The costs of getting started with vintage lenses

Tuesday 22 April 2025, 21:21 by Nando Harmsen | 2,909 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Taking photos with vintage lenses requires a small investment. It doesn't have to be much, but you can make it as expensive as you like. There seems to be some confusion about the costs involved. That's why I wrote this article.

By now, everyone knows that I take a lot of photos with vintage lenses. I don't really like the name vintage. They are 'old' lenses. Vintage is a fashion term, and I'm not really into fashion.

You can make it as expensive as you like, but there are plenty of cheap antique lenses available. You have to take your time looking. That's part of the fun.
Whatever you call it, you can't simply put an old lens on your modern mirrorless camera. You need an adapter ring. Otherwise it won't fit. Since mirrorless cameras have a shorter flange distance, this is very easy.

Most lenses that can be considered antique have an M42 thread. Be careful, because Exacta mount and M39 are also available. What you need is an adapter that converts M42 to your camera's bayonet mount.

The Helios 44 is a lens you can hardly go wrong with. A perfect starting point.
There are plenty of these adapters available. I chose adapters from URTH. They don't cost very much. You can get an adapter for fifty euros. If you have an adapter for mounting your SLR lenses on a mirrorless camera, it can often be even cheaper if you look on Amazon.

Don't think you are going to buy a set of antique lenses. Start with one, and expand your collection if it's your thing.
Then you can start looking for old lenses. Marktplaats, eBay, second-hand markets, flea markets, charity shops... There are plenty of places where you can pick up a nice lens for a few tens of euros.

If you are looking for specific lenses, the costs can be higher. This is something you have control over. A good lens to start with is a Helios 44. They aren't too expensive, but you do need to make sure that everything turns smoothly. The aperture ring and focusing ring shouldn't be too stiff.

Antique lenses can be stiff. The lubricant on the focusing ring may have hardened. This is often easy to fix.
If you're handy, you can easily open up a lens like this, clean it, and put it back together. YouTube is full of (good) instructional videos. You can also find many videos on YouTube that explain and demonstrate the characteristics of old lenses.

Taking photos with vintage lenses, or antique lenses as I prefer to call them, doesn't have to be expensive. Do you like the look of photos taken with a lens like that? Then it may be worth looking into.

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About the author

Nando Harmsen has been photographing for more than 40 years. He specialises in wedding photography and landscape photography. Nando also gives talks, workshops, masterclasses and photo trips, and regularly reviews new and interesting equipment.

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4 comments

Liesbeth Verkade wrote on Tuesday 29 April 2025 at 16:59 | reply
Hello Nando, interesting to read and now a question right away: my husband still has a very good 100mm macro lens for his old (analogue) Pentax SLR camera. It has a Pentax K-mount. Which adapter do you need for a Canon EOS 90D so that the aperture closes automatically?
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 30 April 2025 at 14:36 | reply
To be able to use such a lens, you need a K-mount to EF-mount adapter. I don't know if those exist. It might be easier with a Canon RF mount.
I don't expect you to retain an automatic aperture. I don't know for sure.
Translated from Dutch.

Liesbeth Verkade wrote on Wednesday 30 April 2025 at 17:12 | reply
Hi Nando. Thanks. I had looked it up myself too. There is an adapter for K-mount to Canon EF-S mount from Fotodiox, for about €24, available from Kamara Express or Amazon, among others. Unfortunately, no automatic aperture. Focusing and aperture have to be done manually.
Translated from Dutch.

Nando wrote on Wednesday 30 April 2025 at 21:30 | reply
When you use lenses that have a different (older) mount, you will always or almost always have to do everything manually.
It simply isn't compatible, or the required technology is different, or not present.
Translated from Dutch.

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