Are you a long-time photographer looking for a bit of a shake-up? Perhaps a beginner with a limited budget? Consider putting down your shiny, fast, modern lenses and picking up one from the past.
In this article, we’ll be talking about vintage lenses! I’ve personally been shooting with vintage glass for years, and I’ve really come to love some of my dusty old lenses.
Keep scrolling and we’ll talk about what a vintage lens is, why you should consider them and, of course, how to use them with your fancy and modern Sony camera. This advice will apply to both the a6000 series bodies (APS-C) along with a7 series cameras (full frame).
Let’s dive in!
The Basics
What is a vintage lens?
A vintage lens is essentially any lens from the film era that was built without modern cameras in mind.
This means that these lenses often lack any sort of electronic controls, instead forcing the photographer to rely completely on manual focus (we have a guide for that).
There are literally thousands of options for vintage glass out. Believe it or not, there are actually adapters specifically made to adapt even the weirdest of lenses, such as ancient CCTV glass or even fifty year old Soviet lenses.
Why should you use vintage lenses?
So why would you want to use this crusty old manual glass? Many reasons, actually.
Inexpensive
First up, vintage glass just tends to be substantially cheaper than their autofocusing modern counterparts.
Now, there are some exceptions. Some Zeiss lenses, for example, can push into the thousands of dollars.
Generally though, most vintage glass will be relatively cheap. I’ve found mine all over the place, from eBay to garage sales to thrift stores. I found my absolute favorite, the Canon FD 50mm F1.8, at a dusty old thrift shop in Chicago (for $5!).
Learning Opportunity
As mentioned prior, vintage lenses lack the autofocus systems that we’re all-to-familiar with today.
Having to manually focus every shot makes you slow down. You end up spending more time studying the composition and making sure the lighting is correct.
I went through a phase where I only used manual focus for about a year. That period was by far the most transformational in my photography learning journey.
By the way, manual focus may seem intimidating, but it’s quite easy when you get the hang of it. Feel free to pop on over to my full manual focus guide for Sony cameras if you want to learn more.
Character
The next reason is that vintage glass just has character. Some old lenses are absolutely awful, rendering half the frame blurry, while others can create crazy bokeh.
The Canon lens I mentioned prior renders the most incredible micro-contrast I’ve seen on any lens. It’s hard to explain via text, but check out my sample photos for that lens to see what I mean. The shadows and dark tones are just so rich.
It’s Just Fun
Finally, it’s simply fun to shoot with an old lens. Sometimes they have weird quirks, while other times they can be beat up and covered with scratches.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I just think it’s super neat to shoot with a lens that is older than I am. Like, what kind of photographers used this before I did? How many incredible photographs have been created with this dinosaur of a lens?
So how do I get started using vintage lenses?
Now that I’ve sold you on vintage lenses, how the heck to do you actually use them?
Pick Your Lens
The first step is the hardest, and that’s finding a vintage lens that you’d want to use! I’ll include a list at the bottom of the post of my personal favorites, but it’s really hard to go wrong.
First up, find the lens you want to buy. eBay is generally my go-to, but it’s worth checking Amazon as well (I’ve found some really good stuff).
Second, you need to find the appropriate adapter. Keep scrolling a bit and I’ll throw out a list of most common mounts and their appropriate adapters.
Finally, when both the lens and adapter arrive, you just attach them together. Although it’s different on a per-lens basis, generally it’s just as simple as sliding the lens into the adapter “mount” until you hear a click. Trust me, it’s hard to mess up.
Camera Settings
After you’ve got the lens attached, there’s just a few camera settings you’ll have to change. I go over these in much more detail in my a6000 manual focus guide, but I’ll throw a quick summary here.
- Enable the “release w/o lens” setting.
- Turn on focus peaking settings. I prefer setting it to high, and setting the color to red.
- Turn on the focus magnifier setting, and bind it to a custom button.
And with that, you’re ready to start shooting with vintage lenses…
Vintage Lens Buying Guide
Common Mounts/Adapters
Here’s a list of many of the popular (throughout history, at least) lens mounts with links to their appropriate E-Mount adapters. I may miss some, but these are all the ones I’m familiar with.
- Canon FD Adapter
- Nikon F Adapter
- Nikon AI Adapter
- Pentax M42 Adapter
- Pentax PK Adapter
- Minolta MD Adapter
- Olympus OM Adapter
- Leica R Adapter
- Konica AR Adapter
- Yashica C/Y Adapter
Those are the adapters for some of the most common lens mounts you’ll come across. There’s plenty more for the really old obscure brands, but these are the ones you’ll find most often.
Best Vintage Lenses
Now that we’ve gone over the mounts, let’s talk about the best vintage lenses!
By the way: I punched “best vintage lenses” into Google out of curiosity and the top result (bestoflens) was clearly an AI-generated mess that was completely illogical, so use caution if you search around the internet for opinions.
In any case, here’s a shortlist of my personal favorites along with their respective adapters.
Canon FD 50mm F1.8
The FD 50mm F1.8 is my favorite vintage lens of all time. It’s hard to put into words, but the lens just renders scenes in such a beautiful and clean manner.
It’s also well-built (seriously, it’s HEAVY) and sharp as a tack, even decades later. Here’s the adapter you’ll need. Feel free to read my review on this gorgeous lens if you need further convincing.
Helios 44-2 (58mm F2)
The next lens on my list is the Helios 44-2 which, despite what the name may imply, is actually a 58mm F2 lens.
I go over the history of the lens in my full review, but I’ll sum it up here real quick. Essentially, the USSR wanted a Soviet-made lens that could compete in the photography market. An incredible number of these lenses were made (believed to be a Zeiss knockoff) so they’re still plentiful today.
The Helios is known for rendering a very peculiar swirly bokeh effect that is beloved by many, many photographers. Surprisingly, if you purchase through Amazon, the adapter is included with the lens.
Konica AR 40mm F1.8
Last but certainly not least, we have the Konica AR 40mm F1.8 (here’s the adapter). I don’t think this lens was ever particularly popular, but it stole a piece of my heart.
I found it in a thrift store for like $10, then proceeded to use it for at least a month straight. It wasn’t even particularly good (flaring and aberrations were insane), but it was small, cute, and had a massive dent on the barrel. The lens was the definition of “character”.
Sadly, I sold that lens before I started this site, so I don’t actually have a review on it. However, I encourage you to check out Andrzej’s review over at theweekendlens.
At some point I’m going to have to buy that thing back so I can write a full review on it.
Conclusion
So yeah, that’s really all there is to vintage lenses.
Whether you like your lenses radioactive (yep, that’s a thing) or just want some more character, shooting with vintage glass opens up a whole new realm of creative opportunities.
Now that you’re getting into manual lenses, you’re going to have to sharpen up on your manual focusing skills. Luckily, I have a guide for that.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy your new (old) glass. 🙂