In this post abuot manual focus lenses on DSLR cameras, we'll again look at a M42 mount and a FD mount lens. (be sure to check out the first and second post). The M42 mount will be my Miranda 28mm f/2.8 lens, while the FD mount lens is Mogens' 35-70mm f/2.5 FD lens. Again, notice that these are very fast lenses that have cost less than $40 a piece.

The 28mm lens has a little issue, it's supposed to be stopped down with a lever on the mount-side of the lens that the camera will push. This needs to be jammed, or it'll be f/2.8 all the time. I haven't gotten around to jam it properly, so all the following pictures are at f/2.8:

Mogens brought his 35-70mm f/2.5 lens on a family trip to Turkey, leaving his auto-focus lenses at home. He found that it was a great companion:

To wet your apetite, we've got hold of a 2x FD-mount converter, bellows, macro rings and colour filters to toy with, and we'll be posting photos with them as well

In the first post of this series I argued that you can save lots of money buying manual focus lenses and get great pictures with your DSLR camera. In this post we'll look at three more lenses: the Mogens' 500mm f/8 FD mount lens and his Helios 58mm f/2 M42 mount lens.

First one out is the 500mm. Since it's a M42 lens, the adapter steals 1/3 stop of light and gives a 1.26x crop, making this equivalent to a 630mm on a APS-C sensor or a 1008mm on 35mm film/full frame sensor.

Next up, the 58mm:

Be sure to follow the thread, more exciting manual focus lenses are comming up. To wet your apetite, we've ordered in a bunch of Pentax K lenses and adapters to other lenses that are laying around.

In my photoblog I've started a series on manual lenses. The first lens out is a Hanimex 72-162mm f/3.5 lens with a FD mount that I'm using with my Canon EOS 20D and a FD-EOS adapter. It's my defacto concert-lens and I'll be starting off with a series of concert pictures. Next up is a MIR-1 37mm f/2.8 M42 mount lens. Be sure to follow the photoblog for the next couple of days and see if you find these lenses usable. I've payed £10 for the 72-162mm and $20 for the MIR-1 through eBay, so perhaps you'll find that you can have great lenses for a bargain! Then again, perhaps you'll conclude that it's a waste of time and money and be glad that I tested this and not you. Let me know what you think!