The price to performance of used cameras is absurd. My view is that digital photography tech hit maturity in 2008 with the release of the Canon 5D Mark II and Nikon D700.
There is an overwhelming amount of professional gear out there at rock bottom prices. Consumer gear can be a blast when it’s cheap enough. The right camera for a style of shooting is going to be better than whatever the newest camera happens to be. (Unless you’re doing sports/action/wildlife. AF tech is getting absurd.)
Third Party Battery Paranoia
I have had batteries fall apart, fail within months, and with a capacity far below what’s on the label. It’s difficult to find good quality third party batteries.
There is an easy way ANYONE can inexpensively capacity test camera batteries. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to capacity test camera batteries. It is a simple DIY project that only requires, ~$30, a screwdriver, and pair of wire strippers.
Picking Out Vintage Lens Winners
All lenses aren’t equal, especially when it comes to vintage and early digital camera lenses. Modern lenses will give you images that are razor sharp corner to corner. Vintage lenses can set themselves apart by how they render, the color you can get with them, interesting bokeh, or other characteristics not valued by current photographers.
On the other hand, many vintage lenses are not good. Their performance may not be good enough to set them apart from other lenses. Worse, as time has gone on some lenses have defects such as haze, fungus, balsam separation, or degraded grease, that will render them worthless because of the difficulty in repair.
I’m somewhat indiscriminate in my purchasing of gear, so I get a mix of good, bad, and average. The lens reviews will help you find a lens worth owning. These are popular film cameras that recieve frequent lens questions.
Take advantage of the Nikon D600’s full-frame sensor with a great lens. The camera uses the F-mount, which has a huge selection of lenses to choose from.
Whether you’re into portraiture, macro, wildlife, or simply want an all-rounder, we’ve got you covered with our carefully curated list. Featuring prime and zoom lenses, as well as third-party options like the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art and the Tamron SP 90mm F/2.
Take advantage of the Nikon D600’s full-frame sensor with a great lens. The camera uses the F-mount, which has a huge selection of lenses to choose from.
Whether you’re into portraiture, macro, wildlife, or simply want an all-rounder, we’ve got you covered with our carefully curated list. Featuring prime and zoom lenses, as well as third-party options like the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 DG HSM Art and the Tamron SP 90mm F/2.
The Flange Focal Distance is the distance between a camera lens mount and the film plane or image sensor.
The short distance on mirrorless cameras is why it is easy to adapt film lenses to those mounts. Space taken up by the mirror is replaced with a lens adapter.
Flange distance is also referred to as:
Flange focal depth Flange back distance Flange focal length Back focus Flange-to-film distance Register Film Plane Indicator / Focal Plane Mark Film Plane Indicator on a Canon AE-1 Each manufacturer uses a different mark to show the film or sensor plane location.
Launched in 1964 by Asahi Optical Co. Ltd., the Pentax Spotmatic series sold well thanks to its innovative spot metering technology. The “spot” in Spotmatic was a reference to the built-in light meter.
There were 10 major versions of the Pentax Spotmatic.
If you are not overly familiar with vintage cameras, TTL metering was a huge quality of life improvement. It reduced the price and complexity of photography. Prior to the Spotmatic, an extenal light meter light, like the Pentax Spotmeter V would have been needed.
The Minolta X-570 is a great 35mm film camera. It is notable because it is one of the best cameras that was designed to be used with Minolta MD lenses.
It is likely the best-known camera in the Minolta SRT single lens reflex camera lineup. This page covers the 5 best lenses for the Minolta X-570, plus some alternatives.
Here is the list of the best lenses for the Minolta X-570:
The Nikon D780 is a versatile DSLR camera designed for both professional photographers and videographers. It boasts a 24.5MP FX-Format BSI CMOS Sensor, a robust 51 AF system, and next-generation EXPEED 6 image processing.
The D780 supports up to 7 fps continuous shooting with the optical viewfinder or 12 fps in silent live view mode, and UHD 4K video recording up to 30 fps. However, to truly unlock the potential of this camera, one must pair it with the right lens.
