Using a vintage lens with a modern camera
Recently I bought the M42 Asahi Super-Takumar 55mm/1.8 lens. I read online that they would be a cheap way to get a fast lens with dreamy bokeh. I already have a Yongnuo 50mm lens that is pretty similar, but I always wanted to try out one of these vintage lenses.
how to make it work
In the case of my Nikon you cannot just connect a vintage lens to a modern camera. You have to consider the adapter ring to connect the lens to the camera body, the flange focal distance, and that you will lose a lot of features that modern lenses have, like adjusting the focus and aperture from within the camera. Using a lens with this method means you can only shoot in full manual mode. Also when doing things like this, consider that this obviously might damage your lens, and when using a DSLR the mirror may also strike the back of your lens. Proceed with caution.
The adapter ring
You can use an adapter ring to connect the lens to the camera. There are a few options, you can use a ring like the one I bought, or an assembly that has lenses inside. The advantage of using an adapter with optics is that it will make it easier to keep the infinity focus. The downside is that these are a bit more expensive, around €20, and let a little less light through. I may get one of these later.
An adapter ring for an M42 lens to Nikon F-Mount
The flange focal distance.
The flange focal distance on my nikon D3400 is 46.5mm. For an M42 lens this is 45.46mm. That, plus the adapter ring with a thickness of about 1mm means there is about a 2mm difference to focus this lens. When using a Canon camera with an EF mount, this is not an issue, since it has a flange focus distance of 44mm. For the nikon though this means you lose the ability to focus on infinity, and can only focus abount 2-3m from the lens. To compensate for this I tried advice from mflenses.com forum posts and manually moved the lens assembly backward a bit.
First unscrew the name ring by using a rubber ring to get grip
Unscrew the focus grip to reveal the screws
Loosen these screws to move the relative positions of the focus ring and lens assembly
After moving the lens assembly backward a bit it’s unfortunately not enough to reach infinity, but at least it give a little more space, to about 3m. This is enough to take some portraits.
Example pictures
Today was a beautiful autumn day, so I went to the park with my son and shot some pictures.
Conclusions
Shooting in full manual mode is not that bad if you’re taking some portraits consecutively. Shooting at f1.8 and the next two settings with this lens results in the above shots. When walking around, and taking pictures of different scenes, I ended up fiddling with my camera a lot. Children also like to move around a lot, so I was really struggling with the focus ring and moving the camera around to get within the few centimeters of focus you get when shooting wide open.