Beginner A slightly different take on the what camera thread.

[München]

First of all thanks to the forum in general for the overwhelming response. I'm sensing that each person has their own preference and I need to really find mine.

You don't say what old lenses you've seen locally.
Some old lenses really aren't worth the hassle, but some are.

One other thought about older lenses. If you get a Sony with E-mount (a7/A5000/NEX) you can get an adaptor that will allow you to mount Sony/Minolta A-mount lenses on it. And there are a fair few of them (though I'm not sure if all of them will do auto-focus due to some needing a motor in the body).

And in the interests of fairness one should also mention that most old manual Nikon lenses can be mounted on modern Nikon DSLRs without an adaptor because Nikon haven't changed their basic mount.

Good question. Basically I was asking from a stand point of almost complete ignorance that googling suggestions in this thread has helped start putting to rights. I'll show you an example.
I went to the shop this morning to buy a bar of chocolate and next door to that shop is a "flohmarkt" shop (fleamarket) which people give junk away to and I assume the money goes to charity. I nipped in for 5 minutes and had a bit of a browse and came away with this.




Now I have no idea if I will buy a camera that I can fit an adaptor to that mill make this lens work but as it cost the same amount as the delicious bar of honey, salt and almond chocolate that its photographed with I figured why not take a gamble. Basically what I was thinking was if I could get myself a nice camera, say a DSLR, which at the same time as having proper modern lenses for I can also strap on any old piece of junk I find with a suitable adaptor and see what happens then it would make the hobby that little bit more fun.

Probably easies would to buy into the Nikon system. Get one of the models that has an inbuilt lens motor and you'll be able to used hundreds of old but still very good lenses with the need for adapters or a second thought.

Why? There are hundreds of cheap Nikn lenses out the and adapters for others?

I do prefer Nikon, although I notice that if I want a model with a lens motor then I'm going to need go preowned as all the entry level models dont have one. Also is there not something about the nikon mount being further away than other cameras so an adaptor wouldn't work and focus properly?

 

[kendo1]

You'll have to see what mount the Vivitar lens has. It should say on the back of the mount.
Typically N for Nikon, C for Canon, C/Y for Contax/Yashica and so on It might even say what fitting it is.
(I don't have any Vivitar lenses to check and can't be bothered Googling! )

Sony E mount cameras have a short flange distance, pretty much every other camera has a longer flange distance, so almost any lens will fit on an E mount with a spacer- adapter.
The same goes for other mirrorless cameras, like Fuji for instance.

Nikon cameras have a long flange distance, longer than almost all other cameras.
So you would have to fit a negative spacer- almost impossible! Adapters with correction lenses would be necessary.

 

[THIRTYFIVEMILL]

@München You'd need to get a Nikon camera which has the lens motor built in. You can use all Nikon lenses then, manual or auto-focus. If you're going to be wanting to collect some cheaper but good glass you'll be looking at af-d and backwards. But Nikon have made some stunning lenses over the years and many are now over-looked in favour of the newest and "best". Some of the best photographers I've seen, however, still utilise these lenses for various projects with outstanding results. One of my favourite photographers and someone I'm currently learning a lot from uses an old Pentax digital slr and some random lens reversed. His images, though, are second to none. If you bought something along the lines of a D1X or maybe D300 you wouldn't be spending a large amount and you'd have enough cheap but great lenses at your disposal to last a lifetime. Just choose your camera body carefully and try to get one with low actuations that's been looked after.

 

[München]

@München You'd need to get a Nikon camera which has the lens motor built in. You can use all Nikon lenses then, manual or auto-focus. If you're going to be wanting to collect some cheaper but good glass you'll be looking at af-d and backwards. But Nikon have made some stunning lenses over the years and many are now over-looked in favour of the newest and "best". Some of the best photographers I've seen, however, still utilise these lenses for various projects with outstanding results. One of my favourite photographers and someone I'm currently learning a lot from uses an old Pentax digital slr and some random lens reversed. His images, though, are second to none. If you bought something along the lines of a D1X or maybe D300 you wouldn't be spending a large amount and you'd have enough cheap but great lenses at your disposal to last a lifetime. Just choose your camera body carefully and try to get one with low actuations that's been looked after.

I've had a look Nikon's range of cameras for my budget and I noticed that all of the entry level models lack a lens motor. Everything I read tells me the D1x exceedingly out of date so a nice pre owned D300 may be the answer, that or D7000 perhaps. I'll continue the search and also look in to adaptors with reverse lenses, I see you buy one for Canon DSLRs to S/R mounts for about 50 euros. Thanks for the advice.

 

[woof woof]

I've had a look Nikon's range of cameras for my budget and I noticed that all of the entry level models lack a lens motor. Everything I read tells me the D1x exceedingly out of date so a nice pre owned D300 may be the answer, that or D7000 perhaps. I'll continue the search and also look in to adaptors with reverse lenses, I see you buy one for Canon DSLRs to S/R mounts for about 50 euros. Thanks for the advice.

Note that there may be difficulties both mounting and focusing manual lenses on DSLR's.

The registration distance may mean that you need either just a spacer or an adapter with a corrective lens in it depending upon your camera and lens combination.

Then there's the question of if you can focus accurately enough with an unaided DSLR OVF.

 

[München]

Note that there may be difficulties both mounting and focusing manual lenses on DSLR's.

The registration distance may mean that you need either just a spacer or an adapter with a corrective lens in it depending upon your camera and lens combination.

Then there's the question of if you can focus accurately enough with an unaided DSLR OVF.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure I check my expectations whilst messing about and will keep in mind I'm an absolute beginner. Now, shopping!

 

[big soft moose]

or you could buy an appropriate film slr for peanuts and use your old lens with that...

 

[München]

or you could buy an appropriate film slr for peanuts and use your old lens with that...

I could, but given im an expat in a country I don't speak the language of to well then I really think going about the faff of getting films developed, when the pictures are going te be the random snaps of a beginner, is probably going to a be a waste of time. Once I've got an idea of what I'm doing then perhaps, but that is a long way down the line.

 

[big soft moose]

So buy B&W and dev it yourself (or just go into a developers and hand them the film - i suspect they'll realise what you want)

 

[München]

Black and white sounds fun......