Bought a6000, caught legacy bug

[JDav]

(MODERATORS: I noticed the legacy lens part of the forum too late, if you think this should go there, by all means, move it. It probably does fit there best.)

 

I worked as a professional sports photographer for years, blindly shooting away with a Canon and not truly appreciating photography.

 

I got a promotion and was no longer required to shoot, so I sold my gear. 

 

After a few years I got the itch again, but there were stipulations: No. 1 — No backaches. I wanted to go light. No. 2 — I wanted to shoot on a budget (I've added kids and other expenses). No. 3 — I wanted to have fun.

 

I did some research and talked to a photo buddy, PMR (some Sony shooters probably know him), and I settled on an a6000.

 

Picked one up with a kit lens and ordered an adapter for some old FD stuff I had sitting around from back in the day. And there's where my trouble started.

 

After messing around with the old standard Canon FD 50mm 1.8, I went immediately to Amazon and bought adapters for every mainstream mount — the best-rated, yet cheap, adapters. 

 

Fast forward two months, and I've spent about $250 at various thrift stores, garage sales and pawn shops picking up a vast array of manual focus lenses and other finds, and I'm having the time of my life.

 

So far, here's what I've got:

 

Nikon F mount lenses

Nikkor-S.C. Auto 55mm 1.2 (with an old Nikkormat EL body thrown in)

Nikkor 135mm 2.8 (with a Nikon FG body added to the deal)

Carl Zeiss Jena 28mm 2.8 

Sigma AF 24-70mm 2.8 DG (auto-focus doesn't work, but it's otherwise mint)

Sigma AF 15mm 2.8 fisheye (again, no-go on autofocus, but manual focusing is smooth)

Auto Vivitar 200mm 3.5 (stuck wide-open, unfortunately)

RMC Tokina 400mm 5.6

 

 

Minolta MD mount lenses

Minolta MD Rokkor-X 45mm 2.0

Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm 1.4 (threw in a Minolta XD-11 body)

Minolta 1:1 extension tube (I believe this was made for the 50mm 3.5 macro)

 

Canon FD mount lenses

Canon FD 50mm 1.8 (two copies, both flawless)

Canon FD 28mm 2.8 S.C.

Tou/Five Star MC Auto Macro 28mm 2.8 (surprisingly good little lens)

MC Super Albinar Auto 135mm 2.8

MC Auto Zoom CPC CCT 75-200mm macro 4.5

Osawa MC 70-180 macro 4.5

 

M42 mount

Auto Mamiya/Sekor SX 135mm 2.8 

 

Pentax K-mount

SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1.7

SMC Pentax-A 50mm 1.7 (got these guys for $2 each, mint, with caps)

 

 

A word of warning: This can get out of control. But I'm not sure I'd have it any other way.

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[Langstrum]

Welcome to the world of GAS patients. I was infected 3 years ago and it's still eating my pocket.
You've got quite nice lenses so far but I recommend to avoid most of the zoom lenses, you will realize latter how crappy they are once you get better primes. A rather cheap second-hand A7 or A7ii (in the next 1, 2 years) may be better for you since these lenses were designed for 35mm film, or equivalent to the full frame sensor.

[Sprocketdog23]

You may have GAS, but thought of in another way, you have rescued these lenses from a lonely world of dusty garage shelves, mouldy boxes in lofts, or in the dark recesses of grubby thrift stores. Keep up the good work, indeed....you have only just started :-)

[JDav]

Thanks guys. GAS indeed. It's something I never had when I shot Canon. I had a EF 50 1.4, a Tamron 17-35 2.8-4 and a 70-200 2.8L and I was happy. The white lens almost never came off the body. Weird. Maybe I'm chasing the look from that lens, my favorite of all time. 

 

Langstrum, I get what you're saying on the zooms — none of those were "buys." They were all included with lots. Those FD zoom macros are particularly bad. The little Tou/Five Star is the only FD lens I have that I occasionally use. The Sigma zoom is a great lens, but I'm tempted to send it off for repair, get the AF fixed, and sell it to feed the habit. It's not a cheap lens, and even with an expensive repair I think I could make a profit.

 

Sprocket, to your point, I really wanted to save a Minolta MD 55 1.4 a few days ago at a flea market. It was filthy, but otherwise in pretty great shape. Unfortunately, the guy thought it was worth much more than it was. I had to leave a man behind.

 

The photo here was taken with the Sigma fisheye — full res, it's a pretty nice image.

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[Nordentro]

You have LBA for sure

Nice collection and samples

 

Cheers

Lars

[BadRad]

Very cool. I'm not in that deep ... but the F2.8 Canon FD 300mm is really sweet on anything, heavy but back in the day it ruled.