Best Place To Find Old School Lenses?

scorpion_tyr · Aug 14, 2012

So I'm gonna try some experimenting around with some old school lenses. I have a T mount to Canon EF adapter and just ordered a M42 and a Pentax adapter. So does anyone know any good websites where I can order some fully manual old school lenses for dirt cheap to play around with?

Jaemie · Aug 14, 2012

Besides ebay and CL? I don't know of any. But, I've seen a few old lenses in thrift stores, pawn shops, and garage sales. Oh, maybe the For Sale threads in photography forums.

scorpion_tyr · Aug 14, 2012

Thanks Jaemie! Yeah, I'm kicking myself in the butt for not picking up some of those $20 lenses at pawn shops when I had the chance...

Derrel · Aug 14, 2012

I enjoy old school lenses....from Goodwill. yard sales, and pawn shops...I shoot 'em on Canon EOS digital...I shot these pics last night before dinner, just kind of dinking around.

Here we have a Canon EOS digital body with a $45 pawn shop special--the lovely and ultra-compact Olympus OM-mount 28mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens, which came with a polarizer and the proper Olympus screw-in rubber lens shade. To the right is a Vivitar Series 1 55mm f/2.8 1:1 macro lens in M42 thread mount, and in the back are a matched pair, a 135/3.5 and a 200mm f/4 Super-Takumar set in M42, made by Asahi. I got the 135mm f/3.5 and 200mm f/4 pair for $100, and they are both in MINT condition!

And here's a bit wider cross-section of adapted stuff.

IN the front, the lower left-most lens is a Lentar 35mm f/2.8 in M42 O got for $13 at a yard sale. Next to that is Vivtar Series 1 55mm f/2.8 macro in M42 thread mount; my Canon 5D fitted with an adapter with a short extension tube threaded onto an Asahi 55mm f/2 lens that I bought as a 4-piece set for just $9.95 with a Vivitar Series 1 M42 three-tube extension ring set at a local Goodwill store; Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 Ai-S $240; the above 135/3.5 and 200/5 Super-Takumar set in M42 mount, and the small Olympus OM 28mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens, $45 from a pawn shop this summer. In the front row are some vintage front lens caps, and one $17 e-Bay lens adapter, one designed for adapting F-mount lenses to Canon EOS bodies.

480sparky · Aug 14, 2012

Local camera stores usually have bushel baskets of old glass they'd love to get rid of. You may also try a camera club.

djacobox372 · Aug 15, 2012

scorpion_tyr · Aug 16, 2012

Thanks y'all! I unfortunately had no luck on ebay, and there's no real camera shop in this town, but I am expecting a package today with a Cambron 135mm f/2.8 in it. Not expecting much, but for less than $30 USD I figured I would give it a shot. I'm also about to hit some more pawn shops in a bit. Thanks again!

Jaemie · Aug 16, 2012

FWIW, I'd focus more on older pawn shops, not the chain shops like PawnExpress. Some of those older places keep a ton of "junk" lying around, really cool stuff that doesn't sell much, whereas the chain stores mostly handle only newer things they can rent or sell quickly. I recently checked out 3 old pawn shops, here in Tacoma, and was surprised how much cool old stuff they had for sale, including some SLRs. It's probably a good thing that I had no money to spend. Haha..

Patrice · Aug 16, 2012

[h=2]Best Place To Find Old School Lenses?[/h]

There is an old high school not far from my house but I haven't asked the principal if has any lenses. Check your neighbourhood, there may be an old school nearer than you think.

(Sorry, just could not help myself.)

table1349 · Aug 16, 2012

scorpion_tyr said:
So I'm gonna try some experimenting around with some old school lenses. I have a T mount to Canon EF adapter and just ordered a M42 and a Pentax adapter. So does anyone know any good websites where I can order some fully manual old school lenses for dirt cheap to play around with?

Old School Photography Shops.

Alpha · Aug 16, 2012

scorpion_tyr · Aug 17, 2012

Thanks for all the advise! I'll definitely be hitting up the mom and pop shops. Here's the first picture I got with my "new to me" Cambron 135mm f/2.8. Not too bad for a $30 lens I think...

Note: The picture is of my wife. It's how I get away with buying photo gear, I always take the first picture with whatever gear of her

but she won't let me post anything without at least a little bit of PP, so she has been slightly edited, but I didn't do any sharpening or anything that would change the lenses performance.

snowbear · Aug 17, 2012

KEH (Atlanta?) was mentioned. B&H and Adorama (NYC) both have "used" shops. I bought a full manual 105mm Nikkor from Adorama and I'm quite happy with it.