Recommend vintage lenses for portrait

[petergabriel]

I'm looking into buying a vintage MF lens (brand not important) for my x-t1. I would prefer a lens with some character. Preferably a fast one. Anyone care to recommend some? I have heard about som of the old 70's Canon lenses that are good. My main reason for wanting this is hopefully a cheaper price.

[milandro]

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Edited August 15, 2017 by milandro

[Sluw]

There are loads of good vintage lenses. The lens milandro mentioned for example. I also like some Canon FD lenses and sometimes use the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 S.S.C.

 

Edit: you can check the 50mm f/1.4 ssc flickr group for results: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1195075@N20/

Edited February 24, 2017 by Sluw

[milandro]

...

Edited February 25, 2017 by milandro

[lleo]

As Sluw said, it's plenty of lenses out there, it only depends on your very personal taste. What can be a nice character for you, it might be not my favourite and vice versa.

The lens I prefer over any other is the Takumar but, beside the technical characteristics, you might prefer others.

Anyways, check these three samples. Even though each lens is over a hundred Euros.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/144829918@N02/sets/72157675654758400

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/144829918@N02/sets/72157675013521325

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/144829918@N02/sets/72157673362624752

Edited February 24, 2017 by lleo

[Guest welshkc]

There are loads of good vintage lenses. The lens milandro mentioned for example. I also like some Canon FD lenses and sometimes use the Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 S.S.C.

 

Edit: you can check the 50mm f/1.4 ssc flickr group for results: https://www.flickr.com/groups/1195075@N20/

 

 

I second the Canon FD 50mm.  Dirt cheap and a really good lens on the Fuji XT1.  The APS-C factor keeps the image in the center where almost all old lenses are sharp.  So ignore any reviews that talk about edge softness at full frame sizes.  You won't see it.  A bonus is using the 50mm as a loupe when it is not on the camera.  Works great.  I use a cheap fotodiox adapter on the fuji.

 

Some of the telephoto lenses get weird when adapting.  I have a Vivitar 200mm prime that simply will not focus at infinity with the adapter, so watch for that kind of technicality.  

 

Sometimes the cheapest way to get one of those 50mm is to buy a beat up old film job that has one attached.  People dig out an old camera, sell it based on the failing camera condition without even realizing the sweet glass attached is perfect.

 

Ed

[lleo]

Some of the telephoto lenses get weird when adapting.  I have a Vivitar 200mm prime that simply will not focus at infinity with the adapter, so watch for that kind of technicality.  

 

Ed

 

It's the focusing point problem on some. I ordered a modified adapter for my Tair 3S to get the infinity focus.

There's an adapter that works better than others, I don't remember the name but it's also in a thread here in the forum. It has a ring that can be removed to shorten the focusing point.

[milandro]

the K&F are very well made,

 

http://www.kentfaith.com/LensAdapter

 

As opposed to some no name products out there, they are only marginally more expensive, but there is absolutely no need to spend the money of a Novoflex. I have had several they all performed very well.

Edited February 24, 2017 by milandro

[plaidshirts]

Most vintage 50/1.4 lenses work very well with XT-1. I also have the Takumar SMC 50/1.4 and Summicron 50/2 as well as the previously mentioned FD 50/1.4. Any of them could fill the role of a portrait lens as each of them are very sharp. The Canon I got for $40 and Takumar for $50 attached to a spotmatic F which I in turn replaced the seal and sold for $120. Both were in like new condition. Good, cheap lenses are out there.

[petergabriel]

Thanks all. I will go hunting for the mentioned lenses :-)

[milandro]

good luck

[lleo]

the K&F are very well made,

 

http://www.kentfaith.com/LensAdapter

 

As opposed to some no name products out there, they are only marginally more expensive, but there is absolutely no need to spend the money of a Novoflex. I have had several they all performed very well.

 

Yep, that's it.

[Snodge]

If you can live with an f/2.8 lens, the Industar-61 L/Z is a nice lens that also comes with it's own extension tube for macro; they're not expensive but they have great image quality and very good sharpness. At 50mm it would do well at the shorter end of the portrait range.

 

If you want something a bit longer, there's the reasonably affordable Helios 40-2 which is an 85mm f/1.5 lens that can have a swirly bokeh effect in some situations. The Jupiter 9 at f/2.0 may be a cheaper and lighter alternative.

 

If you use a focal reducer (I use the very good Lens Turbo II) then you can also look at the myriad of 135mm lenses too, of which there are plenty in m42 mount. I've got a Sankyo Kohki Komura 135mm f/2.8 lens that while has low contrast renders very nicely indeed...

[Jaco van Lith]

Any lens wil do, whenever it fits. Every lens fits, because there are plenty of adapters. Expose correctly. Made a correct composition.

Forget the brand of the optic. For APS-C everything from 50 mm till 100 mm. Aperture unimportant. Number of blades of the iris; unimportant.

Bokeh is nonsence. Both eyes of the portrait MUST be sharp and the nose, the mouth and the ears. If not go for a real book of portrait photography.

A lensshade plus a tripod and the correct background. One light and one reflector. That is all folks.

[romi.gilles]

Minolta MC Rokkor 58mm F1.2 is pretty fast.

[Nero]

I had an Olympus OM Zuiko Auto-T 100mm f/2 that was great for portraits. I ended up selling it and buying the Fuji 55-200mm because it suited my needs a bit better for my photography. I don't take all that many portraits. That Olympus was excellent though. They also made an f/2.8 version which is much cheaper, but not as fast and didn't have as much character to it.

[Savviest]

I love vintage Zeiss glass for portraits.  The 50mm Planar f/1.4 MMJ has incredible rendering.  The color and dynamic range I achieve with it is wonderful.   I also recommend the 50mm Zeiss Jena Tessar f/2.8 with 14 aperture blades.  It creates beautiful soap bubble bokeh (as long as you like that kind of bokeh). 

Edited July 6, 2017 by Savviest

[sir_c]

The first adapter I'd suggest would be for M42 mount. With this, you can use a myriad of vintage lenses like the Pentax Takumars, Zeiss Jena, Pentacon, Helios, Jupiter etc.

Olympus OM, Contax C/Y or Leica R mount also have their merits, but lens prices go up quickly there.

 

I really like the Takumar, the Contax Planar and the Summilux-R, which all have totally different characters. Also the Helios 58mm is a special one, it's quite a nice character when used wide open. With the 50mm vintage it is difficult to go wrong, you must only be careful not to pay too much.

[MickB]

It is impossible to test all vintage glass out there so my experience is limited. If you are on a budget try Helios 44M 58mm, or a SMC Takumar 55/1.8. You cannot go wrong with both and both are incredibly cheap. 55mm works a bit nicer than 50mm for portraits. Having said that I was blown away by the Zeiss 50/1.7 (C/Y mount), wonderful colors, 3D rendering of subject etc.). Not for the hard core Zeiss fans because it is assembled with a lot of plastic so it is affordable. I bought mine for €100.

Then there is the iconic Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar, the mother of all Helios 44 lenses. Handling is a bit of a pain but it delivers sharp images with great colors.

 

 

 

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[Adam Woodhouse]

A couple portrait samples on my site with the Minolta Rokkor 58mm/1.4 ->  www.adamwoodhouse.info