Vintage lenses

[Daf1983]

I was wondering if anyone on here has some experience of using vintage lenses with a dslr?

I've been experimenting with my canon 600d and a tripod with moderate success. At present, I only have two zoom lenses (the kit 18-55mm and a pentax 40-80mm), and want to see how I get on with a longer focal length prime lens, probably a 135mm.

I'm not really in a position to be spending hundred of pounds on a new lens, so have been looking into vintage lenses. 

I have heard good things about the Super takumer 135mm f3.5 and the carl zeiss jena 135mm, which can be picked up for about £50 on ebay. Does anyone have experience using these lenses for astrophotography, or are there better alternatives in the same price range?

I understand that I'm limited to pretty short exposures at this focal length untracked, but I want to see what I can achieve before investing in a tracking mount.

Thanks

Dafydd

[happy-kat]

Yes and yes, I use a vintage takumar 55mm f2 lens

[Daf1983]

16 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Yes and yes, I use a vintage takumar 55mm f2 lens

How do you find it?

[happy-kat]

Pretty good, I used it for comet neowise on a static tripod. Stopped down to f2.8

[alacant]

Hi

The Takumar 135 is excellent. Here's an example.

HTH

Edited October 10, 2020 by alacant

[Davey-T]

There are various 135 SMT out there, I believe they did a 1.8 version bit more expensive than the slower versions.

Dave

[johngm]

What you need to make sure when using vintage lenses (i have a couple of M42 screw) you will need to make sure you get a shallow adaptor, and not the standard canon T Ring or you will not achieve focus

John

[happy-kat]

Make sure the m42 to eos adaptor on the description supports infinity focus

Avoid FD fitment lenses

 

Edited October 10, 2020 by happy-kat

[rnobleeddy]

I've had a go with a 135mm Pentacon M42 prime lens that you can get on ebay for £15. 

Wasn't terrible - had to stop down a little and there was some chromatic aberration, but nothing that couldn't be fixed in post.

I gave up because I found it too hard to find targets with a star adventurer, a tripod and an intervalometer, but clearly other's have worked it out!

[Daf1983]

Thanks everyone for the advice, very much appreciated! I have one adapter pentax lenses already, but I thinks it for the k mount rather than the m42, so I will probably need another adaper.

From the comments, it seems like a decent option at the price. However, there seems to be a lot of different versions of this lens, does anyone know if some are more suitable than others for astro? Is it just a case of the faster the better?

[alacant]

16 minutes ago, Daf1983 said:

the faster the better?

With their tiny apertures, they are all very slow. You need several hours to get anything reasonable. Takumar wise, just get one which looks decent perhaps.

Cheers

[Daf1983]

23 minutes ago, alacant said:

With their tiny apertures, they are all very slow. You need several hours to get anything reasonable. Takumar wise, just get one which looks decent perhaps.

Cheers

Fair enough, so going from f3.5 to f2.8 won't make much difference? I think those are the two most common versions

[alacant]

Hi

The f2.5 isn't available within (the £50 ?) budget and IMHO, isn't going to buy you much more speed. Both will give chromatic aberration wide open anyway. Never used a Zeiss but I've a feeling they go for quite a bit more.

The 3.5 reduced to f5.6 is probably the best trade off.

Cheers

[Daf1983]

40 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

The f2.5 isn't available within (the £50 ?) budget and IMHO, isn't going to buy you much more speed. Both will give chromatic aberration wide open anyway. Never used a Zeiss but I've a feeling they go for quite a bit more.

The 3.5 reduced to f5.6 is probably the best trade off.

Cheers

That's what I thought. Thanks for the help👍

[happy-kat]

I use a red dot finder mounted in the flash hot shoe to help find targets

[Daf1983]

3 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

I use a red dot finder mounted in the flash hot shoe to help find targets

That's my plan eventually! What setup do you use for imaging if you don't mind me asking?

[happy-kat]

you get the feel of it as you do it, practice beats theory when it comes to local conditions. ISO 800 or ISO1600, any higher too noisy.

to control the camera I use Android app DSLR Controller on my mobile phone with a OTG cable to the camera USB lead.

[Beulah]

Another fan of the 135mm Takumar...here's one I took on a static tripod...lovely lens. (stacked images). Funnily enough I bought this lens off a member of this very forum.

 

 

[Daf1983]

22 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

you get the feel of it as you do it, practice beats theory when it comes to local conditions. ISO 800 or ISO1600, any higher too noisy.

to control the camera I use Android app DSLR Controller on my mobile phone with a OTG cable to the camera USB lead.

Do you have a tracking mount?

[Daf1983]

3 minutes ago, Beulah said:

Another fan of the 135mm Takumar...here's one I took on a static tripod...lovely lens. (stacked images). Funnily enough I bought this lens off a member of this very forum.

 

 

Wow, great shot👍

[happy-kat]

Not when I took the comet

Edited October 10, 2020 by happy-kat

[rnobleeddy]

1 hour ago, happy-kat said:

I use a red dot finder mounted in the flash hot shoe to help find targets

I just got a 3D printed hot shoe adapter delivered, so I will try this in future.

[happy-kat]

Bit of fun with the vintage lens mentioned

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/353675-comet-c2020-f3-neowise/?do=findComment&comment=3912431

not vintage lens but static tripod

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/340692-summer-triangle-lite/

Edited October 10, 2020 by happy-kat

[Alien 13]

I have a few vintage lenses and some are fine for AP but even those that dont make the grade like my 50mm Takumar (cost an arm and leg as it was a mint early model) are very good for general video use..

Alan

[Daf1983]

20 minutes ago, Alien 13 said:

I have a few vintage lenses and some are fine for AP but even those that dont make the grade like my 50mm Takumar (cost an arm and leg as it was a mint early model) are very good for general video use..

Alan

Thanks for your reply.

Which vintage lenses have you found are good for astro?