'Old' lens or new?

[Adam Lewis]

Hi
Right, am I being mad, or would it not be cheaper to purchase an old manual lens, buy an adaptor and stick it on my dslr rather than buying a 'normal' lens.

I've taken on everyone's advice, and after trying with some portraits, f3.5 as a maximum is not good enough, especially when I need around f6-8 for sharpness.
So I was looking at getting a wider aperture lens, budget is extremely tight, looking at under £100, so it's either the canon ef 50 1.8 mark 2. Which would cost £75 from amazon, but they're not meant to be too great build wise, and after seeing one literally tear apart with a little twist on youtube, I've been out off, plus the 1.4 has better colour definition IMO.
So the other options available are of course 2nd hands, though I'm not likely to pick up any decent lens for under £100. Apart from the 'older' lenses, after some digging I've found out that the Pancolar Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm 1.8 is rather good, and from looking at sample shots, you'd never know that it was made back in the dark ages (sorry elders). Obviously this is a manual lens, I'm fine with that, can only use Av or manual - typically the only 2 I actually use, manual focus - I prefer to use anyway and of course would have to buy an adapter mount - can be found for under a tenner on the flea market.

Has anyone got the said lens? Any recommendations for another one perhaps? And lastly, if you were to find one in pristine condition optically, how much would you be prepared to spend?

Thanks for your time

 

[Dave Green]

I often use an old Nikon 85mm F2 AIS on my D700 - pin sharp and a LOT smaller than the modern equivalent. Paid £80 for it.

 

[David Mitchell]

Some of the older 'vintage' manual lenses (the Nikon AI lenses) are apparently very very good as it was back when they used to build them to last. I have a Nikon f1.8 'E' series lens, which is apparently a very sharp lens, its 'E' meaning economy, I got mine for about £40, its the earlier more plastic lens, there was a later E series lens with more rubber and metal but its a very solid lens - basically they spend the money on the actual optics rather than how it looked.

Here is a shot with that lens on my D3100:

 

[Hamish Gill]

Loads of Nikons to choose from and David is right... That series e 50's are a steal ...

ive been looking at m42 lenses loads recently, the pancolar has come up, I wrote it off because it looked too good (which is I suspect what your after) ...
I have a few 50's, the 55mm 1.8 takumar always seems nice ... Well within budget too (mine also has a switch for manual aperture which you will need if you don't want to start hacking things)
czj 58mm biotar looks interesting
ive just bought a helios 44

there are so many 50mm lenses available under a ton, if you buy second hand and buy wise you can probably experiment a bit ... Buy and sell til you find one you like ...?

 

[David Mitchell]

With the M42 lenses you need to be careful as I have a Helios 44mm lens from my Zenit photosniper kit (its the spare lens that comes with it) some of the M42 lenses have quite a pertruding section when it focuses which can jam the mirror or indeed get stuck against an M42 adaptor if its got the correction glass in it. Some are fine though, but I would definatly check out the older AI Nikon lenses - just be careful as some are highly prized so are quite expensive.

What camera do you have btw? I only ask as it seems that Canon owners go after older Nikon lenses as you can easily adapt a Nikon lens to a Canon body, but not the other way round.

This E series lens needs a clean, but its only £24 delivered

NIKON 50mm F1.8 SERIES E PRIME LENS Ai-S , MANUAL FOCUS , SOME FUNGUS SPOTS | eBay

 

[Adam Lewis]

Thanks for that everyone, tomorrow I have a full day to myself, so ill prob sit on the laptop searching through these older lenses, there's just so many. I've also found a zuiko 50 1.8 ? But that's with some Olympus film camera, which I would either stick it on eBay again or just bin it depending on its value, but of course ill be fighting against people who want that camera, not just lens .
But yes I've seen a large amount of Nikon lenses, and adapters are plentiful, but the sheer amount of lenses is hard to think of for my little brain.
Thanks for the link too David , ill take a look, and thanks for the photo
Hamish - the sample photos I've seen on the pancolar just look like it could've been from any new lens, which is what I'm after.. I've seen some lenses that are tinted colours? - doesn't appeal to me. And I'm also not looking for any vintage / film look to my photos.. I guess it'll just be a case if loads of searching online tomorrow then?

Too much choice.. Lol.. Oh and David, I use a 600d . So I don't really want anything larger than 50 because of the crop factor

 

[David Mitchell]

Here you go, this might help:

Nikon Cheapskate Lenses

Ah yes, check out some of the 35mm lenses then, I have a pre AI 35mm Nikon lens that I use on my D3100 as its equivalent to a 50mm. Bit cheaper than shelling out £150 for a newer 50mm DX lens! I don't care that I have to focus it myself or set the aperture, I want to be in control of what the lens and camera are doing not the camera!

Just found this in an online used camera section, its a Nikon EM SLR with the motorwinder AND it seems to have the E series lens on it....£35, might be worth dropping them an email before you grab it to make sure its not body and winder etc but it looks to be complete, its the same lens (and indeed camera setup) that I have.

http://www.carmarthencameras.co.uk/product/2784/used-nikon-em-35mm-slr-winder

If its the complete kit you get a nice sharp lens and also a nice aperture priority automatic exposure film SLR as well

 

[Hamish Gill]

That would require trusting the words of Ken Rockwell, not something I personally recommend
You've picked quite a good example of the sort of crap that guy says too...

80-200 4.5 ... No, sorry, bad! Not in the same league as the 70-200 2.8 vr (which is effectively what he is saying)

does my nut!

Still at least I don't have to deal with the rockwellites that used to come in the shop ... "I read that if I buy a vr lens I don't need to buy a tripod" ...

 

[Dave Green]

Adam - if you have a free day and are in Manchester - why not pop along to the Real Camera Co. - they'll have lots of old glass for you to play with!

The Real Camera Company - Manchester Camera Retailer

 

[David Mitchell]

Lol ok ok ok

I have found the E series lens for £29.99 here:

AIS Nikon 50mm 1 8 Prime Pancake Standard Lens 29 99

Its the earlier model like I have but is very solid and also very light, when I bolted it onto my D3100 the flash unit on the top of the camera was sticking out more than the lens lol its very compact.

 

[Adam Lewis]

Thanks everyone, I've taken a look at the links given, (and have previously had a peep in real camera shop) but a Nikon lens would cost around £60 in an immaculate condition, rather than jumping into it, I've taken to bidding on fleabay, surely ill get a lens and a mounter cheap than £60. - I'm really tight lol.
One auction ends tomorrow night, if I don't win, there's another for Sunday morning, failing that there is a buy it now pentacon for £25 which is a right bargain. If I decide against the pentacon, there's loads of zuiko's to bid on.

Ill keep you updated.
There is also if anyone is interested a lens that is believed to be brand new, with no marks, not a speck of dust and not a mark from mounting, being sold in original box with matching serial numbers. It is a zuiko 50mm 1.8 and it's buy it now for £45 w £10 postage. ?

 

[David Mitchell]

Take your time over searching for what lens you want, I just needed a lens and just happened to buy a very good one lol the thing about gear that I have found and im sure others will say the same is to invest in lenses NOT camera bodies. Camera bodies change all the time for DSLRs, todays top end DSLR sensor will be obsolete in a year or so. But you can't really get an obsolete lens, sure some of the newer lenses will be sharper and have certain features but there are some lenses (like the older MF Nikons) that were really very good and didn't need stuff like VR or millions of elements in millions of groups lol.

Also some of the cheap kit lenses are actually pretty good these days and personally I don't really want a perfect lens, I don't want a clinical photograph that is just exactly the same as looking at it, I would prefer to have little differences etc as it makes it interesting.

Anyway, here is a shot from my 18-55mm kit lens that came with my D3100.

Also, be careful what you wish for as its addictive buying kit lol here is a Zenit photosniper with a 2x tele convertor with my D3100 bolted on the back, as its a crop sensor this is the equivilent of a 900mm lens

 

[Hamish Gill]

Any news?
Ive tried a couple of pentacons lately ... Maybe it was just the ones I have tried, maybe just not what I was looking for, but wasn't overly taken ...
One was a 24mm 2.8 and one a 29mm 2.8, both had electric contacts so my guess was later coated optics ... Ok but not great, nothing special was my final thoughts before they went ...

I think you are probably on better tracks exploring zuikos, pentax, czj etc
what about a smc takuma 50 1.4?

 

[Hamish Gill]

Here http://bit.ly/RiWPma

 

[Hamish Gill]

... Looks like some of the old lenses are radioactive ... Not a health issue, but can make the coatings on rear element go yellow ... Maybe one to avoid if you are looking for out and out quality

 

[David Mitchell]

Yeah those are the Thorium coated lenses, Yashica cameras used Thorium coated lenses, its why they have an atomic symbol on their cameras as they are radioactive.

 

[Pete Askew]

Actually the thorium is not part of the coating but is, as ThO2, a component (usually up to 30%) of the glass used for some of the elements of the lens. It is used due to its high refractive index and low dispersion properties. And I don't think the atom symbol on the front had anything to do with the presence of thorium in the optics but more part of the obsession in the 60s for all things 'atomic'.

 

[Adam Lewis]

Yep the news is, im now the owner of the lens that you didn't like Hamish lol.
£30 with adapter, a few tiny specks of dust which apparently don't get seen (let's wait and see), it's going to go away for Santa when it comes, the gf decided she'd but it for me... But obv ill test it on camera when it arrives, and ill take some pictures

 

[Hamish Gill]

which one, which one, which one?

 

[Adam Lewis]

It's a pentacon mc 50mm 1.8 .
The pancolar czj ended up going for £70 . Seems silly really spending the extra £40 if its not entirely necessary.
I know the pentacon isn't as good, and definitely not as sharp, but that's character for you lol - if character = blur lol