What's new
L-MOUNT Forum

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

Share your photos with legacy lenses

I made an online purchase of a kit that included a Pentax ES II (apparently working except the light meter), a 55mm f/1.8 SMC Takumar, a 24mm f/3.5 Takumar (not known if Super or Super-Multi-Coated) and a 100mm f/2.8 Takumar, plus cases and an original hood for the 24mm. I knew the last of those lenses doesn't exist and looking at the bad pictures I thought it would be a 135/3.5. All I really wanted was the 24mm plus hood and calculated that if the rest was in a good state I could sell it off and the 24mm would be around €70 at the end of the day.

The package arrived today and I've finished checking it out. The 24mm is Super-Multi-Coated and in good condition except for slow aperture blades, not too much of a problem as it doesn't matter on digital and on an M42 film camera I can use it in manual mode instead of auto. The 55mm is fine. The camera is mostly OK but sometimes the mirror sticks up and doesn't come back until I've fired the shutter a few times, I may be able to fix that. And what I expected to be a 135mm f/3.5 is actually a 120mm f/2.8! That's a lens I've had my eye out for for some time, so I was very happy to see it. A closer look shows it has a ring of balsam separation all the way around one of the lens groups, which is a shame but it doesn't seem to affect image quality that I can tell.

So overall I think that worked out quite well, although I'm going to have to gather up some other stuff to sell off if I'm to keep the 24 and the 120.

A few shots with the 24mm wide open where it's certainly not super sharp

54810077052_946cb01bd8_c.jpg

Autumn in park morning light by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54808846284_a364f4422f_c.jpg

Start of autumn by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54808935685_cc8fc6075c_c.jpg

Park morning by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

And a few with the 120mm, all wide open except for the butterfly which was taken at f/4 and is cropped to 25% of the original image

54811177628_9474c7b5f5_c.jpg

Light blue butterfly by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54811178823_3f8ffee4f5_c.jpg

Pod by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54810925486_01a7333bb9_c.jpg

Small flowers by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54811269555_778779b62b_c.jpg

Rose and stick-y bokeh by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

All of these were taken in the local park, I haven't had a chance to go any further afield yet.
 
Thank you for your very interesting and well-written article. I have been looking into buying a mirrorless camera and one of my main goals is to use old manual lenses (given I prefer to manually focus my modern automatic lenses anyway).

I particularly am glad to know focus peaking works with the old manual lenses because it is my preferred focus method.

Your images are wonderful — as a B&W guy I particularly like “Smoke in the Crystal Palace.” Is the atmospheric aspect of that image due to the site and light that day, or due to the Tamron lens?

Thanks so much for sharing!
 
CaliforniTexican said:
Thank you for your very interesting and well-written article. I have been looking into buying a mirrorless camera and one of my main goals is to use old manual lenses (given I prefer to manually focus my modern automatic lenses anyway).

I particularly am glad to know focus peaking works with the old manual lenses because it is my preferred focus method.

Your images are wonderful — as a B&W guy I particularly like “Smoke in the Crystal Palace.” Is the atmospheric aspect of that image due to the site and light that day, or due to the Tamron lens?

Thanks so much for sharing!
Click to expand...

You're welcome and thank-you. I enjoy using old manual lenses and that enjoyment has increased since I moved to full-frame mirrorless as it's easier to focus precisely get great results. FF mirrorless is the best way to enjoy vintage lenses.

"Smoke in the crystal palace" is one of my favourite photos I've ever taken and probably could have been done without a huge difference using any ultra-wide-angle lens, but the Vivitar/Tokina 17mm f/3.5 was all I had at the time, having owned it for use on film for a few years. Nowadays I could also use the Lumix 16-35mm f/4 and it would likely be a bit sharper and with more contrast but I doubt that would have added anything positive to the image; I like it just the way it is. Interestingly, earlier this year I saw a very, very similar image on Facebook, taken by a Portuguese photographer a few months after my photo was taken. There was a piece about his masterful use of light and shadow, blah blah blah, and I was very tempted to add a comment that it's just a copy of my photo taken a few months earlier, but I resisted.
 
54844546624_9d1533284e_b.jpg

20251002-SDIM8382 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Sigma fp, Konica Hexanon 57/1.4. The lens has been getting some praise on the Adapted Lens Forum lately for its painterly bokeh effects, and I found a copy recently at an estate sale, so here we are.

54843447477_8bbe2c1f26_b.jpg

20251002-SDIM8402 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

Classic Hexanon colors, too.
 
Last edited:
Jonathan-Mac said:
I just bought my third 40mm lens this year - the Pentax M 40mm f/2.8. So far it seems to be better than it's spotty reputation would suggest, with plenty of sharpness in the central area even wide open.
Click to expand...
I've had decent luck with the M 40/2.8, though not spectacular.

52118370305_6508852d6a_b.jpg

20220526-SDIM0821 by Travis Butler, on Flickr
Sigma fp, Pentax-M 40/2.8

52141484004_4d85e9f09b_b.jpg

20220609-SDIM1124 by Travis Butler, on Flickr

The DA 40/2.8 Limited is essentially the same lens set up for autofocus/auto aperture control, and it seems to have a much better reputation. I have to wonder if it's because the DA Limited version was used almost exclusively on APS-C, and so the central area was emphasized.
 
  • Love
Reactions: PJD
Travis Butler said:
I've had decent luck with the M 40/2.8, though not spectacular.

The DA 40/2.8 Limited is essentially the same lens set up for autofocus/auto aperture control, and it seems to have a much better reputation. I have to wonder if it's because the DA Limited version was used almost exclusively on APS-C, and so the central area was emphasized.
Click to expand...

I used to have the SMC DA version and I liked it a lot, it's one of the Pentax lenses I miss. Of course, I used it exclusively on my APS-C K-3 so I can't really compare it to shots taken with the M version on the S5.

* * * * * *​

A few shots from the Madrid railway museum with the Pentax K 24mm f/2.8

54931819440_74c04ce439_c.jpg

Train museum II by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54931716008_f1da358e33_c.jpg

Train insides by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr

54931714038_34e14389ec_c.jpg

Train museum by Jonathan MacDonald, on Flickr
 
AngusSugna said:
I thought you couldn't mount OM lenses on S9. Flange distance and all. I can't even find an adapter...
Click to expand...
It's not a problem. The flange distance of the original OM mount is 46mm. L-mount is 20mm. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure that any of the legacy SLR platforms will have a bigger flange distance than L-mount (or indeed any other mirrorless system).
 
pdk42 said:
It's not a problem. The flange distance of the original OM mount is 46mm. L-mount is 20mm. In fact, I'm 99.9% sure that any of the legacy SLR platforms will have a bigger flange distance than L-mount (or indeed any other mirrorless system).
Click to expand...
About the only legacy lenses too short, off the top of my head, are C-mount and D-mount cine lenses.
 
AngusSugna said:
I thought you couldn't mount OM lenses on S9. Flange distance and all. I can't even find an adapter...
Click to expand...

You may be thinking of the Olympus/OM System micro-four-thirds mount, which is a modern mirrorless mount for digital cameras. The OM mount is older, designed for film SLR cameras, so it has a much longer flange distance to accommodate the mirror box.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PJD
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top