The #1 thing every DSLR owner should do (The Manual Glass thread)

[★ revlimiter ★]

1: Buy a manual lens.

Yeah, I know. You just spent a bunch of money on your shiny new DSLR. And now I'm telling you to spend more? That's right. I am. But it doesn't have to be a big expense. I mean, don't buy a crap, broken lens, but don't spend hundreds on something exotic.

Buy an old manual lens from the film era. I'd suggest either a 50mm/1.8 or a 28mm/2.8. These were very very common back in the 70s and 80s and are very plentiful. AND CHEAP! My first lens was a 55mm f/2.8 macro lens. It is still one of my most used lenses.

If you're a Nikon shooter, you're in luck. Every lens ever made mounts to every camera ever made. There are a few things to look out for like pre-AI (automatic indexing) on a camera like the D80 or D700 with the AI prong, but most starter cameras (D40, D3000, etc) won't have to worry about this. The Nikon E-series is great and cheap.

If you're a Canon shooter, you have to buy 2 things: a lens and an adapter ring. Modern cameras use the EOS mount. Old lenses use the FD mount. But adapter rings are cheap on ebay.

If you're a Sony shooter, you should look into old Pentax glass. I don't own a Sony and I'm typing this from memory instead of googling to be sure, but I've seen a lot of old Pentax lenses being worn by modern Sony cameras around town by my photography buddies.


Why?

Your shiny new camera has a ton of shit it can do. It will be way overwhelming at first. You'll likely be shooting on the green square and not having much idea what these new terms like aperture and shutter speed and ISO mean. With a manual lens, you're FORCED to learn this stuff. Because the camera can't do it on its own.

Most entry level cameras WILL NOT METER with a manual lens. (rev, WTF does that mean?) Metering is the camera's ability to get the exposure right for any scene you happen to point it at. And that goes away when you put the manual lens on. You have to shoot on Manual (the little M square) and guess at the exposure.

You also get to turn the aperture dial yourself and learn what that thing does. Wide open = the smaller number (like 1.8) = more light getting to your sensor. Closed down = the bigger number (like f/22) = less light hitting the sensor. The smaller the number, the more bokeh you get. The bigger the number, the sharper focus your whole scene will be.

You also get to focus the camera by yourself. And THAT is one of the great joys of photography. Like driving a manual transmission. I love manual focus.

Nothing will teach you how to use your camera faster than this manual lens. No book. No website. No photography class. No good advice from your local camera guru. Nothing. This lens will pay for itself many many times.

When you finally click the shutter and get a perfectly exposed, perfectly focused image out of a camera that did not help you one tiny bit to make this image, you will feel like a god. Not The God, but a god. You feel like THE God when someone approaches you to buy a print of that image.

[★ revlimiter ★]

My manual glass collection:
Nikon: Nikkor 50mm/1.2, Nippon Kogaku 50mm/1.4, Nikkor 55mm/2.8 macro
Vivitar: Series 1 28mm/1.9, Series 1 90mm/2.5 macro with matched 1:1 adapter, 85mm/1.4, 135mm/2.8 Close Focusing, 19mm 3.8

I'm a huge fan of Vivitar lenses. They made some great stuff back in the 70s, and you can pick it up cheap just about anywhere.



50mm rear element comparison, 1.8 vs 1.4 vs 1.2



My beloved 28mm 1.9. I had this one AI-converted so I could use it on my D300. I take 90% of my car photos with this lens.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

I still have my old Nikkor 50mm f1.2. Every other one I've seen is a f1.8 but mine is a hefty chunk of glass for a 50mm, night vision for its day haha.

[NAautoxer]

this would be why i went back to film in the first place with my Pentax. modern cameras are great, but the modern photographer sucks..

[f86sabjf]

This is why i bought a Nikon . The fact that i can get older high quality glass and it will work with my new camera for less money than the A/F lenses my camera will be using

[Ronpc]

Adam,
Where did you have your beloved 28mm 1.9 converted? I have a 85mm 1.8 I like to use on my f100

[★ revlimiter ★]

http://www.aiconversions.com/index.html

John White's AI conversions. He did a fantastic job. I've had him convert 4 of my lenses so far.

[★ revlimiter ★]

I still have my old Nikkor 50mm f1.2. Every other one I've seen is a f1.8 but mine is a hefty chunk of glass for a 50mm, night vision for its day haha.

Hold onto it! I love my 50/1.2. It's super sharp at f/2 and ridiculous to use at night at 1.2. They also sell for between $500-800 depending on the condition.

[Ronpc]

http://www.aiconversions.com/index.html

John White's AI conversions. He did a fantastic job. I've had him convert 4 of my lenses so far.

Thanks. I forgot about him. (did not think John was still in business) I heard about him over six years ago on an old MSN (Old Pro Photography) BB.

[2001SE]

It might be cheaper still just to tell people to turn the mode from Auto (green) to M (manual).

IMHO, this is a great way to learn. Thats what's great about digital, shoot and look in the little window and you can see what you got. Change one of the three major variables (shutter speed, f-stop or ISO) and see it it got better. If it did, do it more, if it didn't go the other way with the setting (just one setting at a time please). Guess what? You just taught someone the basics of bracketing. I do this all the time mostly when shooting underwater. The camera goes a little nuts underwater (in a housing in case were wondering) because of all the color shifts and strange lighting conditions so the old "green" setting is about useless.

This is SOOOOOOO true when use artificial light. I ebayed a few older strobes before I got wise to the fact that the strobes could be used VERY well with the new digital cameras (I am in the Nikon camp so I still have and use 3 old SB-28s and my SB-800 AND about 5 old Novatron kits for studio) Hell, I even found that my Nikon Underwater strobes (SB-105s) made great slaves. Get a simple slave sensor, (the cheap ones that trigger when they see another strobe fire) and you can have any number of strobes firing in sync.

But back to where we began, now you can make adjustments to the light immediately because you see the image and can stop down or open up at the camers or reduce, bounce, soften the lighting at the strobe. It's great. I used to have to take notes, then look at the prints, then shoot again after making adjustments. That's great if you are shooting still life but sucks if you are shooting a wedding. Retakes on weddings are expensive!

You are right about the glass. I wish you had not gone public with it, I am still trying to collect old Nikkor glass and now the secrets out! As an example: I got hold of an old 105 Macro, great for portrait work, great for close up and macro work. It's a 40 year old lens. Hard to find one that will out do it. The new Nikor 105 is, like a grand, I have $150.00 in the used one.

For you Nikon types... look around Kenrockwell.com and he has a lens chart for Nikor telling you what features will work with what Nikon boby you have. It's a great tool.

My Dad to pictures for a living. It used to piss me off to no end when he would tell me it was not the camera. It was the photographer. I am just now getting that straight in my head. Look at the most famous photos you have ever seen... most were shot with old Speed Graphics or rangefinder Leicas.

The new stuff is great, I am happy to have it and I embrace it but remember... it's not all about the camera, it's your eye!

[RetroModern]

used to be people bought Sony Alphas and scooped up old Minolta lenses. Now that secret's out as well.

[—Bryan—]

Thanks for the tip, Adam! I've been trying to score a deal on a Series E lens for the last couple weeks on eBay.

[LOL]

Great write up, I just picked up a 100mm 2.8 Nikon series E for around $70 shipped. It's awfully sharp and makes you think. I love all of my old manual primes, sharp cheap performance that teaches you a thing or two about photography.