What are good old lenses for canon?

[MattK0138]

Another thread gave me the idea to find out what older lenses you guys use for canon or have available adapters for my xt. From the info I gathered its best to stay away from older zoom lenses. So what fixed lenses have you guys used with success?

 

[Big Mike]

Are you talking about using Canon FD lenses?

 

[MattK0138]

Any old lenses that could be used with an adapter for canon. Not specifically canon.

 

[analog.universe]

I've never tried them, although I certainly might one of these days, but I've always heard good things about adapting old Zeiss lenses for Contax/Yashica Mount. They're old, but still new enough that you can get them with T* coatings. Leica also has lots of legendary stuff for R mount that is easily adaptable.

You didn't mention any budget however....

 

[MattK0138]

I don't want to spend a fortune. Anything under 200.00-300.00 I could swing.

 

[MattK0138]

Dont have a fortune so 2-3 hundred

 

[MattK0138]

Sorry having trouble with the forum

 

[analog.universe]

So... what do you have and what do you want? Wide? Long? Fast? Macro? Tilt/Shift?

 

[MattK0138]

I have 2 kit lenses. 18-55 55-250. I am interested in learning all aspects of photography so if there is a decent priced older lens I am open. I will be doing landscape and some portrait. I want to be able to experiment in all areas though.

 

[analog.universe]

On a crop body, a 50mm is always a good place to start for portaits. As an example, this is a really nice 50 for the money: Carl Zeiss 50mm f 1.4 Planar lens Contax Nice | eBay

Keep in mind though, that when you adapt from other mounts, you lose all automatic control of the lens. You need to set the aperture with the ring on the lens, not on the camera body, and of course no auto-focus. You can get an adapter that has an autofocus confirmation chip in it, so the little red lights in the viewfinder will still light up when you achieve focus manually.

Landscape lenses on your budget will be a much more significant challenge... for landscape you need wide, and wide is expensive.

As you're looking around at old lenses, a good way to get an idea for how they perform is to search for them on flickr. Often there are entire groups dedicated to certain lenses, so you can see lots of shots and also talk to people that own them.

 

[Foxx]

I can't comment on excellent lenses as I am not privy to the whole of lens history for canon, but I can give you a recommendation from experience--

I picked up this 105mm f2.8-3.8 Vivtar Series 1 lens at a flea market for $20.

(on the left)

Found the adapter (MD/EOS) on ebay for $30, so spent $50 in all and it has been working out SWIMMINGLY.

As analog said, the lens is completely manual but it hasn't bothered me much. I've enjoyed the experience, having a manual lens has forced to me take into account the triangle more than I used to(used priority modes)

Here a link to a newer model of the same lens on ebay VIVITAR SERIES 1 29-105mm 1:2.8-3.8 CAMERA LENS +FILTER | eBay - Only $75 as current bid

As I said, I don't know if this is a particularly good lens but for the price I got it for and the experience I've had with it so far I've thoroughly enjoyed it
(this shot was taken with it Handprinted Color by ~pianoblack97 on deviantART )

 

[Ron Evers]

If you want a super sharp, reasonably fast 58mm get the Helios 44-2 a f2 lens. Can be obtained on eBay for under $50 & the M42 to EOS adapter for $10. It is my favorite prime lens.

 

[MattK0138]

Awesome I think I will be picking one up.

 

[Overread19]

*moving to the general gear section - since lenses being spoken about are multi brand and not limited to canon *

 

[dnavarrojr]

I have a 50mm F/1.4 Super Takumar with an M42 to EOS adapter and it's a terrific lens and very sharp. I also have a Zeiss 28mm F/2 with manual aperture and focus and a Nikon to EOS adapter that is also awesome. I got both for under $100 each including the adapters.