Using older lenses on new cameras

[Chris Sokol]

I have a nice collection of Minolta MD Lenses, and have been considering purchasing an adaptor kit (with optics for Infinity Focus) to use them on my Canon T1i. I understand that I will be using these in Manual mode only with no communication between the lenses and the Camera. Have any of you used older manual lenses with the newer cameras, and if so what type of results have you acheived?

 

[Darren Addy]

Careful Chris... from personal experience I can tell you that you are close to a serious malady for which there is no known cure. It is called LBA (lens buying addiction). Fortunately, it is a fun disease, and 10x more fun once you realize that a whole world of great glass exists to use on your DSLR. The best part is, that instead of spending $400, $600, and more per lens you can fill you camera bag with very high quality prime lenses for the price of a single plastic-y AF zoom.

I mentioned an M42 to (whatever) adapter in a different thread earlier today. Make sure that it is one that will let you reach infinity with the lenses you attach. If you get a "chipped" adapter you can actually use your AF confirmation to tell you when you have achieve your focus point (even though you are moving it manually).

Since you specifically mentioned MD lenses and already have some, I guess I should just direct you to some discussions:
http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00Ql0B

Ebay guide on the topic: http://reviews.ebay.com/GUIDE-FOR-A...NS-MD-ON-CANON-EOS_W0QQugidZ10000000010419385

http://reviews.ebay.com/GUIDE-FOR-ADAPTER-FOR-MINOLTA-LENS-MD-ON-CANON-EOS_W0QQugidZ10000000010419385

I have an m42 adapter for my Pentax K200D and have the following m42 manual focus lenses:
Super Takumar 28mm f3.5
Super Takumar 35mm f3.5
S-M-C 50mm Macro f4
Super Takumar 50mm f1.4
Pentacon 50mm f1.8
Super Takumar 55mm f1.8
Sears (Tomioka) 55mm f1.4
Super Takumar 135mm f3.5
Super Takumar 150mm f4

Lots of Canon shooters are also buying up m42 Takumars for their DSLRs (with proper adapter).

I also have the following manual focus (K-mount lenses) that work on my K200D without any adapters:
SMC K 50mm f1.4
SMC K 55mm f1.8
SMC K 135mm f2.5

I absolutely love 'em.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Chris, I've used Olympus OM lenses with my Drebel with good results. I can send some RAW or TIFF files, or detail crops if you want to pixel peep.

The $15 *bay adapter was slightly thin, allowing the lens to 'flop' about to a small degree. I wound up shimming the front face of the adapter a few thousandths of an inch with some kapton tape.

The biggest 'gotcha' was discovering that the metering is off!
Starting with the lens at max aperture, each of the three metering patterns starts our either accurate or with mild overexposure - from 0 to ~3/4 stop hot. As I stop down, the overexposure gets worse, again depending on the metering pattern and specific lens being used. In the end, I wind up chimping the histogram a hell of a lot more than I'd like. (Real photographers shoot film and don't NEED to chimp! )

Apart from the metering snafu, the camera + lens work as advertised. When shooting in Av, the body selects the appropriate shutter speed. Or I can meter match in manual, making rough exposure corrections as I go.
It's also nice to have durable metal lenses with real-live DOF scales!

 

[Darren Addy]

It's also nice to have durable metal lenses with real-live DOF scales!

Except that those DOF scales are predicated on a 35mm negative/sensor size and your drebel is an aps-c. If you have a crop camera your DOF will not be exactly what the lens shows. You can see this yourself by changing ONLY the camera type for a particular focal length/aperture combination here: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
(for example: compare a Canon 50D and a 5D) and notice how the near/far acceptable focus points change on the right-hand side.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Except that those DOF scales are predicated on a 35mm negative/sensor size and your drebel is an aps-c. If you have a crop camera your DOF will not be exactly what the lens shows. You can see this yourself by changing ONLY the camera type for a particular focal length/aperture combination here: http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html
(for example: compare a Canon 50D and a 5D) and notice how the near/far acceptable focus points change on the right-hand side.

Oh, shush! Stop trying to confuse my circles!

Gotta love those tiny sensors that magnify any lens issues.
With its smaller allowed COF, it looks like the Drebel needs to be stopped down about 1 stop further than full frame to achieve similar DOF.

Even on my 'full frame' 35mm cameras, I'm not the type to follow DOF scales as if they are written in blood. But given the Drebel's puny viewscreen, visual DOF assessment is sometimes difficult; under those circumstances the lens scales serve as a rough guide.