Beginner Old lenses on a new camera

TitchyJ

TitchyJ

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Jodie
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Basically last week I inherited some old lenses off my father and just wanted to know if I could use them on my Nikon d3200 if so what adaptor would I need??
 
I'm no expert, but I think you would need to say what lenses you got.
 
Depends what mount the old lenses are. If they're old Nikon lenses you may be in with a shout, but anything else may be problematical.

For example, the most common "old lenses" are m42 mount, the problem here is that the Nikon lens mount is too long and to work fully you need an adapter with a corrective optic. A poor quality optic will spoil any advantage in using good quality old lenses. A good quality optic is expensive. The Nikon mount is too long for many old lenses.

If the lenses are worth it, you could look for a cheap mirrorless camera to use with an adapter - these have much shorter lens mounts. Or get a film camera to use the old lenses with. Or sell/trade them for something you can use.
 
Ok I have a Hunter 55m lens
Oreston 1.8/50
a pentagon 2.8/135
And a hanimex m.c auto zoom Marco 4.5

Well that's what the boxes say
 
TitchyJ said:
Ok I have a Hunter 55m lens
Oreston 1.8/50
a pentagon 2.8/135
And a hanimex m.c auto zoom Marco 4.5

Well that's what the boxes say
Click to expand...
But what mount are they?
The Pentacon I suspect is M42 mount.

If the lenses were all used on the same camera, then they are all probably M42 rather than Nikon mount.
I think you are out of luck. M42 and Nikon mount are not compatible. (well, you can, but you need a special adapter with a lens to make infinity possible. The adapter would be worth more than the lenses)
 
No its a lot bigger than those, My Dad was a keen photographer back in the day unfortunately I am unsure where the cameras are for these lenses, I may just keep them because of the sentimental value tbh xx
 
kendo1 said:
But what mount are they?
The Pentacon I suspect is M42 mount.

If the lenses were all used on the same camera, then they are all probably M42 rather than Nikon mount.
I think you are out of luck. M42 and Nikon mount are not compatible. (well, you can, but you need a special adapter with a lens to make infinity possible. The adapter would be worth more than the lenses)
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Thanks xx It was more out of sentiment than anything, just to see if I could use the lenses my dad once used, but I'll love them anyway even if their not used xx
 
Technology has moved on, and so has lens development and quality.
I use old lenses with a couple of Sony Nexes as you can use practically any manufacturers lens with them via cheap adapters.
The main problem is the mount to sensor distance which varies from manufacturer to manufacturer: Nikon mount is longer than Canon mount for instance, and M42.
Longer mounts can be adapted to fit shorter mounts with a 'spacer' or cheap mount to make up the distance (some adapters are actually pretty expensive- £150 ish )
 
TitchyJ said:
No its a lot bigger than those, My Dad was a keen photographer back in the day unfortunately I am unsure where the cameras are for these lenses, I may just keep them because of the sentimental value tbh xx
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They almost certainly are the lenses linked to and are most probably m42.

But, you do need to be careful with the spelling, that's "Pentacon" not "pentagon" - the Pentacon is a nice lens, if it's the 15-bladed aperture version (shown at http://vintage-camera-lenses.com/pentacon-135-2-8/) it has a reputation for how smooth the out-of-focus areas look.

And "Hunter" is probably the name of the removable filter screwed onto the lens, the lens name will usually be written on the front as you look into the lens rather than on the side (ok, I know, the Pentacon is an exception ok? ;))
 
Your question is like saying, I've been given an old engine will it fit in my car.
 
Another newcomer here but just a thought.

I totally understand the sentimental aspect BUT what about selling them on to some people who may have the cameras that they fit and who may just be looking for that particular lens and then taking the total amount of money and purchase one lens that would fit your camera and then every time you used it it would remind you of your dad.

I am pretty sure that he would be happier knowing that you we're seeing a benefit from them rather than them just being sat in a cupboard.
 
tonybassplayer said:
I totally understand the sentimental aspect BUT what about selling them on to some people who may have the cameras that they fit and who may just be looking for that particular lens and then taking the total amount of money and purchase one lens that would fit your camera and then every time you used it it would remind you of your dad.
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To be honest, unless the Hunter filter turns out to be attached to something special it's unlikely there's a lot to be made from selling these lenses. But the typos aren't helping with determining likely value, none of the lenses is described correctly.
 
1. I have not made typing errors my phone has autocorrected the words!

so I've opened the boxes as like I send In a previous post I was going on what was written on the box and this is what I have:

A soligor 1:28
A Pentacon 2.8
A Hanimex 1:4.5
And a Oreston 1.8/50

Welshnoob your commented was not needed and I actually found it quite rude

And I can honestly say I don't give two bloody monkeys what they are worth gentlemen! My post was just to find out if I could use them on my camera.

And Alistair just so you know I am quite new to photography as you can tell by the fact I am posting in the beginner forum, so it is not my fault if I can't describe the lenses properly.

Only replies from those who have some constructive advice are needed.
 
Ok, I gather you're new.. I also guessed it might be auto-correct, but details are important as we can't see the lenses to check from here and someone lost the forum psychic hat ;)

It's very unlikely they're suitable for your Nikon. But with the right adapter they should be usable with a number of inexpensive mirrorless cameras, e.g. the Fuji X-A1 or X-M1 (other makes are available, I'm just more familiar with the Fuji line-up), that might be picked up quite reasonably secondhand. The Oreston 50/1.8 and the Pentacon 135/2.8 are probably worth having a go with. If you are going to use them the mount needs to be confirmed. If you look at the back of the lens does it have a screw thread and look a bit like this http://www.pacificrimcamera.com/images/175512a.jpg ?
 
If you know what an M42 mount is Jodie, ignore this next bit. If the lenses have screw threads on the end to attach them to a camera then you can probably put money on them having an M42 mount and Ken has already noted it is probably not worth trying to get an adapter for your camera.


The only use they might have is if you are interested in macro photography. One inexpensive way of doing macro is to mount a lens backwards on to a camera using a reversing ring, eg -

http://srb-photographic.co.uk/52mm-nikon-reversing-ring-2750-p.asp

You would have none of the auto functions of your camera but the rings are not expensive and you already have the lenses.

If you want to try this put a question in the Macro section and someone will be able to advise.

Dave
 
WelshNoob said:
Your question is like saying, I've been given an old engine will it fit in my car.
Click to expand...

That's not very helpful. The OP (Jodie) has posted 7 times and appears to be new to this, why don't you just give her a break?
 
Jodie - things would be an awful lot easier for all of us to advise you, if you were to take your d3200 and the existing lens, and use it to take photographs of each of the lenses, from the front of the lens, the back of the lens, and a side on shot. Preferably in the picture of the camera-mount side of the pictures, show a ruler to give an idea of the size of the mounting in mm's.

Convert them down to around 1000 pixels longest side, and under 300kb, host them in TP's gallery and stick them into this thread, and we'll be able to advise you properly. We appreciate you're not necessarily au-fait with old cameras and their wierd and assorted mountings, so, this case really, REALLY is a situation where a picture is worth at least a thousand words.
 
as an example, something like this - and yes, they'd be better if they weren't a little blurred like mine are ;)



 
hey guys thank for all the comments. I actually took the lenses to a small photography shop this morning this morning and found i can use 3 out of the 4 lenses with my nikon, but i'm unsure on whether to do this the guy said the lenses are in good condition and would take some really nice photos.

thanks for your help :D

welshnoob of course you can comment, i would just prefer constructive advice.
 
Yes, if they're m42 you could use them with the right adapter (we've said this) - but what we've said above is that this isn't recommended as the type of adapter you'll need to use them with a Nikon won't get close to the potential of the lenses.
 
TitchyJ said:
so I've opened the boxes as like I send In a previous post I was going on what was written on the box and this is what I have:

A soligor 1:28
A Pentacon 2.8
A Hanimex 1:4.5
And a Oreston 1.8/50
Click to expand...

That is the make and apertue size.. you don't tell us the focal length, or what mount they are,

As others have suggested, they are likely to be old M42 'screw-fit' prime lenses; I use M42 screw primes on my Nkon D3200. You need a lens-mount adaptor; it has a screw fitting on the front to take the M42 lens, and a Nikon F lens mounting on the back, to click into your camera. The extra bit of metal though moves the lens further away from the sensor, so it muggers up the lens's focusing; the more expensive adaptors have an 'infinity correction lens' in them, so they will focus on far objects properly, but the distance scale is likely to no longer be accurate. Also some lenses may not fit, if they have a deeper rear element, that would normally sit much closer to the sensor than the correction element in the adaptor will let it.

They are almost certainly 'Manual Focus' Lenses, so if you did fit them, you would have to work the lens's focus ring to focus on your subject. Camera wouldn't do it for you. In fact, wouldn't do MUCH for you.

The aperture is 'uncoupled', and you would have to 'open up' the aperture to its widest setting to compose your scene, or the view-finder will be very dark. The stop down to the aperture you want to use t take the photo.

Some old M42 lenses were marked 'Automatic', this left the aperture open for composition, but a pin closed the iris down to the selected setting when you pressed the shutter; this wont work on a adaptor so yo WILL have to make sure that the lens is on 'manual aperture' and operate as above, or you'll be taking all your pictures at the widest aperture, regardless of what you set on the f-No. ring.

D3200, will ONLY work on 'M' or 'Manual' mode with a non AF lens, and it wont 'meter' for you either; SO, you have to take a test shot with the kit lens to get the ISO Shutter and Aperture settings, then swap lenses and copy settings accross; Or use a hand held light meter independently, and make settings based on what that suggests; OR chimp it, and keep fiddling with settings ad taking pictures until you get an exposure that's about right.

We the have 'crop factors' and D3200 is an APS sensor camera, and these lenses were almost certainly made for a 'full frame' 35m film camera. The Oreston 1.8/50, is a nice fast 50mm lens, that on a 35mm film camera gives a 'normal' angle of view; on the D3200, though it will be a 'telephoto' covering an angle of view about that of the fully zoomed in kit 18-55, but f1.8 rather than f4.5, view-finder will be a lot brighter, it will let you get a LOT shallower depth of field, and work in much lower light, ad get some nice 'bokah' shots.

Made for a bigger film camera, they can be very very good, optically, as well as having widest apertures, that are very expesive to get on auto-focus lenses...

So yes, you COULD use the on your camera.. even if not M42 screw fit, I believe there are adaptors for the common Petax K bayonet and possibly a few others; but similar issues will apply. (You REALLY need to identify the mounting)

Its do-able, and with an adaptor probably costing less than £20 it is maybe worth a go; BUT, it is 'awkward'.. the fancy electrics of the D3200 are reduced to little more than the 'film holder' of an old, completely clockwork film camera like my old Zenith, the sort of camera those lenses were designed to be fitted to.. and if you couldn't use one of them, you are going to struggle.. it'll be a bit of a steep learning curve, but can be a fun one.

I have a Petacon 29mm/f2.8. On my old film camera that was a 'wide angle' lens for landscapes and the like. O the D3200, its 'about' the same angle of view as a 'standard' lens, a 50mm on film camera. The faster f-number though means that I get a much brighter image through the view-finder (not the screen!), which is great when it's getting a bit dark.like inside a pub. Manual focusing is more reliable, because of it, and not as distract as having the 'Focus Assist' lamp come on and tell your candid subjects they are being framed while the AF system 'hunts' for a focus!

I have a Ziess 50mm/f2. As mentioed; close the fully zoomed angle of view of the kit lens, but f2, it's a full three stops 'brighter', again, easier to focus dimmer lighting, no AF assist lamp or 'hunting', and fantastic for shallow depth of field and 'bokah' effects.

I have a Prinz Galaxy 300mm/f5.6 telephoto.. no specification advantage over the AF 55-300 f5.6 have; but I think I paid a fiver for the 'jumble box' of camera stuff that contained it, twenty odd years ago; gave me a bit more 'reach' while was saving up for the the AF lens, as did Hanimex 135mm/ f2.8, which is usefully 'fast' compared to any of the AF zooms, and MY opinion, I think that the pictures I have got with the older lenses may be a little more 'crisp'.

I have a Panomar 12mm Fish-Eye... that wont fit on the adaptor, the rear element fouls the 'correction element'.

BUT, just sorted my daughter out a D3100 and a Nikon AF35 / f1.8, for her O&A Levsls. 35mm is the actual 'standard' focal length for a APS sensor camera... and f1.8 actually faster than any of my old legacy lenses, AND Auto-Focus, AND fully integrated to cameras electronics, you pop it on the front and all the cameras electronics do what they aught to! was remarkably impressed with it and my daughter got to tap her foot a lot, as I struggled to find reasons WHY my 'old antiques' might still be'better'.. sort of came down to the £5 goody boxes or hand me down bags they came in really! Which if you get 'in' to these fast-f-stop primes,is likely where it'll lead, cos the AF 35 and AF50 lenses do the same, without as much 'faff'..

But, legacy lenses and adaptors, its a bit of fun, a bit of pot-luck, and a a lot of fun 'playing' with it all. And you can discover some benefits and advantages,ad circumstances where they can be 'quite useful', as well as learning a lot about photography as you go.

BUT, you DO need to identify the exact lens mounts you have to get the adaptor for them.

Read the camera manual to find out how to set the Manual Mode, with them... and HAVE FUN with it.. and ask here if anything vexes you.
 
Teflon-Mike said:
D3200, will ONLY work on 'M' or 'Manual' mode with a non AF lens, and it wont 'meter' for you either; SO, you have to take a test shot with the kit lens to get the ISO Shutter and Aperture settings, then swap lenses and copy settings accross; Or use a hand held light meter independently, and make settings based on what that suggests; OR chimp it, and keep fiddling with settings ad taking pictures until you get an exposure that's about right.
Click to expand...

I'm not familiar with Nikon, so I'll admit going off and double-checking this.. I can't believe that Nikon make such daft design choices with their entry-level models (no metering or aperture priority mode without lens communication?).

But I did spot a Fuji X-E1 in a local branch of CEX for about £150. If anyone's serious about using old lenses, it would be better to pick-up something more suitable (such as the Fuji) to use alongside the D3200 rather than struggle with an inappropriate DSLR for this purpose.
 
Teflon-Mike said:
.....
The aperture is 'uncoupled', and you would have to 'open up' the aperture to its widest setting to compose your scene, or the view-finder will be very dark. The stop down to the aperture you want to use t take the photo.
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This is why I much prefer cameras with a separate *optical* viewfinder so no worries about this type of problem. Not long ago almost ALL cameras that were not "SLR" had a dedicated optical viewfinder but almost all cameras these days sadly seem orientated to either looking at an LCD on the back of the body with no viewfinder at all or looking at a fully electronic viewfinder.
 
Have you used one of the more recent EVF equipped cameras Adrian? They're fantastic with vintage lenses, no need to open up for metering, focusing or composing even when stopped down in low light.
 
Alastair said:
I can't believe that Nikon make such daft design choices with their entry-level models (no metering or aperture priority mode without lens communication?).
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Why? Its a mass market, entry level camera, that in all probability will never have anything but the kit 18-55 or a 'deal' 18-105 or 18-125 put on the front; most buyers will probably never use anything but the green box 'auto' mode'; they might risk the icon auto, portrait, landscape or action modes, if they have the notion, but the P, S, & A mode will likely vex them, even if they have read the manual, unless they were familiar with semi-automatic film cameras of old, and 'M' is probably the most likely setting beyond icons to get used, if they start getting a bit clued up and following dogma....

For the market its aimed at; makes perfect sense to optimise the thing for 'motor-in-lens' AF lenses.. Nikon's F-Mount allows legacy lenses dating back to the very first in the 1950's to be mounted, to almost any of their SLR's even to current day, with more or less of the possible 'automation' provided by the combo; And buying into the system at the bottom end, you are already sacrificing some of that legacy compatibility for price, not getting a model with in-body focus motor, so obviously not THAT important.

Fact that they even maintain ANY compatibility with Non-AF lenses, is somewhat curious; to my mind; be far more sensible from a marketing point of view, to make the camera so you CANT use old lenses on and have to buy new ones from them!

Alastair said:
But I did spot a Fuji X-E1 in a local branch of CEX for about £150. If anyone's serious about using old lenses, it would be better to pick-up something more suitable (such as the Fuji) to use alongside the D3200 rather than struggle with an inappropriate DSLR for this purpose.
Click to expand...

Somewhat saguine to down right disbuggerable on that suggestio, TBH. An APS-Crop sensor camera, without the pentaprism view-finder, with lower sensor resolution than the D3200, costing almost as much.. just to use the same legacy lenses, on a similar mount adaptor... most of the 'issues' of using legacy lenses on a D3200 remain; 'faff' of having to stop down to take your shot is only side-stepped by not having to 'open up' to compose, by the electronic view-finder automatically upping the brightness at taking aperture... and you'd still have to make sure that the lens was in 'manual' mode and actually at the taking f-stop selected on the ring, or you'd still be shooting wide open regardless.

I'd suggest that as a plan, for £150 you'd be better off upgrading the D3200 body, to one of the higher APS models with AF motor in Body, that offers more backwards compatibility with even more lenses, with or without an adaptor.... the conclusion of that, leading ultimately to rather expensive upgrades to 'full-frame' to get the angle of view these lenses were designed to deliver... OR...

Alternatively.. spending possibly less money than the price of an adaptor ring to fit them to anything boasting mega-pixies, and buy an old Zenith, Practika or Petax (shhhh) film camera, and a couple of rolls of Pound-land Agfa Vista! Now THAT would be an adventure in photography..OH! the fun that might be had with that, as Quid-World colour leads to Boots B&W and that to home developing! Just like your Dad probably did OP!
 
Ak-chully, just looked at evil-bay out of interest..
if these lenses are M42... A focus corrected M42 to Nikon F-Mount adapator is between £15 & £20.....
BUT, you can pick up M42 mount Pracktika SLR's for about a tenner 'posted'!
Geez slap a £1 film in one, that's cheaper than a Cardboard box, plastic lens, Disposable camera from the super-market!
Begs suggestion that could be a bit of a wheeze and some pocket money 'fun' having a dabble with film, playing with these lenses, in their 'natural' habitat.
 
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