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mation must be entered manually through your
editing or color correction software. Likewise, no
auto-focus is possible, and vintage lenses do not
possess optical image stabilization.So many choices — where to start?
All lenses chosen for this discussion are “stan-
dard” photographic lenses. Standard lenses rep-evolve with practice. Manual focus is preferred for
video because it offers a greater level of creative
control. For photography, manual focus may help
to improve your shot selection by requiring pa-
tience and more deliberate framing choices.Light and color rendition
Modern digital cameras employ higher native ISOs.
Typically 400, 800 or more. As a result, lenses with
minimum f-stops of f1.8, f2, f2.8 or even f3.5 are
perfectly usable, and less expensive to acquire than
models with minimum f-stops of f1.2 or f1.4.
Another added benefit of vintage lenses is that
their color rendition is often more natural looking
over a greater range of tones than that of modern
lenses. This is because they were constructed to
work with film stocks, which have a greater dy-
namic range than most modern digital capture de-
vices. Only in recent years has that gap narrowed.Sharpness
This brings us to the matter of sharpness. The
resolution of most vintage lenses is quite good.
However, they may appear softer than their digital
contemporaries. This is often due to a lower overall
contrast resulting from fewer low-dispersion optics
in lens construction, fewer anti-reflective coating
layers or the exclusive use of spherical elements in
lens construction. Since the incorporation of low-
dispersion glass and aspherical lens designs, digital
lenses now possess finer resolution.Metadata
Lastly, manual vintage optics are non-electronic
lenses. That means that the camera will record
metadata (EXIF) for images/exposures relative
to camera settings like shutter speed, ISO, FPS,
picture profiles, etc. However, no lens data will be
included, such as f-stop or focal length. This infor-Witness marks, distance and depth of field scale shown on a vintage
Canon 135mm f2.8 FL lens.A Fotga focus assist handle – requires lenses to employ a pitch gear
system for control of focus.Every follow focus device comes with a dry-erase ring that can be
marked with focus distances.A flexible focus pitch gear. This item can be adjusted to fit around a
variety of lens barrel sizes.384 F02 Vintage Lenses.indd 30 3/19/19 2:17 PMVIDEOMAKER >>> MAY 2019 31
resent the equivalent field of view to the human
eye’s central magnification — what we see minus
any peripheral vision.
I chose samples, ranging from 40–50mm, de-
signed to work with full-sized image sensors or film
stocks. Because the sensor in my camera is smaller
than a full-frame sensor, there is a crop factor of
approximately twice the original focal length. So,
these lenses are essentially like 100mm telephotos.
This is fine with me, as I prefer longer focal lengths
for most shooting. I like the lens compression a
telephoto demonstrates and the nice bokeh that
results from wider apertures. This keeps my back-
grounds simple and softly out of focus.Common characteristics of vintage lenses
With all of this in mind, here are some of the
qualities you can expect to encounter when shop-
ping for a standard vintage lens:- Durable all-metal construction
- 5–8 blade diaphragms. Fewer blades saves cost –
more blades creates rounder bokeh. - Typically full-frame coverage (24x36mm zone of
coverage from photo lenses) - 49mm to 58mm accessory threads for round
filters - M42 or bayonet flange (adapters couple with
Canon EF, MFT, Sony Nex, or Fuji-X etc.)- Single coated elements that flare easily, or
multi-coated elements for color saturation - Softer contrast and more natural color rendi-
tion than digital lenses - Spherical designs prior to 1991. Aspherical
optics came after 1996 (convergence of light
vectors corrected lens aberrations, namely chro-
matic fringing or “purple edges”) - 47 to 48-degree field of view (resulting from
slight variations in optical design)
- Single coated elements that flare easily, or
How it all works
Adapting these lenses was simple. Each vin-
tage lens has a thread or bayonet mount that
is proprietary to its particular brand. Mount
adapters are chosen based on the style of the
legacy flange. “Flange” is a term used in optics to
describe the means by which a lens is attached
to a camera body.
An adapter consists of the branded lens flange
at one end, and a mirrorless flange on the other.
Common mirrorless mounts styles include Micro
Four Thirds, Sony E-mount or Fuji-X mount. There
are several manufacturers of flange mount adapt-
ers, including Metabones, FotodioX, K&S Concepts,
Fotga, Vello, MFT Services and Novoflex to name a
few. However, it is wise to test a variety of adapters,
as some are higher quality than others. I usually
purchase my adapters from Amazon or eBay. They
typically range in price between $15 and $300.The limits of lens adapters
These days you can couple virtually any vintage
lens to any other branded camera body, regard-
less of the age of either component — with a few
exceptions. This is because of something called
flange/focal depth. In the past, the FFD of different
cameras varied from one manufacturer to another,
making cross-compatibility impossible. However,A Fotga focus assist handle – requires lenses to employ a pitch gear
system for control of focus.A flexible focus pitch gear. This item can be adjusted to fit around a
variety of lens barrel sizes.My Lumix GH4 equipped for video with a Fotga focus assist, Canon
135mm f2.8 and focus gear.Pictured here is a Konica AR lens to MFT adapter.This FOTGA lens adapter is designed to couple a Minolta MD lens to my
MFT camera.384 F02 Vintage Lenses.indd 31 3/19/19 2:18 PM