My Favorite Vintage Lenses for Creative Photography
If you don’t think that a 30-year-old Zeiss lens on your mirrorless camera will add a dash of magic to your images, then, you probably haven’t tried it. I’m hoping to change that. And I would go so far as to say that vintage optics will affect your entire creative imaging process.
Here’s what happens. First, the optics are designed differently than what we buy today. The high image quality of a digital camera really shows off the unique characteristics of vintage lenses.
But there’s something in the cooking of it too. We find ourselves slowing down a bit, in large part thanks to manual focusing, which leads to composing more carefully. Another happy byproduct is the motivation to experiment with in-camera effects such as monochrome and creative filters. I mean, why not?
The two areas where I notice the biggest difference with the following lenses (that I’ve tested and adore) are color palette and out-of-focus background rendering. I’ve also marveled at how bright light sources can produce interesting and unpredictable results.
If I’ve piqued your curiosity, here are a few things you’ll need. First, use a…
