Glass From The Past

It’s now easier than ever to use old manual-focus lenses on your camera. Andy Westlake talks you through how to get the most out of them, from shooting to image processing

- Andy Westlake

Not so long ago, it was rare to find people using old manual-focus lenses on their cameras. It’s just not very practical with most DSLRs: few lenses can be adapted from one SLR mount to another, and doing so requires sacrificing the considerable convenience of automatic aperture operation. The small optical viewfinders of APS-C DSLRs make accurate manual focusing very difficult, and exposure metering often stops working reliably, too. Even with Nikon and Pentax cameras, which can mount older F or K mount lenses, there are myriad compatibility issues.

The advent of mirrorless cameras changed all this, and brought an explosion of interest in using older lenses. Initially, the motive was to bolster the small lens ranges that were available when new systems were introduced, but it rapidly became clear that these lenses are far easier to use with live-view cameras, as the image sensor itself is used for both focusing and metering. The ever increasing usability of live view on DSLRs means that it’s more feasible than ever to use them with older optics, too.

So, why might you do this? First and foremost, manual focus lenses are cheap second-hand, especially those for long-dead SLR mounts such as Olympus OM, Canon FD, or Minolta MD. For example, you can often pick up a 50mm f/1.8 prime for less than £30, or a 50mm macro for under £100. So it’s a great way to experiment with new types of shooting on a budget.

Manual-focus prime lenses also tend to be impressively sharp, especially when stopped down, and they can also give really interesting bokeh effects with out-of-focus backgrounds. However, the same can’t necessarily be said of older zooms, which tend to be noticeably worse than their modern counterparts. They’re not unusable, but in general sticking with primes is a better bet.