Vintage Lenses on Modern Mirrorless Lenses

This Summer I’ve fallen down the vintage lens rabbit hole. The decent into this particular madness began earlier this year with a desire to get a more “film” like look to my photography – chasing the “Leica look.” That’s when I purchased the Voigtlander 50mm 1.0 for the Canon RF mount. I have such a love/hate relationship with that lens. I absolutely love the lens itself, but often find myself constrained/confined by the 50mm focal length. 35mm works much better for me as a “walk around” lens. But I absolutely have gained a huge appreciation for 50mm. If Voigtlander made a similarly fast 35mm lens for the RF platform, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. But since they don’t yet have such an offering, I started at looking for other 35mm options…which lead me down the path of adapting lenses. I currently have a Sigma Art 35mm 1.4 for EF mount that I use with the fantastic Canon EF to RF adaptor. I like the Sigma but don’t love it – the bokeh is busy/harsher than what I’d prefer. That lead me to consider the Canon EF 35mm 1.4 II – which I tend to believe I will pick up sooner than later (review coming soon). But then on a podcast episode of The Grey Nato, James Stacey talked about how he was getting into vintage camera lenses – and mentioned the excellent Canon FD line of vintage lenses. That was enough to get me started down the rabbit hole. As it happens, I already owned a Canon FD 50mm F1.8 – for a couple of years actually. I bought it as a prop to use in the background of my product photography. I think I paid maybe $30-$40 for it on eBay. As it turns out, it’s a pretty simple matter to adapt all manner of camera lenses to most any mirrorless camera. DSLR cameras are far more difficult because of the mirror. But in a mirrorless camera, you just need an adaptor to 1)interface the two different attachment systems and 2)get the distance of the lens to the sensor correct. Keep in mind when adapting lenses that you’re almost always talking about a fully manual focusing experience (which I like).

WHY CANON FD?

In my research on desirable vintage lenses, I noted that you almost always see a Canon FD model in one of the top 3 spots. Great build quality with no shortage of excellent examples that will produce stellar results at nearly every focal length. Given that I already owned the 50mm F1.8, I decided to get the 35mm F2, and the 28mm F2. Each was about $200.00. A bit pricier than the 50mm F1.8 but consider that I have really functional set of PRIME lenses for well under $500.00. As you might expect, the price of a vintage lens will vary by condition – make sure you buy from a trusted seller. You’ll also want to well-research the different model variations produced over the years by the manufacturer. The FD 35mm F2 for example comes in a highly desirable S.S.C (“Super Spectra Coating”) version.

WHICH ADAPTER?

A quick Amazon search will yield multiple manufacturers of adapters to mount vintage lenses to modern mirrorless cameras. They all seem to be manufactured in China (quite likely in the same manufacturing facility) and are similarly priced – Around $30-$40.00 each. Again, the adapters are not complicated devices. I purchased the Fotasy FD to RF adapter for $30 and have no complaints. I was attracted to Fotasy because they seemed to have an extensive catalog of adapters for the Canon RF mirrorless platform.

ARE VINTAGE LENSES BETTER THAN MODERN?

“Better” is of course subjective, but in most cases it’s sort of an apples to oranges comparison to their more modern counterparts. For me, it’s not really a question of better or worse – it’s different. In my next article I’ll be comparing and contrasting the FD 35mm F2 S.S.C to my Sigma 35mm F1.4 to attempt to better illustrate the differences. In most cases, the vintage lenses bring a unique character to an image not found in their more advanced, clinically sharp counterparts. What some may see as “deficiencies” in vintage lenses (less sharp, more flaring, more vignetting) can actually be seen as more desirable to some photographers. Besides the unique image rendering, the price is of course very attractive to amateur photographers who can’t afford a bag full of the latest, fastest mirriorless lenses. Others, like myself, are seeking to experience a more purposeful, manual shooting experience with more film-like results.  Size and weight are also a significant appeal for vintage lenses.  In the below photo, you’ll see my 3 Canon FD lenses in the front.  Behind them you’ll see my Voigtlander 50mm F1.0 RF (it’s twice as big as any of the other FD lenses) and the behemoth Canon RF 85mm F1.2 DS which is bigger and heavier than all three of the FD lenses combined:

Stay tuned as I continue to share my experiences and adventures with vintage lenses!