- This topic has 6 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Are digital & film lenses interchangeable at all?
Yes, some lenses are interchangeable with both film and digital cameras. The best way to find out is to just try it out with the camera you currently have.
If you can’t physically try it out, you’ll need to do the online research to find out what the mount sizes are on both lenses and camera to if they match.
You can get use an adapter between the lens and the camera that does not have the same size mount, but you often loose the electronic functions of the lens. Here’s a great article All about Lens Adapters.
You might also find Wikipedia’s article on it helpful in starting your research: Lenses for SLR and DSLR cameras.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
I have a Canon Rebel T3, and I use an old Russian Zenit film SLR lens on it. I paid €15 for it in Estonia! I actually bought the camera and lens together, but I only use the lens! It’s a 58mm f/2 prime. On my crop sensor camera body it’s the equivalent of 92.8mm I LOVE the creamy backgrounds you can get with this lens! I just ordered a cheapo M42 to Canon EF lens adapter on Ebay. It’s the only fast glass that I have, my other lenses being the standard Canon kit lens, and a Sigma 70-300 f/3.5-5.6
Attached is a picture of the Zenit camera and lens, and a picture I took just the other day with that lens.
NOTE: If the pictures look all white and hazy, try moving your mouse away from the picture!
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
Attachments:
Thanks for your input, Ezra. I have not much experience with Zenit lenses so its good to get your perspective on them. f/2 is sweet!
I assume the lens doesn’t have autofocus. Does this make a big difference for you? What have you found helpful for coping without it?
You’re correct, the lens does not have auto-focus. It also has a manual aperture ring, which, to me is nicer than the new “electronic” aperture control, because you have real-time DOF preview! Probably the thing that helps the most with manual focusing is the live-view feature that most DSLRs have nowadays. Just by itself, that’s not much, but what I make use of is the ability to zoom in to 100% via live-view so I can check for critical focus. It’s a HUGE help! BTW focusing manually with a lens that’s made to focus manually is a joy, compared to manually focusing with Canon’s cheapo kit lens! The focus ring is really smooth, and it must turn at least 180° from infinity to macro, which makes critical focusing easier.
I mainly use this lens on a tripod with live-view, as it’s quite hard to manual-focus through the optical viewfinder. My eyes can see the picture quite clearly, but when I go home and look at the pictures, and they’re slightly OOF.
I also use LiveView when I’m using manual for critical focus, but only when I have a tripod like you said. Autofocus is absolutely necessary in some genres, but I’m using manual focus more and more these days for landscape work.
For anyone who does not have older lenses with aperture rings that give you live Depth of Field preview, there should be a DOF Preview button on your camera body. Here’s where you can find it on your camera: Depth of Field Preview Button.
Interestingly, just yesterday I was experimenting with ‘hand-held’ manual focusing. My biggest problem with a tripod is that it is way too high! I mean, for a little flower that’s only a couple of inches off the ground, two feet of tripod is too much! So I just do a ‘belly-flop’ and stabilize it with my elbows, and shoot away! Here’s a sample of a hand-held from yesterday.
I just love this f/2 lens! I was maxing out my shutter speed shooting in the shade! I’m not used to seeing ‘1/4000’ blinking in red. Usually, it’s more like 1/8 and a blinking little tripod icon! And the picture quality is just awesome even compared to my kit lens! After using my Zenit lens for a while, I realize how impossible it is to manually focus with a cheapo Canon kit lens.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.