If you’ve ever felt like you want to get into vintage photography but just do not understand it, know what to buy, or see any practicality, this blog is for you. In this article, I hope to share a broad expanse of reasons why you SHOULD invest in vintage lenses, along with honesty about potential negative aspects. Let’s begin with the positives.
1. You don’t even need a film camera
As soon as I realized I did not even need to buy a whole new camera to get a film camera lens, my interest was sparked. It turns out you can go to a place like amazon and just order an adapter so that you can attach a lens from the 1980’s to your modern day DSLR. This is HUGE if you are unsure about buying old lenses and it gives you the ability to skip out on having to buy film rolls for a film camera. Buying the actual film is unreasonably pricey and I can hardly justify buying them myself. They can cost up to $35 per pack last I checked and that doesn’t even involve getting them developed. Getting photos developed isn’t super expensive and you can get it done for about $4 but it takes time and to be honest, with digital cameras today, that’s a lot of uncalled for trouble if you are discovering old lenses for the first time. When you look at getting an old lens to new camera adapter you’ll want to pay close attention to your cameras connections along with the lens connections. I have ordered the wrong ones several times and it can be pretty disappointing when something does not fit right. So I encourage you to TRIPLE CHECK your attachment names on both sides. For example, there are different attachments like Canon EF, Sony E mount, M42, and FD among others.
Here is a great adapter I have bought in the past:
2. Old lenses are super CHEAP
This is another thing that is really just amazing about old lenses. These things are so cheap that you can buy them for minimum $30 and maximum $400 – mostly rare collectible antiques. To be honest you do not ever even need to be spending more than $150 to get what you want. Yes, there are some that could qualify as expensive but not in the world of lenses we live in today. We all know that a brand new lens today cost a fortune. Vintage lenses do not cost anywhere near what new lenses cost and I have been pretty pleased with the outcome of the old ones. I have one Canon film lens from 1979. It costed me about $50 and It has some very cool aspects. I really cannot believe what I got for the price. This is seriously something people do not realize and I hope that more people can discover this creative, affordable world of photography.
Another thing that is positive when it comes to the pricing is that they are going up in value. This does worry me a little in the long term, but as of right now, when you buy an old lens and decide you want to sell it to try something different, you will most likely make a profit. It is a good investment. Whereas new lenses will go down in value the second, you put your grimy fingers on them.
3. Be creative!
To be honest, I am pretty tired of seeing the same old tourists with their shiny new cameras and five new lenses that cost them 2k each at least. He takes the same exact picture of some mountain view as the guy with the same camera took while he was standing right next to him. Unless you are a photographer that goes out of the way to make something new, it all just looks the same. It’s time to be different, creative, and unique. I believe one way to do this is to use unique gear. Everyone knows that vintage 80’s look is in style anyway, so why don’t you incorporate some of that style in your photos? This is something a lot of people are really missing out on. Photos aren’t about looking the same, they are about looking different. Make something original and maybe it will be noticed. This is what art is. Make something new.
4. Learning the ropes
Sure, some things about old lenses could be annoying if you have been shooting with every possible automatic setting all of your life. Here is the deal, though. If you use a DSLR of any sort, you need to be shooting manually. If you haven’t in the past, you should learn to ASAP! Using old lenses is just another great way to get out of your comfort zone and learn something new. They also force you to do some manual focusing, which is also great practice.
Pontential negative aspects?
The only reason I want to add this last part is to be totally honest with my audience. There are some people out there who just do not have an interest in this sort of thing. The only thing I can say to that is, what are you doing reading this blog? Still, though, I will admit there might be a couple impracticalities when it comes to buying old lenses.
First of all, there is something called zone focusing. Most film lenses literally have a measurement system on the focus ring. For me, it is pretty easy to eye it and get it right, but this is something to consider if you struggle with focusing right.
Second, when it comes to aperture, things can get slightly complicated. Because old lenses are not really electronic at all, you cannot adjust aperture settings from the camera dials, but you have to do it from the lens itself. On the camera, the aperture slot will generally show as 00. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s still something to be aware of.
Last, there are sometimes some camera settings you have to change to make the lens work with the adapter. This can get a little complicated, but it is really not that bad. Hopefully, I can explain how to set this up perfectly in another blog.
Hope this was helpful, Trip Wayland
Hey this is really good
Thanks!