Using old hand lenses on modern cameras

I inherited a PRAKTICA camera and two lenses with an M42 threaded connection. This type of mount was used on many cameras in the 70s-90s, in particular on the Soviet Zeniths. By the way, Zenith had a regular Helios-44 lens. I have a Pentacon automatic mc with a focal length of 50mm and a focal length of 1.8.




When choosing an old glass, one must remember that most of them are “fixes”, those focal lengths are constant. Now mainly “zooms” are sold, and although they are an order of magnitude more convenient than “fixes”, due to the variable focal length, they somewhat lose them in picture quality and lose much in luminosity.



Unfortunately, time does not spare mechanics ... My Hanimar automatic F3.5 200mm aperture does not close. Apparently, the spring weakened, which did not stop them shooting all summer on an open diaphragm, and at the same time the picture from the football match was on the cover of the local sports newspaper. There are also problems with dried grease in the diaphragm drive or focusing mechanism, but they are often eliminated on their own. It is desirable that the glass be enlightened, and the surface of the diaphragm is black, otherwise unwanted glare from the matrix is ​​possible.

In principle, to replenish the ranks of “mirror”, you can try to shoot on film. 140 rubles for 36 frames, 10 for their development .... and 6 rubles for printing each picture. From the first film I got 5 “masterpieces” that were immediately put into a flatbed scanner and laid out on the network, and 31 defective frames, with blurry contours or dark spots.



From the second film, there are more “masterpieces”, and less marriage. I really liked the process of a long and thoughtful choice of “what to take pictures and how, in order not to spoil the film frame, I was forced to shoot for sure. But the second film was no longer printed, and immediately in the darkroom they scanned them at 6 rubles per frame. The size of the jeep was 8 megapixels, but there was still no "sharpness". Plus, they began to strain the costs of scanning and film, I wanted to hammer it with a “machine gun”, and immediately see the result.



Seeing how much Ibei, I realized that I needed only 200-300 dollars for a DSLR of 6-8 megapixels, but at that time I used an electronic auction for the first time in my life, I didn’t have a bank card, and there is too much chance to buy a camera , the repair of which will cost another 200-300 bucks. And this is the price of an entry-level camera, which, according to its characteristics, will plug those “used Ibei DSLRs” into the belt, but they have a couple of years of warranty and a whale lens in addition.

After a couple of weeks of “reading the Internet,” it was bought in a well-known computer equipment store, at that time the latest 14-megapixel SONY a450 with a “whale lens” and a stabilizer built into the carcass. And this means that all my old glasses installed on this camera through an adapter will be stabilized too. Another stabilizer in the carcasses makes PENTAX. But you can’t manage a cheap adapter with Nikon, they have a longer working distance, and the lens will not be able to focus “on infinity”. By the way, at my “halfway” infinity begins after ten meters. I set the focal length to infinity, and just compose the shot - you don’t need to twist anything, set the aperture once depending on the lighting, in bright sunshine you need to cover up to 8-16, in the evening you need to open it, and if you have a ring with a chip, the shutter speed itself exposes.



Rings can be ordinary for $ 5 with delivery, or with a focus confirmation chip for $ 10. We can take pictures of my camera without a chip only in M ​​mode (other modes are also available on some carcasses), and you will only have to focus on the eye. The chip-like adapter makes it possible to use all modes, and signals when the object is in focus. Essentially the same autofocus, but your fingers instead of the motor.



Adapters were ordered on ibey, and were delivered in a period of 3 weeks to 1.5 months. Here's how lucky: our mail can send two or three months. I ordered Free shipping, as a tracking number may indicate that your package flies over the Atlantic for 2 months, or travels around the city for 2 weeks. At auctions, look for the “M-42 AF adapter”, well, immediately add the name of your camera to the request. I advise you to take black, they do not glare. For example, I saved a thousand rubles on each compared to local sellers.



Later, after seeing my dances with a photo, the manager of my work brought from my storeroom a new (packed!) Hefty glass “Jupiter 36b” (Pentacon-6 bayonet mount) for the Kiev 6 medium format camera and presented it to me. A Sony Pentacon-6 chip adapter cost $ 45-60, but I bought it without a chip for $ 20, but not on a Sony m42, and tried it with an existing $ 10 M42-Sony adapter. The result was a design of 2 adapters, and everything worked fine, and I saved $ 15-20, and got a more universal solution if I change the carcass, for example, on Canon we can only buy the corresponding chip m42-canon adapter for $ 10. A piece of black paper is also visible in the photo, this is a home-made anti-glare spacer, it seems to remove part of the glare from the matrix inside the lens. (In the photo, while the adapter is without a chip, do not throw it away)


As a result, I got a telephoto lens with an aperture of 3.5 and a focal length of 250mm almost for free ... The lens is sharp, does not harden, and is quite suitable for birds, cats, walks on the roofs, beautiful portraits, shooting football, etc., of course, Hanimar is not bad either but at 3.5 it is "soapy" and besides it is terribly chromate.



PS
Sonya’s carcass weighs 700 grams and 1.6 kg glass ... heavy, but it is very stable in the hand. Now I’m thinking how to make a tripod mount.

And by popular demand, I post examples of photos taken with old glasses, processing only lightroom 500px.com/Andrianov