lens i.d. and advice please.

I've moved this over to the Film & Conventional section, as that's where the knowledgeable people for this kind of kit hang out...
 
They are both M42 lenses, and you need an M42 to Sony Alpha adapter. Things to bear in mind - they'll be manual focus only, and you'll need to manually set the aperture on the lens when using it. Also, there will be no communication between the lens and the camera so f/ number in the technical data (EXIF) won't appear.

That Carl Zeiss 135mm has an excellent reputation for being a compact, sharp portrait lens. It should have a built-in hood as well, which is a nice touch.

There is an extremely comprehensive FAQ on using older lenses on Sony Alpha mount cameras here.
 
Thankyou TBY.

Freecom, thankyou very much! That is great to know and what I originally suspected but wasn't 100% sure. I think I am going to order up an adapter so I can have a play with these lenses. I'll probably get my hair off with them and end up passing them back, but I guess a little patience will be rewarded with some good shots!

Do you have a link for a decent adapter or are they all alike? I'd like an AF confirm one so it at least tells me when the focus is something like.

Oh, and thanks for the link to the flickr group, that looks like it will be an invaluable place to visit should I get on ok with these new toys.

Just to clarify, the three lenses are:

35mm f2.4
50mm f1.8
135mm f3.5

Thanks again.
David.
 
The 35mm Flektagon lens was a good performer on 35mm, I can't comment on how it wil perform on a digital) and was in the past sought after. Like all of the lenses you have there they were built by Zeiss GDR in the East. technically not as sharp as West German Zeiss but very good performers non the less. Judging by the lettering thee are late models lenses. Although you will be keen to use in a digital, the 135 and the 35 wil pest form nicely on Film so it would be worth running a rol or two through that MTL5 :)
 
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Hi Jao, thanks for the reply!

The missus is keen to try film as she used to work in a local developing place so has the general idea of what is needed for that part of the film era. I need to do a little more reading about it and what is needed to develop them and what film to use etc.
 
Oh, and how does the MTL5 perform as a film camera? They have a little flash to go with it too. They bought it as a kit including the lenses from argos many moon ago and has the original strap and bag also.
 
Unfortunately I don't have a recommendation on adapters, there are a few out there but I can't vouch for any of them (I shoot Nikon). For the most part with camera accessories, you get what you pay for though! :)
 
minnnt said:
Hi Jao, thanks for the reply!

The missus is keen to try film as she used to work in a local developing place so has the general idea of what is needed for that part of the film era. I need to do a little more reading about it and what is needed to develop them and what film to use etc.
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There will be differing views about film but I would suggest getting some Poundshop Agfa Vista and it can be processed without prints and scanned to CD for £3. A good way to have an inexpensive foray into film. Mind you it can become addictive!


minnnt said:
Oh, and how does the MTL5 perform as a film camera? They have a little flash to go with it too. They bought it as a kit including the lenses from argos many moon ago and has the original strap and bag also.
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A good cheap and cheerful East German manual SLR. A great way to learn manual photography technique that can also pay off when shooting digital.
 
Well David I have all that was given to you, and the lenses for optics are very good, but mechanically less so.....The digital guys like theses lenses with a M42 adapter.
The usual problems are sticky blades and the Flek sometimes can be decentered....easy to fix as they can be taken apart.

Oh forgot, this tough camera will take any old camera flashgun.....good ones all cheap as well.
 
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The Flektogon 35/2.4 and 135mm are both excellent lenses on digital with any M42 adaptor. I realise you want to use them but to give you an idea, the 35mm/2.4 usually sells for between £110 and £150 so is definitively worth shooting with and then selling on on the future.

Cheers
Steve
 
In post 6 you mentioned an AF confirm adapter... unless I'm much mistaken, that's not going to happen! These are manual focus lenses with pretty much no communication with the camera body. You'll probably have to focus wide open and then stop down to take; no problem when you get used to it, but a bit strange at first.

I believe (but don't know) some wider film-era lenses can produce edge colour casts when used with FF digital cameras, owing to the low incidence angles. But your Sony is likely APS-C so should have less of an issue.
 
freecom2 said:
Unfortunately I don't have a recommendation on adapters, there are a few out there but I can't vouch for any of them (I shoot Nikon). For the most part with camera accessories, you get what you pay for though! :)
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Thanks mate, i'll have a look and see what i can find then.

Jao said:
There will be differing views about film but I would suggest getting some Poundshop Agfa Vista and it can be processed without prints and scanned to CD for £3. A good way to have an inexpensive foray into film. Mind you it can become addictive!

A good cheap and cheerful East German manual SLR. A great way to learn manual photography technique that can also pay off when shooting digital.
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Excellent advice. Guess i'm off to the poundshop tomorrow then. Need to look into processing. :D

excalibur2 said:
Well David I have all that was given to you, and the lenses for optics are very good, but mechanically less so.....The digital guys like theses lenses with a M42 adapter.
The usual problems are sticky blades and the Flek sometimes can be decentered....easy to fix as they can be taken apart.

Oh forgot, this tough camera will take any old camera flashgun.....good ones all cheap as well.
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Thanks Brian. Appreciate the info and advice. I doubt i'll be taking it apart though. :lol: I'd be frightened of it not ever going back together again. Haha.

stevelmx5 said:
The Flektogon 35/2.4 and 135mm are both excellent lenses on digital with any M42 adaptor. I realise you want to use them but to give you an idea, the 35mm/2.4 usually sells for between £110 and £150 so is definitively worth shooting with and then selling on on the future.

Cheers
Steve
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That's good to know. Ironically, these two 'new' CZJ lenses will be the most expensive in my kit bag. :lol: I won't be selling them as they're not mine too sell.

ChrisR said:
In post 6 you mentioned an AF confirm adapter... unless I'm much mistaken, that's not going to happen! These are manual focus lenses with pretty much no communication with the camera body. You'll probably have to focus wide open and then stop down to take; no problem when you get used to it, but a bit strange at first.

I believe (but don't know) some wider film-era lenses can produce edge colour casts when used with FF digital cameras, owing to the low incidence angles. But your Sony is likely APS-C so should have less of an issue.
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Hi Chris. That's good to know. Might aswell get the cheapest adapter i can then just so i can give them a go.

Cheers.
 
ChrisR said:
In post 6 you mentioned an AF confirm adapter...
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AF confirm ≠ AF function

You can still have an AF confirm using a manual focus lens. Many Canon DSLR users have AF confirm chips when using manual focus lenses, it's a very common and well documented thing.
 
minnnt said:
So AF confirm will work when it thinks it is focused then?
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It should do, although I only have experience with it on Canon and Nikon systems.

That said, a quick Google search shows lots of M42 AF confirm adapters for Sony, such as this one, so clearly there is the functionality there.
 
ChrisR said:
In post 6 you mentioned an AF confirm adapter... unless I'm much mistaken, that's not going to happen! These are manual focus lenses with pretty much no communication with the camera body. You'll probably have to focus wide open and then stop down to take; no problem when you get used to it, but a bit strange at first.

I believe (but don't know) some wider film-era lenses can produce edge colour casts when used with FF digital cameras, owing to the low incidence angles. But your Sony is likely APS-C so should have less of an issue.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure about sony but I used to use AF confirm adaptors on my canon DSLR with M42 lenses. The camera focus confirm flashes when the selected focus point is on focus even when manually set.

Cheers
Steve
 
Meant to say the £3 dev and scan is at many branches of Asda!
 
freecom2 said:
AF confirm ≠ AF function

You can still have an AF confirm using a manual focus lens. Many Canon DSLR users have AF confirm chips when using manual focus lenses, it's a very common and well documented thing.
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Ah, my apologies... what I wrote above sounded sensible but was wrong! (In truth I can only make sense of what FC2 wrote if I substitute "focus" for "AF", since in my world you can't have AF with MF lenses... but, clearly, I know nothing about DSLRs!)
 
ChrisR said:
Ah, my apologies... what I wrote above sounded sensible but was wrong! (In truth I can only make sense of what FC2 wrote if I substitute "focus" for "AF", since in my world you can't have AF with MF lenses... but, clearly, I know nothing about DSLRs!)
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No worries. It's confusing terminology, since it is basically a feature that appeared on cameras to confirm autofocus lock on, but ironically is extremely useful for manually focusing lenses.
 
Just to bump this again...

Didn't bother with the adapter for the Sony and have recently sold it so won't be bothering either.

BUT... I have picked up a roll of film from the poundshop so plan on having a foray into film with it. It probably hasn't been used for many years so a quick dust off and hopefully it will be a go'er! :)

I will be sure to let you know my results! :)
 
Fire a roll off quickly to check for light leaks as the seals may be US..
 
minnnt said:
Just to bump this again...

Didn't bother with the adapter for the Sony and have recently sold it so won't be bothering either.

BUT... I have picked up a roll of film from the poundshop so plan on having a foray into film with it. It probably hasn't been used for many years so a quick dust off and hopefully it will be a go'er! :)

I will be sure to let you know my results! :)
Click to expand...

Well done, but you might need your digital camera to get the exposure correct as the light meter on the MTL5 might be inaccurate.....well you could check it out with your digital camera before hand and if inaccurate adjust the ASA dial till it agrees.
 
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