old lenses

[Slavomir Valko]

I got a chance to buy cheap old lenses ($20-$35) that are PK mount and M42 mount.
Should I get the lenses and adapters or is just better to save money and buy EF mount?

[Ed Kishel]

if they are fast lenses and have manual aperture rings, get them cheap and buy a EF mount adapter for each one.

but if its a JCPennys brand f4.5 zoom lens- you may want to pass

[Slavomir Valko]

This is just some of the lenses:

Minolta 50mm 1.7 (PK Mount)
Canon 50mm 1.8 (FD Mount)
Vivitar 28mm 2.8 (M42 mount)
Rikenon 50mm 2.0 (PK Mount)
Sears 50mm 1.7 (PK Mount)
X-Fujinon 50mm 1.9 (PK Mount)
Yashinon 135mm 2.8 (M42 Mount)
Kalimar 80-200mm 4.5 Zoom (M42 Mount)
Sigma 75-210mm 3.5 (PK Mount)
Tokina 80-200mm f/4 Zoom Zoom (PK Mount)
Tokina 70-210mm f/4 Zoom (PK Mount)

Any advice witch one to get. So far I got only kit lens.

[Perrone Ford]

I saw that same list, and had zero interest. Your interests may differ.

[Stephen Henderson]

Not sure about mounts, but research it before you buy, not all are mountable.
You can always get a nifty-50 for 90$ , so those 50mm might not be worth it, depending on how much you pay, so I would look at these maybe:
Vivitar 28mm 2.8 (M42 mount)
Yashinon 135mm 2.8

[Mark Von Lanken]

Originally Posted by Slavomir Valko

This is just some of the lenses:

Minolta 50mm 1.7 (PK Mount)
Canon 50mm 1.8 (FD Mount)
Vivitar 28mm 2.8 (M42 mount)
Rikenon 50mm 2.0 (PK Mount)
Sears 50mm 1.7 (PK Mount)
X-Fujinon 50mm 1.9 (PK Mount)
Yashinon 135mm 2.8 (M42 Mount)
Kalimar 80-200mm 4.5 Zoom (M42 Mount)
Sigma 75-210mm 3.5 (PK Mount)
Tokina 80-200mm f/4 Zoom Zoom (PK Mount)
Tokina 70-210mm f/4 Zoom (PK Mount)

Any advice witch one to get. So far I got only kit lens.

Hi Slavomir,

A friend of mine, Chris Watson, has done a lot of research on vitage lenses and has an article coming out in EventDV magazine. I just checked and the article is not online yet, but it should be available any day. You can watch for it here, EventDV.net: The Event Videographer's Resource

In the mean time, I can tell you that based on info from Chris I have bought several old vintage lenses. I am unfamiliar with several on your list, but one lens that cannot be easily adapted to an EOS mount is the Canon FD lenses. I have lenses with the PK mount, M42 mount, Nikon and Yashica/Contax and they all work great with $10-25 adapter rings from https://www.fotodiox.com/catalog/home.php

You can get faster lenses if you stay with primes, but if you have to have a zoom, there are some great, low cost choices out there. Vivitar made some lenes that were above par for their day. Look for a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 with a constant aperature of 3.5. You can find theses in the Nikon and PK mount all day long on ebay for $50-75. Another nice lens is the Vivitar Series 1 28-105 f/2.5-3.5.

For vintage primes, Nikon and Takumar are great options. Nikons have risen in price, but you can still find 50mm 1.4 Takumars on ebay below $100. A great thing about these old lenses is that they were made to manually focus. The new Canon nifty fifty has a really nasty focus ring. You would be much better off spending $100 on a Takumar 50mm 1.4 than the new Canon nifty fifty.

Another thing to lookup on ebay is a series of Russian made lenses. Chris will go into detail in his article, but until then, Mir24 35mm f2.0, Mir1 37mm f2.8, Helios44 58mm f2.0 are just a few that come in either an M42 (screw mount) Nikon or PK mounts.

[James Donnelly]

Originally Posted by Slavomir Valko

This is just some of the lenses:

Vivitar 28mm 2.8 (M42 mount)

This is the only one it might be worth bothering with, and it depends which variant it is, and only if it's cheap.

If it says "MC Close Focus" on the front, there is a chance it is a great lens, but not worth more than £20-£30 depending on condition. I use mine a lot for indoor shots.

You listed a Yashinon 135mm f2.8 in there, which is poor, but if you can get a Pentacon 135mm f2.8, the older model, which has 15 aperture blades and a click free aperture ring, this is also a great cheap lens.

The rest...keep walking.

Everything Mark says is spot on. I have the nifty fifty and the Takumar 50mm f1.4, and honestly the difference in colour rendering is huge. The Takumar blows the Canon away.

[Chris Barcellos]

FD mounts won't work without an adapter that adds another lens element. Those adapters aren't well received.

As to the other lenses, some here may be considering the their value as still glass. Remember you video resolution is lower, so the glass that is being panned by some may be just fine for video.

I have three lenses with Pentax K mounts, that are great. One is a Takumar zoom (28-80) that is great for that service on my 5D. I have shot a lot of footage with it. It also has a macro mode on the telephoto end that allows me to shoot close focus shots. The others are Pentax branded, a 50mm F 1.4 SMC, and a 28mm F2.8. I think the 50mm is better glass than my Nikon F 1.4 for my 5D. I do have a vintage 1970s Nikon mount Vivitar 70-210 that also does a real nice job. I bought most of these on Ebay, or had on hand from my still shooting days.

[James Donnelly]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

.

As to the other lenses, some here may be considering the their value as still glass. Remember you video resolution is lower, so the glass that is being panned by some may be just fine for video.

Just fine resolution wise, but what about contrast, colour rendering, vignetting, corner sharpness and CA? That all matters every bit as much in video as in stills.

I mostly use vintage lenses for video, generally fast primes. IMHO almost none of the ones listed are worth buying, not because they are all inadequate for video, but for one or more of the following reasons:

- For the $20 - $30 you can get better on ebay
- They are old, slow zooms with poor IQ, which are a waste of time

Great old lenses really are cheap, and will produce high quality video, but it's worth doing a little reading around each lens, as there are plenty of dogs

[Slavomir Valko]

thanks for the advice,
ordered Vivitar 28mm 2.8 (M42 mount) $25

Mark Von Lanken looking forward to read the article by Chris Watson on vintage lenses, let us know when is online.

[Slavomir Valko]

so I purchased the lens and now I need the adapter.
would you guys recommend any place to buy from?

thanks

[Mark Von Lanken]

Hi Slavomir,

I use Fotodiox adapters. Sometimes you can find good deals on them on Ebay or Amazon. To know if you are getting a good deal, just go to their website here, https://www.fotodiox.com/catalog/home.php and compare prices. Sometimes the best prices are on their website but it's free to shop around and compare.

Another thing you want to do is purchase the back lens caps, which will now be a Canon EOS after you have installed the adapter ring. Fotodiox sell those as well.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Here is the article on vintage lenses by Chris Watson. Reading this article will save you hours of research.
EventDV.net: The Event Videographer's Resource

[Terry Lee]

Currently I am using a Nikon 28mm with an adapter I got on ebay with my T2i. The only down side to having this lens is that it is constantly at 45mm with the 1.6 sensor size difference. Therefore a zoom lens that starts from about 17 or even 10 mm would be helpful.

[Chris M. Watson]

Hey Slavomir,

I think you picked out a great lens especially if there's a 22 , 28, or a 37 at the start of the serial number. These numbers are indications of which manufacturer Vivitar contracted to make their lenses at the time. 22 is Kiron, 28 is Komine, and 37 is a brand you should be familiar with-Tokina. Here's some more info on the serial number thing with Vivitar.....

Vivitar 70-210 Series 1 Macro Zoom Lenses - Mark Roberts Photography

I have the Kiron made 70-210 3.5, the Tokina made 70-210 3.5 (for the wife's camera), and the Komine made 28-90 2.8-3.5 and they are all amazing lenses with their own special characteristics. For instance, the Kiron made 70-210 3.5 will give you very punchy colors and nice sharpness. Here's part one of a wedding highlight in Cabo I made that really shows off what the Vivitars can do. All the travelogue shots (except for the sea gull) were shot with the 70-210.....

Cabo Wedding Part 1 on Vimeo

A friend of mine from Wisconsin, Phil Hinkle of Frogman Productions, recently picked up the Sears 50mm 1.7 and loves it so if you can get one for a good price, pick it up. The interesting thing about Sears lenses is that in the case of their 50's, they were made by Mamiya and rebranded for the American market under the Sears label. This means you are getting the same great optical quality of a Mamiya Sekor without the Mamiya Sekor prices. Congrats on getting the Vivitar. I think you'll like it alot!

Chris Watson
Watson Videography
www.dallasweddingfilms.com