noah Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Does anyone know a good site that rates/reviews/values/has information on a wide variety of vintage lenses? Sort of like DPREVIEW.com but for older lenses? I've accumulated a few old lenses from digging around at my parents place, craigslist, and ebay, and am trying to figure out what to keep and what to ditch. I probably don't need all of these, but want to keep the best ones. Here's what I've got if anyone has any tips: vivitar 24mm f2.8 Pentax SMC Takumar 35mm f3.5 Canon Super-Canomatic 35mm f2.5 Canon FD 50mm 1.4 Nikon Nikkor 50mm f2 Helios 44m-4 58mm f2 Jupiter 9 85mm f2 Pentax SMC Takumar 150mm f4 Olympus Zuiko PEN-F 50-90mm auto-zoom f3.5 Thanks! Noah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christianhubbard Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 I would keep the canon FD, the Nikkor, and the Helios. past that, shoot with all them, get a feel for which you like, which you don't, and sell off the latter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Exactly. If you already have them, use them, compare them and see what you like most. Also, think about buying into one system. It's good for your image consistency to use lenses from the same brand/era example. All lenses have specific character in their bokeh/contrast/sharpness and even handling (focussing on Nikon goes the other way around for example). http://www.mflenses.com/ might be what you're looking for, but I don't think there is something as expansive as dpreview for legacy stuff. On the technical side there is http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/photography.htm where you can find a load of history about old lenses and camera's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreams2movies Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Here's a site I found that had the Russian lenses such as Helios and Jupitors.. http://top35mm.com/ I bought canon 50mm for my GH2, excellent quality. But, will be the last photography lens I buy, going for cinema lenses now, I primarily and majority shoot for cinema than I do photography. What camera do you have and what side are you more for photography or cinematography? If cinematography I would start buying newer lenses vs. vintage, those with new coating, and elements, and geared for cinema Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noah Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 I'm on a GH2 as well, and I'm doing more video that stills by a long shot. While I'd love to get more cinematic lenses, the price difference is so drastic (I didn't spend more than $40 or so on any of those above lenses) that I figured I'd use the vintage lenses for a bit at first, at least as my training wheels until I got the hang of it. I have a lot of video production experience but this is my first foray into DSLRs and I wanted to know what I was doing before I spent hundreds (if not thousands) on a lens. That said, are there any in particular that you'd recommend for video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy lee Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Yashica 24mm f2.8 (contax/yashica mount) Zeiss sharpness very good lens on the GH2 works out at 48mm full frame eqivilant .... so its like having a 50mm standard lens on your GH2 I use this lens alot also Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm F2.4 - killer lens on the Gh2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarimNassar Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 [quote name='dreams2movies' timestamp='1344459521' post='15158'] But, will be the last photography lens I buy, going for cinema lenses now, I primarily and majority shoot for cinema than I do photography. [/quote] What is the difference between cinema and photographic lenses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreams2movies Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 The older vintage lens, I notice have few optics and none of the updated technology like aspherical, nano, and the cinema lens like the Noktor's, Canon Cinema lens, and Carl Zeiss CP 2, etc. are designed some what different or more geared for cinema on the barrel of the lens, like the aperture rings, numbers, etc. and I've seen Cinema lenses say T1.6 instead of F1.6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dreams2movies Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 [quote name='andy lee' timestamp='1344464391' post='15166'] Yashica 24mm f2.8 (contax/yashica mount) Zeiss sharpness very good lens on the GH2 works out at 48mm full frame eqivilant .... so its like having a 50mm standard lens on your GH2 I use this lens alot also Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm F2.4 - killer lens on the Gh2 [/quote] COOL, that's what I did too.. I have Olympus E420 has my photography DSLR, and Canon Vixia HF20 as my video camera.. I was ready to upgrade, and decided to get in the HDSLR uprising.. Got by with Panasonic (My favorite Video Company) and research GH2!! I have Canon FD 50mm lens for my close ups, paid $100.. It's GREAT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzNimbus Posted August 9, 2012 Share Posted August 9, 2012 I've got the same vivitar 28... it's a great lens & it's nice for close focus. The 35mm super tak 3.5 is [i]sharp.[/i] Hang on to that one, it's excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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