George,

Sorry I failed to pull out the SMC 135mm f3.5 in the comparison. Oh well!

If you want vintage, then you've got to check this out ... here's a dude using 35mm Wollensak Cine-Velostigmat F5 ... the kind of lens used on hand-cranked silent movies.

http://timurcivan.blogspot.com/2010/10/something-old-meets-something-new.html

Not exactly the '70s vintage lenses you were looking for ... but super-cool ...

Robert,

Yep, that would be vintage. I think it's funny how so many of us are chasing technical purity, pixel peeping, obsessing on data rates.... and then others make interesting pieces by using very imperfect lenses to great effect. Something to be learned here!

Thanks for sharing.

Hey Robert,

you're the president of Juicedlink right? Glad to have you on the forum. Just showed someone how to use the use the CX231 coupled with the DN101 last night on my T2i. Great product. I also used it throughout my shoot in Brazil.

Thanks for posting!

Here is a clip that features primarily vintage lenses. The exception is the extreme wide angle shots when we used the Tokina 11-16.

Vintage lenses used
Helios 44
Mir 24
Zeiss 85mm 1.4

A Von Lanken Atherton Invitation on Vimeo

How is the Mir 24 doing in Low light ?

It seams like a perfect wide angle choice.

The Mir 24 is an f/2.0 so it's pretty decent in low light. Not as good as f/1.4 or 1.8, but still really nice.

One thing gets me down tho.

550d and 7d has the 1.6 crop factor.

So, we, owners, have hard time getting good wide angle look to our footage. For example the Mir 24 will work as a 55mm lens.

We need to get supper wide angle lens in order to get An average Full frame camera Wide angle look.
And the supper wide angle lens don't come with a cheep price tag as far as i know .

And the supper wide angle lens don't come with a cheep price tag as far as i know .

Yeah, but those long lenses are even more expensive. It's nice to have a 135 that reaches like a 220 or a 200 reach 320. The Tokina 11-16 gives me all the wide I need on the cropped sensor.

ohoo, works for zooms as benefit. :)



But that Tokina 11-16 is 600$. Not exactly cheep. Have not seen any cheep and good vintage lens from the super wide angle section.

35mm and 50mm end has their choices such as Mir 24 and Pentax smc 50mm 1.4 . (Can vouch for this one, its amazing.)

Am i wrong? Is there choices from supper wide angle lens similar to Roger's mentioned Tokina 11-16 for a price of 100-200 $?

Wide angle lenses are expensive to start with anyway. Tokina 11-16 is a good deal because even as an 11mm F2.8 prime its pretty cheap, compared to FF primes like 14mm F2.8 which costs three time as much as Tokina.
People complain about crop sensor doesn't go wide, but if you look around you usually find crop sensor equalevant at a much cheaper price than full frame version and you can match the range too.
The altra wide lenses, without going fisheye, are invariably for crop sensors only (ie, the very sharp Sigma 8mm-16mm), and they are reasonably priced compared to FF lenses.
So in the end, smaller sensors mean smaller budget for everything--body and lenses, without sacrisficing much reach.

Gustavs,

You could look for a deal on something like this:

SMC Takumar 15mm F3.5 Lens Reviews - Pentax Lens Review Database (http://www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/SMC-Takumar-15mm-F3.5.html)


Problem is, these lenses vary in price quite a bit. Somebody that wants to sell it and doesn't know what it is may sell if for $50, somebody who does $1,200. Happy hunting!

Ty Roger, seams like a good choice. But its for the future. Cant go over 200$ for the moment.


Il get the Mir 24. But i dont understand one thing. Between Mir 24M and Mir 24N the only difference is in mounts? The N is Nikon mount and the M is m42 mount. Both can be easily fitted to 550d?


Im planing to get Mir 24N simply cause its cheeper. I see majority using Mir 24m.


MC MIR-24 N 2/35 NIKON & Kiev bayonet lens EXC on eBay (end time 08-Oct-10 16:16:16 BST) (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=350399838916&Category=3323&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2) ( In the picture of the lens there is written MC Mir 24-h)

This one (Plz dont Bid :) )

Hi Gustavs

That Mir 24 looks like a pretty good one. He notes that it has small bubbles/scratches. I would clarify with the seller on what his return policy is.

The first Mir 24 I bought from Kiev was in pretty good shape. The second and third Mir24 I bought had major scratches on the front lens element, even thought the sellers listed them as excellent condition. The Ebay sellers allowed me to return them. The fourth Mir 24 I bought was in excellent shape for real. Good luck with the auction.

As far as an affordable super wide less than $200. I have the Zenitar 16mm 2.8. They are made in Russia and you can still find them brand new around the $200 range. I have seen them with Nikon, Pentax K and M42 mounts. Maybe you can even find a good used one since they are made so close to where you are located...well I realize Russia is a big country, but at least you are closer to Russia than I am. ;-)

Here is a clip that primarily has footage from the Zenitar.
Zenitar-K 16mm Lens for DSLRs on Vimeo

The wind shield is the front glass of the lens ? Or the Lens cap?


Hmm, interesting that Zenitar :) And cheep as well.


But i think it is not a wherry good performer in low light situations. And i am buying the wide angle for a good performance in Night . The kit lens 30-55 that i have are not usable in low light, tho offers a ,some what, Wide angle.


Edit:The video of yours is actually rly nice and is quite low lit .

But i have heard to much of a good reviews about the Mir 24 to stop now . :) Il get it for now . But i hope minor scratches on the front glass wont influence the outcome of a video. I think it should not be visible at all unless some had used a Nail and carved something in it .

I am unfamiliar with calling anything on the lens a windshield. I thought it may be a language translation thing. When I read windshield I thought of the front of the lens and not the lens cap. Clarification is alwasy good, especially before you purchase.

Most vintage lenses will have some degree of minor scratches. Its the deep, wide and long scratches that you need to be cautious of.

With the Zenitar at f/2.8, it will give better performance than the kit lens, which is f/3.5 when zoomed back wide, but is it worth it to you to buy a lens that is just a little faster and a little wider than the kit lens? I don't know, but it is about $400 cheaper than the Tokina 11-16.

Yes, i sent the seller a question regarding those scratches . Hope he gives me a clarifying answer instead of " Lens is in great condition" reply . Usually i get those

Talking about "but is it worth it to you to buy a lens that is just a little faster and a little wider than the kit lens? I don't know" I sure hope you mean the Zenitar versus the Canon kit lens.

Cause i do expect a major improvement in low light situations from the Mir 24 Lens.

I got the Pentax smc 50mm 1.4 .And i do hope the Mir 24 is quite similar in low light performance. I think the 0.6 aperture difference is not that big between those 2.

Or am i to optimistic?

Talking about "but is it worth it to you to buy a lens that is just a little faster and a little wider than the kit lens? I don't know" I sure hope you mean the Zenitar versus the Canon kit lens.

Cause i do expect a major improvement in low light situations from the Mir 24 Lens.

I got the Pentax smc 50mm 1.4 .And i do hope the Mir 24 is quite similar in low light performance. I think the 0.6 aperture difference is not that big between those 2.

Or am i to optimistic?

Hi Gustavs,

Yes, I was comparing the Zenitar to the Canon kit lens. You will see a big improvement with the Mir24 over the kit lens in low light, as well as other areas.

The low light abilities of the Mir24 will fall between your Pentax 1.4 and the Canon kit lens at the wide setting. I could be wrong, but I understand that a 1.8 lens lets in half as much light as a 1.4 lens, so going from 1.4 to 2.0 is not just .6 aperture difference.

f/2.0 will get good results in low light. f/1.4 practically makes light, so it really depends on how dark the scene is. I have tried shooting low light receptions with an f/2.8 and it did not do well. Using an f/2.0 made a big improvement, but again, it depends on how dark the scene is.

I spent a little time today comparing my SMC Takumar 50mm f1.4 to some modern lenses; specifically Canon 50mm f1.8 and Tamron 17-50mm f2.8, all three set to f2.8. The following shots were taken at dusk within minutes of each other:

Here are a few more controlled shots of same lenses indoors in controlled lighting, all taken at f2.8 again. The cropped shots are near the center of the page. It's interesting that that the Tamron 17-50 at "50" is noticeably wider than the other lenses.

Perhaps the biggest difference in sharpness is in the corners of the lenses; all at f2.8. The top left corner showed the greatest difference on these samples. This isn't exactly fair to the Tamron, which I like very much and is on my camera 90% of the time. It's at a disadvantage being a zoom lens at it's widest aperture and at its extreme focal length whereas the others are primes and stepped down a few stops. I find myself often struggling for light, so f2.8 was the lowest common f-stop.

Has anyone tested the nikkor 24m f2?
I just ordered one from ebay for 340$ (incl. shipping) for my 60d...

George, i'm sure the 24mm f2 will do great. Post a video if you have a chance!

Hi,
The nikkor 24mm f2 is here and it is in excellent condition!!
But still waiting for the adapter!

The Zenitar K2.8/16 is here also and it works gr8!!!

Lucky you.

Im still waiting for my Mir 24, and i ordered it in October the 8th.

The shipping estimate for that seller is 15-25 days. But the worst part is, that before 5 days or so, the user i bought it from is no longer a Registered User of Ebay.

Its weird, cause his Feedback of 800+ seemed Legit.

Asked him about this issue, and he sad that Ebay closed his acc for some unpaid services to Ebay. Don't know what to think,but i am worried.

Adapter and the caps all arrived.



p.s

Maybe some1 knows a good place where i can get Mir 24 Lens which ships internationaly.

Im still waiting for my Mir 24, and i ordered it in October the 8th.

Maybe some1 knows a good place where i can get Mir 24 Lens which ships internationaly.

If you're in Latvia, part of the FSU (former Soviet Union), you have have a very good chance of finding a Mir24 at a flea/vintage market or pawn shop or any camera shop locally that has a used counter.

Hey everyone, if you are in search for adapters but don't know which one to get, I suggest looking at KAWA MALL on ebay. I bought a Nikon to eos and just recently an M42 to eos and both came in the mail supprisingly fast. The Nikon to eos adapter works great. I'm able to detach it from the lens with no problem. The M42 I haven't gotten a chance to test yet. Still wating on my Heilos 44m. Which I bought for a whopping $37.

Since the first time I wrote on this thread I bought:

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 & Canon 18-55mm kit (not vintage but importand lenses)
Helios 44m
Nikon 24mm f2 non ai
Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye (can't get it to focus to infinity but working on it)
Pentacon 135mm f2.8 "Bokeh monster" (this one has not arrived yet but it has 15 blades aperture and I really want to see what it can do)

I'm gonna need an olympus 50mm f1.4 and I'm ready to shoot!

But NO adaptor have arrived yet so Helios, Nikon and Pentacon have no way to go on my camera yet :-(

I will post videos and my top 4 when I can (that is soon).

If you're in Latvia, part of the FSU (former Soviet Union), you have have a very good chance of finding a Mir24 at a flea/vintage market or pawn shop or any camera shop locally that has a used counter.



Nothing like that springs to mind :/

Those that i knew are all gone .



However the guy from ebay gave me a Tracking number.

I traced trough track-trace (http://www.track-trace.com) and some info about the purchase did show up.

How ever i could not make extract any info from that about when my Lens will be here.

Maybe i can track my purchase trough other sites which may give me more detailed info?

Its EMS .

It might just be your country's border/custom services. I had a package from the Far East held up at customs for almost 3 weeks, it was just released yesterday.. I usually get my items in 10 days or less.

You ust might be right.

This is my first item shipped form Russia. And today i traced the package again, and its location has changed from Kirov to Moscow.


And i bought the item on October the 8th, and as it seams they dispatched the item only on 23rd.

It took me about a month to get my Mir24s and Helios 44s, which all came from Russia and the former Soviet Union areas.

Anyone know of a good Minolta to EOS adapter?

After 31 days my Mir 24N(H) is finally here. :)

Also got my Nikon to EoS adapter, but the problem is , i can't get the lens on the Camera.


EDIT: All good now, the adapter was screwed on wrong. :)

Good to hear Gustavs!

I just purchased a Tokina RMC 17mm but its a Minolta MD mount. I am still waiting to hear back from anyone who knows a good adapter. I have read that it is difficult to find a good one that allows you to focus to infinity..

Hi Terry,

Anyone know of a good Minolta to EOS adapter?

The Minolta to EOS adapters that allow for infinity focus have glass optics which lower the amount of light reaching the sensor and can lessen the image quality. The reason is that the Minolta spec, like older Canon manual focus lenses, have a lens-to-mirror distance that is less than the EOS specification - the back of the Minolta lens goes too far into the body to allow for the mirror to go up and also doesn't allow the correct distance between the glass and the sensor to enable infinity focussing. There are conversions available for some Canon and Minolta manual focus lenses. The back of the lens is disassembled and a Canon EF mount is permanently attached. You can see on this page which lenses need optics in the adapters and which don't, requiring only a metal spacer:

Canon EOS lens Adapters - Manual focus lenses on Canon EOS bodies (http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html)

Hi... it's been a while now since I caught the microb of vintage lenses but today a pentacon 135mm f2.8 (amazing lense you should try it) that just arrived I think it has fungus on the rear element.
I'm getting ichy just by watching it :-))))
Please check the picture and tell me if I am right...

It is not visible on the footage though.. I'll post some later.
Thanks!

To be honest its hard to tell from such a small pic. You should zoom in with max focus on that part.

But from my pow it looks as if some sort of powder .

Im actualy amazed how anything can get into the lens. :)

To be honest its hard to tell from such a small pic.
I'll post a zommed image later... thanx.

This is the zoomed version....
It's a bit out of focus but a search I did in google I found similar erosion on other lenses that was caused by fungus...

George, I'd advise you not to mount lenses with fungus to your camera or mix with other good lenses in same bag, because it can sometimes spread to other lenses.
Regarding the Pentacon 135mm f/2.8, when it has clean glass, it is a decent lens and I used to use one for badger photography with an LLC camera many years ago. The Pentax SMC-M I found a far better optic than the old Pentacon and well worth looking out for.

Hey, this thread went completely quiet!
Any news?

I'm putting together a few shots that I got w/ my helios 44m-4 and nikkor 24mm f2 on the 60d.
I'll post it in a few days...

Ok this is a good low light example...
Shot with 60D + Nikkor 24mm f2 + Helios 44m-4 58mm f2 + Zenitar 16mm f2.8 fisheye.

Party @Senso - 20.2.2011 on Vimeo

That is very cool George.. i've also added MF lenses with our newer lenses
Nikon 50 1.4
Helios 44 58mm 2.0
Vivitar Series 1 70-210 3.5 (67mm Kiron version)
Hanimar 135/3.5 & 28/2.8
Pentacon 55/1.8
Super Takumar 105mm f/2.8

As for the video..What was your ISO setting? Is this footage pretty much raw? any post color correction?
Cannot wait for my adapters to come so i can try out these babies :)


Kren
Vertical Video Works* Winnipeg Videography (http://www.verticalvideoworks.ca)

Kren,
For iso settings I just used a general rule: Stay low! But my average setting was 2500. I know that was not the best way to go but I did anyway...
I also did a little bit of color grading inside my editing app in order to give it some "personality".

Hope you'll enjoy your new babies...
Cheers

Hello (My account was finally activated !)
I bought my T2i body one month ago and before puchasing it, I googled a lot about good lenses to get for a good start.
And... I ended up on this thread so first of all, thank you to all the users who gave their opinion and especially Terry Lee for starting this thread :)

It has been a wonderful ressource, I think I have read the whole thread several times.
For sure I was impressed by the video from Regis Hervagault and also the one that was posted just above by George Prada (love the mood of it).

I decided to go for some of the lenses that were top rated here :
I purchased the mighty Helios 44m 58mm f/2, a Pentacon 135mm f/2.8 MC and a third one that was not listed here, a Pentacon 28mm f/2.8 MC, looks like it is exactly the same serie as the 135mm 2.8.

It happened that I ended up using the 28mm most of the time for a wider field of view, so far it has been good (after cleaning it with the proper tools) but I can't really tell about the quality... however, what I can say is that it isn't really sharp at f/2.8. I think this lens really isn't exceptionnal.
Writing this message reminds me that I should make some real tests with it.
I also noticed some vignetting, have to test that too.
Since I am using it mostly for video and that, in the end, it will probably be watched on a website like Vimeo or Youtube, I can live with some chromatic aberrations and a lack of sharpness.

Maybe someone here had a try with the same lens, it was the same price as the 135mm, 28€(40$).

Thanks again for the great help :) Several of my friends at my film school are now getting ready to find M42 adapters for their cameras !

not all old glass is very good wide open. you'll find thats why some older glass costs as much as new glass, its got good wide open performance. modern glass is almost always much better wide open, however, stop 1-2 stops down and it should be fine. you might also find that going up one notch on the detail level will help too if you are at min.

Hello (My account was finally activated !)
I can't really tell about the quality... however, what I can say is that it isn't really sharp at f/2.8. I think this lens really isn't exceptionnal.
!

Simon,
My concern with vintage lenses is that they are not always so sharp like new lenses.
But anything that is sharp enough to shoot video is ok. For stills I use the tokina 11-16 and the canon 17-55 that came with the kit.
The main benefit that you get by using vintage lenses is that "lens personality". That includes color rendition, bokeh, sharpness etc..

The only vintage lens that I can shoot stills with is the helios 44-4m 58mm f2.
Good luck with your journey to digital cinematography with 100% analog lenses!

p.s. I'm really jealous of your pentagon 135mm! Is it the one with 15-blades aperture? I have used this one once but unfortunately I had to return it.. :-(

Cheers

Hi Steve,

not all old glass is very good wide open. you'll find thats why some older glass costs as much as new glass, its got good wide open performance. modern glass is almost always much better wide open, however, stop 1-2 stops down and it should be fine. you might also find that going up one notch on the detail level will help too if you are at min.

Great advice. You sacrifice a certain look by stopping down - losing heavy on the smooth bokeh and circular highlights - but the in-focus area sharpens up slightly closed down on just about all lenses. As you said - some more than others. "Sharp wide open" is the holy grail. To get it you either have to really do your research, pay a lot of money or get lucky with a better-than-average copy of a lens. The nice thing is that fast vintage lenses will only gain value, so buying them for testing is never going to be a bad thing. As long as you can make a slick ebay listing you'll always at least get your money back - sometimes make a profit if you bought something that was undervalued or poorly represented. I just got done testing a Tomioka-made Rikenon. I've always heard they've got a unique look. I tested it 5.6, 4, 2.8, 2 and 1.4. Its a beautiful lens and does have a nice look, but I found the Olympus 50 1.4 (high serial number versions) and the earliest Pentax 50 1.4's to be sharper wide open. .

Simon,
My concern with vintage lenses is that they are not always so sharp like new lenses.
But anything that is sharp enough to shoot video is ok. For stills I use the tokina 11-16 and the canon 17-55 that came with the kit.
The main benefit that you get by using vintage lenses is that "lens personality". That includes color rendition, bokeh, sharpness etc..

The only vintage lens that I can shoot stills with is the helios 44-4m 58mm f2.
Good luck with your journey to digital cinematography with 100% analog lenses!


Cheers

This might be because you aren't finding the right lenses. For example, Pentax makes so many different lenses with the same numbers on them it will make your head spin. They make the 135mm f2.5, but there is the takumar bayonet version, takumar bayonet super multi coated, and the smc pentax-m. The first two are garbage while the smc m mount is a gem. It's sharp even wide open. Also look into a smc pentax-m or pentax-a 50mm f1.4 which is also VERY sharp even wide open. People earlier suggested the super multi coated tak 50mm 1.4 but that lens has a dreamy sharp but not sharp look to it if that makes sense. The pentax-m or a is where its at though