Retro lenses

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Peacelilly75

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Wendy
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Hi All, I was wondering if anyone could be kind enough to help me out?

I have just inherited my fathers old lenses they date back into the 70s and I wondered if I would be able to use them with any current DSLR brands of camera, also I would love to know if possible what these lenses are best used for. Thanks in advance :)

Tele-Raynox 500 mm telephoto lens with manual stop down and UV filter

Hansa 200mm telephoto lens with manual stop down and UV Filter
 
It depends on the mount, what make/model was your dad's camera?


I general,

Sony NEX and micro-four-thirds cameras will work with most vintage lenses (but not all)

Canon will work with a lot of vintage lenses

Nikon generally won't work unless the vintage lens was designed for fitting a Nikon camera


I suspect the Tele-Raynox 500 mm is the f/8 (might say 1:8 on the lens) and is probably m42 mount (it screws into the camera, it doesn't twist-and-lock) and looks like this. Or it might be a T2 mount that can be swapped to suit the camera.

The Hansa 200mm, is probably the Hansa Telephoto 200mm f/4.5 (see here) and again, probably in an M42 mount or T mount. Hansa is a rebadge of a lens made by someone else, I can find at least two variations on this lens.

I suspect both lenses would be usable with a modern camera (probably either a Sony NEX or a Canon DSLR) but they might not be the easiest lenses to use for a beginner. The 500 is a very long telephoto that could be used as a wildlife lens, but it's quite a slow lens and needs very good light to get results. The 200mm is a long telephoto, perhaps a bit long for portraits but very usable for picking out scenes within landscapes.


Both probably have more emotional value than either sale value or practical value. Unless you develop into someone that likes shooting vintage camera lenses because they find it fun to put the life/use back into them. Like me ;)



Edit:
Because someone will no doubt take offence. The problem with Nikon is the register distance, there's too much air between the back of the mount (where the lens goes) and the sensor. Canon and NEX (and micro-four thirds) have less of a gap, and less of a gap than most of the older film cameras. Adding distance isn't much of a problem, but taking it away (for a Nikon) is. So Nikon adapters for a lot of old camera lens types (for m42 for example) need a correction optic. To get a decent correction adapter costs money, because cheap glass (used in the most affordable adapters) introduces image problems.
But, if the lenses are T2 mount, then you can get a proper adapter for Nikon because the T2 adapter allows for a shortening of the distance.
 
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Alastair! thank you so much for replying. Inside the carry case that the lenses are in is a piece of very old paper with a list of contents it says there was a Practica Nova B camera with f2 - 50 mm lens + uv filter but that's gone now :'(
 
OK, if they were for the Nova B they should be M42. I haven't looked them up on the tables, but I wouldn't expect any comparability issues with Canon DSLRs given those focal lengths. Or Sony NEX or any of the micro-four-thirds cameras.

I wouldn't necessarily buy a camera just to use them, they're not going to be easy lenses to use. But if you chose a camera that you liked, and it could use them, then I'd view that as a bonus.
 
just in case Wendy is new to photography ,,, you would need a special adapter to use them on a nikon or canon ( or most other brands ) but take note of the edit at the bottom of Alastairs first post which says they're not so good for the nikon
 
Welcome aboard Wendy :wave:

I'm afraid that I can't help much with your query (although you have some great advice already) . . . just wanted to stop by to say 'hello'.

It's good to have you here and I hope to see more of you out and about on the forums.
 
You guys are really helpful. :clap: you have really helped me out and made me feel really welcome! Thank you All x
 
On another note I've just had a lens malfunction and I am finding it hard to get a repair without having my eyes pulled out. All the independent camera specialists have all but disappeared in my area (Middlesbrough). To be fair though my camera is nearly 5 years old and at 10.2 mega pixels it's not the best for retouching in Photoshop plus it tends to leave a soft effect around the eyes and overall sharpness isn't great. Any suggestions on a camera that's going to give me sharper image quality as I specialise in portraiture. I know that the better the lens the better the quality of the image so do I keep my sony a200 in action with a better lens or do I upgrade all my tools?

wendy xx
 
Peacelilly75 said:
On another note I've just had a lens malfunction and I am finding it hard to get a repair without having my eyes pulled out. All the independent camera specialists have all but disappeared in my area (Middlesbrough). To be fair though my camera is nearly 5 years old and at 10.2 mega pixels it's not the best for retouching in Photoshop plus it tends to leave a soft effect around the eyes and overall sharpness isn't great. Any suggestions on a camera that's going to give me sharper image quality as I specialise in portraiture. I know that the better the lens the better the quality of the image so do I keep my sony a200 in action with a better lens or do I upgrade all my tools?

wendy xx
Click to expand...

You can try Miles Whitehead for repairs, http://www.mwcamerarepairs.co.uk/ drop him an email with details of the lens and a description of the problem and he'll get back to you with a quote.

Ignore the pixel count, I'm still using a 40D which also has around 10MP and it can still record a better photo than I can take. It's likely any problems you have are with the lens rather than the body. With older cameras, you tend to run into issues with the low light performance rather than resolution - the ISO performance has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

Now I know what camera you have, I think you need one of these adapters to use your old lenses with it. I would need to see a photo of the backs of the lenses to be sure.

If you did fancy a change of camera, how heavily invested are you in the Sony Alpha system?
 
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