Good morning everyone, and welcome back to my site. Thanks to those who have the patience to follow my posts. A warm welcome to those who are here for the first time.
Two Years of Vintage Lenses. I have gathered some ideas and considerations regarding the use of vintage lenses that I have acquired over the past two years.
I haven’t posted about this before because I considered my experience in the first year to be of little significance in terms of developing a practical and theoretical understanding.
After this period, with constant use of the various lenses at my disposal, I feel that I still have much to learn. Nevertheless, I have formed a fairly precise overview of the subject, at least concerning my optics and my usage of them.
For this reason, I have suspended new purchases for some time. I wanted to use the existing equipment extensively to better understand its characteristics before considering new acquisitions. I will resume in the coming months, focusing my curiosity on high-quality 24mm wide-angle lenses in good to excellent condition.
Need to say that I acquired several lenses over these two years of experience, and without pre-empting the conclusions related to them, only three of them disappointed me, leading to their subsequent sale. On the contrary, all the others convinced me and sometimes even surprised me positively. I invite you to read my personal evaluations and examine the photographic shots taken with each of them.
In particular, I believe it is useful to highlight the following:
Firstly, each lens I have tried has its unique and particular characteristics, influenced by the fact that these are used lenses, often dated and not easily referable to conventional evaluation standards.
The condition of the lens at the time of purchase is obviously one of the most significant and important parameters. It determines the overall optical and mechanical quality. Therefore, a preliminary assessment is fundamental for practical use.
Equally significant is the original quality of the optics, including technical, construction, and design specifications.
Lenses that are still functional with an average lifespan of about 30-40 years may show normal wear and tear, minor inaccuracies, and/or defects due to age and use. Minor scratches on the barrel, small stiffness in the focus ring or aperture, and tiny specks of dust on the lens are entirely normal and do not affect practical usage. While it would be preferable for these issues not to exist, it is genuinely rare to find a lens without at least one of these minor defects.
Preserving the optics will be extremely important to continue using them for a long time. Using them with some care and basic cleaning after each use will help maintain their functionality.
With these premises, I would say that each of these lenses has its own soul and way of functioning. What my acquired experience allows me to understand today is how to best use each of these optics.
All lenses I’ve acquired (except one) are fixed focal length. I also aimed to have lenses with bright aperture values, theoretically usable at F2.8 or lower. This is because, as I explained in a previous post, light is fundamental in photography for me. The more light I can theoretically have, the more potential I consider having.
The fixed focal lengths are 50mm, 58mm, and 135mm.
Some of these lenses have an interesting Minimum Focus Distance (MFD) between 30cm and 40cm, allowing for fascinating close-ups of various subjects. They are not macro lenses but capture detail with precision. I’ve learned to use them for floral photography and small objects. Additionally, they have fast aperture values, making it possible to achieve pleasant blur and bokeh effects.
Others are ideal for landscapes, street photography, portraits, etc., despite not being conventionally considered lenses for landscapes. These also have fairly fast aperture values, allowing for interesting background effects.
The only vintage MACRO lens I acquired proved to be comparable to modern manual focus lenses on the market today. It’s precise, detailed, and bright. I’ve taken thousands of macro and close-up photos, and I am thoroughly satisfied with it—an excellent acquisition.
The medium telephoto fixed focal length lens is good. Not excellent, but entirely usable. It’s bright, reasonably precise and detailed, with good color rendition. While there are certainly better lenses, I’ve decided to keep it in my collection and continue using it.
The compact zoom with a focal length of 28 to 70mm is perhaps the lens I am least convinced about. It’s a good lens, not particularly bright, but detailed and precise enough. I’ve used it, less compared to others. Only in recent months have I started using it more regularly, and perhaps my opinion will change.
As for the manufacturers, my choice was oriented towards the following: Carl Zeiss Jena, Minolta, Sigma, Tokina and Zenit.
For each of these manufacturers I tried to choose the focal lengths I was interested in with fairly bright aperture openings. Searching among the offers on the market for those with the best quality/price ratio. Obviously depending on availability.
There are other things I would like to add to the above, but I realize I have written a lot—perhaps too much. I will revisit this topic in a subsequent post.
Just not to bore those who have the courage to read to the end.
