Old lenses - a cheap alternative?

This was originally a facebook post in Bluedog photography

I posted a couple of pictures yesterday taken with a lens that I found in box stored in my loft (roof space) and Danielle said she would like to hear a bit more. I got interested in “legacy” lenses when I found that my Pentax DSLRs could use most lenses for Pentax SLRs since the year dot and that for manual (M) mode and manual focussing, lenses were available very cheaply. In PK mount I have a 28mm f2.8, a 135mm f2.8, a 200mm f4 and a 400mm f5.6, made for 35mm film SLRs bought for a total of about AU$300.These lenses are not necessarily light but they are compact compared to modern autofocus lenses. I had some fun with these, going out for a day with a single fixed focal length lens etc. and when I bought a new camera the Sony A7 was an obvious choice as I can work with all my existing lenses.

In the first photo, there is a Pentax K5 with the brilliant Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, the tiny Sony A7 with my old Russian Jupiter8 50mm f2 and a Pentax K7 with the kit 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 . The APS-C Pentax with the Tamron weighs in at a whopping 1300g and the full frame Sony with the Jupiter weighs just 660g. The lenses are the 135 f2.8, the kit 28-70 for the Sony and the 28mm f2.8. Notice the difference in thickness between the Leica M39-NEX adaptor on the Jupiter lens and the PK-NEX adaptor on the 28mm. Rangefinder cameras such as the Leica have no mirror and the lens mount is much closer to the film than in an SLR so the Jupiter has a thin adaptor. The Jupiter is a Russian copy of a pre-war Zeiss Sonnar for a Leica thread – mine is 40 or so years old.

In a normal DSLR, the mount is too far from the sensor to fit rangefinder lenses but legacy SLR glass can work. The Sony is mirrorless and the viewfinder is electronic, meaning that the sensor is very close behind the bayonet mount and with the right adaptor ANY lens can be fitted and used in A or M mode with manual focussing. I have been working in A mode, focussing by hand is enough extra work.

It is recommended to focus at full aperture with minimum DoF and then stop down but this isn't always easy when the aperture ring is on the lens and costs time (my Pentax lenses will stop down automatically with the shutter but I need to stop down manually to set the exposure). On the Sony there is a focus magnifier which I have programmed to button C1 next to the shutter. I am trying to focus at full aperture with magnification and stop down by watching the shutter speed change in the viewfinder. Additionally “focus peaking” indicates points of sharp focus in the Sony viewfinder with a coloured light. With short lenses, the hyperfocal distance markings on the focus ring can be used to preset the focus, saving time.

The second photo is from the Jupiter-8 on the Sony at f2.8 1/60s and iso200 – The bokeh has an interesting vintage look, personal taste.

I really enjoy using these old lenses and I will refine my shooting procedure with time. I spent so much time focussing on this dog he kept moving and I had to do it again. I want to be able to shoot portraits quickly with the Jupiter lens. 

Not every camera can use the old lenses, but if yours can and you are prepared to experiment there are some fine lenses out there (or in your loft) and relatively cheap fun to be had.