I like vintage lenses because of the required manual intervention. Each photo taken is a consciously controlled process. My experience as a photographer is very different when I am using autofocus lenses. It is boring and soulless for me. Unfortunately I had to sell my vintage lens collection (approx. 170 lenses) when I was moving from Europe to Asia 2 years ago. I kept 16 of the best vintage lenses and these will stay with me until the end of my life because each of these has something really special what you can hardly find longer with modern lenses.
Great video Mark, awesome that your Soviet MK2's are getting some commercial use! I recently had the chance to play around with a Z9 - even shooting 8K, my favourite Soviet glass doesn't show its age (in a bad way), so they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
Basically I purchased a used a7c as my first camera ever, played around with the kit lens but felt like there could be more to achieve. After checking prices for lenses with lower f-stop numbers for that system the idea got a bit less preferable. Then I discovered vintage lenses, how kit lenses back then had such insane f-stop numbers out of the box and would render images with that touch of film era cameras, so I got a Canon FD 50/1.8 as a start and boy did that suck me in.. Later on I've extended that with a few more, saw an early gen zebra Helios 44-2 for very cheap, a few more FDs and lenses said to have originated from Tomioka Optics. Slowly starting to make more use in the video realm of things, needless to say I'm impressed by those tiny old lenses.
The A7SII was the camera that introduced me to these old lenses. I had a kit lens and and Zeiss 16-35mm but since sold all my Sony glass off to make room for the old stuff ;)
Mark is back! I do use vintage lenses as an amateur, but I sometimes tend to go very deep inside them (repairing, cleaning, lubricating). But I do see it as for cars. They are perfect as the designers thought them out. No tuning necessary. And for the old vintage lenses I see them as a heritage and like to keep them as they are and maybe only refresh them, so that I can use them as new. I can also see your professional view of the things. And I you have to earn your money with the equipment, then it has to work and not to be ready for a museum. 🖖😊
There could be SOME money in collecting museum pieces but I think it's a very high risk venture lol. Also no fun just having all this great stuff sitting around in incubation chambers lol. I need to open that can of worms...a little lens surgery, get familiar with the insides.
Starting the vintage journey as a photographer, it slows me down. Time is taken to achieve the best result. That result may or may not be the desired outcome but there is a level of pleasure that comes losing ones self in the moment. My toys of choice are currently Carl Zeiss and Minolta Rokkor. Learning the history behind the lens is also part of the pleasure, and for your part in that I say thank you. So, from 25 miles north of London, be lucky stay safe
Casual. Love the compact, lighter weight that lack of auto-focus mechanisms enable. Also like the option of adapting a single vintage lens to multiple different brand bodies. BTW, your dog seems well behaved and patient.😊
So nice to see a new video by you! My starting point was, that I didn't like the plasticy Kit lenses shipped with my Pentax K70. In my book about lenses they talked about using old lenses and that captivated me. Finally that decision has even led to me starting taking photos on film. Watching your videos has given me a lot of input on which lenses are nice and suitable for me. So thank you!
Totally agree, vintage lenses in their original form are perfect for our own needs and rehoused/modded are perfect for professional shoots, as things are taken care of, especially for the modern cameras. I don't do professional photography, so right now, i just have the original vintage lenses. Of course, what I love about them, is the characteristics and manual focus and aperture and the bokeh styles. I also like their looks, especially ones that look like pieces of some machinery and pipes, some look totally steampunk and others, like Canon FD and FLs look perfect in Black Metal. Some medium or large format ones for box cameras. When you look at them, pick them up and move the rings and dials, especially ones who's apertures arent the usual blades, but a single metal disc with different size circles cut into. Then there are projector lenses, that look like just cylinders where your inner craft gets a chance to shine, when you try to find the right helicoids and bellows and you try to build this crazy dream machine, with your camera and the lens and then you take the photos or videos and look at the results. The whole journey feels like being inside a mystery/time travel world. It's beautiful. And then, not to forget the amount of time, energy, calculations and manual work put into them to build them, with precision, hand crafted, filed, finished, sealed. Its just a dreamy process using them, whether digital or film, its equality special.
Perfectly described my friend! part of why it's just easier to get out and shoot to experience all those things yourself...then respond to that. You might love it, you might hate it, but at least you can figure it out for yourself.
I personally love vintage lenses because I started my photography journey with film cameras. I later on bought a used sony a7 and was very confused at first with the autofocus modes that made me miss a lot of shots during my street sessions. Since then I bought two adapters for my grandpa's Canon fl lenses and started changing my way of shooting towards a slower approach, just like I did with my minolta srt 101. Now if I need a trustworthy lens to shoot on the go, I know I can use zone focusing to always get the shot that I want without thinking about settings too much. And even though I have a cool modern camera with a sharp lens, it is priceless to see how people's faces light up when they see a portrait taken at f/1.7. Vintage lenses are the best
I have the same Minolta 21mm and I love it, though all the rubber rings on my vintage minolta set have since fallen off because of gear rings. Great vid ❤
you're getting some good use out of them by the sounds of it. .... maybe ask Ancient optics to re-house them on the house for you? Couldn't hurt? lol. Thanks man!
A- only starting to B- slowly. Modding is quite the undertaking to get into. Also the economy of vintage lenses changed a bit... . I hunted down a Helios 44-2 KZ factory made, in the EU, and it took longer than expected, and the sellers are aware of the demand for it, so good condition ones are beyond 100€ already, so im looking for other options rn. Canon FD are also rather sought after. I found some old Minolta zooms I adapted now and I love it so much. Gonna get a Nikkon adapter next since I have a few of those 70s Nikkor lenses for my FM2 lying around, including the sweet sweet 50mm 1.8. M42 adapter after that, for the old soviet and german lenses im gonna hopefully aquire. Just not really sure wich, and as it seems, i wont until i get a good/better opportunity. For me personally, after a few adapters and mby a lens, im gonna invest more time and money in repairing and maintenance equipment. Im a little bit of a tinkerer and this seems exactly like something I could enjoy doing on a slow day. Also it pushes some lenses more towards my price range, if I can manage to fix minor issues myself. My focal range is very small rn, what 85mm would you recommend to look into? Jena, Jupiter, Helios are also experiencing the hype. I really need to find a camera yard-sale kind of event in my area but I think they are uncommon here... or i am bad at finding them. ps: i mostly do stills, my Canon R6 Rig needs more .. time.
I would go for a Jupiter, they're a lot less expensive than the Helios and render a very nice image that will match closer to your Helios than a Nikkor or FD I suspect.
So glad I stumbled on your channel years ago Mark. Did you ever pick up that peak design travel tripod? I’ve added some beauty marks to mine along the way but it’s still something I try and always have in my truck along with my xpro3.
Oh my friend! You have the same slider that I do. The Syrup!!!! I have several sections that I transport around the country to make a 10 foot slider. Thing is incredible. I tried the Genie motorized parts to it but the step motor was jerky and way too slow to travel over 8 feet. Do you use motorized and if so, what do you use? Thanks mate!
I've got the extra rails as well! Great slider, definitely need to be behind it to make it work well! The alone stuff I was using the ROV PRO which is great for little cameras, just make sure to have some foreground in there or it makes the short track feel invisible ;)
Old lenses are toxic, probably cursed too. Make you want to tried one, then try more, then bought one, and then bought some more, and sometimes bought one that you already have, why someone need more than one exactly same lenses, beyond my understanding ( I dont understand myself for sure.) So, for someone who want to try vintage lenses, be careful, more careful if you are a thinker. Anyway, for me is A.
Nah, if the price goes up it’s because they’re getting older and less available. Just don’t pay the high prices and you won’t have an issue ;) the videos have zero impact on price, not enough people see it to impact the market.
nice mate very much happy with all mine including new macro canon 100mm which i just used for a video was good fun and liek 80 bucks delivered and mint condition cant beat it to try.
100mm is one of my fav focal lengths, gives. you a bit more than the 85 and not quite as much as the 135....a 105 is nice too, but a weird number...100 is nice.
Helios 44m gives me 116mm on my Olympus. I like its colors, image, but 116mm are just not suitable for everything. I often use kit II R M.Zuiko lens instead (tho it has unreliable construction and already giving errors, so probably Helios will be my only lens soon).
lol...as long as you don't get stuck inverted in some fisher somewhere its' all good! If you do let me now i'll send help! Hope you guys are well man it's been too long. We need to catch up.
@@MarkHoltze yeah man time has just flown hasn’t it. All good this side of the pond, loving life in the new studio, maybe we’ll make another video on this channel one day 🤣 great to see you smashing though mate. Must catch up soon.
In my mind moding is good. But I can't say the same about full re-housing. It's like a part of history is being erased. Now why there's no company / lens manufacturer that could exploit the demand and make new lenses using old recipes is beyond me...
I think the lens formulas are proprietary, so only after they expire. Rehousing is just repurposing. I wouldn’t say it’s erasing the history of the kens, more expanding its life expectancy in a different medium. Besides no way there will be more rehoused lenses given the price. There are way more lenses than there will ever be people who are interested in them, never mind want to rehouse them.
What's your level of vintage lens? A) A Casual B) A MOD C) RE-HOUSER?
All of them have a place to be! I’m all 3.
Once you remove that bearing from the aperture ring it's down the rabbit hole
Full time vintage now I just bought my beloved BlackMagic 6K Full Frame. Meyer Optik 58mm is my favorite. Also just bought a SWEET TTArtisan 90mm 1.25
A) Casual. I take photos. Vintage lenses can produce interesting bokeh and flare effects to them.
A
I like vintage lenses because of the required manual intervention. Each photo taken is a consciously controlled process. My experience as a photographer is very different when I am using autofocus lenses. It is boring and soulless for me. Unfortunately I had to sell my vintage lens collection (approx. 170 lenses) when I was moving from Europe to Asia 2 years ago. I kept 16 of the best vintage lenses and these will stay with me until the end of my life because each of these has something really special what you can hardly find longer with modern lenses.
✊
Great video Mark, awesome that your Soviet MK2's are getting some commercial use! I recently had the chance to play around with a Z9 - even shooting 8K, my favourite Soviet glass doesn't show its age (in a bad way), so they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
love that timeless glass! ALL Even when you throw ALL the K's at it! :)
Proud owner of Jena 35 2.4 and 135 great lenses
@MarkHoltze make me an offer 😂
I have both too 😆
@MarkHoltze well done then 👏 I picked up a set from a retire CSIS spy. He had kept them immaculate 😳
Casual collector i'd say. 30+ lenses and counting.
What’s your top 5?
Basically I purchased a used a7c as my first camera ever, played around with the kit lens but felt like there could be more to achieve. After checking prices for lenses with lower f-stop numbers for that system the idea got a bit less preferable.
Then I discovered vintage lenses, how kit lenses back then had such insane f-stop numbers out of the box and would render images with that touch of film era cameras, so I got a Canon FD 50/1.8 as a start and boy did that suck me in..
Later on I've extended that with a few more, saw an early gen zebra Helios 44-2 for very cheap, a few more FDs and lenses said to have originated from Tomioka Optics.
Slowly starting to make more use in the video realm of things, needless to say I'm impressed by those tiny old lenses.
The A7SII was the camera that introduced me to these old lenses. I had a kit lens and and Zeiss 16-35mm but since sold all my Sony glass off to make room for the old stuff ;)
A. but its okay as im primarily a photo shooter. right now ive been enjoying trying different lens brands and mounts on my EOS system.
perfect!
So good. I saw this video when it first dropped on my other account. Im a filmmaker myself, your videos are so rich with content.
Thanks for stopping by Andy!! ✊
Mark is back!
I do use vintage lenses as an amateur, but I sometimes tend to go very deep inside them (repairing, cleaning, lubricating). But I do see it as for cars. They are perfect as the designers thought them out. No tuning necessary. And for the old vintage lenses I see them as a heritage and like to keep them as they are and maybe only refresh them, so that I can use them as new.
I can also see your professional view of the things. And I you have to earn your money with the equipment, then it has to work and not to be ready for a museum.
🖖😊
There could be SOME money in collecting museum pieces but I think it's a very high risk venture lol. Also no fun just having all this great stuff sitting around in incubation chambers lol. I need to open that can of worms...a little lens surgery, get familiar with the insides.
Starting the vintage journey as a photographer, it slows me down.
Time is taken to achieve the best result.
That result may or may not be the desired outcome but there is a level of pleasure that comes losing ones self in the moment.
My toys of choice are currently Carl Zeiss and Minolta Rokkor.
Learning the history behind the lens is also part of the pleasure, and for your part in that I say thank you.
So, from 25 miles north of London, be lucky stay safe
Carl Zeiss and Rokkors are some of the best to have for sure! ✊
Casual. Love the compact, lighter weight that lack of auto-focus mechanisms enable. Also like the option of adapting a single vintage lens to multiple different brand bodies. BTW, your dog seems well behaved and patient.😊
She's 16 at this point, I think any of her bad habits she had have retired ;) Thanks for watching Paul!
So nice to see a new video by you!
My starting point was, that I didn't like the plasticy Kit lenses shipped with my Pentax K70. In my book about lenses they talked about using old lenses and that captivated me.
Finally that decision has even led to me starting taking photos on film.
Watching your videos has given me a lot of input on which lenses are nice and suitable for me.
So thank you!
PS. So ... Casual use with me 🙂
Pleasure mate. Thanks for being here ✊
Cool casual
Good job climbing that tree with a camera around your neck :) Ever since I got my first vintage lens 3 years ago I didn't go back to any modern one.
✊
It's been awhile Mark. I miss these vintage lens videos.
I miss them too. One day I’ll get back to it; it’s just hard to find the time these days. Thanks for the reminder! ✊
Totally agree, vintage lenses in their original form are perfect for our own needs and rehoused/modded are perfect for professional shoots, as things are taken care of, especially for the modern cameras.
I don't do professional photography, so right now, i just have the original vintage lenses.
Of course, what I love about them, is the characteristics and manual focus and aperture and the bokeh styles. I also like their looks, especially ones that look like pieces of some machinery and pipes, some look totally steampunk and others, like Canon FD and FLs look perfect in Black Metal. Some medium or large format ones for box cameras. When you look at them, pick them up and move the rings and dials, especially ones who's apertures arent the usual blades, but a single metal disc with different size circles cut into. Then there are projector lenses, that look like just cylinders where your inner craft gets a chance to shine, when you try to find the right helicoids and bellows and you try to build this crazy dream machine, with your camera and the lens and then you take the photos or videos and look at the results. The whole journey feels like being inside a mystery/time travel world. It's beautiful.
And then, not to forget the amount of time, energy, calculations and manual work put into them to build them, with precision, hand crafted, filed, finished, sealed. Its just a dreamy process using them, whether digital or film, its equality special.
Perfectly described my friend! part of why it's just easier to get out and shoot to experience all those things yourself...then respond to that. You might love it, you might hate it, but at least you can figure it out for yourself.
I personally love vintage lenses because I started my photography journey with film cameras. I later on bought a used sony a7 and was very confused at first with the autofocus modes that made me miss a lot of shots during my street sessions. Since then I bought two adapters for my grandpa's Canon fl lenses and started changing my way of shooting towards a slower approach, just like I did with my minolta srt 101. Now if I need a trustworthy lens to shoot on the go, I know I can use zone focusing to always get the shot that I want without thinking about settings too much. And even though I have a cool modern camera with a sharp lens, it is priceless to see how people's faces light up when they see a portrait taken at f/1.7. Vintage lenses are the best
Absolutely! Nicely said! ✊
I love vintage lenses, over years i have collected a bunch of those. My favourite is Jupiter 21M
I have the same Minolta 21mm and I love it, though all the rubber rings on my vintage minolta set have since fallen off because of gear rings. Great vid ❤
you're getting some good use out of them by the sounds of it. .... maybe ask Ancient optics to re-house them on the house for you? Couldn't hurt? lol. Thanks man!
so good to see you back in the game!
Your videos and Simon's utack videos are the best thing about vintage lenses
✊ thanks Philip! Simon’s channel is amazing.
A- only starting to B- slowly. Modding is quite the undertaking to get into. Also the economy of vintage lenses changed a bit... . I hunted down a Helios 44-2 KZ factory made, in the EU, and it took longer than expected, and the sellers are aware of the demand for it, so good condition ones are beyond 100€ already, so im looking for other options rn. Canon FD are also rather sought after. I found some old Minolta zooms I adapted now and I love it so much. Gonna get a Nikkon adapter next since I have a few of those 70s Nikkor lenses for my FM2 lying around, including the sweet sweet 50mm 1.8. M42 adapter after that, for the old soviet and german lenses im gonna hopefully aquire. Just not really sure wich, and as it seems, i wont until i get a good/better opportunity. For me personally, after a few adapters and mby a lens, im gonna invest more time and money in repairing and maintenance equipment. Im a little bit of a tinkerer and this seems exactly like something I could enjoy doing on a slow day. Also it pushes some lenses more towards my price range, if I can manage to fix minor issues myself. My focal range is very small rn, what 85mm would you recommend to look into? Jena, Jupiter, Helios are also experiencing the hype. I really need to find a camera yard-sale kind of event in my area but I think they are uncommon here... or i am bad at finding them.
ps: i mostly do stills, my Canon R6 Rig needs more .. time.
I would go for a Jupiter, they're a lot less expensive than the Helios and render a very nice image that will match closer to your Helios than a Nikkor or FD I suspect.
Great episode! I’m jelly of the incoming Jenas!
still a ways off I suspect! an exercise in patience for sure lol.
Thank you for sharing your passion mate. Great video as usual 👏👏👏
Thanks for stopping by!
So glad I stumbled on your channel years ago Mark. Did you ever pick up that peak design travel tripod? I’ve added some beauty marks to mine along the way but it’s still something I try and always have in my truck along with my xpro3.
No never did. Nice tripod though ✊
Great to see you back, Mark! What lens were you shooting the talking at the camera shot on btw? 🙂 And yeah the Zoomar is on the list 👀
That was the Contax Zeiss 28mm :) nice lens!
Man I missed these. Great one mark!!❤
Need to meet up Fo"Coff soon man. Thanks!
Missed you, mark!!!
✊
Oh my friend! You have the same slider that I do. The Syrup!!!! I have several sections that I transport around the country to make a 10 foot slider. Thing is incredible. I tried the Genie motorized parts to it but the step motor was jerky and way too slow to travel over 8 feet. Do you use motorized and if so, what do you use? Thanks mate!
I've got the extra rails as well! Great slider, definitely need to be behind it to make it work well! The alone stuff I was using the ROV PRO which is great for little cameras, just make sure to have some foreground in there or it makes the short track feel invisible ;)
i agree, as i used it first i looked twice avore the result. Jupiter lens is amazing
✊
Old lenses are toxic, probably cursed too. Make you want to tried one, then try more, then bought one, and then bought some more, and sometimes bought one that you already have, why someone need more than one exactly same lenses, beyond my understanding ( I dont understand myself for sure.)
So, for someone who want to try vintage lenses, be careful, more careful if you are a thinker.
Anyway, for me is A.
I should have mentioned the addiction...it was a gross oversight on my part. You're absolutely right though! A+++
Came for the lenses, stayed for the doggo 😊
She’s a goooooood guuuuurl! 😆 thanks for stopping by!
Yay! Let’s raise their price even more!! Jeeze
Nah, if the price goes up it’s because they’re getting older and less available. Just don’t pay the high prices and you won’t have an issue ;) the videos have zero impact on price, not enough people see it to impact the market.
I must be a casual user, I just do photography with my Helios 44-2 58mm (1978) and my Olympus zuiko 200mm (1980) both original, no mods.
COOL Casual ... works! :)
@@MarkHoltze have you tried the Olympus zuiko auto T 200mm f/4 prime? If not, give it a try, it's great glass man!
Thank you! :)
✊
nice mate very much happy with all mine including new macro canon 100mm which i just used for a video was good fun and liek 80 bucks delivered and mint condition cant beat it to try.
100mm is one of my fav focal lengths, gives. you a bit more than the 85 and not quite as much as the 135....a 105 is nice too, but a weird number...100 is nice.
@@MarkHoltze yeah pretty impressed with it even for not macro lovely image out of it !
If I don't know how many lenses I own, am I still A) Casual ?
I´d guess 20+ lenses yeah, seems casual to me 😋
Casual enthusiast 😂
Helios 44m gives me 116mm on my Olympus. I like its colors, image, but 116mm are just not suitable for everything. I often use kit II R M.Zuiko lens instead (tho it has unreliable construction and already giving errors, so probably Helios will be my only lens soon).
116mm! interesting focal length
@@MarkHoltze True! Crop factor 2 changes everything
😉📷
Ok I need a fourth option… Mark Holtze corrupted me and now I can’t find my way out of the rabbit hole. Too much glass not enough days…
lol...as long as you don't get stuck inverted in some fisher somewhere its' all good! If you do let me now i'll send help! Hope you guys are well man it's been too long. We need to catch up.
@@MarkHoltze yeah man time has just flown hasn’t it. All good this side of the pond, loving life in the new studio, maybe we’ll make another video on this channel one day 🤣 great to see you smashing though mate. Must catch up soon.
In my mind moding is good. But I can't say the same about full re-housing. It's like a part of history is being erased. Now why there's no company / lens manufacturer that could exploit the demand and make new lenses using old recipes is beyond me...
Lens light lab is doing that. It’s pretty cool actually.
@@MarkHoltze Yeah I know but still...
I think the lens formulas are proprietary, so only after they expire. Rehousing is just repurposing. I wouldn’t say it’s erasing the history of the kens, more expanding its life expectancy in a different medium. Besides no way there will be more rehoused lenses given the price. There are way more lenses than there will ever be people who are interested in them, never mind want to rehouse them.
I want alllll the voightlanders
✊
Can't beleive you climbed that tree. I'm telling your mom.
a
✊
A
Unsure whether this is good or bad, but you've come a looong way: in six minutes and 16 seconds, you didn't say 'TAKUmarrrr....' once.
😭nikon users