Fuji Old manual focus primes

daveproctor

New Member
I am loving my X-E1 with the 18-55 zoom lens and have at last found my Holy Grail of a relatively compact camera which has superb image quality.

I would love to invest in the Fuji prime lenses but can't afford these at the moment so got thinking about getting an adapter and using some old manual primes.

I work near to a company which make excellent quality adapters for most lenses and wondered if anyone had some information as to whether any particular lenses were better than others. I have no personal preference except I can't stretch to the Leica route so happy with Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Nikon etc.

Would be great to hear of any recommendations before I buy an adapter
 
Dave, first and foremost, welcome.

Secondly there are existing adaptors from Novoflex, Kipon and the like that do the job very well - you don't need to have them made for you from scratch.

Thirdly DON'T buy the cheap ones off eBay. QC is random at best and non-existent at worst.

Fourthly, have a look here to give you an idea of the "art of the possible": UPDATED Fuji X-E1 and Legacy Lenses - a set on Flickr

Finally, have a nose through our Adapted Lens Sample Archive - that's what it's there for :cool:
 
Thanks for that

I should be clearer - I won't be having the adapter made, I work close to SRB who make a range of adapters which are good quality and very well made.

I'll have a look at the links you gave me - appreciate your help
 
As a starter I bought myself a 35mm F1.7 CCTV lens from eBay which cost the grand total of £24.99 delivered from Hong Kong

Only had a quick play with it but it has a very 'interesting' look and great for isolating the centre of the picture where it is surprisingly sharp. Crazy soft at the edges no matter what aperture ;)

8890358533_a5f90bf3f9_b.jpg

Toby B&W by dave.proctor, on Flickr

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Lily by dave.proctor, on Flickr
 
I'm not surprised it's soft at the edges; I'm just surprised it covers the APS-C frame. CCTV lenses are usually designed to cover about a 16mm diagonal. Is it a C mount, or something more modern?

I do agree that soft edges can give a nice look to portraits and the like. My all time favourite lens was an old war-surplus 8" f:2.9. Used on anything bigger than 1/4 plate (3"x4" roughly) the edges were like cotton wool.
 
I work near to a company which make excellent quality adapters for most lenses and wondered if anyone had some information as to whether any particular lenses were better than others. I have no personal preference except I can't stretch to the Leica route so happy with Olympus, Pentax, Canon, Nikon etc.

Would be great to hear of any recommendations before I buy an adapter

You'll find fans of all of the various old SLR mounts. For example they all have their fast 50mm lenses that typically came bundled with the respective bodies, and there are good wide angle and telephoto options too generally speaking. I ended up with some Minolta lenses and an adapter for my NEX simply because I found a 50mm f/1.4 locally for really cheap.

What particular lenses or lens attributes are you most interested in? That will help narrow the field. If you were specifically looking for say wide angle, sharpest telephoto, or dreamiest bokeh, etc. then people could make some specific recommendations.
 
You'll find fans of all of the various old SLR mounts. For example they all have their fast 50mm lenses that typically came bundled with the respective bodies, and there are good wide angle and telephoto options too generally speaking. I ended up with some Minolta lenses and an adapter for my NEX simply because I found a 50mm f/1.4 locally for really cheap.

What particular lenses or lens attributes are you most interested in? That will help narrow the field. If you were specifically looking for say wide angle, sharpest telephoto, or dreamiest bokeh, etc. then people could make some specific recommendations.

Ideally I'd like a fast 35 and 50mm with really smooth bokeh
 
35mm and 50mm lenses, or is that the equivalent FOV you want?

Fast 50's with good bokeh won't be hard to find for cheap on most all mounts, of course you are then looking at 75mm equivalent FOV. Fast 35mm's will be more expensive, but most mounts seem to have something in the range of 35mm f/2. I don't have any experience with those myself. I just did a quick search, the Minolta Rokkor 35mm f/1.8 goes for over $100 to usually over $200 on EBay (I feel at that point you may as well bite the bullet and get a used Fuji 35mm f/1.4! It is faster, sharper, and AF's...)

It gets harder if you want fast 35mm and 50mm equivalent lenses. I guess then you're looking for a 35mm f/2-ish, and then a 23mm f/2-ish. Based on price or availability that will probably narrow down the mounts for you.
 
i like using manual lenses on my fujis...which surprises me as i bought into the fujis to take advantage of af.
i wound up with a few minolta lenses, bought 2 really cheap and had 2 given to me.

i also have a canon 100mm lens that i bought and has wound up being an orphan because of the minoltas taking over.

i find the xe-1 easier to use than the xpro...it has that diopter adjustment and the better evf.
 
i've always loved the results from my konica ar 50mm f1,7 (said to be one of the sharpest) and 40mm f1,8. the bokeh from my konica ar 57mm f1,4 is quite nice, too. one of my legacy primes i don't think i'll ever give up is my nikkor ai-s 20mm f2,8. love that lens especially on 35mm format. it's especially great for video on a FF.

(Sent from my EVO)
 
Hi thanks for extra info. I am concerned about how older lenses may affect my camera. What about the closeness of the old lenses to the sensor? Would I be able to collapse the old lenses whilst on the camera and will the 2 mounts make the screw lenses very heavy on the front of my camera?
 
I doubt if you'll be able to collapse any of the old Leica or similar lenses, assuming that in collapsed position they actually retract into the camera body.. The sensor on the X cameras is very near the front of the body, rather than the back, where film used to go. I'd say there is probably 3/4 an inch (about 2cm) less depth available before the lens hits the electrical connector pins.

I believe there is a compatibility chart somewhere on the Fuji site specifically for Leica lens compatibility. Have a look.
 
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