$5 Telephoto I Found On KEH

jeffharris wrote:

magnesus3 wrote:

HRC2016 wrote

The ability to use vintage lens on m43 is one feature that I never discuss. Sure, it's .possible. But so is taking a picture through a prism or without a lens?

Why are you being so hostile? Those photos are soft, but they are taken with 2x teleconverter. There are vintage lenses which are very sharp and useful and they are cheap, not everyone has tons of money. They were good for photos back then, why not now?

He’s just like that …

Haha, it’s just some good fun. Produces interesting photos. I wouldn’t use these primarily unless I specifically wanted that look. I’ve ordered the 12-100 for primary use. It’s still about a week away since I’m trading in for it so until then I’ll be playing with these old telephoto lenses.

altjonny wrote:

jeffharris wrote:

magnesus3 wrote:

HRC2016 wrote

The ability to use vintage lens on m43 is one feature that I never discuss. Sure, it's .possible. But so is taking a picture through a prism or without a lens?

Why are you being so hostile? Those photos are soft, but they are taken with 2x teleconverter. There are vintage lenses which are very sharp and useful and they are cheap, not everyone has tons of money. They were good for photos back then, why not now?

He’s just like that …

Haha, it’s just some good fun. Produces interesting photos. I wouldn’t use these primarily unless I specifically wanted that look. I’ve ordered the 12-100 for primary use. It’s still about a week away since I’m trading in for it so until then I’ll be playing with these old telephoto lenses.

Adapted SLR lenses are lots of fun. Surprisingly good, in their own way, too!

AminF wrote:

I love these shots. They have a wonderful feel to them, especially the flower shot. I bet that would look great printed to a good size and hung on a wall. Love the sunsets as well. Lots of atmosphere and feel to them.

I have the Nikon Z6 and 24-70 S F4 and it’s very sharp. Too sharp in some ways for portraits. I’d like to find a vintage portrait lens to use with it (or on one of my Panasonics), but so far I haven’t seen anything.

I’ve never seen a lens as low as $5, but I think I’ll go bargain hunting this weekend around some local secondhand stores. I might find something that is unloved and cheap!

Some Nikon AI-S lenses are quite wonderful. Certainly not thrift store cheap, but definitely worthwhile. Nice rendering and color signatures, too.

The 105mm f2.8 macro is an excellent lens, still in production by special order, too!

I’ve had my eye on the 85mm f2 for a while.

When traveling, I look for used lenses. I look for Leica mount lenses, so carry a couple of lens adaptors so I can try them out.

altjonny wrote:

I have an old Minolta SRT101 that my grandfather gave to me and a couple of lenses (Vivitar 28-90 2.8-3.5 & Rokkor 58mm 1.4) that go with that + a 2x teleconverter.

AminF wrote:

I love these shots. They have a wonderful feel to them, especially the flower shot. I bet that would look great printed to a good size and hung on a wall. Love the sunsets as well. Lots of atmosphere and feel to them.

Thank you! What I love about these is that they are quite minimally edited. The colors are amazing. My favorite is the last sunset photo. It’s a photo I didn’t think was really possible before I got this lens.

I have the Nikon Z6 and 24-70 S F4 and it’s very sharp. Too sharp in some ways for portraits. I’d like to find a vintage portrait lens to use with it (or on one of my Panasonics), but so far I haven’t seen anything.

A softer lens can produce a nice effect with portraits. I find the Vivitar 28-90 f2.8-3.5 great for that, though I don’t believe it can be found for less than $100.

I’ve never seen a lens as low as $5, but I think I’ll go bargain hunting this weekend around some local secondhand stores. I might find something that is unloved and cheap!

I never have either unless it was faulty. Perhaps they made a mistake and put an excellent lens at a faulty price. I think because it was a miscellaneous unknown brand they weren’t able to find a value for it and just went with $5? It says Topaz on the lens but I couldn’t find any other name on it that would identify it to a certain brand. Topaz 80-200mm f4. Very lucky find though.

Mel in LA wrote:

magnesus3 wrote:

Not sure how it is called on Panasonic but on Olympus there is Magnify which is way, way more accurate way to focus (magnifies the focus point) than peaking. I often miss focus with peaking, never with magnify.

For an old manual focus lens that had a reputation for being sharp I tried focus peaking when I first came to Olympus. I set the lens aside for being way too soft, thinking it may be a bad sample. I wasn't satisfied with focus peaking and later switched to magnify. With magnify I got better results overall. Recently I tried that old, "soft" lens again using magnify to focus. OMG! I got window screen to snap into focus from 20 feet away, and ingredient lists on food packages to spring into view,

I originally counted on focus peaking to work like the old split-image and focusing collar, fast and accurate aids to get what's interesting in focus. It didn't work out that way and I've since dedicated a button to turn magnify on and to put life back into my old lenses. This also works well when manually focusing MFT lenses (macro, telephoto, extension tubes, etc.).

Focus peaking had great promise, at least the M4/3-Panasonic, but every time I've tried to rely on it I've been disappointed. Supposedly Sony's peaking is MUCH better.

Magnified view is fantastic. It's so much easier to focus than the old SLR split screen.

I have a lot of legacy lenses I use with my digital gear (mostly Sony APS-C and FF, and MFT) via dumb adapters.

Konica HExanon AR lenses and some TAMRON SP are amongst my favorites

Sony A6000 + Konica Hexanon AR 57/1.4

Although I admit moderne lenses have better coatings and are firmware corrected, there are some remarkable lenses which have been built in late 70s and 80s and they still hold their own on modern digital bodies.

altjonny wrote:

Apparently you can get these old MD mount lenses for super cheap. I was looking for an 80-200 and I finally found one on KEH. It was listed as a “Miscellaneous Brand” 80-200 f4 for MD mount in excellent condition for only $5!! I never bought a lens so fast. Shipping was $9 but who cares. $14 total and it’s the best lens purchase of my life.

Yeah, best $14 I’ve ever spent.

Mine is a M42 mount 200mm f/3.8 - cost about the same.  Works on my Pentax K1000 too.

altjonny wrote:

AminF wrote:

I’ve never seen a lens as low as $5, but I think I’ll go bargain hunting this weekend around some local secondhand stores. I might find something that is unloved and cheap!

I never have either unless it was faulty. Perhaps they made a mistake and put an excellent lens at a faulty price. I think because it was a miscellaneous unknown brand they weren’t able to find a value for it and just went with $5?

There's a Goodwill store in Portland OR that always has an assortment of lenses.  Lately some newer lenses with contacts have been showing up with PK and MD mounts.  Prices range from $5 up.  I'll probably be there again on Sunday.  I once picked up a Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 for $8 there with a stuck filter and loose screws that were easily fixed.