Old M42 Lenses

[JohnC64]

Hi All,

I have acquired/inherited some old camera lenses and was wondering how good they would be for wide-field astro work. I have a

Pentacon 50mm f1.8

Prakticar Pentacon 50mm f2.8

Carl Zeiss Jana 135mm f3.5

Praktica 80 - 200mm f 4.5

They are all solidly built and of metal construction and feel very nice in use. Looking on e-bay, they are not expensive lenses and they may need a bit of a clean up with baader optical fluid as they have quiet a bit of dust on them.

I was was thinking of using them with a ha filter clip filter on my 1100D (with a Pentax lens adapter).

Does anyone have any experience of using these lenses or am I wasting my time trying? Also should i try them at their minimum f stop or should I limit to a stop or two above the lowest value for best results.

Any help appreciated on this as they feel too nice not to use somehow.

Cheers John

[Steve Ward]

I have a few from back in the day , cannot get them to focus to infinity with the 1000D , nearly but just not close enough for those distant pinpricks that we're trying to catch ....

[JohnC64]

ah damn - i did wonder if they would be ok. Many thanks for the info

Cheers John

[MooMoo]

So use them for Macro stick a long lens on the camera, then a reverse ring and a small lens reversed Instant macro, no need to focus to infinity, you focus both to minimum distance

[MooMoo]

I do this with lenses I cannot attach to my camera mount, filter thread reverse ring, any lens can do

[Steve Ward]

Yes , but not a lot of use for wide-field astro work as per the original question ...

[MooMoo]

Yes , but not a lot of use for wide-field astro work as per the original question ...

Still gives a good use for lenses, instead of sitting on a shelf.

[Polar Bear]

Trying to get them to work will be a false economy and could prove frustrating and time consuming.

Quality on these lenses is rather hit and miss with the exception of the Carl Zeiss 135mm.

The others as you say are not of great value, because they are not great lenses.

I would go for a Canon 50mm F1.8 MK2 (currently £79.00 in Currys) A good M42 - Eos adapter costs £18 - £20 so the real cost of the lens would be only £59.00

If you need wider many have managed to get decent images from the standard kit lens (18mm - 55mm) again these are available very inexpensively as most people upgrade them.

Paul

[melsky]

quote "I was was thinking of using them with a ha filter clip filter on my 1100D (with a Pentax lens adapter)"

Yes you can, here is a wide field shot of cygnus with an HA clip filter in a Canon 550D with an old Olympus Zuiko 50mm lens.

When I first mounted the lens on the camera to check focus I was disappointed that it wouldn't focus on infinity but I was trying it without the clip filter in place, once that was fitted it focused up to and beyond infinity with no problem.

Get yourself an adapter and get shooting

Mel

[davew]

Out of interest I looked up the Fotodiox site and they state, in bold letters, their Canon to M42 is guaranteed infinity focus. For less than $10 from the USA and possibly even cheaper via Ebay then I would think the price is fairly reasonable !!

The 135 lens has a fair reputation but you won't know anything without trying them. One image is worth a thousand opinions.

If they have any sentimental value what so ever then it would be nice to make use of at least one of them. I use one of my late Father's M42 camera lenses as a guide scope every night I image and even after a few years I still smile about it.

Re stopping down. You won't know that until you try. It'll take a good 5 minutes to find out

Dave.

[JohnC64]

Cheers Guys,

For the few quid that the experiment costs, I think that I'll give it a go. The only other thing that I will need is a clear sky - Now that will cost more than a few quid!! ;-)

Ta John

[Gina]

I've used M42 Pentax/Praktica thread lenses with Canon EOS DSLRs. You need the right adapter which is specified as giving infinity focus with these lenses and EOS cameras. Carl Zeiss lenses are superb and probably the very best but a close second are the Asahi Pentax Super and SMC Takumar lenses. These are what I use for my wide field astro imaging. Firstly with the 1100D and now with Atik mono CCD cameras (460EX and 314L+).

[DaveS]

I'd definitely give the Pentacon 50 mm a go. The 50 f/1.8 was the mainstay of amateur photography in its day and was the one every manufacturer *had* to get right.

Probably the sharpest lens in my collection is a SMC Takumar 35mm f/2.0. But some of the glass has become a touch yellow. Yes, one of *those* lenses. They're collector's items now, and I got it for a fraction of what it's worth. Oh ye, I handle it with some care.

[fwm891]

I have a few from back in the day , cannot get them to focus to infinity with the 1000D , nearly but just not close enough for those distant pinpricks that we're trying to catch ....

Shop around you can get different thickness adapters for this very reason

[Ewan]

Same as Gina said 'Asahi Pentax Super and SMC Takumar lenses' work fine on my 600D & give good images, my f1.8 does seem better stopped down 2 stops though.

[tich]

I messed around with an old Pressman 100/200mm M42 lens on my standard 1000D & managed to get this, ok so it's not the best & I'm no photographer but I was pretty pleased with it all the same so I'll be giving it a proper go again with the modded 1000D.

[Gina]

Looks good - nice stars over the entire field

[tich]

Thanks Gina glad you like it, I think I paid £12 for the lens itself & it seems to work pretty well although it's only an F3.5. I've got a few more lenses but haven't had as good a result but then they were mounted on a fixed tripod & not on the NEQ6 so more experimenting needed.

[JohnC64]

well the fotodiox adapter arrived yesterday and what do you know a stunning clear night here. Seemed rude not to stay up to the early hours :-)

Very pleased of the results obtained - posted here

Thanks for all the input and advice

Cheers John

[davew]

I've been and looked. I can't tell you how impressed I am with your efforts. You've got that lens singing Was it taken wide open or did you stop it down ?

Just in case you get a rush of blood to the head, that area is crammed full of OIII. It would make a stunning false RGB. Would you be able to borrow a filter and try it ?

Dave.

[JohnC64]

Thanks very much Dave. I did stop it down one notch. After reading around, it appears to be best not to drive the lenses at the "full speed" to get decent star shapes. Also getting optimal focus is a bit tricky. I think i am still a little off in focus but can probably pull it back a bit with a light sharpen in processing.

OIII would be an interesting idea, I'll have to ask around locally to see if anyone has a clipin OIII

Cheers John

[mindburner]

another thumbs up for the SMC takumar 200mm. I got this image last year of M42. The lens needs stopped down though or else there is too much CA and red fringing

 

[Gonzo]

I did stop it down one notch. After reading around, it appears to be best not to drive the lenses at the "full speed" to get decent star shapes.

That's what I'm not doing hence the stars on my pictures have this hallo effect on them ()/

I will definitely try your method next time, as for getting the focus right... it's tricky.

[Rihard]

I have similar soviet / east german lenses (Jupiter 200mm & 135mm, Pentacon 50mm & 29mm). I can reach infinite focus normally on a 1100D using a EOS-EF adapter with confirm chip that I bought off amazon. Not sure if there is any specific issue with the 1000D as mentioned by other users, or maybe it depends on the adaptor thickness, but if you have a 1100D and try the above adapter, from my experience the Pentacon ones should behave fine like any Canon lenses - just give it a try and see.

I've also taken a few shots of the moon with a Nikon D7000 and a glass adapter (Nikons usually do not infinite focus with such lenses, hence the need of a nasty glass adaptor) surprisingly without degrading the image too much. Although I haven't got any big experience, you should stop down a little bit to avoid some CA but they should be fine for astro work as they are all pretty bright and sharp lenses. If you google it you'll find several examples of excellent pictures taken with these on modern dSLR cameras.

Please note that there will be some crop factor, so a 200mm lens on anything that is Not full frame or film will give a FOV similar to a 300mm (great for the moon!), the 50mm will act similar to a 75mm.

Hope this helps.

[Gina]

I too find the SMC Takumar 200mm an excellent lens. I now have several other Takumars 135mm f2.5, 105mm f2.8 x2, 55mm f1.8 x2 and 35mm f3.5. I have just won a Jupiter 85mm f2 on ebay which I plan to use with the 2 55mm Taks in my trippple imaging rig I gather the Jupiter lenses are good - I shall find out soon.