My father in law gave my daughter an old 35 mm lens that he has had for a while. I am NOT a photographer and don't know any thing about cameras. The lens is a "Focal" Macro lens and screws into the face of the camera (not bayonet type). Is there a such thing as an adapter to fit this lens to her new digital SLR? If not, no loss but it looks too good not to use if possible.
Andy
I don't really know anything specific, but here are some background thoughts:
Focal was an aftermarket brand. The screw mount was possibly the Pentax thread, for which most lens makers had products in the 1970's, but there may have been other screw mounds as well. Since Pentax and most makers went to bayonet several decades ago, it is unlikely you will find an adapter from that screw mount specifically for a digital camera.
If the new camera is Pentax K bayonet and the old one Pentax thread, then you may find an adapter. I had one during the conversion period. However, some features may not work correctly due to additions they have made over the years in the control linkages.
B&H Video/Audio in New York City might have an odd adapter somewhere. Other places to look would be camera repair shops. All of that assumes that there are threads available on your digital camera to accept a lens ...
Focal was the brand of lenses sold by KMart. Really the best place to shop for adapters is second hand stores in our area.
There are adapters available for most lenses to switch between different manufactures mounts. Canon lens on a Nikon body, ect.
You just need to determine what type of mount the lens uses. Focal may have made this lens with different mounts to mach different brands of cameras. A good start would be what brand of camera does your father in law have and what type of mount does it use. Then search for an adapter to mate to your daughter's camera.
Depending on the age of the lens the auto focus and auto exposure may not be available when using the lens. That's not a major problem with a macro lens, she will just need to set her focus and exposure manually.
Like others have said, one can find an adapter for any lens out there and use it. I don’t mean to sound negative but ‘Why Bother?”, if the d-SLR camera is of good quality.
I bought a Pentax K-X a few years ago because I had an assortment including various zooms of Pentax SMC lens ranging from 22 to 400mm from the 70s and 80s. The old lenses would fit the new d-SLR with no problem.
It was disappointing seeing these lenses in storage. I have used the 400 mm a few times for some events but on the whole the functions of the digital SLR makes most of the old lenses not necessary. I only use the 400 and 22mm occasionally.
Plus the button pushing in Manual mode for settings was a small bother to deal with in taking a simple photo but then I got use to it and found a few tricks to speed it up.
The digital SLR camera renders a lot of old lenses as nice paperweights nowadays.
