I use decent focal reducers paired with 2.0/28mm (e.g. Canon), 1.4/50mm, (Nikon, Pentax Super Takumar, Canon), 2.0/85mm (Jupiter)...and many more vintage lenses. I find the focal reducers are valuable tools on M4/3 ,when going manual vintage. A nifty fifty w/focal reducer makes for a very nice portrait setup. My 28mm w/focal reducer is a lot of fun as a street camera.
I use adapted lenses a lot. Something I've found is jpegs out of the camera are slightly soft. However as soon as files are imported into a Raw processer they immediately sharpen up. Presumably this is because native lenses are sharpened in camera, whereas ones without electronic contacts are unrecognisable. This is true of different digital cameras and lenses, not just Lumix.
I love using the S1 with Contax Zeiss or Leica R lenses! I'm really happy to have such a great resolution viewfinder, it's really easy to grab focus manually!
what all do you shoot with it and is it too heavy? I just got my first R lens in the mail and that bad boy is hefty. I was thinking about an S1 for street but now I don't know. Thanks!
I love my vintage lenses on my G9: Nikon bellow PB-4(with the corresponding lenses: 105mm, EL Nikkor Nikon 50mm Lens f 1:4 Lens), Nikon Nikkor Ed 300mm F4.5 Telephoto Zoom, Soligor 50mm f1.4 CCTV lens, Soligor Tele-Auto 135mm f2.8, Nikon 200mm f4. all provide an element of character to my photos that cannot be reproduced by a modern lens.
One thing to note about the adapters is that they greatly benefit from having a very matt finish inside. I found this out because I use K&F adapters which are fine. I had one that was just the silk like anodized finish inside which most of them are but another one had very matt non reflective coating. Otherwise, they were exactly the same. There was a noticeable difference in image results caused by reflecticions of adapter internals. You can paint the insides to fix this.
Thank you so much for this tip/advice. I really wanted to buy a macro lens but l couldn't justify paying for a new lens for my Lumix S5 as l had only just purchased the camera and two other lenses. However, l could (touch wood) afford to buy a vintage Minolta Macro lens (l started out with Minolta so l wanted to stay with a lens l could use with my old SLR kit too). I purchased the Minolta 50mm MD Macro f3.5 - what a little beauty. I paid around £90.00 from a collectible camera store here in the UK. I was unsure about the adaptor but after speaking with a lovely chap at Wex Photographic he suggested purchasing the Metabones Lumix adaptor (even though they didn't stock this). Some weeks later the adaptor (which cost around £100) arrived (from Germany). The results are AMAZING. I absolutely love working with this lens - it's a game-changer for my product shots as it allows me to get very close to my collection of very small toys. Using a tripod and tethering the camera to my Mac allows me to easily focus the lens and to shoot at f22 for maximum depth of focus. For £200 l have a lovely lens that would easily have cost me £800 for a modern-day alternative and an adaptor that l can attach to other vintage lenses (such as those in my old Minolta SLR collection). Thank you once again for this valuable and much-appreciated advice. You are a star :)
After watching your videos on vintage lenses, I "stole" my father's Makinon 135mm f2.8 Makro lens that I last used in the early '90s and bought a matching adapter. Even though there is a fungus inside the lens, it makes beautiful pictures with my G9, I absolutely love it. So I got myself a Universar 50mm f1.8 (legally from a shop) for 30 Euro and the pictures I took are really great, too. The lens has problems with wide angle shots, it's impossible to get them sharp, but for that I prefer my 25mm Leica anyways. So thank you for your effort, this is really fun. :)
Hi Matti, could you recommend an adapter and some lenses for a G9 please. 🙏 I like to shoot landscapes, long exposures, night photography, not much of portraits. Thank you for putting in so much time and effort in producing these videos to educate/enlighten us, we really do appreciate it.
Thanks. Here is my short answer. The problem with MFT is, that almost all old lenses become telephoto lenses when mounted on MFT. That is because of the 2x crop factor. You'd need shorter than 25mm (like 18mm or 15mm) for a wide angle and there are not that many available. However, if you still want to try, there are many great old lenses and it's so difficult to recommend anything specific. Buy a 50mm F2 or similar and see how you like it. They are cheap and easy to get rid of, if you don't like the outcome. Then buy a matching adapter for that lens.
Feel better soon Matti. My son has decided to, "borrow" a few of my pro Nikkor lenses and now I'm trying to get them back-lol. For me shooting nature shots, the doubling of the focal length is a godsend.
Great topic. I've been collecting vintage lenses for years. It's difficult to find one worth holding onto and the super zooms never work well for me but finding f2.0 or brighter primes is super easy and they generally go a good job. Thanks for the tips
More than half my lenses are vintage, mostly M42, some K Mount or T adaptor. The Soviet-era 300mm Tair 3 is a great 600mm equivalent for M43... sharp, cheap, and easy to find on eBay. The 135mm Tair 11a is also very sharp.
Very informative video. I have a huge assortment of vintage glass from many OEM's, and every time I get a new one I make sure I have or get the adapter to use it on M43 as well as Sony E mount. I like both systems. Almost all my vintage glass came from pawn shops for great prices.
I bought a few SLR lenses when I first took up digital photography after retiring as they were really cheap. Unfortunately, since then camera traders have realized that there is a market for them. On a separate note I read that adding an adapter reduces the crop factor as it increases the distance between the lens and the sensor.
Thankyou for all your good advice, I am using om lens 50mm and 135mm on a Lumix g9 without a speed booster and find the x2 crop factor means I don't need to buy 100 or 300 ne lenses for my needs thanks again
I love them! I found a great Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 300mm F4, that I now use for Moon shots with the little GX85. I also have a 55mm GAF f1.7, and god, is that thing WORTH the money (was like $50 lol). I especially love the different accents these old lenses have. A little bit of bright orange on a black Lumix makes it pop so much.
Pentax should be credited for their commitment to backwards compatibility, meaning that their ancient lenses can be used on their modern cameras without adapters. For Mft users if you have one Pentax-k adapter you have access to nearly 50 years of lenses from numerous manufacturers.
Terrific video! I use my old Nikkor lenses quite frequently and the tips given in your video will definitely help me enjoy them more. What tripod and head is that on your desk? I am in the market for a new tripod and would appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks. That is the Slik Sprint Mini II and the original tiny ball head, which I have modified with an Arca Swiss compatible quick release plate. It's a small tripod and very good for what it is, but not for any heavy duty use.
Hi Matti, I hope you get well soon. I am surprised you did not mention the Speedbooster adapters (reverse Tele convertors) for MFT. You can get 0.7x magnification ratio on the film lenses with those.
Hi Matti, thanks for this very useful video. I have a Viltrox Mount Adapter to use old manual Nikkor lenses on my GH5 and was stumped about how to use Focus assist with that combo until you showed how in the video. Thank you!
Thanks Matti for this lens adapting basics-video. Only downside is it may raise the prices of vintage glass. 😀That Gabale adaptor looked sturdy', new brand for me. Is it the usual ebay find or?
Thanks! Those adapters were sent to me (loaned) from Kamerastore.com together with the Leica R lenses. So, I really don't know much about it, but it works well😀
Great video. I didn't have to buy any vintage lenses. I just got my old Canon A1 with old Canon FD vintage lenses out of my closet! The adapter that I bought had a "focal reducer". That meant that I don't have a 2 times crop. My estimate is that it's about a 1.4 multiplier. My 50mm f1.4 Canon lens is about a 70mm.
@@martinadamcz Pixco is the brand I have. It is both an adapter and a focal reducer. That means it adapts a Canon FD lens to my Panasonic m4/3 (micro four third) body. You would have to get an adapter that converts whatever vintage lens that you have to your camera body. Also, you can get adapters that are NOT focal reducers. They have no glass. They just adapt the 2 connections so they match.
Here is a tip for focusing. At least this is the case for Sony cameras. It's probably true for the others. If you adjust a profile for the picture to have quite strong contrasts or even select black and white, the focus peaking seems to much more easily highlight the in focus areas. You can even add sharpening. This of course won't be burned into the file if you are using RAW.
Very nice video. One more tip nobody talks about when using adapted manual lenses: changing the lighting setting of the rear monitor from Auto to a fixed value. Reason is that in Auto the camera measures the light through the lens which is supposed to be an automatic lens - but with manual lens we change apperture manually which irritates the camera logic for chosing the correct monitor lighting.
Thanks. I don't understand what you say about the monitor, but it doesn't matter😀 The camera measures the actual light that comes trough the lens, so it doesn't matter if the lens is automatic or not.
@@mattisulanto You name it: the camera measures the actual light that comes through the lens onto the sensor. If one uses a native lens from the manufacturer (or any approved 3rd party) the camera then combines it with the apperture selected on the native lens to estimate the lighting level of the sourrounding. With an adapted lens, as you state in your video, the camera has only the light on the sensor to estimate the light conditions. For example, if its quite bright outside, and you stepped down the apperture and/or the VND-Filter, the camera assumes darker lighting condition that it actually is and lowers the illumination of the rear monitor. I just experienced this only 1 hour ago, and it drove me crazy until I fould the solution.
With regard to finding a wide angle lens. I have been using an 8mm Rokinon fisheye ($100+/- USD) with a Nikon adapter. The crop factor the greatly reduces the fisheye effect. I have only been playing with the camera for a week or so and have not yet tried to fix the bow in a photo editor yet. It has been nice with the fisheye it can be set at or near infinity and just about everything is still in focus.
The Leica Summicron-R 50mm F2 seems like a really nice lens and it's not expensive. But there are other classic 50m lenses, that are also very good. Pentax, Nikkor, Olympus etc.
I sometimes use an old Minolta 50mm 1.7 with a dumb adapter. The photos don't come out too sharp, but for some occasions it's perfect, plus it feels really nice to use on a gx9.
Love your channel and tutorials! Have a question: what do I set my GH5 IBIS focal length for when using a vintage zoom lens. Example, a 35mm-100mm should be set to what?
Another big plus is the handling experience. Lot of the modern lenses are plastic and the fly-by-wire solution isn't much, but it's there anyways so that's nice. Once you handle a manual focus lens with buttery smooth focus ring (even after so many decades) and with some heft to it, it's just better in this regard. Somehow i also feel more connected to the picture, since i worked more on it. Then on the other end of spectrum is tapping on some "smart"phone to take pictures, the ultimate disconnect in my opinion. AF is somewhere between these extremes. Manual lenses for slower paced photography, AF for quicker action / convenience in my case. Most of the cheap and even cheaper adapters do the job. Out of the cheapest branded ones, i'd stay away from Fotga. Out of the cheap branded ones, i prefer Fotasy. Their adapters are consistently great and precisely machined. This whole brainwash season has mixed up that aswell, i hope they start supplying soon again these great adapters. I want to buy many :)
As you say, lenses with very short focal lengths - less than ~20mm - where historically very difficult to manufacture. My understanding is that it was development of precision glass moulding techniques that enabled aspheric lenses to be economically manufactured, and was a key step in allowing affordable digital cameras with their usually "small" sensors and short focal length lenses.
When I interviewed Sigma's Kazuto Yamaki in the spring 2018 he said that increased computing power has been the most significant improvement in lens design, but I suppose what you say is probably very important too, because those computed designs must be produced too. Thanks for your comment.
@@mattisulanto That's certainly also important - a lens design optimisation is a type of computation that scales exponentially with the number of design parameters, which means in practice that doubling the number of lens elements, say, will not just double the computation time. It could conceivably increase the computation time by a million times...
Now that I think on it, optical manufacturers have been dealing with quantum-level physics for quite a long time! Last I heard there was still no consensus for the root cause of diffraction - just further data to inform theorization.
@@niasboiiiin this video Matti is using a simple mechanical adapter that is basically a metal tube with different flanges at each end. The length of the tube compensates for the fact that the sensor is closer to the flange in a mirror less camera than a DSLR, and hence it is still possible to focus the lens. Since adapters of this type have no optics inside, the focal length of the lens is unchanged. Because a micro43 sensor is roughy have the size of a so-called “full frame” sensor the 2x crop factor remains. It is also possible to use a different type of adapter called a “speed booster” that contains optics. There are two ways to think about how they work - either you say that the focal length is decreased (typically by a factor of ~0.7) or equivalently the sensor is magnified (by a factor of ~1.4). Either way, the crop factor of a m43 camera becomes ~1.4 (similar to an APS-c camera)
I notice nobody memtions when zoomed in to focus you can zoom in/out using the top unmarked dial. It zooms in/out about 6x, some gh models did even more.
Great video Matt. I'm using a Tamron SP 70-210 19ah f3.5 on my S5. It's very sharp and will suffice until Panasonic release an affordable long zoom. Should I set the focal length at maximum zoom for the IBIS?
very very informative video. Thank you sir. I was considering getting a new full frame camera. Right now it goes down to 4 cams: Sony a7iii/a7c and Panasonic s1/s5. Considering the magnified focus zoom and joystick click to zoom, plus the video specs, I assume that a s5 is a good choice.
Hello Sir, this demonstration was of immense help as I’m trying to mount my OM 50mm f1.2 lens in Lumix G85. However I think you missed to mention about enabling Shoot w/o Lens feature within Lumix cameras to be able to use any manual lens. Could you please confirm, if Im doing it correct or is there some problem while mounting the lens?
Its helfull video for using MF lens ,but I also have a little problem when using MF lens 35mm ,APSC model ,how to change FF mode to APSC mode on Lumix S1 ,cause always have vignette ....
@@mattisulanto I have that’s why I suggested a part with photo examples if you are now able to do some. I’m looking for a water resistant 25mm and getting rid of the Olympus 1.8.
How do you deal with the cropped image created by these 35mm lenses? I have the helios 58mm on my GH5 and it equates to 116mm due to the cropped sensor
Hyvää tietoa aiheesta. Esimerkki kuvat/video clipit selityksen aikana olisi ollut hyvä piristysruiske. Ihmiset kuitenkin on kiinnostuneita minkälaista videokuvaa/valokuvia voi saada aikaan vintage linsseillä. Samalla rauhallinen tyyli puhua muuttuu viihdyttävämmäksi kun samalla voi katsella kuvia. Tykkäsin kuitenkin sun rauhallisesta tyylistä puhua.
I have a GH5S with no IBS but if I had IBS and was using a Helios 58mm would I also need to include the length of the adapter or speed booster when setting the new focal length? Thx
It's important to enter right focal length value (with crop factor x2 on MFT). On your film it was shown on full frame S1, so can be confusing for MFT shooters. Good job anyway!
One of my favorite lenses for the G9 is the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25mm f/0.95, which is a fully manual "normal" MFT lens with a vintage look. It's very natural to use (it helps that my first few decades of photography pre-dated auto-focus and auto-exposure) except that the focus and stepless aperture rings are reversed from their "normal" positions. It would also be nice to know which aperture I used without having to log it, but those are minor concerns. I don't currently have a macro-specific lens for MFT (other than the Leica 100-400 with its pseudo-macro ability to shoot from 1.3m at 800mm), so I'm wondering if there's a suitable vintage lens I could adapt for that or should I just go for the Olympus 60mm macro (I wish there were more Lumix/Leica options).
You could look at Micro Nikkors or any film camera macro lens basically. Make sure the lens is a real macro, that goes all the way to 1:1 ratio, or at least to 1:2.
@@jeremysnowden2836 That lens is "MFT native" so no need for an adapter. It also of course it has a "35mm equivalent" FL of 50mm (AoV c. 47°) and that crop factor also gives it an effective DoF of f/1.9. That said, you can easily get razor-thin DoF (too much in many cases, so ironically you often need to stop down). Being "fully manual," there's no EXIF data, but this doesn't seem to adversely affect lens corrections. The only other caveat would be that it's not weatherproof (no electronics but you don't want moisture in there either). It's also tiny--Voigtländer makes a similar lens (but it's larger and twice the price). I don't use any of my vintage lenses on MFT bodies so I don't need any adapters, but there are several choices out there. Metabones gets mentioned a lot. I think the main thing there is to determine if you need compatible electrical contacts or just want to affix the lens, plus I'm not sure how to effective flange distance increase affects things. There are so many great native MFT lenses, so unless here's a unique "look" you want, I'm not sure adapters are the way to go and places like KEH are great for used gear (I got my Oly 60mm Macro from them and so far, so great). Good luck.
@@ddsdss256 thanks for the reply! This is very helpful...yes, there are some old Yashica lenses which I would like to use for a unique effect, but I don't know if I want to invest in a Metabones adapter (yet), mainly because AF is not that important to me when working with vintage lenses...I might need to weatherproof them though for shooting I the winter (I guess I could always use an umbrella or plastic bag lol). But mainly for me these lenses are for specific, experimental shots and not workhorses
@@jeremysnowden2836 NP. I do have some "rain sleeves" (basically L-shaped plastic bags with a drawstring opening for around the lens hood and a small hole for the eyecup) but they're awkward to use and the G9's weatherproof (as are most of my lenses) so no need. I've rolled the dice and used the Mitakon in light rain and snow with no problems, but I'm not too keen on changing lenses in the wet anyway.
I have enjoyed your reviews and tutorials. I have been a fine art/wildlife still photographer for years and recently have gotten into video. I just ordered a G7. I am specifically interested in making short nature documentaries. what digital and vintage lense recommendations can you make. My budget for lenses is $1500.00 Thanks in advance for your help!
Thanks. It really depends on what you film. You probably need a wide angle, standard, short tele and long tele. It's difficult to give very specific advice based on what you said.
I like that people are recycling old lenses. There are way too many in the garbage land fills and the new ones are getting way out of hand in their prices. This was a good primer for beginners.
Good info. Does the adapter change the field of view of the lens? Even on a full frame the adapter is moving the lens forward , so I’d imagine a 50mm would have the FOV of a 60mm or more, or am I missing something?
Thanks. No, the adapter does not change the FOV. These vintage lenses are all SLR lenses and the adapter just puts the lens where it should be, because on a mirror (SLR) camera the distance from the film plane to the lens is longer than on a mirrorless camera.
i miss some example photos in this vid. other than that i was toying with this idea for a while now. many good old lenses are just super cheap compared to new glass.
@@mattisulanto when you use the Sigma mc21 adapter, the Lumix S5 put automatically the APS-C mode not the FULL mode. Do you have this problem with those lenses?
Great review! You mention that some adapters do not allow to focus to infinity. I own the S1H with the MC-21 adapter (EF version). On top of that, I have M42 to EF adapters for my Takumar 135mm and my Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm. And a OM to EF adapter for my Olympus Zuiko 50mm. All of these configurations exibit the exact opposite problem: when I focus to infinity, the image gets sharp and when the focus ring hits the stop, the image becomes blurry again. So I always have to turn the focus ring back 1mm to get the image sharp again. Does this mean that there is a similar problem with the two adapters together being to thick?
Thanks! If the adapter is too long (thick) it acts as an extension ring and infinity focus is not possible. If the adapter is too short, the lens will focus beyond infinity, as in your case, but this is not a serious problem. Also the infinity focus may change when the temperature changes from one extreme to another, like from +28 to -20. In that event it's good if the focus goes beyond infinity, then there is some tolerance.
hello! thanks for the great video! I am trying to do this with the lumix s5 but I have a big issue: I cannot seem to change the aperture not even from the lens, why is that?
@@mattisulanto sorry you are right! I am using a URTH L mount to FD adaptor and I have tried with three different manual FD canon lenses, a 50 mm 1.4 and a macro FD, both of them have the same problem and i cannot change the aperture on the lens
@@dioneolympia Some FD to mirrorless adapters have a ring that you have to turn to make the lens stop down. I don't know this particular adapter, but maybe you could contact the manufacturer, if you can't figure it out.
Really enjoy your videos. I am in the market for a Helios 44-2 lens for the bokeh. Three questions... can I use it on the Lumix S5? Is there anything I need to be aware of when purchasing this lens as there are so many on eBay? I have a Sigma adapter for my EF lenses will that work if I buy a Helios for Canon? Thanks!
Yes, you can use the Helios on your S5. The Helios has the M42 mount, or it's not really a mount, it's a 42mm thread. You have to buy an adapter that mounts M42 lens to L mount, usually called M42 to L mount adapter or something like that. They are inexpensive staring from $15. There are many versions of the Helios and I'm not an expert at that, but you can find a lot of info by googling. Just make sure what you are buying, as always with used gear.
Thanks for this very informative video! I recently bought a voltrox speedbooster to use old manual Nikon lenses on my lumix GX9 (with a f Mount to canon EF mount adaptor). But I’m not sure what number to put in the focal length when I turn on the camera because of x0.71 reduction in focal length of the speedbooster that has a widening effect on field of view. For example a 50mm in 35mm equivalent would normally be 100mm on a M4/3 camera but with the speedbooster it makes it more like 70mm. which number do you think I should enter into the camera?
You should always use the true focal length printed on the lens, regardless of the lens. If you use a speedbooster, you should use the focal length multiplied by the speedbooster's reduction factor. If you have a 50mm lens, that becomes a 35mm in your case.
@@mattisulanto it isn't . I was testing a 56mm cine lens yesterday as usual, but with the G9 for the first time, and every time it reset the value to 35mm
@@DamianBrown Ok, interesting. I'm not a brand ambassador any more and don't use Lumix so much any more, so I may have forgotten something. At least on the full frame S1 the alert appears every time, but you can ignore it like I wrote in first reply.
Hellò Matti , i love Vintage Lens ..i use only Vintage on my G9 , now I want to buy the panasonic s1, so I would make the most of the Vintage lenses, I just want a tip for the adapters on the Leica bayonet, what do you recommend? I have all m42 to m43, ie screw.I wait your news . Carmine Parisi
@@mattisulanto Yes, thanks Matti I guess, but many manufacturers have not yet put into production the adapters for the 90 mm tamron macro (which I have) and also for the exakta attachment, I only find those for screw attachment, which I have many vintage with m42 attachment...for m42 Gabale is good?
That ability to have the small magnified window is better than Sony because Sony just goes into full screen mode. Being able to still see your shot framing is much better.
After having watched your video. It looks to me like Panasonic is better for manual focus lenses than Sony. I tried an S5 and S5ii in a shop but I want to try the S1 which is good value now second hand. Probably mostly due to Panasonic introducing vastly improved autofocus in newer models. The S1 has a much better EVF which should help with focusing. Focus peaking seemed better than Sony on the Lumix and the magnifying view is definitely better.
I bought a MFT to Canon FD converter and tried out some closeups today with my G9 and a Canon 50mm f1.8 from an old Canon AT-1. I was surprised to see the resolution of the images was 180x180. Any ideas if there is something I need to set differently on my G9 to get higher resolution?
Do you enter the actual focal length of the lens, or apply a crop factor. IE if it was a 50mm film lens from a 35mm camera. Would you enter 50mm or 25 mm for a crop factor ?
I'm planning to get Lumix S5IIX since it's currently on Sale $450 Off Canadian. My question is I have a few Nikon lenses such 35mm and 50mm AF-S 1.8G also Nikon 50mm f1.4 AI-S Vintage manual focus. What kind of adapter do I need to get that will work for S5IIX?
I've got an old Angenieux Type Y2 French 135mm F3.5-32 ring controlled (no F pin on mount end) and I wonder to identify MOUNT compatibility to get a proper adapter to my Olympus m4/3 ? It has 35mm diameter bayonet type with very narrow 3 petals. Looks like EXACTA mount (approximately) No proof
Sometimes the mounts can look very similar, but there are some minor differences when you compare. If it's some obscure mount it can be difficult to identify.
I would never focus wide open because a lot of the vintage lenses have quite a lot of FOCUS-SHIFT, which means your picture can become unusable, when you focus wide open and then stop down!!!
Nikon F is one of the longest flange focal distances (great wikipedia article if you want more info) out there. That means there's no room to insert an adapter while retaining infinity focus. There are some adapters with a glass element to adapt other mounts, but they tend to be expensive and degrade image quality. There are some third party lenses out there that are native F mount. I shot a D610 for a while, and my first vintage lens was a Tamron Adaptall lens with a Nikon adapter. It's not a good lens, but it did start me on the road to vintage lenses once I moved from Nikon to MFT.
@@nathandavis5099 I shot various non-native lenses on a Canon DSLR. Ironically one of the few lenses that cannot be adapted are Canon's old FD mount. Minolta MD can't be adapted for the same reason, flange distance. Nikon fits Canon via an adapter no problem, I can't speak for the other way round. Micro four thirds having the shortest popular flange focal distance adapts virtually anything, from medium format (haven't tried my large format lenses, yet) to 8mm movie lenses. In fact old movie lenses used to be a steal, but the market seems to have discovered them. A few years ago you could buy a vintage movie camera for which film was no longer available, with a turret full of Angenieux or Swiss kern lenses for very little money to mount on a m43 camera.
@@borderlands6606 "Micro four thirds having the shortest popular flange focal distance... " Not true! Most of the other mirrorless mounts are shorter, so no adapting Fuji, Sony, or Nikon Z. I understood what you were saying. I just had to throw in the trivia. 😉
@@nathandavis5099 I put the word "popular" in for a reason. Pentax Q is even more adaptable, whether it is a popular mount, is open for debate! Another factor is the image circle thrown by an adapted lens, there's no point finding a bargain if the resulting view is through a tunnel. Micro four thirds can adapt some very small vintage formats with no vignetting, or only requiring the slightest crop in the corners. The popularity of m43 means almost any strange old mount will have a micro four thirds adapter available. A rule of thumb is the more obscure the camera, the cheaper the lens, the more expensive the adapter. I have yet to adapt my Contax rangefinder mount lenses which focus in the camera body, but I believe there's a cottage industry adapting those!
I found problem that M42 lens on Lumix got doubled focal distance. For example M42 Helios 44-2 (58mm) lens on adapter give you on Lumix around 110mm. For landscape shots i cant find any valid old lens (as a substitute of Lumix 12~20mm lens).
That is the problem with MFT system. Old lenses are made for 35mm film, which is the same as full frame digital and there are not many wider than 20mm.
I have a LUMIX L mount camera which I’d like to use smaller Panasonic 4/3 lenses on. Is this possible and if so what type of lens adapter do I need for my L mount camera, please? Thank you very much!
Question, as an amateur, I got the Panasonic g90. Will I be able to get good quality photos, equal to the g9? It's the same sensor right? I've been shooting in low light, outdoors, as I'm mostly into wide angle landscape & nature. Out hiking, wanting a little more than my phone can produce.🙄
@@mattisulanto thank you, I've been worried about the quality of my photos, I have the leica 12-60. Will I get better results in low light with an F1, 7 lense? What budget lenses would you recommend for wide angle and zoom?
@@tomgwl65 It's hard to say whether you'd get better results, because I don't know what the problem is. Sometime another lens may help, but sometime a better shooting technique will help. However, here is one video where I recommend lenses: ruclips.net/video/TxNskojRtFo/видео.html
@@mattisulanto I think it's mostly my technic, but I guess low light and micro 4/3 are not the best combination. Will 12-60 cover my wide angle need, and would you recommend the lumix g 100-300 for wildlife and nature?
@sulantoblog which, frankly, I've never understood. I've shot Pentax for years but many other systems as well - very brand agnostic here. Pentax has always had exceptional glass and bodies. A shame they're overlooked so often.
I have correct adapter but every lens I put on has the same focal length and is blurry unless I’m up close on the image . Please help me I have lumix g7
I got a Panasonic G7 (m4/3) and I bought some Vivitar 50 mm lens, but the Panasonic always pop the message of the lens not being well attached even tho they are, because the adapter fits pretty well (m42-m4/3), I don’t know what to do I tried everything to solve it, but once I attach the lens everytime the screen goes black and the message pops
@@omyjelly I'm afraid I can't help without seeing the camera. If you enabled shutter without lens that message should not pop up. The camera should fire even without the lens.
Good job on explaining focusing and using manual lenses. I have several Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Alpa, Sigma and Tamron vintage lenses which are fun to play with. They have varying color, sharpness, and bokeh renditions which can add character to you photos or videos. One of your viewers recommended doubling the focal distance of the lens being used on a M43 Lumix camera for the IBIS alignment focal setting. I originally thought the same until I saw an instructional video from a Panasonic representative who said to use whatever focal length that was listed on the vintage lens for your IBIS setting. see: ruclips.net/video/23YlQtgRHxA/видео.html
Super dumb question. I am just starting out and want to buy 1 adapter and 2 lenses of one company. 35 and 50mm at normal numbers. If I use now a vintage lense on a lumix thirds camera, if it says 50mm on the lense, is it 50mm, or will this be 2x? Also, do you have a good company that are available the best in the vintage territory? Canon? Thank you!
The same crop factor applies to all lenses, if you compare the lenses to full frame. So, a 50mm equals to a 100mm. There is no best lens brand. If you want a good value, almost any 50mm F2-1.8 is good. They are affordable and usually decent optics.
@@mattisulanto thank you for your fast answer. I was inspired by the vintage lenses, when you talked about a lumix DC GX 800 (or you had a 880 I think) which you mounted a manual focus lense on to have that extra special setting you can use to set up the depth of field. Which is a good thing for the camera model. However, you then have only manual focus and no data. / back to the question, if I want to shoot street 35mm I then need to buy a 17.5 or 18 or 20mm vintage lense to mount on a four-thirds sensored camera. Thanks.
@@niasboiii Yes, you need a 17-20mm lens, if you are looking for roughly 35mm EQV. You may want to watch my review on the Laowa 17mm F1.8, which I published few weeks ago. It's not vintage lens, but it's super tiny, affordable and no need for an adapter.
Here is my problem. I shoot landscapes and love M4/3 cameras. BUT I need the equivalent field of view of at least 20mm or wider full frame equivalent. There are no affordable M43 lenses that give me that. And there are no vintage full frame lenses that will go wider than 18 and still be sharp either. Thats 36mm equivalent. The 8-18 looks interesting, but to buy say a G90 and that lens here in Australia it would cost me over $2000. For $2000 I can buy a full frame Canon RP and a 16-35 F4...maybe even the 2.8, or the Canon 20mm 2.8 EF. This will be the challenge for Panasonic now that Olympus has thrown in the towel. And its Sony's challenge too. Canon just made FF a $1000 solution. The Sony A7C? $3000 thank you. No. Everything is about to change.
It depends what you consider affordable. Laowa has the 7.5mm and 9mm, which both are affordable in my opinion. Manual focus, but it's fine for landscapes.
It has been standard practice for years for pro photogs to have both full frame and crop sensor bodies in the camera bag. The crop body gives greater variety of focal lengths out of lenses in the bag. Especially valuable for sports shooting. The crop sensor gives greater reach. Until recently, for me it has been a 1Dx plus a 7D mk II as I was shooting Canon. I must say that it has been really stupid for Panasonic and Olympus to have not sold full frame models until recently. Hopefully the new Olympus owner will also join the L-mount Alliance. Making full frame or APS-C cameras does not mean the end of MFT. It is a great format that has a lot of demand for it, and a great future. Don’t listen to the black or white thinking of too many RUclips reviewers.
I use decent focal reducers paired with 2.0/28mm (e.g. Canon), 1.4/50mm, (Nikon, Pentax Super Takumar, Canon), 2.0/85mm (Jupiter)...and many more vintage lenses. I find the focal reducers are valuable tools on M4/3 ,when going manual vintage. A nifty fifty w/focal reducer makes for a very nice portrait setup. My 28mm w/focal reducer is a lot of fun as a street camera.
Thank you, Mr. Matti Sulanto, for your helpful advice on using old manual lenses with Lumix cameras.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you Matti, very helpful video. This video must be a "classic" as it still shows well after 3 years. Thank you🎉🎉🎉
Glad you enjoyed it!
I use adapted lenses a lot. Something I've found is jpegs out of the camera are slightly soft. However as soon as files are imported into a Raw processer they immediately sharpen up. Presumably this is because native lenses are sharpened in camera, whereas ones without electronic contacts are unrecognisable. This is true of different digital cameras and lenses, not just Lumix.
Thanks for sharing. You might be right, there are many things happening behind the scenes. I have to test that as well.
I love using the S1 with Contax Zeiss or Leica R lenses! I'm really happy to have such a great resolution viewfinder, it's really easy to grab focus manually!
what all do you shoot with it and is it too heavy? I just got my first R lens in the mail and that bad boy is hefty. I was thinking about an S1 for street but now I don't know. Thanks!
Very good, informative video. You answered all the questions I’ve been thinking about recently. Hope you feel better.
I love my vintage lenses on my G9: Nikon bellow PB-4(with the corresponding lenses: 105mm, EL Nikkor Nikon 50mm Lens f 1:4 Lens), Nikon Nikkor Ed 300mm F4.5 Telephoto Zoom, Soligor 50mm f1.4 CCTV lens, Soligor Tele-Auto 135mm f2.8, Nikon 200mm f4. all provide an element of character to my photos that cannot be reproduced by a modern lens.
Vintage lenses are always fun to mess around with! I use mine for videos every once in a while
Thanks for sharing.
One thing to note about the adapters is that they greatly benefit from having a very matt finish inside. I found this out because I use K&F adapters which are fine. I had one that was just the silk like anodized finish inside which most of them are but another one had very matt non reflective coating. Otherwise, they were exactly the same. There was a noticeable difference in image results caused by reflecticions of adapter internals. You can paint the insides to fix this.
Thank you so much for this tip/advice. I really wanted to buy a macro lens but l couldn't justify paying for a new lens for my Lumix S5 as l had only just purchased the camera and two other lenses. However, l could (touch wood) afford to buy a vintage Minolta Macro lens (l started out with Minolta so l wanted to stay with a lens l could use with my old SLR kit too). I purchased the Minolta 50mm MD Macro f3.5 - what a little beauty. I paid around £90.00 from a collectible camera store here in the UK. I was unsure about the adaptor but after speaking with a lovely chap at Wex Photographic he suggested purchasing the Metabones Lumix adaptor (even though they didn't stock this). Some weeks later the adaptor (which cost around £100) arrived (from Germany). The results are AMAZING. I absolutely love working with this lens - it's a game-changer for my product shots as it allows me to get very close to my collection of very small toys. Using a tripod and tethering the camera to my Mac allows me to easily focus the lens and to shoot at f22 for maximum depth of focus. For £200 l have a lovely lens that would easily have cost me £800 for a modern-day alternative and an adaptor that l can attach to other vintage lenses (such as those in my old Minolta SLR collection). Thank you once again for this valuable and much-appreciated advice. You are a star :)
Thank you for sharing and I'm happy my videos are helpful.
After watching your videos on vintage lenses, I "stole" my father's Makinon 135mm f2.8 Makro lens that I last used in the early '90s and bought a matching adapter. Even though there is a fungus inside the lens, it makes beautiful pictures with my G9, I absolutely love it. So I got myself a Universar 50mm f1.8 (legally from a shop) for 30 Euro and the pictures I took are really great, too. The lens has problems with wide angle shots, it's impossible to get them sharp, but for that I prefer my 25mm Leica anyways. So thank you for your effort, this is really fun. :)
Thanks and good to hear your are having fun with those lenses.
Really looking forward to the Leica R adapted lens reviews
Hi Matti, could you recommend an adapter and some lenses for a G9 please. 🙏 I like to shoot landscapes, long exposures, night photography, not much of portraits. Thank you for putting in so much time and effort in producing these videos to educate/enlighten us, we really do appreciate it.
Thanks. Here is my short answer. The problem with MFT is, that almost all old lenses become telephoto lenses when mounted on MFT. That is because of the 2x crop factor. You'd need shorter than 25mm (like 18mm or 15mm) for a wide angle and there are not that many available. However, if you still want to try, there are many great old lenses and it's so difficult to recommend anything specific. Buy a 50mm F2 or similar and see how you like it. They are cheap and easy to get rid of, if you don't like the outcome. Then buy a matching adapter for that lens.
Feel better soon Matti. My son has decided to, "borrow" a few of my pro Nikkor lenses and now I'm trying to get them back-lol. For me shooting nature shots, the doubling of the focal length is a godsend.
Thanks. I hope you get your Nikkors back eventually😀
Great topic. I've been collecting vintage lenses for years. It's difficult to find one worth holding onto and the super zooms never work well for me but finding f2.0 or brighter primes is super easy and they generally go a good job. Thanks for the tips
Thanks!
More than half my lenses are vintage, mostly M42, some K Mount or T adaptor. The Soviet-era 300mm Tair 3 is a great 600mm equivalent for M43... sharp, cheap, and easy to find on eBay. The 135mm Tair 11a is also very sharp.
Thanks for sharing.
Very informative video. I have a huge assortment of vintage glass from many OEM's, and every time I get a new one I make sure I have or get the adapter to use it on M43 as well as Sony E mount. I like both systems. Almost all my vintage glass came from pawn shops for great prices.
Thank you!
I bought a few SLR lenses when I first took up digital photography after retiring as they were really cheap. Unfortunately, since then camera traders have realized that there is a market for them. On a separate note I read that adding an adapter reduces the crop factor as it increases the distance between the lens and the sensor.
Thankyou for all your good advice, I am using om lens 50mm and 135mm on a Lumix g9 without a speed booster and find the x2 crop factor means I don't need to buy 100 or 300 ne lenses for my needs thanks again
Thanks for watching😀
I love them! I found a great Asahi Pentax Super Takumar 300mm F4, that I now use for Moon shots with the little GX85. I also have a 55mm GAF f1.7, and god, is that thing WORTH the money (was like $50 lol).
I especially love the different accents these old lenses have. A little bit of bright orange on a black Lumix makes it pop so much.
Thanks for sharing.
Pentax should be credited for their commitment to backwards compatibility, meaning that their ancient lenses can be used on their modern cameras without adapters. For Mft users if you have one Pentax-k adapter you have access to nearly 50 years of lenses from numerous manufacturers.
@@tomc2631 True, I forgot Pentax even though my first SLR was Pentax long time ago😀 Was only talking about Nikon compatibility. Thanks.
Terrific video! I use my old Nikkor lenses quite frequently and the tips given in your video will definitely help me enjoy them more.
What tripod and head is that on your desk? I am in the market for a new tripod and would appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks. That is the Slik Sprint Mini II and the original tiny ball head, which I have modified with an Arca Swiss compatible quick release plate. It's a small tripod and very good for what it is, but not for any heavy duty use.
Hi Matti, I hope you get well soon. I am surprised you did not mention the Speedbooster adapters (reverse Tele convertors) for MFT. You can get 0.7x magnification ratio on the film lenses with those.
I had to draw the line somewhere. This is already about 18 min😀 Maybe in another video.
Hi Matti, thanks for this very useful video. I have a Viltrox Mount Adapter to use old manual Nikkor lenses on my GH5 and was stumped about how to use Focus assist with that combo until you showed how in the video. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!😀
Thanks Matti for this lens adapting basics-video. Only downside is it may raise the prices of vintage glass. 😀That Gabale adaptor looked sturdy', new brand for me. Is it the usual ebay find or?
Thanks! Those adapters were sent to me (loaned) from Kamerastore.com together with the Leica R lenses. So, I really don't know much about it, but it works well😀
Hope you feel better 🐻👍🏻 I agree I only have 50 or 60 of them! Amazing images! Great video!!!
50 or 60😅 thanks for sharing.
Great video. I didn't have to buy any vintage lenses. I just got my old Canon A1 with old Canon FD vintage lenses out of my closet! The adapter that I bought had a "focal reducer". That meant that I don't have a 2 times crop. My estimate is that it's about a 1.4 multiplier. My 50mm f1.4 Canon lens is about a 70mm.
Thanks for sharing. Your set up sounds great.
link for adapter pls. thx
@@martinadamcz Pixco is the brand I have. It is both an adapter and a focal reducer. That means it adapts a Canon FD lens to my Panasonic m4/3 (micro four third) body. You would have to get an adapter that converts whatever vintage lens that you have to your camera body. Also, you can get adapters that are NOT focal reducers. They have no glass. They just adapt the 2 connections so they match.
Thanks for the video. Hope you feel better soon!
Thanks. I'm feeling fine, I just don't sound fine😀
I use an old Minolta lens with a reverse ring for macro. Compared to most modern lenses it has a manual aperture ring.
Those can make a really nice macro and affordable too.
I found a like-new Minolta Bellows III that does fascinating things with my MC Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4. Good ol' stuff!
Love lumix micro 4/3rd universe
I have 6 vintage lenses I use with my Olympus cameras. I love vintage glass
Was going to sell my oly OM 1,10 but not gonna
Here is a tip for focusing. At least this is the case for Sony cameras. It's probably true for the others. If you adjust a profile for the picture to have quite strong contrasts or even select black and white, the focus peaking seems to much more easily highlight the in focus areas. You can even add sharpening. This of course won't be burned into the file if you are using RAW.
I use Leica M nd Nikon F lenses. For macro photography it's an advantage I think. I use an old Nikon 55 mm f3,5 AI. On the G9 and G80.
Thanks for sharing.
Very nice video. One more tip nobody talks about when using adapted manual lenses: changing the lighting setting of the rear monitor from Auto to a fixed value.
Reason is that in Auto the camera measures the light through the lens which is supposed to be an automatic lens - but with manual lens we change apperture manually which irritates the camera logic for chosing the correct monitor lighting.
Thanks. I don't understand what you say about the monitor, but it doesn't matter😀 The camera measures the actual light that comes trough the lens, so it doesn't matter if the lens is automatic or not.
@@mattisulanto You name it: the camera measures the actual light that comes through the lens onto the sensor. If one uses a native lens from the manufacturer (or any approved 3rd party) the camera then combines it with the apperture selected on the native lens to estimate the lighting level of the sourrounding.
With an adapted lens, as you state in your video, the camera has only the light on the sensor to estimate the light conditions.
For example, if its quite bright outside, and you stepped down the apperture and/or the VND-Filter, the camera assumes darker lighting condition that it actually is and lowers the illumination of the rear monitor.
I just experienced this only 1 hour ago, and it drove me crazy until I fould the solution.
@@joyoffilming9500 Ok, I have never had that problem, but I always keep the screen brightness on manual (fixed) anyway.
Tusen takk for hjelpa!
Thanks! Very helpful.
Thanks and good to hear the video was helpful.
With regard to finding a wide angle lens. I have been using an 8mm Rokinon fisheye ($100+/- USD) with a Nikon adapter. The crop factor the greatly reduces the fisheye effect. I have only been playing with the camera for a week or so and have not yet tried to fix the bow in a photo editor yet. It has been nice with the fisheye it can be set at or near infinity and just about everything is still in focus.
It's great you have found a wide angle, that works for you. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for this video. I will try it with my Lumix S5. I have already Lens in leica M. 👍😉
Great video. Any recommendation for vintage lenses? Maybe one for general photograph or portraits?
The Leica Summicron-R 50mm F2 seems like a really nice lens and it's not expensive. But there are other classic 50m lenses, that are also very good. Pentax, Nikkor, Olympus etc.
Your video was very helpful sir, thank you and keep up the great work!
You are welcome!
I sometimes use an old Minolta 50mm 1.7 with a dumb adapter. The photos don't come out too sharp, but for some occasions it's perfect, plus it feels really nice to use on a gx9.
Some old lenses are not that sharp, especially wide open.
@@mattisulanto Definitely. Sometimes though, it can give you a nice aesthetic.
Love your channel and tutorials! Have a question: what do I set my GH5 IBIS focal length for when using a vintage zoom lens. Example, a 35mm-100mm should be set to what?
I'd use the longest FC.
@@mattisulanto Thanks for timely response.
Another big plus is the handling experience. Lot of the modern lenses are plastic and the fly-by-wire solution isn't much, but it's there anyways so that's nice. Once you handle a manual focus lens with buttery smooth focus ring (even after so many decades) and with some heft to it, it's just better in this regard. Somehow i also feel more connected to the picture, since i worked more on it. Then on the other end of spectrum is tapping on some "smart"phone to take pictures, the ultimate disconnect in my opinion. AF is somewhere between these extremes. Manual lenses for slower paced photography, AF for quicker action / convenience in my case.
Most of the cheap and even cheaper adapters do the job. Out of the cheapest branded ones, i'd stay away from Fotga. Out of the cheap branded ones, i prefer Fotasy. Their adapters are consistently great and precisely machined. This whole brainwash season has mixed up that aswell, i hope they start supplying soon again these great adapters. I want to buy many :)
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Ville.
thanks anyway.
it takes two adapters: pentacon six / m42 connected with m42 / leica l.
Great video!! But does the exposure meter work with this kind of lens? I have a lumix g7
Thanks. Yes, the metering works but it doesn't really matter because you can see live preview anyway.
As you say, lenses with very short focal lengths - less than ~20mm - where historically very difficult to manufacture. My understanding is that it was development of precision glass moulding techniques that enabled aspheric lenses to be economically manufactured, and was a key step in allowing affordable digital cameras with their usually "small" sensors and short focal length lenses.
When I interviewed Sigma's Kazuto Yamaki in the spring 2018 he said that increased computing power has been the most significant improvement in lens design, but I suppose what you say is probably very important too, because those computed designs must be produced too. Thanks for your comment.
@@mattisulanto That's certainly also important - a lens design optimisation is a type of computation that scales exponentially with the number of design parameters, which means in practice that doubling the number of lens elements, say, will not just double the computation time. It could conceivably increase the computation time by a million times...
Now that I think on it, optical manufacturers have been dealing with quantum-level physics for quite a long time! Last I heard there was still no consensus for the root cause of diffraction - just further data to inform theorization.
Hey guys. Can you help me on one thing: If I buy a vintage lense, do I also need to 2x the number for the described sensor? Thanks.
@@niasboiiiin this video Matti is using a simple mechanical adapter that is basically a metal tube with different flanges at each end. The length of the tube compensates for the fact that the sensor is closer to the flange in a mirror less camera than a DSLR, and hence it is still possible to focus the lens. Since adapters of this type have no optics inside, the focal length of the lens is unchanged. Because a micro43 sensor is roughy have the size of a so-called “full frame” sensor the 2x crop factor remains.
It is also possible to use a different type of adapter called a “speed booster” that contains optics. There are two ways to think about how they work - either you say that the focal length is decreased (typically by a factor of ~0.7) or equivalently the sensor is magnified (by a factor of ~1.4). Either way, the crop factor of a m43 camera becomes ~1.4 (similar to an APS-c camera)
I notice nobody memtions when zoomed in to focus you can zoom in/out using the top unmarked dial. It zooms in/out about 6x, some gh models did even more.
This is such an informative video, thank you!
Thanks. I'm so happy if it was helpful.
Great video Matt. I'm using a Tamron SP 70-210 19ah f3.5 on my S5. It's very sharp and will suffice until Panasonic release an affordable long zoom. Should I set the focal length at maximum zoom for the IBIS?
Thanks. I forgot the zooms completely😀 I would use the max focal length.
very very informative video. Thank you sir. I was considering getting a new full frame camera. Right now it goes down to 4 cams: Sony a7iii/a7c and Panasonic s1/s5. Considering the magnified focus zoom and joystick click to zoom, plus the video specs, I assume that a s5 is a good choice.
I liked the S5 a lot, when I tried it. Pick the one you like the most.
Great information Matti. Thanks.
My pleasure! Thanks.
Hello Sir, this demonstration was of immense help as I’m trying to mount my OM 50mm f1.2 lens in Lumix G85. However I think you missed to mention about enabling Shoot w/o Lens feature within Lumix cameras to be able to use any manual lens. Could you please confirm, if Im doing it correct or is there some problem while mounting the lens?
Thanks. You should activate that feature, definitely.
Its helfull video for using MF lens ,but I also have a little problem when using MF lens 35mm ,APSC model ,how to change FF mode to APSC mode on Lumix S1 ,cause always have vignette ....
Great work. Thanks for this video. Greeting from Czechia.
Thanks for watching!
Matti, if I missed it I apologize, but what adapters are you liking best? I couldn’t quite read the brand during the video
I don't have any favorite brand. The other one seem to be K&F and the other Gabale.
You should do a part two showing photo examples of the 25mm Leica Mark 2. Very little out there with this lens and I’m considering this one.
Are you talking about the MFT Leica 25mm? I have a review on this channel. Have you seen that?
@@mattisulanto I have that’s why I suggested a part with photo examples if you are now able to do some. I’m looking for a water resistant 25mm and getting rid of the Olympus 1.8.
@@WhoIsSerafin I'm afraid I still don't understand😬 I had samples in the review.
How do you deal with the cropped image created by these 35mm lenses? I have the helios 58mm on my GH5 and it equates to 116mm due to the cropped sensor
I use a bigger sensor camera if I want the full image area.
Great and informative video. Thanks
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hyvää tietoa aiheesta. Esimerkki kuvat/video clipit selityksen aikana olisi ollut hyvä piristysruiske. Ihmiset kuitenkin on kiinnostuneita minkälaista videokuvaa/valokuvia voi saada aikaan vintage linsseillä. Samalla rauhallinen tyyli puhua muuttuu viihdyttävämmäksi kun samalla voi katsella kuvia. Tykkäsin kuitenkin sun rauhallisesta tyylistä puhua.
Kiitos.
I have a GH5S with no IBS but if I had IBS and was using a Helios 58mm would I also need to include the length of the adapter or speed booster when setting the new focal length? Thx
It's important to enter right focal length value (with crop factor x2 on MFT). On your film it was shown on full frame S1, so can be confusing for MFT shooters. Good job anyway!
No need to use the crop factor.
One of my favorite lenses for the G9 is the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25mm f/0.95, which is a fully manual "normal" MFT lens with a vintage look. It's very natural to use (it helps that my first few decades of photography pre-dated auto-focus and auto-exposure) except that the focus and stepless aperture rings are reversed from their "normal" positions. It would also be nice to know which aperture I used without having to log it, but those are minor concerns. I don't currently have a macro-specific lens for MFT (other than the Leica 100-400 with its pseudo-macro ability to shoot from 1.3m at 800mm), so I'm wondering if there's a suitable vintage lens I could adapt for that or should I just go for the Olympus 60mm macro (I wish there were more Lumix/Leica options).
You could look at Micro Nikkors or any film camera macro lens basically. Make sure the lens is a real macro, that goes all the way to 1:1 ratio, or at least to 1:2.
Do you have a reccomendation for a good adapter for the G9? Did you need one for the Mitakon Zhongyi Speedmaster 25mm f/0.95?
@@jeremysnowden2836 That lens is "MFT native" so no need for an adapter. It also of course it has a "35mm equivalent" FL of 50mm (AoV c. 47°) and that crop factor also gives it an effective DoF of f/1.9. That said, you can easily get razor-thin DoF (too much in many cases, so ironically you often need to stop down). Being "fully manual," there's no EXIF data, but this doesn't seem to adversely affect lens corrections. The only other caveat would be that it's not weatherproof (no electronics but you don't want moisture in there either). It's also tiny--Voigtländer makes a similar lens (but it's larger and twice the price). I don't use any of my vintage lenses on MFT bodies so I don't need any adapters, but there are several choices out there. Metabones gets mentioned a lot. I think the main thing there is to determine if you need compatible electrical contacts or just want to affix the lens, plus I'm not sure how to effective flange distance increase affects things. There are so many great native MFT lenses, so unless here's a unique "look" you want, I'm not sure adapters are the way to go and places like KEH are great for used gear (I got my Oly 60mm Macro from them and so far, so great). Good luck.
@@ddsdss256 thanks for the reply! This is very helpful...yes, there are some old Yashica lenses which I would like to use for a unique effect, but I don't know if I want to invest in a Metabones adapter (yet), mainly because AF is not that important to me when working with vintage lenses...I might need to weatherproof them though for shooting I the winter (I guess I could always use an umbrella or plastic bag lol). But mainly for me these lenses are for specific, experimental shots and not workhorses
@@jeremysnowden2836 NP. I do have some "rain sleeves" (basically L-shaped plastic bags with a drawstring opening for around the lens hood and a small hole for the eyecup) but they're awkward to use and the G9's weatherproof (as are most of my lenses) so no need. I've rolled the dice and used the Mitakon in light rain and snow with no problems, but I'm not too keen on changing lenses in the wet anyway.
Thanks! Very nice explanation.
Thank You.
I have enjoyed your reviews and tutorials. I have been a fine art/wildlife still photographer for years and recently have gotten into video. I just ordered a G7. I am specifically interested in making short nature documentaries. what digital and vintage lense recommendations can you make. My budget for lenses is $1500.00 Thanks in advance for your help!
Thanks. It really depends on what you film. You probably need a wide angle, standard, short tele and long tele. It's difficult to give very specific advice based on what you said.
Can you recommend some vintage lenses for video shooting in a low light environment from my G9 body ???
MFT is a difficult format with vintage glass, because of the crop factor. I'd buy a 50mm F1.8 or similar to start with.
You mean 50mm on full frame that will be 100mm on MFT format??? Or 50mm on MFT which is around 25mm on full frame?
@@Advertisingvideos I mean 50mm lens, because they are affordable. Like a 50mm F1.8.
Thank you Marti
I like that people are recycling old lenses. There are way too many in the garbage land fills and the new ones are getting way out of hand in their prices. This was a good primer for beginners.
Thanks! I agree, that it's a good idea to use old lenses.
I use carl zeiss 20mm f2,8+Wiltrox ef m2 II.I have 40x0,71=28,4 mm
Good info. Does the adapter change the field of view of the lens? Even on a full frame the adapter is moving the lens forward , so I’d imagine a 50mm would have the FOV of a 60mm or more, or am I missing something?
Thanks. No, the adapter does not change the FOV. These vintage lenses are all SLR lenses and the adapter just puts the lens where it should be, because on a mirror (SLR) camera the distance from the film plane to the lens is longer than on a mirrorless camera.
@@mattisulanto Great, this has been surprisingly difficult to find info on, thanks.
i miss some example photos in this vid. other than that i was toying with this idea for a while now. many good old lenses are just super cheap compared to new glass.
This just a guide for Lumix users. I'll have samples in the upcoming vintage lens videos.
Do you set the marked focal length or the equivalent length
The numbers on the lens, that’s the focal length.
Thank you for this video! Do you have a crop image when you use the Canon FD's lenses with the Lumix S5?
What do you mean by crop image?
@@mattisulanto when you use the Sigma mc21 adapter, the Lumix S5 put automatically the APS-C mode not the FULL mode. Do you have this problem with those lenses?
@@stephantuta5534 I don't think I had that problem and unfortunately I can't verify that, because I no longer have the S5.
Great review! You mention that some adapters do not allow to focus to infinity. I own the S1H with the MC-21 adapter (EF version). On top of that, I have M42 to EF adapters for my Takumar 135mm and my Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm. And a OM to EF adapter for my Olympus Zuiko 50mm. All of these configurations exibit the exact opposite problem: when I focus to infinity, the image gets sharp and when the focus ring hits the stop, the image becomes blurry again. So I always have to turn the focus ring back 1mm to get the image sharp again. Does this mean that there is a similar problem with the two adapters together being to thick?
Thanks! If the adapter is too long (thick) it acts as an extension ring and infinity focus is not possible. If the adapter is too short, the lens will focus beyond infinity, as in your case, but this is not a serious problem. Also the infinity focus may change when the temperature changes from one extreme to another, like from +28 to -20. In that event it's good if the focus goes beyond infinity, then there is some tolerance.
@@mattisulanto Thank you for your insight! As it's part of the craft, I will have to pay more attention to these issues.
hello! thanks for the great video! I am trying to do this with the lumix s5 but I have a big issue: I cannot seem to change the aperture not even from the lens, why is that?
I can’t say, because I don’t know which lens and adapter you have.
@@mattisulanto sorry you are right! I am using a URTH L mount to FD adaptor and I have tried with three different manual FD canon lenses, a 50 mm 1.4 and a macro FD, both of them have the same problem and i cannot change the aperture on the lens
@@dioneolympia Some FD to mirrorless adapters have a ring that you have to turn to make the lens stop down. I don't know this particular adapter, but maybe you could contact the manufacturer, if you can't figure it out.
Great video, thanks!
Thank you!
Really enjoy your videos. I am in the market for a Helios 44-2 lens for the bokeh. Three questions... can I use it on the Lumix S5? Is there anything I need to be aware of when purchasing this lens as there are so many on eBay? I have a Sigma adapter for my EF lenses will that work if I buy a Helios for Canon? Thanks!
Yes, you can use the Helios on your S5. The Helios has the M42 mount, or it's not really a mount, it's a 42mm thread. You have to buy an adapter that mounts M42 lens to L mount, usually called M42 to L mount adapter or something like that. They are inexpensive staring from $15.
There are many versions of the Helios and I'm not an expert at that, but you can find a lot of info by googling. Just make sure what you are buying, as always with used gear.
Thank you!
Thanks for this very informative video!
I recently bought a voltrox speedbooster to use old manual Nikon lenses on my lumix GX9 (with a f Mount to canon EF mount adaptor). But I’m not sure what number to put in the focal length when I turn on the camera because of x0.71 reduction in focal length of the speedbooster that has a widening effect on field of view. For example a 50mm in 35mm equivalent would normally be 100mm on a M4/3 camera but with the speedbooster it makes it more like 70mm. which number do you think I should enter into the camera?
You should always use the true focal length printed on the lens, regardless of the lens. If you use a speedbooster, you should use the focal length multiplied by the speedbooster's reduction factor. If you have a 50mm lens, that becomes a 35mm in your case.
@@mattisulanto Thanks!!
Any EF to L mount adapter suggested?
I have not tried any and can't really recommend any specific adapter. I'm sorry.
Is there much loss of light from using old film lenses, or the adapters, on m4/3?
No light loss.
Most annoying thing about the G9 is having to re-enter the focal length for a manual lens EVERY SINGLE TIME you switch on. EVERY SINGLE TIME.
You don't have to re enter it. You touch the shutter and the alert disappears, but the previously saved value is still there.
@@mattisulanto it isn't . I was testing a 56mm cine lens yesterday as usual, but with the G9 for the first time, and every time it reset the value to 35mm
@@DamianBrown Ok, interesting. I'm not a brand ambassador any more and don't use Lumix so much any more, so I may have forgotten something. At least on the full frame S1 the alert appears every time, but you can ignore it like I wrote in first reply.
Hellò Matti , i love Vintage Lens ..i use only Vintage on my G9 , now I want to buy the panasonic s1, so I would make the most of the Vintage lenses, I just want a tip for the adapters on the Leica bayonet, what do you recommend? I have all m42 to m43, ie screw.I wait your news . Carmine Parisi
I don't have any recommendation for the adapter. Mine is called Gabale, but any adapter will do. Just make sure you order the correct mount.
@@mattisulanto Yes, thanks Matti I guess, but many manufacturers have not yet put into production the adapters for the 90 mm tamron macro (which I have) and also for the exakta attachment, I only find those for screw attachment, which I have many vintage with m42 attachment...for m42 Gabale is good?
@@carmineparisi7390 Google this: M42 to L mount adapter 😀You should get many results.
@@mattisulanto
Yes ...thank you Matti...you are welcome
That ability to have the small magnified window is better than Sony because Sony just goes into full screen mode. Being able to still see your shot framing is much better.
After having watched your video. It looks to me like Panasonic is better for manual focus lenses than Sony. I tried an S5 and S5ii in a shop but I want to try the S1 which is good value now second hand. Probably mostly due to Panasonic introducing vastly improved autofocus in newer models. The S1 has a much better EVF which should help with focusing. Focus peaking seemed better than Sony on the Lumix and the magnifying view is definitely better.
I bought a MFT to Canon FD converter and tried out some closeups today with my G9 and a Canon 50mm f1.8 from an old Canon AT-1. I was surprised to see the resolution of the images was 180x180. Any ideas if there is something I need to set differently on my G9 to get higher resolution?
Use the largest JPEG size or shoot RAW.
Hi Matti, do you know how I quickly (eg function button) can see if the photo is sharp on a G9?
As far as know there is no way you can zoom in with one button.
Do you enter the actual focal length of the lens, or apply a crop factor. IE if it was a 50mm film lens from a 35mm camera. Would you enter 50mm or 25 mm for a crop factor ?
Use the actual focal length, the numbers on the lens.
Hello, on an m4/3, are the indications on the lens for the hyperfocal and focusing zone still valid? Heal quickly!
Thanks! Yes, the markings on the lens are valid regardless of the format.
@@mattisulanto Thks very much
I'm planning to get Lumix S5IIX since it's currently on Sale $450 Off Canadian. My question is I have a few Nikon lenses such 35mm and 50mm AF-S 1.8G also Nikon 50mm f1.4 AI-S Vintage manual focus. What kind of adapter do I need to get that will work for S5IIX?
L mount to Nikon F mount.
is there an adapter for my lumix s1 and the 180mm zeiss jena (olimpia) lens with pentacon six mount?
I don't know every adapter, but I'm sure google will tell you, if there is such adapter😀
I've got an old Angenieux Type Y2 French 135mm F3.5-32 ring controlled (no F pin on mount end) and I wonder to identify MOUNT compatibility to get a proper adapter to my Olympus m4/3 ? It has 35mm diameter bayonet type with very narrow 3 petals. Looks like EXACTA mount (approximately) No proof
Sometimes the mounts can look very similar, but there are some minor differences when you compare. If it's some obscure mount it can be difficult to identify.
I would never focus wide open because a lot of the vintage lenses have quite a lot of FOCUS-SHIFT, which means your picture can become unusable, when you focus wide open and then stop down!!!
Hi, I am Nikon's dslr fans. I got Nikon D610. Is there any adapters for using other bands lens like Canon lens etc. for Nikon dslr cameras. Thanks!
I think not many, if any, because of the sensor to mount distance.
Nikon F is one of the longest flange focal distances (great wikipedia article if you want more info) out there. That means there's no room to insert an adapter while retaining infinity focus. There are some adapters with a glass element to adapt other mounts, but they tend to be expensive and degrade image quality.
There are some third party lenses out there that are native F mount. I shot a D610 for a while, and my first vintage lens was a Tamron Adaptall lens with a Nikon adapter. It's not a good lens, but it did start me on the road to vintage lenses once I moved from Nikon to MFT.
@@nathandavis5099 I shot various non-native lenses on a Canon DSLR. Ironically one of the few lenses that cannot be adapted are Canon's old FD mount. Minolta MD can't be adapted for the same reason, flange distance. Nikon fits Canon via an adapter no problem, I can't speak for the other way round.
Micro four thirds having the shortest popular flange focal distance adapts virtually anything, from medium format (haven't tried my large format lenses, yet) to 8mm movie lenses. In fact old movie lenses used to be a steal, but the market seems to have discovered them. A few years ago you could buy a vintage movie camera for which film was no longer available, with a turret full of Angenieux or Swiss kern lenses for very little money to mount on a m43 camera.
@@borderlands6606 "Micro four thirds having the shortest popular flange focal distance... "
Not true! Most of the other mirrorless mounts are shorter, so no adapting Fuji, Sony, or Nikon Z.
I understood what you were saying. I just had to throw in the trivia. 😉
@@nathandavis5099 I put the word "popular" in for a reason. Pentax Q is even more adaptable, whether it is a popular mount, is open for debate!
Another factor is the image circle thrown by an adapted lens, there's no point finding a bargain if the resulting view is through a tunnel. Micro four thirds can adapt some very small vintage formats with no vignetting, or only requiring the slightest crop in the corners.
The popularity of m43 means almost any strange old mount will have a micro four thirds adapter available. A rule of thumb is the more obscure the camera, the cheaper the lens, the more expensive the adapter. I have yet to adapt my Contax rangefinder mount lenses which focus in the camera body, but I believe there's a cottage industry adapting those!
I found problem that M42 lens on Lumix got doubled focal distance. For example M42 Helios 44-2 (58mm) lens on adapter give you on Lumix around 110mm. For landscape shots i cant find any valid old lens (as a substitute of Lumix 12~20mm lens).
That is the problem with MFT system. Old lenses are made for 35mm film, which is the same as full frame digital and there are not many wider than 20mm.
You could use an adapter that is also a focal reducer (speedbooster)
I have a LUMIX L mount camera which I’d like to use smaller Panasonic 4/3 lenses on. Is this possible and if so what type of lens adapter do I need for my L mount camera, please? Thank you very much!
It's not possible.
@@mattisulanto Thanks very much for your helpful reply.
Question, as an amateur, I got the Panasonic g90. Will I be able to get good quality photos, equal to the g9? It's the same sensor right? I've been shooting in low light, outdoors, as I'm mostly into wide angle landscape & nature. Out hiking, wanting a little more than my phone can produce.🙄
You'll get pretty much exactly the same quality out of the G90 as you would out of the G9.
@@mattisulanto thank you, I've been worried about the quality of my photos, I have the leica 12-60. Will I get better results in low light with an F1, 7 lense? What budget lenses would you recommend for wide angle and zoom?
@@tomgwl65 It's hard to say whether you'd get better results, because I don't know what the problem is.
Sometime another lens may help, but sometime a better shooting technique will help.
However, here is one video where I recommend lenses: ruclips.net/video/TxNskojRtFo/видео.html
@@mattisulanto I think it's mostly my technic, but I guess low light and micro 4/3 are not the best combination. Will 12-60 cover my wide angle need, and would you recommend the lumix g 100-300 for wildlife and nature?
@@tomgwl65 I have not used the 100-300mm, but I have heard good things about it.
My gx85 says “lens not found, or shoot w\o lens in custom menu is set to off” help please
Have you tried cleaning the contacts?
1:20 .... Except Pentax. Legacy glass has been supported on PK mount modern digitals for 2 decades.
Yeah, always forget Pentax😀
@@mattisulanto Everyone does. LOL
@sulantoblog which, frankly, I've never understood. I've shot Pentax for years but many other systems as well - very brand agnostic here. Pentax has always had exceptional glass and bodies. A shame they're overlooked so often.
I have correct adapter but every lens I put on has the same focal length and is blurry unless I’m up close on the image . Please help me I have lumix g7
I'm afraid I can't help you based on your description. There can be too many possible reasons.
@@mattisulanto do u have Instagram so I can show u
@@russhfilms682 @sulantoblog, which you can see at the start of every video😀
Have you tried a different adapter? Perhaps a bad copy as the distance to the sesonr must be precise. This happened to me a few times.
I got a Panasonic G7 (m4/3) and I bought some Vivitar 50 mm lens, but the Panasonic always pop the message of the lens not being well attached even tho they are, because the adapter fits pretty well (m42-m4/3), I don’t know what to do I tried everything to solve it, but once I attach the lens everytime the screen goes black and the message pops
You have to enable the camera to work without lens. It's in the custom menu.
@@mattisulanto I already did that, that’s the main problem :(
@@omyjelly I'm afraid I can't help without seeing the camera. If you enabled shutter without lens that message should not pop up. The camera should fire even without the lens.
@@mattisulanto I already solved it! It was the adapter hole to attached was not deep enough and I made it deeper!! Now it works perfectly!!
@@omyjelly Perfect, have fun!
Good job on explaining focusing and using manual lenses. I have several Canon, Nikon, Minolta, Alpa, Sigma and Tamron vintage lenses which are fun to play with. They have varying color, sharpness, and bokeh renditions which can add character to you photos or videos. One of your viewers recommended doubling the focal distance of the lens being used on a M43 Lumix camera for the IBIS alignment focal setting. I originally thought the same until I saw an instructional video from a Panasonic representative who said to use whatever focal length that was listed on the vintage lens for your IBIS setting. see: ruclips.net/video/23YlQtgRHxA/видео.html
Nikon and Petax.
Super dumb question. I am just starting out and want to buy 1 adapter and 2 lenses of one company. 35 and 50mm at normal numbers. If I use now a vintage lense on a lumix thirds camera, if it says 50mm on the lense, is it 50mm, or will this be 2x? Also, do you have a good company that are available the best in the vintage territory? Canon? Thank you!
The same crop factor applies to all lenses, if you compare the lenses to full frame. So, a 50mm equals to a 100mm.
There is no best lens brand.
If you want a good value, almost any 50mm F2-1.8 is good. They are affordable and usually decent optics.
@@mattisulanto thank you for your fast answer. I was inspired by the vintage lenses, when you talked about a lumix DC GX 800 (or you had a 880 I think) which you mounted a manual focus lense on to have that extra special setting you can use to set up the depth of field. Which is a good thing for the camera model. However, you then have only manual focus and no data. / back to the question, if I want to shoot street 35mm I then need to buy a 17.5 or 18 or 20mm vintage lense to mount on a four-thirds sensored camera. Thanks.
@@niasboiii Yes, you need a 17-20mm lens, if you are looking for roughly 35mm EQV.
You may want to watch my review on the Laowa 17mm F1.8, which I published few weeks ago. It's not vintage lens, but it's super tiny, affordable and no need for an adapter.
Here is my problem. I shoot landscapes and love M4/3 cameras. BUT I need the equivalent field of view of at least 20mm or wider full frame equivalent. There are no affordable M43 lenses that give me that. And there are no vintage full frame lenses that will go wider than 18 and still be sharp either. Thats 36mm equivalent. The 8-18 looks interesting, but to buy say a G90 and that lens here in Australia it would cost me over $2000. For $2000 I can buy a full frame Canon RP and a 16-35 F4...maybe even the 2.8, or the Canon 20mm 2.8 EF.
This will be the challenge for Panasonic now that Olympus has thrown in the towel. And its Sony's challenge too. Canon just made FF a $1000 solution. The Sony A7C? $3000 thank you. No. Everything is about to change.
It depends what you consider affordable. Laowa has the 7.5mm and 9mm, which both are affordable in my opinion. Manual focus, but it's fine for landscapes.
Part of me is sad to see that you are beginning your slow walk away from MFT. :-(
I have always used both MFT and FF, so nothing has changed really. I value both systems.
It has been standard practice for years for pro photogs to have both full frame and crop sensor bodies in the camera bag. The crop body gives greater variety of focal lengths out of lenses in the bag. Especially valuable for sports shooting. The crop sensor gives greater reach. Until recently, for me it has been a 1Dx plus a 7D mk II as I was shooting Canon.
I must say that it has been really stupid for Panasonic and Olympus to have not sold full frame models until recently. Hopefully the new Olympus owner will also join the L-mount Alliance. Making full frame or APS-C cameras does not mean the end of MFT. It is a great format that has a lot of demand for it, and a great future. Don’t listen to the black or white thinking of too many RUclips reviewers.
@@artistjoh That pretty much sums it up. I also use MFT for many corporate portraits. But anyway, it makes sense to have both systems available.