Vintage Lenses

Canon FD vs. Nikkor vs. Pentax vs. Minolta: What 4 Vintage 50mm Lenses Actually Look Like on a Modern Sensor
Video Tutorials

Canon FD vs. Nikkor vs. Pentax vs. Minolta: What 4 Vintage 50mm Lenses Actually Look Like on a Modern Sensor

I spend a lot of time on eBay before breakfast. It’s a problem, or a system, depending on how you look at it. And one question I get constantly from readers is some version of: “I found a cheap vintage 50mm on eBay, is it actually worth buying?” My honest answer used to be “depends on the brand” — but that’s not good enough. Different vintage glass renders differently, and if you’re shooting portraits, those differences matter more than most people realize.

Canon FD vs Nikon vs Pentax vs Minolta: Which Vintage 50mm Actually Fits Your Shooting Style?
Video Tutorials

Canon FD vs Nikon vs Pentax vs Minolta: Which Vintage 50mm Actually Fits Your Shooting Style?

I’ve been chasing the vintage lens rabbit hole for a while now. My spreadsheet has entries for somewhere around thirty budget lenses at this point, and a solid chunk of them are old manual-focus glass from the 70s and 80s. The appeal is obvious if you’ve been paying attention to used gear prices: you can pick up Canon FD, Minolta MD, Pentax SMC, or Nikkor primes for under $50 in a lot of cases, mount them on a Sony mirrorless body with a cheap adapter, and get images that feel genuinely different from what modern lenses produce.

How I'm Using Autofocus Adapters to Shoot Vintage Glass on Modern Mirrorless Bodies
Video Tutorials

How I'm Using Autofocus Adapters to Shoot Vintage Glass on Modern Mirrorless Bodies

I’ve spent years arguing that cheap modern glass beats expensive vintage glass for practical shooting. And I still believe that. But I’ve also been testing vintage lenses long enough to know that “practical” isn’t the only reason people pick up a camera. Sometimes you want the rendering. The falloff. The slightly imperfect way a 1970s 50mm draws light. The problem has always been that using vintage glass on a modern body means giving up autofocus, and giving up autofocus means missing shots.