This page is dedicated to my collection of vintage optics, which I have studied long enough to be able to explain why I love them so much and why I now often (but not always) prefer using them in my personal work as opposed to modern lenses, by adapting them on my Sony camera.
I believe that learning vintage optics is a necessary step to make more conscious choices when it comes to choosing a lens and aesthetic, it's an inexpensive way to try and learn different focal lengths and very helpful for understanding modern optics better. Vintage lenses also have quirks and "flaws" that have been completely neutralized on modern lenses, rendering them "too perfect", some would say, but also "safer" and necessarily more reliable for the modern and fast paced photography work.
Whist building my collection, I have sometimes noticed differences and inconsistencies in different copies of the same lens, probably due to aging and perhaps the not so consistent quality control processes of the past.
The lenses I am discussing here are therefore the best ones I have kept after a thorough selection through trial and error, wrong buys, refurbishments and restorations.
So, without being too long and technical, talking about things like vignetting, coma and so forth (as many others already have done), I will simply list and describe the qualities and weaknesses of each vintage lens I own, sharing my experience and providing image examples to illustrate what in my experience could be achieved by using a modern 50 Megapixel Sony camera body and the post production software available today.
Zeiss Jena Tessar
50mm f2.8
Meyer Optik Primotar
50mm f2.8
Meyer Optik Oreston
50mm f1.8
Auto Yashinon
5cm f2
Zeiss Jena MC Flektogon
35mm f2.4
Auto Yashinon DX
50mm f1.4
Yashica ML
28mm f2.8
Zeiss Jena MC Pancolar
50mm f1.8
Carl Zeiss Jena MC
135mm f3.5
Auto Yashinon DX
35mm f2.8
Mir 1
37mm f2.8
Helios 44-2
58mm f2
Industar 50-2
50mm f3.5
Yashica ML
50mm f2