These 3 CHEAP vintage lenses take film photos 

So which one was your fave? What other lenses would you recommend!

Emily keeps improving video quality with every video, I can't tell you how excited I get for every new upload !

P.s. part two coming next week 😁

Just found your channel and OMG I LOVE YOU! You are absolutely delightful. Love your knowledge and definitely helping me in my analog photography journey. Keep up the fantastic work! YOU ROCK!

Helios has a pseudoanamorphic look and I'm all here for it!

I love the vintage glass. My favourite by far is the KMZ Helios 44-m and when paired with a full frame camera to get the whole intended look it's something else. It's dead sharp in the centre and the fall off to swirlville is gorgeous. Great video and I'm looking forward to pt2 🖖😁

GREAT video, Emily! The Helios looks interesting... I am old enough to have a number of 35mm SLR lenses, mostly Nikon and Olympus. The great thing about them is that they can take a beating and still render beautiful images! My favorite set up lately is my Nikon Zf with the Oly 50mm f/1.2. Just lovely. I also love some of those lenses on my Panasonic GX9 too but hadn't considered a focal reducer, so thank you!.... p.s. I love the background music... so fitting!

You're fantastic. Thanks for the vintage lens recommendations. I'm a huge fan of the Nikkor 35mm f/2 myself. It's my first vintage lens love, and I've been looking for others like it every since. Btw, your style and creativity are a breath of fresh air

Well done on this work . This is impressive and helpful

Love your content! Litterally you made me get back to the photography and grab a M4/3, Thank you for that!... Cheers from Colombia 😎

I started adapting older lenses back on my GH5 and loved them but once I stepped into full frame and got the full character of these lenses I fell in love even more. My current favorites are the Super Takumar 50mm f/1.4 and Canon FD 28mm f/2.8. Those are always my 2 favorite lenses for street/walk-around photography.

Great lens, wow sometimes its all about what you can do with them and you created some good images out of them, weldone

I've recently started my vintage lens collection. Started with the Helios 44-M which I first used when I started photography and recently bought a Jupiter 9 & Tair 11a. It's added another dimension to my photography and honestly worth every penny! Ps love your content, the editing style is 10/10.

love your vibe!!!

I love the bargain aspect of this channel! sub! Greetings from up north!

I loved your video. Very useful. Thank you!

Great production value!

Great to see this. I shoot mainly vintage lenses on all my cameras.

Your timing is insane! I've been using my dad's yashica 50mm lens on my olympus em10 mark II for the last couple of months and I love it!! I haven't used my lumix 20mm ever since lol

loved this vid!!!!!!

I like how you separated vintage lenses into 4 categories! Waiting for the modern vintage video

I have the Helios from my days as an m42 shooter, so the second lens I put on my GX8 after the kit lens. I got a reversing ring at the same time so have used for macro, with some surprisingly retro-looking results. I also have what appears to be a copy of the Mamiya, badged as Soligor, which is in somewhat less than mint condition.

What you do is amazing. Very good video. Do you feel like grading the Mamiya lens and adding contrast couldve make it less soft looking?

My favourite lens for a film look is the M42 Auto Chinon 55mm f/1.7 - below f/2.8 it gives you a lower contrast, slightly dreamy vibe. By f/4 it sharpens up across the frame beautifully. At f/5.6 it's a match for anything old or new. All of which makes it such a versatile optic for whatever you're looking for. Plus it's TINY!

I have a pentacon praktica 50mm 1.8 on my Lumix GX80 and I have to say its rebooted my photography, just love it !!

I have a small collection of vintage lenses. But today, with cheap good chinese lenses i think there isn't a point in getting vintage lenses anymore. Good chinese manual lenses works without adapters and are better machined, without problems with fungus, rust, worn plastic, etc. I'm slowly replacing my vintage lenses for new cheapo manual ones, except for some special zooms. Regarding "vintage look" I prefer having a cleaner starting point and then edit to taste. You can always set the sharpness at minimun, use mist filters, and work your picture profile if you want to speed your post edit.

I'm so over "get-the-film-look" yt videos, but the comparison shots were particularly inspired

Great vids. Love MFT system

As a much, MUCH cheaper option, I have loved the Sigma Mini-Wide II 28mm f2.8. It is not considered among the greats but seems to get things done pretty fabulously.

I have four nifty fifty M42 lenses. My favourite is the Carl Zeiss Jena DDR Tessar 50mm f2.8, but the Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 is also very nice (and very compact). I wish, I had wide focal lengths in M42, but they tend to be more expensive, and my M42 cameras aren't good enough for that kind of investment. I prefer to use my M42 lenses on APS-C/full frame camera bodies - most recently on an old Sony NEX 5N with very satisfying results so far. One of the most "affordable" Leica M-mount lens btw. (40mm f2 Summicron-C) works very well on M43 camera bodies too. I wouldn't buy it for M43 alone, but if you already have it, the adapter is quite affordable 😉 Another adapter, I'm considering is for Minolta MD to M43, because Minolta...

I found the old Mamiya 35mm SX lenses a couple years ago and was blown away by how good they are. They’ve flown under the radar completely, so are wildly cheap. The flares, sharpness, bokeh, and general clarity makes them a steal. I prefer them over vintage Nikon or Canon sets personally. They don’t produce the creamy bokeh look, more of a vintage hexagon or bubble bokeh look. Not a bad thing, just different. You do have to make some permanent modifications to get them on most modern cameras though…

I love your energy Emily great video but I would love to know were you buy your lenses 😊

I have the Helios 44M-4. I like using it on full-frame bodies. It wasn't super cheap (about $100 after shipping/tax), but I like it a lot and don't regret the purchase.

I've got a couple m42-mount lenses (35mm Pentax and a 135mm Takumar), with a Sony E-mount adapter. I love how they look, but as I'm considering switching to a M43-based system, I was wondering how well they would adapt. This video came out at just the right time for me--thanks for the advice!

I think with some vintage lenses, it really is worth it but only if the lens has some character to it that you actually want. The Helios for instance with its bokeh shape being down to the shape of the apertue blades. There's a lot to be said for filtering and post processing to get a similar look, but tbh, it's far more work to fake it. One cheap and cheerful lens I used to own was a 28mm f2.8 Soligor on m42 mount. It was a bit heavier than I'd like, but it had the most gorgeous flaring pattern when you shoot with the light hitting it about 45 degrees off axis. Good if you want the JJ Abrams look... I'm looking forward to seeing what's in the vintage extreme category.

I use a Nikon 50 f 1.4, a 100 mm 1.4 nice.....great lens. And 20 mm f 3.5 Nikon.

Hi. Loving the reviews! I am digging the 17mm and the 56mm. Which focal reducer did you use for them? Is it a direct m42 to m43 reducer? It is kinda difficult to find one in ph.

Gosh!!! you are good. Very on point

Emily, LOVE your channel! Can you tell me what focal reducer to buy? Or what works with each of the lenses you discussed here? TIA.

I'm just glad you didn't mention my vintage mount so I can keep getting my weird €10 lenses uninterrupted 😅

I´m new to MFT, so which focal reducer would you recommend, Emily? Nice videos btw👍

My farvorite is my Nikon 50mm 1.2 with metabones speedbooster making it a 0.80 lens on MFT. That means i can get some of the vintage full frame look in my Lumix camera. And honestly its easier to focus with it because of focus peaking and such then it ever was on my full frame nikon.

Hello Emily, thank you for this intresting video ! Just a question, a little far in the conversation you talk about viltrox as focal reducer. I searched but i didn't find something to M42 -> M4/3 in viltrox. Could you share a reference ? Did you use another brand in this case (i'm agree it's a good brand, cheaper than metabone...) ?

theres also minolta lenses that are criminally underrated and deliver good images at a good price

Love my vintage lenses and as an owner of a Sony a6500 and an Olympus EM5 mkiii I have to say they are more versatile on an APSC than MFT if like me you use cheaper dumb adapters, purely because of the doubling of focal length. However they are still great for close up images with lots of lovely bokeh. The only one that is probably a bit too long for MFT is my 135mm.

The Helios photos and clip looked wonderful. Character.

I never think of lenses contributing to a "film look". I have a number of film emulation programs and some of them are pretty good, but I have yet to find anything that will make little square pixels look like film grain. I have the Mamiya Sekor and several Helios lenes, so I will have to play with and see. Interesting video.

Which focal reducer can you recommend? Whenever I play with the thought of getting one, the Amazon reviews will prevent me of getting one

Need advice please. Im really interested in the Mamiya Sekor 28mm lens, i have a nikon z50, with the z mount system. What kind of an adapter do I need to make it work?

The bokeh on mamiya on a crop is lovely, I wish you tested it on a full frame. And the question about helios anamorphic oval, did you put at the front end of the lens?

I have the Mamiya/Sekor 28mm and I agree it is an excellent filmic lens. I also have the M42 TL version of the Mamiya/Sekor 35mm f/2.8, 50mm f/2, 55mm f/1.8 and they are all excellent. My Helios 58mm f/2 44-2 is a good portrait lens.

Nice vid as always. I just have a question: What is a focal reducer? Is it a mount adapter or is it another accessory? Btw I signed up for playbook. That 4tb of free storage is super helpful

How much are metabone speed boosters compared to the cheap lenses, I have om, m43 and canon fd lenses which were cheapish, thanks.

I have a number of copies of the Helios 44, most of them the later 44-M2/4/6 to fit my film SLR bodies. For my digital M4/3 bodies, I have a 44 that pre-dates the "-2" (although not the highly coveted silver body 44 with the 13-blade aperture and the M39 mount), as well as a number of "-2" copies made by different factories. Some are so well built you wonder how come you paid so little for them, and others sound like a box of washers when you shake them so badly they were made. But they all have one thing in common - they make me smile. The Helios 44 range is totally bonkers, everybody should have at least one. Or two. Or more... :-D They are all different and unique, and I have started buying them now and again to give them away to my photography friends as presents. My other two favourite lenses from the USSR lens pantheon are the Jupiter 8 and Industar 26m (also called the 61 in more recent versions). The Industars are tack sharp, while the Jupiters are dreamy and soft. Also, the Industars and Jupiters are tiny little lenses made for range-finders, so use the Leica M39-mount. You can put a Jupiter 8 or Industar 61 with adapter on a small M4/3 body and still have something you can just about put in a pocket. I think that there have been more Industar 26m/61 lenses made than there are grains of sand on the beach, so they are super cheap at £15 or more. Jupiters are becoming a bit more rare, but you can still find prices ranging from £20 to stupid money (definitely not worth paying more than £40 for a standard one in mint condition, unless you are a collector of super-rare versions). These three vintage lenses had more impact on me than all of my fancy Lumix and Olympus native lenses combined, so I can heartily recommend you buying them. Super fun playing with these things! :-)

Takumar 55mm f2, pentacon 50mm f1.8 Pentax 50mm f1.7 worth trying used only vintage lenses to create my clips.

Hi there hope your are well I am interested in getting the seKor 28mm but I therer is other version sx cs ect Which one shoujd I get ? I have the 55sx f1.8 which is beautiful lens Regards Hamzee

You can buy a fabulous 35mm camera SLR or Point and Shoot and lens for the prior plus film and a lot of developing and printing for a minuscule fraction of the cost of a fabulous Digital camera. Cost is offset only if you buy cheap digital gear….and I know that’s your bag too. I shot film until digital cameras got to 10 Mp because they couldn’t really compete until they got to that point within my budget. I shoot digital and film now. Finding somewhere to process film is really difficult now and luckily i bought loads of 35mm expired film before the price of film became outrageous. There’s still something very exciting about not knowing how the shots will look until the film is processed. It’s much more haphazard but when you have to reload the media every 24 or 36 shots you think much more about shot composition. Love my Pentax, Fuji, Voigtlander and Olympus 35mm cameras.

Cool tricks and info. I like old Minolta manual mc and md lenses as well as Pentax. I’m old enough to remember some of what you showed… but there was no link to other videos to check out 😥 sad fail

What font is that? (The yellowish 'film' fonts used on the overlay)

I know you made this a few months back... but I feel like the Lumix S9, has ushered in the new era of affordable compact full frame, making it easier to use these amazing vintage lenses and getting the entire image as originally intended.

What is/how does a focal reducer work? Can you use any brand or are there any compatibility restraints? Very great and interesting video, thank you! Love the look of the Mamiya lens!

Side note all lenses despite what sensor they are made for are what they say they are. Crop factors are always applied if it’s not full frame.

Could you do a spray painting video please

where do you find these lenses and on a good deal ?

Hi. I very often use a Zuiko Olympus 50 mm f:1.8 and a Zuiko Olympus 135 mm f:3.5 with very good results. I don't what can be their current acquisition price, given that I own them from more than 40 years ago. But they are really good quality. But one question: given that I use them with a dumb adapter, which adds about 15 mm to the total length of the lens, is still "2x" the crop factor? Does that extra length add any mm to the equivalent focal length?

What adaptors did you use?

What m42 speed booster are you using and do you recommend it?

Which focal reducer do you recommend? Some of them seem really expensive and others suspiciously cheap. Also what are the downsides of using a focal reducer and an FF lens vs just buying a FF camera?

Looks very nice but I've been burned on vintage lenses that were promised as 'working perfectly'. If I can figure out how the hell to fit FD lenses back together (or if M42 is a _lot_ easier to repair) I might recant, but 'til then 7artisans and Brightin Star will scratch my manual lens itch.

Out of those three, I like the Helios the best. I bought my Minolta SR mount lenses over 10 years ago and used them with MFT. 45mm F2 50mm F1.4 50mm F3.5 Macro 100mm F4 Macro 135mm F2.8 200mm F4 Now in the present time we can buy cheap Chinese lenses and not pay the inflated prices for Vintage lenses. With Chinese lenses you can get the F0.95 or F1.2 for a fraction of the Vintage prices.

vintage lenses have become a bit of an obsession, biggest problem is hiding them from the missus 🥴

Can you make a review on ttartisan 23mm f1.4 lens for the m43 mount!?

Idk where you're finding these prices, can't find the Helios for anywhere under £50 unfortunately

How you edit the intro ?

Where are you finding the Mayima for £10? Cheapest I found in the us is $70

These lenses are still all way too good for what I’m looking for. I need some MFT lenses that are really, really bad for photos that look like memories or dreams. I don’t want to do it in post, or as little as possible, and ideally I’d rather that the poor quality really comes from the lens itself rather than an additional filter. Possibly with plastic elements or something like that. I got both the Olympus body cap lenses (9mm and 15mm f8 fixed aperture), but their quality is still much too good. Is there anything like that out there?

I've been looking for some of these lenses, but none are cheaper than $100 USD.

Camera manufacturers work for years to make better camera , better image quality . The photographer: I like film look. 😂😂😂.

Yea, MF older lenses are so cool

Is your accent a soft Liverpudlian?

I really like your channel, but the „bargain“-narrative for adapting vintage lenses on mft feels like a joke to me - a (good?) focal reducer is about 300/400€, right? I can buy a canon 5d m2, a dumb adapter and all your lenses for that.

Ma My Ya :) I am old enough to know how it's pronounced :) I have a Mamiya C330 med Format film camera , check that bad boy out :) Love your vids, keep up the good work :)

Where are you finding these cheap lenses? I just had a look at ebay and there is no mamiya lenses in good condition under $250. Maybe you should be a lot more honest or be weary we all don't come from the UK. I pay AUstralian prices.

Anamorphic?

28mm in M43 is... 28 mm. The "crop" is simply the are captured, using full frame as a reference.