Buying guides
Read one of these before you buy. If you only read one, make it the guide to checking a used lens: it covers haze, fungus, separation, oily blades and the grading words in listings from Japan.
Helios 44-2 Buying Guide: Versions, Factories and What to Check
How to buy a used Helios 44-2. Its Biotar roots, the three factories that made it, how it differs from the 44M, and what to check in the photos.
Read the guide →Radioactive Takumars and Other Thoriated Lenses: How to Spot Them
Which Takumars and other vintage lenses used thoriated glass, why that glass turns yellow, how light clears it, and what the radiation sources say.
Read the guide →Canon FD vs New FD: How to Tell Them Apart and Which to Buy
Breech-lock FD or New FD? How to tell the versions apart in listing photos, what S.C. and S.S.C. really mean, and how both adapt to mirrorless bodies.
Read the guide →Dating Carl Zeiss Jena Lenses: Zebra, MC, aus Jena and Prakticar
How to date a Carl Zeiss Jena lens from listing photos. Zebra and black barrels, MC and electric markings, aus Jena exports, and M42 versus Praktica B.
Read the guide →Focal Reducers for Vintage Lenses on APS-C and Micro Four Thirds
What a focal reducer does to a vintage lens on APS-C or Micro Four Thirds, why 0.71x gains about a stop, and when a plain adapter is the better buy.
Read the guide →How to Check a Used Vintage Lens Before You Buy
Haze, fungus, separation, scratches, oily blades and Japanese condition grades. What to look for in a used vintage lens listing and what to ask the seller.
Read the guide →