Same vintage lenses for film vs digital.

[Pieter12]

If I read a review on a vintage Nikon lens reviewed with a digital camera, showing it to have poor performance, I might not purchase the lens when it will be a great performer with film…!

Who is reviewing film lenses on digital gear? Some bozo on youtube?

 

[BrianShaw]

One disadvantage of using older film lenses on newer digital cameras is you need to do stop-down metering with the dof preview or use an external meter.

Certainly. I’m currently using a vintage lens in a vintage film camera body that uses stop-down metering. What an archaic pain in the neck!

 

[Sirius Glass]

The potential issue is that if the rays strike a digital sensor at an oblique angle, you can see color fringing that isn't an issue with film. As a practical matter, I'd only be concerned about very wide lenses, and I'm not sure it's so relevant when discussing retrofocus lenses designed for SLRs. It might be a bigger problem with rangefinder or large format lenses.

For example some of the wider angle Hasseblad lenses do not perform well with digital backs because some of the light coming in to the image plane come in at a too oblique angle.

 

[Nikon 2]

Yes, I agree… but that evidence came after the “assumption” was made.

Is this evidence what you knew already, or expected to read?

Nothing that I could possibly prove myself since I only shoot film…!

 

[Nikon 2]

Certainly. I’m currently using a vintage lens in a vintage film camera body that uses stop-down metering. What an archaic pain in the neck!

Try the app myLightMeter pro, it’s great…!

 

[Nikon 2]

For example some of the wider angle Hasseblad lenses do not perform well with digital backs because some of the light coming in to the image plane come in at a too oblique angle.

I would gather that vintage lenses made for film are definitely better on a film camera then a digital format…!

 

[Nikon 2]

Try the app myLightMeter pro, it’s great…!

 

[Nikon 2]

Who is reviewing film lenses on digital gear? Some bozo on youtube?

Just about everyone! Thank you for making that point…!

 

[wiltw]

One disadvantage of using older film lenses on newer digital cameras is you need to do stop-down metering with the dof preview or use an external meter.

And I have testing which definitively showed -- with more than one lens -- WRONG metering when metering stopped down using Olympus OM lenses on Canon EOS dSLR!

What is the best C/Y adapter for a 5DMkII ? -- Canon Lenses in photography-on-the.net forums

What is the best C/Y adapter for a 5DMkII ? in Canon Lenses

photography-on-the.net

 

[Nikon 2]

It is the opposite. Film doesn’t make a film lens look better, digital just makes a film lens look worse.

That’s true, but film is more compatible with vintage lenses and the results are definitely in favor for vintage lenses…!

 

[Nikon 2]

The needs of digital sensors are more strict than film. Digital sensors need light impinging normally (close to 90 deg.). Film/emulsion being transparent and 3D (though thin) can tolerate deviation from normalcy much better. Vintage lenses are less stringently designed than most digital lenses (this is largely due to increase in computational capacity in the digital years), and do not do as well on digital sensors.

That really makes sense why vintage lenses show better results on film than digital…!

 

[Sirius Glass]

For example some of the wider angle Hasseblad lenses do not perform well with digital backs because some of the light coming in to the image plane come in at a too oblique angle.

For example some digital backs did not work well on the Hasselblad SWCs.

 

[MattKing]

One disadvantage of using older film lenses on newer digital cameras is you need to do stop-down metering with the dof preview or use an external meter.

Which is one of the reasons that mirrorless digital cameras are so successful with adapted lenses - the EVFs brighten everything automatically, and the meters read what they need to read.

 

[MattKing]

And I have testing which definitively showed -- with more than one lens -- WRONG metering when metering stopped down using Olympus OM lenses on Canon EOS dSLR!

What is the best C/Y adapter for a 5DMkII ? -- Canon Lenses in photography-on-the.net forums

What is the best C/Y adapter for a 5DMkII ? in Canon Lenses

photography-on-the.net

For some reason, Canon digital cameras seem to have more problem with using adapted lenses than others. It may be something to do with the EOS system itself.

 

[Nikon 2]

Which is one of the reasons that mirrorless digital cameras are so successful with adapted lenses - the EVFs brighten everything automatically, and the meters read what they need to read.

Good point…!

 

[Light Capture]

For example some digital backs did not work well on the Hasselblad SWCs.

Key word is some. Some backs work great with SWC and other Hasselblad wides.

The same stands for other film lenses (and digital too). Some sensors simply don't work well with certain lenses.

While one lens can perform badly on one digital camera it could be working great on another. I have observed number of cases where this happens.
And sometimes lens that was bad on low resolution camera is sharper per pixel on much larger resolution camera.
This was all much more visible in the beginning of mass production digital since manufacturers were touting tele centric lenses and that digital cameras can't work with all lenses that have light hitting sensor at steep angles.
This was mostly proven wrong with recent sensor developments. Testing lenses that were labelled as poor performers with newer bodies that perform well with steep angles does produce quite few pleasant surprises. Some lenses are still equally bad and some don't show any improvement at all.

 

[Jude the Obscure]

One disadvantage of using older film lenses on newer digital cameras is you need to do stop-down metering with the dof preview or use an external meter.

That depends on the camera. Pentax DSLRs use open aperture metering with all lenses from the A-Series (c1984) onwards. They need stop-down metering with the earlier K and M-Series lenses although it is only a matter of jabbing a button momentarily. I understand that Nikon DSLRs go one better and can open meter even with their oldest lenses - so I was told by a Nikon user.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Key word is some. Some backs work great with SWC and other Hasselblad wides.

The same stands for other film lenses (and digital too). Some sensors simply don't work well with certain lenses.

While one lens can perform badly on one digital camera it could be working great on another. I have observed number of cases where this happens.
And sometimes lens that was bad on low resolution camera is sharper per pixel on much larger resolution camera.
This was all much more visible in the beginning of mass production digital since manufacturers were touting tele centric lenses and that digital cameras can't work with all lenses that have light hitting sensor at steep angles.
This was mostly proven wrong with recent sensor developments. Testing lenses that were labelled as poor performers with newer bodies that perform well with steep angles does produce quite few pleasant surprises. Some lenses are still equally bad and some don't show any improvement at all.

The problem is that some of the sensors are restricted to receiving light mostly perpendicular to their surface and they are unable to take light the is off perpendicular by larger angles. Film is not so picky and will take all comers. When there were several sensors for the Hasselblads this was an issue, that not all the sensors would work with the SWC and the 30mm Fisheye lenses.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Personally, I like using my vintage lenses with digital cameras. The reason for doing so is to get a classic look where you need a digital result, especially for video, not because you want the sharpest possible image. Or sometimes those vintage lenses have interesting features, like super fast apertures for cine lenses that don't necessarily break the bank.

 

[bluechromis]

As mentioned, sensor size does matter. If one uses a crop sensor camera, the outer portion of the full -frame image is cut off. The outer area is where the kinds of aberrations that some of us like, such as swirly bokeh, are most prominent. Also on a crop sensor camera, the field of view is different than on a full-frame camera.

 

[Pieter12]

That depends on the camera. Pentax DSLRs use open aperture metering with all lenses from the A-Series (c1984) onwards. They need stop-down metering with the earlier K and M-Series lenses although it is only a matter of jabbing a button momentarily. I understand that Nikon DSLRs go one better and can open meter even with their oldest lenses - so I was told by a Nikon user.

There is no way a modern Nikon digital camera could read the aperture of a non-AI Nikkor lens without stopping down.

 

[Nikon 2]

There is no way a modern Nikon digital camera could read the aperture of a non-AI Nikkor lens without stopping down.

Going further, they are incompatible…!

 

[Pieter12]

Going further, they are incompatible…!

Well, the SLRS (including digital) all take F Mount lenses and they'll work just fine. A bit of a hassle, but they are compatible.

 

[Nikon 2]

Well, the SLRS (including digital) all take F Mount lenses and they'll work just fine. A bit of a hassle, but they are compatible.

By not being compatible I meant they will suffer in terms of image quality to the digital format…!

 

[Nikon 2]

Going further, they are incompatible…!