintage glass out there that’s leaps and bounds better than some of the more modern lenses we see on the market. Because they’re old and typically require some kind of mounting adapter to fit newer cameras, vintage lenses just don’t see much love nowadays; however, that doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of your time or attention. In fact, you can save some mega bucks by opting for a vintage lens over a newer lens.

Of course, you’ll have to do a little homework first to make sure you’re getting a great lens, but don’t worry, this video by Youtuber, Salesburg, has lots of great insight and tips. The presenter speaks in depth about the Helios 44m-4 58/2 lens, and provides some nice sample footage he’s taken using it. The best part: these lenses are readily available on sites like eBay for under $35.

Vintage Lenses For Your DSLR

[ via Reddit ]

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About Tiffany Mueller

Tiffany Mueller is a photographer based in Hawi, Hawaii. You can follow her Twitter here and her personal life here.

  • Andrew Sharpe

    Of course they are relevant, as long as you eschew auto-aperture and auto-focus and auto lens-correction. All the M42 glass is usable by all camera bodies except for Nikon, and if you are willing to have glass in an adapter, then Nikon works, too. Nearly all my photographs are taken with 40-50 year old lenses on a modern digital camera. http://andrewsharpe.com

  • Give me your old lenses, don’t waste space for unused analog ones XD

  • Steve

    All Nikkor lenses and after-market lenses for nikon (F-mount) from 1959 to present day will fit on any Nikon dslr without an adapter which is pretty sweet.

  • Oh yes, they are very useful! They force you to slow down as if you’re using a film camera.

  • r_sarvas

    As a Helios lens owner, I’ll say that I really love my Helios 44M-6. It has a very slight fungus issue due to a basement flood years ago, but that just adds to the charm. If you can pick one up for cheap, you will not be disappointed. I still take it out occasionally and use it with my Sony A580.

  • Kay O. Sweaver

    Useful for some things, nearly useless for other things. Much of my bread and butter comes from event photography and sports photography. I need fast, accurate auto-focus, image stabilization and wide apertures in those situations.

    On the other hand when I’m shooting more artistic work or when I’m doing video, vintage lenses can be just right.

    For every situation and every shooter, a different lens is best.

  • Fred Smith

    Sure old glass is useful. It can be dirt cheap and some of it is sharp by today’s standards. Sometimes the sharpness can be better when using FF glass on an APS-C (more of the center of the lens hits the sensor). The “look” of the bokeh can sometimes be different and pleasing. Some of this old stuff is built like a tank. The bad? New coating are far better so there could be more work in pp. Not everyone likes to manually focus.

  • salesberg

    Good afternoon everyone.
    It is such a privilege to see my work featured in an article in this website.

    At the time of making the video I had not thought it would relate to so many people, but it was rather an expression just out of passion.

    I thank everyone.

    The link to my channel is:
    https://www.youtube.com/salesberg

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