{"id":2332,"date":"2013-09-06T16:30:46","date_gmt":"2013-09-06T21:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/?p=2332"},"modified":"2013-11-02T07:16:03","modified_gmt":"2013-11-02T12:16:03","slug":"using-old-manual-focus-lenses-on-mirrorless-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/using-old-manual-focus-lenses-on-mirrorless-cameras\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Manual Focus Lenses on Mirrorless Cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mirrorless Compact System Cameras (CSC) are great at a lot of things. They’re smaller, with smaller lenses, they have ultra-accurate autofocus and in most cases very high quality native lenses. However, one of the biggest advantages of these mirrorless cameras is the ability to mount and use almost any manual focus lens ever made.<\/p>\n

\"Fujifilm<\/a>
Fujifilm X-E1 with Carl Zeiss 90mm f\/2.8 Sonnar (Contax G mount)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All the major mirrorless camera systems, including Micro 4\/3, Fuji X, Sony NEX, Samsung NX, Nikon 1 and Canon EOS M, feature a lens mount register distance that is very, very short in comparison to DSLRs and even most existing rangefinder systems, such as Leica M or Contax G. This allows one to mount lenses for any other system to the mirrorless camera using a simple mechanical adapter.<\/p>\n

You can easily use lenses for Contax\/Yashica, Leica M, Leica R, Canon FD, Minolta MD, Konica AR, Olympus OM, Nikon F, Canon EF (with some limitations), M42 Screwmount, Leica Thread Mount, Contarex, Alpa, and the list goes on and on. Instead of the limited number of lenses made specifically for your system, you can literally use thousands of different lenses from dozens of manufacturers.<\/p>\n

This article takes a deeper look into the potential options available to you, how some of these lenses perform, and why, if you own a mirrorless CSC, you should definitely look into adapting some excellent older glass to your camera.<\/p>\n

Why Should You Adapt?<\/h3>\n

If you’ve not used any manual focus lenses on your modern digital camera, you may be asking yourself why someone would want to shoot with one. There are lots of reasons, but let’s take a look at what are, in my opinion, the five biggest ones:<\/p>\n

Gain capabilities not available with native lenses<\/h4>\n

While some mirrorless systems, like Micro 4\/3, have very large lens lineups, all mirrorless systems have gaps in capability that the native lenses don’t cover. None of the CSCs have fast telephoto lenses in the 300mm range or longer. None of them have tilt\/shift ability, and even when there are good options for say, a fast portrait lens, most of these systems don’t have multiple options.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s adding a 300mm f\/4 for a high-end telephoto lens or using a fast 50mm lens for some shallow depth of field, adapting quality manual focus lenses is often a good way of getting the lens you need without waiting for the camera manufacturer to release a new product.<\/p>\n

Optical Excellence<\/h4>\n

While there are some truly excellent mirrorless lenses out there for all systems, in some cases, the native lens in the focal length you want may just not be up to snuff. In this case, there may be a truly excellent manual focus lens that has the optical quality you’re looking for. Sometimes you’ll end up paying through the nose for these lenses, such as is the case with adapting more modern Leica M lenses, but if you are after the best, in many cases you can get it.<\/p>\n

You Can Save Money<\/h4>\n

While many manual focus lenses, even those 40-50 years old, can be quite expensive if they are top-tier optics, rare, or have the words ‘Leitz’ or ‘Zeiss’ written on them, there are tons of very high quality lenses out there that can be had for very little money. Fast 50mm lenses are a prime example. Most fast 50mm lenses from the 60s through the 80s are quite<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The unique look from the Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f\/1.4 (Leica M Mount), here on an Olympus E-P1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

good optically and can be had for a song. A good 50mm f\/1.4 will often run you about $100, while an f\/1.8 version may only cost you $30-$50 in excellent condition. The more specialized you get, the more the price will increase, but still, in many cases you can save money.<\/p>\n

That Unique Look<\/h4>\n

When lenses are designed by the optical engineers at a company, there are design considerations and tradeoffs that are made. As a result, often lenses with the same specifications will have drastically different renderings of a scene. One lens may have been optimized for wide open sharpness, but as a result, the bokeh is wild and harsh. Others may have a soft dreamy glow, or produce super contrasty and saturated images, or produce crazy, swirly backgrounds, or be very low contrast and mild, others may be clean and clinical. What this allows is for you to choose the right lens to give you the look you want right out of the camera, which saves a lot of time in post processing. In many cases, the look you get with some lenses absolutely can’t be replicated in post. This is one of the key reasons to adapt, in my opinion: it gives you a tremendous amount of options to get the look you’re after.<\/p>\n

Fun!<\/h4>\n

Shooting with these lenses is a lot of fun…trying out new things, learning about old gear and perfecting your manual focus technique is truly a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Adapting Lenses – How and Why it Works<\/h3>\n

So, why can you use all these old lenses, and are there any limitations and problems with the process? Let’s dig in. First, there are a few things to understand about how lenses are designed for a camera system.<\/p>\n

The distance from the film plane or digital sensor to the point where the lens and camera mounts interface is called the Register Distance<\/strong> or Flange Focal Distance. <\/strong>Each camera mount is designed around a standard register distance, and lenses are designed to operate with that register distance in mind. If the lens is mounted too close to the sensor plane, then the lens has difficulty focusing on closer subjects, and will focus beyond infinity (such that everything is out of focus).<\/p>\n

Typical 35mm SLR lens mounts have register distances generally between about 38mm and 50mm, which is necessary to maintain clearance for the mirror. Typical rangefinder systems have register distances in the 25-30mm range. Mirrorless cameras, however, have very short register distances, ranging from the super short 9.2mm register of the Pentax-Q to the relatively long register of the Samsung NX system at 25.5mm. Fuji X, Sony NEX and Micro 4\/3 all have register mounts between 17 and 20mm.<\/p>\n

Since these mirrorless systems all have register distances shorter than essentially all SLR and Rangefinder systems, a simple mechanical adapter is all that’s required to properly use another system’s lenses. The adapter must be sized such that when the adapter is mounted, the distance from the sensor plane to the adapted mount is exactly the same as the adapted mount’s native register distance. See the image below for an illustration.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a>
How adapters work – The adapter takes up the space between the mirrorless camera’s short Flange Focal Distance (Register) and the required Flange Focal Distance for the Canon FD mount in this example.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One key thing to remember with these adapters, however, is that they are best suited to fully mechanical manual lenses. That is, those with manual aperture rings and good manual focus helicoids. While simple adapters exist for Nikon F and Canon EF, the use of Nikon G lenses and Canon EF lenses on these simple adapters means you lose the ability to control the aperture, and none of the autofocus features work. There are some adapters that have built-in electronics and do allow for aperture control of these lenses, and in some cases autofocus and image stabilization, but they are rather expensive.<\/p>\n

Continue: Types of Adapters and Types of Lenses Best Suited to Adaption <\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

What types of adapters are there, and where can you get them?<\/h3>\n
\"A<\/a>
A simple, $15 adapter for Konica AR lenses to Micro 4\/3 bodies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most lens adapters are simple mechanical adapters that have the lens mount of the lens on one end, and the different lens mount to the camera on the other end. While you can spend around $150 for ‘high end’ versions of these adapters by makers such as Metabones or Kipon, I have found that for most lenses, the cheap adapters you can find on eBay for $10-$20 are every bit as good, and do the same thing.
\nFor more complex adapters, such as those for Contax G lenses, you can get by with a cheap adapter for about $25, but the more expensive adapters from Metabones tend to allow the lenses to focus much more smoothly.<\/p>\n

There are also some rather expensive adapters that allow some modern Autofocus lenses to be used with autofocus on some mirrorless systems. I haven’t had a chance to use these, but I know Metabones makes a Canon EF to Sony NEX adapter with electrical connections that allows the camera to focus the lens, use image stabilization and use auto aperture. When adapting modern auto-aperture lenses, you will need an adapter that has some sort of electrical connection to the lens to send the signal to stop down the lens.<\/p>\n

However, for mirrorless cameras, modern AF lenses are rather large an unwieldy, so I tend to stick to the much smaller manual focus lenses for my cameras.<\/p>\n

There are also special tilt-shift adapters available for some lenses and mirrorless systems (many are available for Nikon F mount lenses) that allow any regular full-frame lens to be used as a tilt shift lens on a mirrorless camera. This is a great way to add tilt-shift capability without shelling out big bucks for specialized tilt-shift lenses.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This shot was taken with the Canon FL 55mm f\/1.2 plus Speed Booster, resulting in a shot taken at 39mm at f\/0.85 on my Fuji X-E1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, there’s a new type of adapter with optical elements, first developed by Metabones, called the Speed Booster. This is actually a 0.7x wide-converter. The result is that a lens becomes .7x wider and 0.7x faster to boot. Therefore, a 50mm f\/1.4 lens when used on the Speed Booster becomes a 35mm f\/1.0 lens. When used on APS-C, the resulting combination acts very much like the 50mm’s native focal length and aperture on full frame, with regards to depth of field. If you really want that full frame look, or to use lenses at their original intended field of view, the SpeedBooster is a great way to do that. They are available in a variety of lens mounts for Sony NEX, Fuji X and Micro 4\/3.<\/p>\n

What types of lenses are best suited to adapting for mirrorless?<\/h3>\n

While any lens could be useful to the right photographer depending on their needs, most mirrorless shooters are using those cameras because they like the small size. Therefore, adapting smaller lenses is often what’s wanted. However, that’s certainly not the only reason to adapt. Let’s take a look at a few scenarios and lens types and how they generally perform on today’s mirrorless systems.<\/p>\n

Rangefinder Lenses<\/h4>\n

Rangefinder lenses are ideal for adapting to mirrorless CSCs because they are generally very small, have a short register distance (so the adapter is correspondingly small), and often have very high image quality. Lenses that fall into this range are Leica M mount, Leica Thread Mount, and Contax G. While there were some other proprietary rangefinder mounts out there, these three are the big ones, and make up the majority of the good rangefinder lenses to adapt.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Voigtlander 40mm f\/1.4 (Leica M Mount) on an Olympus E-P1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Leica M mount has been around for decades, and is the ‘gold standard’ of rangefinder mounts. In addition to the tremendous Leica M lenses, hundreds of lenses from other manufacturers such as Carl Zeiss, Konica, Voigtlander and Minolta have been produced in the M mount. The M mount has a 27.8mm register, so adapters for Fuji X, Sony NEX and Micro 4\/3 are small: around 10mm or shorter. Also, these lenses tend to be extremely compact, so even when using very fast lenses, the overall package is still very small.<\/p>\n

Many of these lenses are among the finest lenses ever produced for ANY system. On the down side, M mount lenses, even those that are quite old, are often very expensive, making this likely the most expensive mount to start adapting. M mount lenses made by Leica are generally in the $300 range at the low-end, for old and slow standard lenses, up to $12,000 for the rarest fast lenses. New Leica M mount rangefinder lenses are between $1,500 and $10,000. The good news is the Carl Zeiss and Voigtlander Leica M mount lenses are considerably less expensive, usually by a factor of 5 to 10.<\/p>\n

There are some even older lenses (and some new ones too) that use the M39 or Leica Thread Mount, which is a screwmount rangefinder mount. There are some great small lenses with this mount that merit a look as well.<\/p>\n

Even the autofocus only Contax G system, which was around in the late 1980s and 1990s has lenses that can be adapted to mirrorless systems. These lenses require a more complex adapter, as they do not have a focus ring. The adapter will have a focus ring built into it, which turns the autofocus drive screw on the lens to allow for manual focus. Many Contax G lenses, which were made by Carl Zeiss, are available in excellent condition, and generally cost between $300-600 depending on the lens. The shot below was taken with the Contax G 90mm f\/2.8 Sonnar on the Fujifilm X-E1.<\/p>\n

\"Chicago<\/a>
Chicago Harbor Light – Fuji X-E1 with Carl Zeiss 90mm f\/2.8 Sonnar (click to enlarge)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Moderate Wide-Angle to Short Telephoto Primes from Manual Focus SLRs<\/h4>\n

This class of lenses comprises the most abundant selection, the potentially lowest cost and the best price\/performance\/size tradeoffs when adapting lenses. There are literally hundreds of 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses available for a host of manual focus SLR systems. Because these lenses had no electronics or focus motors, they are considerably smaller than today’s autofocus lenses of similar focal length and aperture. Above all, these lenses still generally perform extremely well on today’s digital cameras, even though in many cases they are as much as 60 years old.<\/p>\n

\"omd_rokkor\"<\/a>
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Minolta Rokkor 50mm f\/1.4 (Minolta MC mount, a subset of the Minolta SR mount)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Need a fast portrait lens for Micro 4\/3, but don’t want to spend $400 on the Olympus 45mm f\/1.8? Pick up an old manual focus 50mm f\/1.8 such as the Canon FD 50mm f\/1.8, the Super-Takumar 55mm f\/1.8, the Minolta MD 50mm f\/1.8 or Nikon AIs 50mm f\/1.8. These lenses are outstanding optically and can generally be had for less than $30 US, along with about $10 for the adapter. Want a little extra speed? 50mm f\/1.4s from these manufacturers are often found in the $85-115 range. That’s a lot of speed and optical quality for very little cash.<\/p>\n

With my Fuji X system, there currently isn’t a fast portrait lens available for the system, though one is coming soon. Until then, I use my Konica Hexanon 57mm f\/1.2 for shallow depth of field portraits with a field of view equivalent to 85mm on full frame. For a little longer portrait use, I use a fully manual Canon EF mount Rokinon 85mm f\/1.4 for extra-shallow depth of field and a Canon FD 85mm f\/1.8 for everyday use due to its smaller size.<\/p>\n

\"Fujifilm<\/a>
Fujifilm X-M1 with Rokinon 85mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I own (and have owned) many 50mm lenses from Konica, Canon, Minolta, Contax and more, and they all have very different ways of rendering the scene. The Canon lenses are very neutral and provide nice sharp details, moderate contrast and good bokeh. The Konica lenses have a dreamy quality wide open (while still maintaining high detail). Carl Zeiss Contax lenses have extremely high contrast, brilliant sharpness, but a harsher out of focus rendering. When choosing lenses to adapt, you can choose those lenses that fit your shooting style or preference.<\/p>\n

Also in this range and a great candidate for adapting are manual focus Macro lenses. Macro lenses are almost always outstanding optically, and older manual focus macro lenses are generally significantly less expensive than the native mirrorless macro options. Since macro shooting often is done using manual focus, you don’t lose a lot of functionality as well. Adapting a good manual focus macro lens is a great way to get started in true macro shooting without spending a lot of money.<\/p>\n

Big Guns<\/h4>\n
\"Olympus<\/a>
Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Canon FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, one area where adapting can make a lot of sense for mirrorless shooters is with long, fast glass. No mirrorless system currently has any native telephoto options in the supertelephoto range with very large apertures. Since all current mirrorless systems are APS-C or smaller, you can take advantage of the smaller sensor and get some extra reach while adapting some long fast glass to really get some reach and blur out some backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Options here range from relatively inexpensive moderate telephotos such as the Canon FD 200mm f\/2.8, which currently sells for around $175, up to giant glass like the Canon FD 500mm f\/4.5L.<\/p>\n

The Canon FD mount is really the sweet spot for the big supertelephotos, in my opinion. While other manufacturers have certainly made outstanding fast telephoto lenses, Canon made their bread and butter in the 1980s by creating the best supertelephotos in the business, and the FD mount supertelephotos are truly outstanding, even today. While you don’t have the fast autofocus of a modern EF mount lens or Nikon G lens, a lens like the Canon FD 300mm f\/2.8 can be had for as little as $1,000 on the used market, and has optics that are on par with their autofocus brethren at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n

I use a relatively rare Canon FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L, which gives me the same field of view as a 100-600mm lens when used with my Micro 4\/3 cameras, and the field of view of a 75-450mm lens when used on my Fuji cameras, with a constant f\/4.5 aperture and truly stellar image quality. I use this lens for some wildlife shooting, as well as my main lens for shooting professional golf. Below is a photo of Rory McIlroy, taken at the Memorial Tournament in 2012, with the Olympus OM-D and the FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L.<\/p>\n

\"Rory<\/a>
Rory McIlroy tees off on 18.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zoom Lenses<\/h4>\n

A note about zoom lenses: While there are exceptions, the majority of old manual focus zoom lenses are pretty terrible optically. Modern pro-grade zoom lenses are often very close in performance to prime lenses, but in the 1960s and 70s, and even often into the 1980s, this wasn’t the case. If you find some cheap manual focus zoom lens, its performance will likely be pretty poor on a modern digital sensor.<\/p>\n

I did mention that there were exceptions, however. Canon made some excellent zoom lenses in the latter days of the FD mount that are quite good. The FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L that I mentioned earlier is one of these. It’s truly excellent throughout the range. The FD 80-200mm f\/4L is also outstanding. In the cheaper range, the FD 70-210mm f\/4 is also relatively good, though falls short of excellence.<\/p>\n

Carl Zeiss also made some phenomenal zoom lenses for the Contax\/Yashica mount, and these include the 35-70mm f\/3.4 and the 80-200mm f\/4. The Leica M ‘Tri-Elmar’ lenses, which are zooms with discreet stops, are also very good, though extremely expensive.<\/p>\n

Continue: Downsides and Conclusion<\/a><\/h4>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Fujifilm<\/a>
Fujifilm X-E1 with Konica Hexanon AR 57mm f\/1.2 and Konica AR SLR with Konica Hexanon 50mm f\/1.7<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What are the potential issues with adapted lenses?<\/h3>\n

Overall, the benefits of using adapted lenses far outweigh any negatives in my opinion, but there’s no free lunch. There are a few drawbacks, and a few potential issues that you need to watch out for.<\/p>\n

Manual Everything<\/h4>\n

It goes without saying that adapting manual focus lenses means using manual focus, but for photographers used to today’s fast and super accurate autofocus, this can be a little jarring. In addition to using all manual focus, you also will need to control the aperture manually. When adapting some lenses to DSLRs, stop-down metering is needed, where you focus wide open and then stop down at the time of exposure so the camera can meter properly.<\/p>\n

However, mirrorless cameras are uniquely situated to make using manual focus a pleasure rather than a chore. With mirrorless cameras, due to the auto-adjusting EVF, you can usually stop down to the desired aperture and focus there. Modern Electronic Viewfinders (EVFs) are large enough and detailed enough to provide very clear views for manually focusing, and almost all mirrorless cameras can quickly magnify a portion of the view for even more precise focus. Also, many mirrorless cameras feature Focus Peaking, which highlights the in-focus areas in a high contrast color to aid in manual focus. Due to this, I have found manually focusing easier on my mirrorless cameras than on even a modern full-frame DSLR. Still, it’s a slower workflow for many types of shooting than using with autofocus and auto-aperture.<\/p>\n

More Aberrations<\/h4>\n

While there are a lot of great lenses you can adapt, one thing to watch out for is increased chromatic aberration from what you may be used to, especially the type that causes purple fringing. Older lenses also generally don’t perform as well with regards to flare as modern lenses.<\/p>\n

While some Contax\/Yashica, Leica and newer Canon FD (especially the L series) lenses are well corrected for color fringing and lateral CA, lenses from the 50s and 60s are usually pretty poor in this respect. They just didn’t have the complex aspherical lens elements and high dispersion glass that came about a little later on.<\/p>\n

This is something just to be aware of with some older lenses. \u00a0It’s certianly not the case for all old lenses, and in many cases, some of these aberrations are what give an older lens that wonderful look you’re after. \u00a0Just don’t expect a modern rendering with perfect correction from a lens made in 1952.<\/p>\n

Wide Angle Color Shift<\/h4>\n

While the short register distance of mirrorless cameras allows for adapting most any lens, one thing to be wary of is adapting wide-angle rangefinder lenses with certain cameras. These lenses were designed for use on film rangefinders. The short flange distance on these lenses with a wide-angle can often mean you are bending the light at rather extreme angles on to the sensor. Depending on the sensor design, this can cause some rather extreme color shifts when using certain rangefinder lenses on certain cameras. The NEX-7, for instance, is known to color shift quite severely with certain lenses, while the NEX-5N does not.<\/p>\n

While not a super-common occurrence, it’s worthwhile to test out a lens in person if you are interested in purchasing wide-angle rangefinder lenses.<\/p>\n

Gear Acquisition Syndrome<\/h4>\n

Ok, not really a negative, but fair warning: adapting manual focus lenses may lead to an extreme case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome or GAS. Of course I’m joking, but once you start getting a hold of high quality lenses for next to nothing, you start looking for that next great bargain, that next great ‘look’. It can be addictive, and you may soon find yourself with a stable of old glass. Luckily, if you do this right, you may be able to do spending a minimum of money to acquire these lenses, but be warned: it’s fun!<\/p>\n

In Closing…<\/h3>\n

Mirrorless cameras represent an opportunity to use thousands of great lenses on modern cameras. There are gems that cost nothing and exceptional glass that costs a fortune, but there is something out there for most every type of shooting.<\/p>\n

Take advantage of this great capability of your mirrorless camera, and have fun shooting!<\/p>\n

Some Image Samples<\/h3>\n

Finally, I thought I’d share some examples I’ve taken over the years with adapted manual focus lenses on my mirrorless cameras, just to give you an idea of the capabilities.<\/p>\n

\"Tiger<\/a>
Tiger Woods – 2012 Memorial Tournament Pro-Am – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Canon FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Blossoms<\/a>
Blossoms in the City – 64 Image Stitch: Panasonic GH2 with Rokinon 85mm f\/1.4 (Canon EF mount), Click to enlarge!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Flamingo<\/a>
Flamingo – Panasonic GH2 with Minolta MD 135mm f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"In<\/a>
In Bed – Fujifilm X-E1 with Konica Hexanon AR 57mm f\/1.2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Swinging<\/a>
Swinging – Panasonic GH2 with Canon FD 50mm f\/1.4<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Blue<\/a>
Blue Breasted Roller – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Canon FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Flower<\/a>
Flower – Panasonic GH2 with Olympus OM 50mm f\/3.5 Macro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Lola<\/a>
Lola – Panasonic GH2 with Rokinon 85mm f\/1.4 (Canon EF mount)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fireman<\/a>
Fireman Statue – Olympus E-P1 with Voigtlander Nokton 40mm f\/1.4 (Leica M Mount)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fujifilm<\/a>
Fujifilm X-E1 with Canon FD 85mm f\/1.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Heron<\/a>
Heron – Panasonic GH2 with Vivitar 200mm f\/3.5 (Minolta MD mount)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Martin<\/a>
Martin Laird – Panasonic GH2 with Canon FD 135mm f\/2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Bunny<\/a>
Bunny – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Canon FD 200mm f\/2.8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Capitol<\/a>
Capitol Reflection – Fujifilm X-E1 with Contax G 90mm f\/2.8 Sonnar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Egret<\/a>
Egret at Sunrise – Olympus OM-D E-M5 with Canon FD 50-300mm f\/4.5L<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mirrorless Compact System Cameras (CSC) are great at a lot of things. They’re smaller, with smaller lenses, they have ultra-accurate autofocus and in most cases very high quality native lenses. However, one of the biggest advantages of these mirrorless cameras is the ability to mount and use almost any manual focus lens ever made. All […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[278,277,279,276,13,225,281,10,9,29,6,181,280],"class_list":["post-2332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-shop","tag-adapted-lens","tag-adapted-lenses","tag-adapter","tag-adapting","tag-csc","tag-fuji","tag-fujifilm-x","tag-micro-43","tag-mirrorless","tag-olympus","tag-panasonic","tag-sony","tag-sony-nex"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/xe1_sonnar.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p28RGq-BC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2332"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2579,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2332\/revisions\/2579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admiringlight.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}