![]() It is common for vintage photographic lenses to have witness marks and distance scales on the top portion of the lens barrel. Once applied, a finer degree of control is possible with a vintage lens. A 0.8 pitch gear, or focus gear, must be attached to the lens to allow for follow focus control. To extend the duration of a focus throw, one may employ a follow focus attachment. This will make focal points resolve quickly in and out focus when shooting video. Photographic lenses have shorter focus throws than video lenses, typically a quarter to one-third turn. It is impossible to include everyone’s favorites - this article would never end. However, I have selected a nice cross-section of legends from my own experience, along with a critique of the individual lenses for those who share my passion or wish to experiment with new tools for making great images. So for those of you who want to infuse your images with a little panache, I have gathered a list of some of the legendary lenses from the past 60 years. Like the proverbial island of misfit toys, they wait for a new life. Yes, many of the classic lenses of yesteryear can be had for a trifle - a fraction of the price demanded by the fast and furious marketplace for newer photo and video gear. These items are ubiquitous on eBay or Amazon, for sale to the curious or the cost-conscious. Treasures sit in closets, collect dust on shelves in some camera store or sit unnoticed in an unmarked bin at any of a number of anonymous estate sales. With the plethora of new gear that floods the market every year, there is an ever-growing supply of cast-off equipment. I collect vintage lenses for the same reason. They adriven by a belief that, by looking at the world through ancient glass, we will see things clearer - with a touch of nostalgia. It is for this reason that, in recent years, cinematographers in Hollywood have been driven into backrooms and basements at their local rental houses, looking for a way back in time, for some forgotten pathway - perhaps a set of old lenses that might restore their innocent vision. Instead, images are the product of plug-ins from a pull-down menu in some piece of video editing software. #Vintage nikon lens filters trial#Images are no longer the result of trial and error, or faith mixed with chemistry. We have entered a new computerized world of photography that is technology based -calculable and raw. Prestidigitation has been replaced by digitalization. Decades later, after years of making images, the process has become mechanical. Now in my 50s, I have been trying hard to return to that place, so many years ago, to reconnect with those feelings of mystery and magic that drew me to photography at such an early age. I knew that the excitement I was feeling signaled the beginning of something that would shape me for the rest of my life. There was an air of alchemy about the place. I took in the smells and the imagery of overstuffed shelves and cabinets filled with peculiar equipment. ![]() My dad took me down to a local camera store one Saturday afternoon and we explored that musty old camera shop. I was 12 years old when I got my first 35mm camera. Vintage l enses can give a memorable patina to your moving image or photograph - something that takes the edge off an over-sharp, antiseptic digital image and lends it some character. The right lens can change more than the field of view - it can change the overall tone of the image. Each shiny little bauble has the ability to take an average image and infuse it with something unique. I have a deep fascination with vintage lenses. My relationship with glass goes beyond a mere appreciation for focal length. Vintage lenses can give a memorable patina to your moving image or photograph - something that takes the edge off an over-sharp, antiseptic digital image and lends it some character. ![]()
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