Old lenses on a modern camera?

Not sure if this is in the right place or not.

I've got my grandfather's old yashica tl electro camera and lenses. I used the camera years and years ago for my gcse in photography when it was then put aside. It doesn't appear to be working, the shutter mechanism is off. Not sure how I could fix it.

Anyway, there are also three lenses with it: vivitar 135mm 2.8. Vivitar 28mm 2.8 and a yashica 50mm 1.2.

Im not sure how good the lenses are but my grandfather wouldn't have bought rubbish stuff I wouldn't have thought.

Is there any way I can use these on my 40d? Obviously I know thatit wwouldn't auto focus or change aperture or anything.

Thanks in advance.

Read through this - http://www.bobatkins.c​om …faq/manual_focu​s_EOS.html

Yes, you can use them, you'll need an adapter though.

Yes, you can. Old lenses can be quite fun to use.

The Yashica TL Electro used M42 screw-fit lenses, so any EOS-M42 adapter twill work, and the registration distance is slightly longer for the Yashica, so you can focus all the way to infinity without additional optics. The Vivitars will be a bit mediocre, but the Yashica lens should be decent.

Yashica didn't make a 50mm f/1.2 lens - their 1.2 was 55mm. You may be misreading the "1:2" nomenclature they used, which means f/2.

I have quite enjoyed using old lenses on my OMD. Whether it's me feeling nostalgic or if its actually the picture itself I'm not sure, but it just makes me smile.

Thanks.

Have found an EOS-M42 adapter and will see how I get on.

And yes, sorry, it's f/1.4 not 1.2. When you say decent do you mean comparable to a 50mm 1.4? or 1.8? 1.2 would be nice!

The Vivitar 135 is a superb lens, I use mine a lot. If you can reverse mount the 50 mm on the front of the 135, you will have great little macro combination.

sancho1983 wrote in post #16297912
Thanks.

Have found an EOS-M42 adapter and will see how I get on.

And yes, sorry, it's f/1.4 not 1.2. When you say decent do you mean comparable to a 50mm 1.4? or 1.8? 1.2 would be nice!

I believe the Yashinon 50mm f/1.4 was a good lens. I had the C/Y Bayonet-fitting Yashica ML 50mm f/1.4 (a later model) and it was superb.

Madweasel wrote in post #16298063
I believe the Yashinon 50mm f/1.4 was a good lens. I had the C/Y Bayonet-fitting Yashica ML 50mm f/1.4 (a later model) and it was superb.

I look forward to getting the adapter and testing it out.

I have low expectations but it's quite cool to think that my Grandpa used it 40 years+ ago, I used it 15 or so years ago (christ I'm getting old) and now I'll bring it back to life!

I love all of my Yashica lenses, I use them far more than any of my EF lenses. As for the Vivitar's, I've heard good things about some of those as well. I have a Vivitar 200mm prime that's pretty decent and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 f/2.8-4 and it's very good. Definitely get yourself an adapter (or one for each lens) and give them a whirl! For M42 mount I recommend these adapters, I have several and they work great for me http://www.amazon.com …1&keywords=ezfo​to+m42+eos

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #16298287
I love all of my Yashica lenses, I use them far more than any of my EF lenses. As for the Vivitar's, I've heard good things about some of those as well. I have a Vivitar 200mm prime that's pretty decent and a Vivitar Series 1 70-210 f/2.8-4 and it's very good. Definitely get yourself an adapter (or one for each lens) and give them a whirl! For M42 mount I recommend these adapters, I have several and they work great for me http://www.amazon.com …1&keywords=ezfo​to+m42+eos

I'm UK based but that looks very similar to the one I purchased - probably all made in the same factory in China

It's not bad, I forgot how hard this manual focussing malarky is...

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/thesancho/98514​91173/

I recently got into the world of adapted M42 glass. my first purchase was a 1962 vintage Super Takumar 55mm 1.8 in superb condition. Granted I already own a 50mm 1.8 II but the bokeh and sharpness wide open on the super tak just blow it away. My Most recent purchase was a Helios 44m-4 58mm F2 lens which is renowned for it's bokeh and sharpness. now I'm trying to find a 135mm Super Tak as from what I've seen they have optics comparable to a 135L even though they are not as fast (F3.5 IIRC) All I have to say is watch your wallet as each lens may be relatively cheap and have amazing IQ,if you know what lenses to look for, but your wallet may soon hate you when you've got a large collection of vintage glass + your modern glass too

I love old lenses, but my time with them on DSLRs can be separated into two categories: Time spent with a split prism focus screen, and time wasted.

sancho1983 wrote in post #16313479
It's not bad, I forgot how hard this manual focussing malarky is...

It's not that hard if you've got an old style prism focus screen or you use live view and zoom. But trying to do it through the view finder with the stock screen and you're gonna have a bad time.