Lens Adapting an old lens

[Mugur]

Hello friends. I have an Olympus OMD EM 10 Mk2 and 12-50 kit lens. Beside this lens I have a Nikkor PC 35mm Perspective Correction adapted, which is verry nice and sharp - the only thing is the manual focus which I found hard to manage due to the weight of the lens. (it works fine using Peaking). My question is about adapting another old lens: Pentacon auto 4/200 MC. Well, this is way heavier than my Nikkon lens, longer and bigger. It is worth buying an adapter for this lens? It will be useful for some macro shots hand held? I know is not a macro lens, and its purpose is not for macro shots, but well... is good to ask, may find someone who has it or may advice

 

[Jack]

Hi Mugur , I would say depending how much it will cost you all together. I’m not an Olympus user. And I think Ron Westbroek or nataliaflejszar&Photo might add something. But in my opinion is , to look for some proper macro lenses with IS built in.

 

[Mugur]

thank you. It's not about buying a proper lens for macro, it's about using one I already have. Instead of looking at it lost in a drawer, I may use it with a cheap adapter. Not a huge investment. In MFT terms old lens 200 means 400mm - I think it's more fun to shoot the Moon and maybe birds, rather than small insects. the other thing that bother me is the weight...600 g!!!

 

[Jack]

I think, you might achieve what you are looking for, if I'm not wrong by using any adaptors you are loosing from f stops. You also might try to use Raynox attachmend, to see if that's help.

Probably Helix_2648 or Greg might give you a better advice.

 

[Greg]

Extension tubes or raynox, can be helpfull. But if the lens is big, use a raynox ^^

 

[nataliaflejszar&Photo]

Did you watched image stabilisatior -in camera? Maybe you need change settings there if you want to use old lenses - my friend advises

 

[Baenki]

I also adapted some old lenses. For Pentacon check which mount it is. I have 3 Prakticar lenses, AFAIK they are actually Pentacon with a mount for GDR Praktika cameras. They are not the sharpest and might have some imperfections, but that's part of the character of a vintage lens. The adapters to Mft are relatively cheap, especially because they have no electronics. So why not try and breathe some new life into them, you can't lose a lot.

I have the 28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 and 135mm 2.8. I don't use them a lot but like them for specific use cases, like night shots.

Here some examples I took of Comet Neowise :


50mm


135mm, cropped

 

[Helix_2648]

I think, you might achieve what you are looking for, if I'm not wrong by using any adaptors you are loosing from f stops. You also might try to use Raynox attachmend, to see if that's help.

Probably Helix_2648 or Greg might give you a better advice.

I'm sorry but I cannot help you here as I never have tested or bought such adapters to be able to use old lenses. I'm not sure but I think panos_adgr uses some old lenses. Maybe he knows some advice for you.

 

[panos_adgr]

thank you. It's not about buying a proper lens for macro, it's about using one I already have. Instead of looking at it lost in a drawer, I may use it with a cheap adapter. Not a huge investment. In MFT terms old lens 200 means 400mm - I think it's more fun to shoot the Moon and maybe birds, rather than small insects. the other thing that bother me is the weight...600 g!!!

I think, you might achieve what you are looking for, if I'm not wrong by using any adaptors you are loosing from f stops. You also might try to use Raynox attachmend, to see if that's help.

Probably Helix_2648 or Greg might give you a better advice.

Vintage lenses are a charm!

Well you can buy an adapter to use your vintage lens.
By using an adaptor to mount vintage lenses to your digital camera you have to be ready to work in manual exposure mode without establishing any communication from lens to camera. There is the exception of course of using same camera / lens brand with backwards combability like in example Nikkor ais lenses on FX Series and DX D7XXX camera series (except D7500) or like pentax or even minolta af lenses on a77 or a99 etc....

Anyway.
Macro photography with vintage lenses (not generally) opens new dimensions of photographic potentials. I quoted the word not generally because not all vintage lenses worth spending your time on them.
Their optic flaws and thus the character created out of them, when handled creatively can deliver unbelievable results. And I'm not talking about sharpness or vignetting or coma.... I'm talking about character, contrast behaviour, optics performance in relation with lens design and even flare.

Before you proceed to any investment visit flickr, type the model of your lens in the search box and view the photo results to get an idea of how your vintage lens performs. You will see only the half true there... But it a chance to get an idea.

Most of the adapters can be found really cheap as well as some old lenses.
For me it worth the investment as long as you choose 'a proper lens' and as long as you are ready to have fun with it.

As about the f stops Jack mentioned (I suppose Jack that you mean possible Luminocity loss ) you will not have any problems as long as you do not use lengthy adaptors.

I'm using M42 lenses periodically with no f stop luminosity loss. My only problem. Extension tubes have luminosity.

I hope I was helpful.

 

[panos_adgr]

Here you are...

Flickr Search — “Pentacon 200MM F/4.0 ”

www.flickr.com

You can see some great photos.
It looks like a sharp lens with buttery bokeh that also has a nice character (bokeh wise)
I would definitely go for it if I was at your place. Pentacon lenses have great reputation. Especially some nifty fifties!

As about focusing you will get use to it at some level. I use my Nikons focusing confirmation dot in the viewfinder. I focus and move a bit back and forth to achieve focusing in combination with 4 or 5 shots of the same subject. Focus peaking is great assistance!