A couple lens questions

[pilgrim]

When they say its a 50-300mm lens what does that mean exactly?
Is that how i tell how much zoom it has, or is it something completly different?
Considering that I know nothing about lenses it would be great if someone knew of a site that teaches you the basic workings of a lens.
Or if there is some one bored who would like to share their knoweldge they are completly welcome to type out what they know.
Anything will help, i hafta start some where.
Thanks!

Oh while we are on the lens topic a friend of mines dad has a case full of old lenses, one of them looks like it is from a museum! If I can find a photo host I'll post it up and see if it is some rare lens or something. haha

 

[photoman]

The millimeter on the lens is the focal length. 50mm is about what you normaly see for 35mm photography. 300mm is about 6x magnification (dont quote me on this I think the equation is Xmm/50 = maginification).
That lens is a normal to telephoto. That is a pretty wide range of zoom. The lenses that will give you the sharpest picture is a primary lens (fixed focal length). I dont know of any good site to look on for lens info but I'm sure you could find some books in your local library.

Hope some of this helps. If you have any more specific questions dont hesitate to post.

 

[pilgrim]

Thanks photo man, that cleared some of it up for me. Im gonna take your advice and check out the library see what I can find.

Oh and I found a host, heres the picture of the lens.
Any one know anything about this thing?

 

[photoman]

Can't see the picture only a red x

You could write down what it says on the lens like who makes it, f/stop, any other miscleanous info

 

[pilgrim]

hmm, the picture is hosted on village photo, can you not direct link to that site?
I can't write that stuff down because I dont actually have the lens, its at a friends house.

try this link
http://www.villagephotos.com/viewimage.asp?id_=6954339

 

[pilgrim]

Oh and heres another lens, he has about 10 I guess, these are just the two that I was most intrested in.
http://www.villagephotos.com/viewimage.asp?id_=6954488

 

[photoman]

I can link to them but i have to log on. I dont have an account with them but there are other sites you could use. I dont know the exact post but there is one somewhere in the photogallery.

 

[pilgrim]

Allright, I found that thread, and signed up to snapfish.
Lets try this again.

and heres the link incase http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=9940519/PictureID=199975979/t_=8168150

 

[photoman]

Sorry i havent any experience with large format cameras + lenses. I sure their is someone on this fourm with experience.

The lens has bellows which looks like it is for a largeformat camera or medformat. These cameras use much larger negatives med format (645) 2 1/4 inch by 1 5/8 inch. large format is usually 4x5 and larger.

I sorry i cant help you with this, but im sure their are others who will

 

[pilgrim]

Well thanks for trying photoman! I appreciate it a lot.

Here are two more that were in the case.

http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=9940519/PictureID=199975979/t_=8168150

and...

http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=9940519/PictureID=199975979/t_=8168150

I know that not much can be told without the specifications, but you never know. Some one on here might have used one of these a few years back and know something about them.

 

[photoman]

the first pic i think belongs in the pentax family. You can find out the specics on the internet.

The lens should have something like F=300mm (this tells you the focal length or magification (bigger more maginification). The next thing you should look for is something like 1:5.5 this will tell you the maximum apeature. This is the amount of light the lens will let through. The smaller the number the more light it can gather and you can take pictures in low light. The ring on the lens controls the apeature and the amout of light is let through the lens.

the second lens is a pull type lens. The farther it extends the larger the focal length.

These lenses are for 35mm photography. You might need to check the lenses for scratches and fogging if they are really old. The best way would be to use a lens that you know is good and take picutres with that and then take pictures with the ones you just posted and compair the quality.

What type of camera do you have?
What are you planning to do with these lenses?

 

[pilgrim]

wow, thanks alot photo man, I actually understood most of that

I don't have a camera right now, my previous camera fell off the roof of my truck while i was driving and broke :cry:
So I'm saving and shopping for a camera right now, leaning towards the digital rebel.

I told a friend of mine about me buying a new camera and he mentioned his dad was really into photograhy a few years back and had a big case of lenses, so he showed me some pics.
I heard that with a slr digital camera, you can take any type of lens as long as it fits, or an adapter works. So I was thinking if these lenses would work out i reckon I could ge them for pretty cheap.

heres the whole sha-bang.

http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=9940519/PictureID=199992258/t_=8168150

 

[photobug]

Actually, the bellows is for making macro shots. Goes between the camera body & lens to make extreme close up shots (or copystand work sometimes).

Re: using older manual lenses with a dslr- Might mount on the body, might need an adapter to mount. Will absolutely not take advantage of autofocus. May or may not meter correctly. You'll probably have to focus wide open and stop down manually to meter the exposure.

Best case- it mounts and meters correctly. Focus, stop down & shoot.
Worst case- needs an adapter, won't meter (even stopped down), hard to focus, PITA.

This route can work, but you better make sure before you plunk any money down.

 

[ksmattfish]

The equipment in the pics looks like Pentax Spotmatic gear to me ( pre-1970s). It'll have a screw mount. It's unlikely that there will ever be a DSLR system that takes Pentax screwmount accessories. Pentax does offer an adapter that allows the old screw mounts to be used on K-mount cameras. I'd assume that's what any Pentax DSLR would have. Using the adapter it's possible that you might be able to use them on a Pentax DSLR in full manual exposure and manual focus modes. Pentax screw mount lenses have the DOF preview on the lens, so when you are using them with modern cameras (film or digital) you usually have to use the DOF preview to get the proper metering.

 

[pilgrim]

Thanks for all the replys guys!

It's looking like it wouldnt be to wise to buy these lenses even if they are cheap. Just the complication of using them and the possiblilty of lost features isn't worth it. Sure am glad I found this out before I bought them though!

He also has a flash. I think I saw this exact one in japan camera today, it looked identical. Costed $70 canadian. What I need to know is if flashes have a basic mount type, like good this flash mount on say a digital rebel?

http://www.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=9940266/PictureID=199975508/t_=8168150