Vintage lenses on digital camera

AlexiaMane · Feb 6, 2021

Hi everyone!

Anyone that could give some recommendations on vintage lenses that give that softer and less clinical vintage look with a nice rendering?

I'm looking for a lens with a focal length of around 35mm and 80/100mm but other recommendations are also welcome! I'm shooting on a Sony a7III right now but will probably switch to a Fuji camera somewhere in the near future.

Would greatly appreciate your help!

StepheKoontz · Feb 6, 2021

On the 35mm lens, be careful with rangefinder optics. Many of them due to their non-retrofocus design have some serious corner smearing when used on digital. The tele is an easy one, a Nikon 105mm f2.5. I especially like the early Sonnar design versions.

AgX · Feb 6, 2021

Well, with "vintage lenses" I rather think of lenses a daguerreotypist would have used... in general, the term vintage is not much used at this forum. And I myself cannot even begin something with the term "vintage look". Luckily you tried to describe it.

AlexiaMane · Feb 6, 2021

StepheKoontz said:
On the 35mm lens, be careful with rangefinder optics. Many of them due to their non-retrofocus design have some serious corner smearing when used on digital. The tele is an easy one, a Nikon 105mm f2.5. I especially like the early Sonnar design versions.

Thank you for that suggestions! That definitely seems like a great lens! I'll look more into it

StepheKoontz · Feb 7, 2021

Nikon also made a nice SLR 35mm F2, even the early ones are quite good. Maybe "too good"? If you are looking for a 35mm with fun bokeh, look for a M42 mount pentax 35mm f2.3 It's fairly large but has a very unique look. Another kinda funky lens is an early m39 soviet 37mm f2.8 "Grand prix". There are rings to mount it on a M42 camera, it's a preset lens which is easy to use on an adapter and is fun to shoot with. These were made in the late 50's/early 60's so likely will need to be CLA'd to work smoothly.

bags27 · Feb 16, 2021

I recently bought two vintage Leica lenses. I shoot mainly film, and was tired of the hyper-sharp rendering of my modern glass on my M10. So, I bought a Summaron f/3.5 35mm and a Summarit f/1.5 50mm. The Summaron is more highly rated, but I absolutely love the rendering of the Summarit on my M10. It's really rekindled my interest in digital. Both are screw (LTM) mounts, and the adaptors are quite cheap. I don't know if there's LTM to Sony or Fuji adaptors directly, but you could then go LTM to M to your camera.

Marijan Radaljac · Mar 10, 2021

I don`t use digital camera so much this days, except for scanning negatives, but when I do... in 35mm range, it is hard to go wrong with something like Zeiss 2.4/35 Flektogon (still sharp though but far from clinical). I am also more than happy with Nikon`s 2/85 Ai-s. Both used on Canon M5.

AgX · Mar 10, 2021

The OP seemingly has left us already.

Vintage lenses on digital camera

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