Need help with some old lenses I have aquired

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I got some old lenses today and I have no idea if I can use them with my Nikon D60 or not, so I was wondering if anyone knew anything about them - sorry of this is an obvious question but my excuse is that I am a noob ;p

From left to right

1) Unitor 135mm lens f2.8

2) Helios 28mm f2.8

3) Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar f2.8 and I *think* it's 50mm

Click the picture to view a bigger version if needed.
 
You can get m42 to Nikon F mount adapters from ebay - I can't be sure from the picture but those lens look like m42 screw thread. Be happy if there are :)


Do you mind me asking where you got them?
 
Are they all M42 lenses?

Does anyone know if these lenses will be any good?

Also, the topmost silver ring on the Carl Ziess doesn't turn at all. I assume this should be the focus ring.


My Dad owns a couple (I think) of old cameras and he gave them to me.
 
Get a ruler and measure the diameter of the screw thread - it should by 42mm x 1mm if it's m42 (the 42 is the important bit - I doubt the will be Tamron mount). And they are all very useful. Shame the Ziess doesn't focus.
 
I've been googling and it seems that these lens are incredible cheap, like ~£20 cheap.

Is there a chance that these are any good?

(It seems that they are indeed M42 btw - thanks for the advice on this)
 
~D~ said:
I've been googling and it seems that these lens are incredible cheap, like ~£20 cheap.

Is there a chance that these are any good?

(It seems that they are indeed M42 btw - thanks for the advice on this)
Click to expand...

Prices for lenses with old mounts are almost always very cheap. As for quality try them. And be sure to post pics when you have the adaptor!!
 
These are my generation lenses. ;)
The Unitor 135mm is a budget lens but may be okay as 135mm f2.8 is a really simple formulation.
The Helios 28mm is a russian lens and will probably not be great.
The 50mm Tessar is a classic design and would be the best of them if it worked.

As already said, you can easily get a 42mm to F-mount adapter from the bay but I don't think you'll get infinity focus with one unless it has an integral correction lens and I shudder to think what the quality of one from the bay is likely to be. Obviously, these lenses will be totally manual with your D60. Macro use with tubes is probably the best you can do with them.
 
My M42 adaptor came today, it fits onto my N60 fine (albeit with a lot of effort) and the lens screws into it as it's supposed to, but the Nikon D60 persists with a "Lens Not Attached" message.

Any ideas how to solve this?
 
I have not used manual lenses on Nikon but I believe that you have to use manual mode and that they do not use the metering system. You might have to use the histogram to shoot.
 
^ Yep. Trial and Error near enough to get the shots, gotta do it fully manual as you won't have any metering whatsoever.
 
After a look on Google it seems that Nikon cameras lower than the D200 will not use the metering system. Page 107 of the D50 manual confirms that the D50 will not meter and will only allow the shutter to be released in manual mode, you will have to rely on the histogram to set the exposure or use a handheld light meter.
 
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