Old manual focus lenses on your digital slr

Ever since I discovered I could adapt my favorite legendary Contax Carl Zeiss manual focus lenses to my Canon digital camera, I literally went to heaven – photographically speaking of course.
There are certainly limitations to using some of these older lenses like the lack of auto focus for instance, which we've all become so desperately dependent on. Also, the inability of the lens to communicate electronically to the camera body means that most of, if not all auto functions are disabled – stop down metering is available in AV mode. Why then would one want to give up all this modern luxury for an old, archaic lens? I personally enjoy the fact that focusing manually allows me to slow down and really contemplate what I'm trying to achieve when looking through the viewfinder. With a little bit of practice and installation of a split prism focusing screen, first for my Digital Rebel almost 5 years ago and now for my Canon 40D, I'm finding that I can compose and focus very quickly if needed, then stop down to my desired aperture just before clicking the shutter to make my exposure. Not only is this fun but the results can be really superb!

The great part is that so many of these older lenses can be adapted or converted for so many modern camera systems. People are ditching their so called "obsolete" 35 mm camera gear online, on Ebay and the like, by the truck load. I bought my Carl Zeiss 50mm f/1.7 lens for a mere $130.00, and I can safely say, it is probably the sharpest optic I have ever owned. With the additional purchase of a relatively inexpensive adapter, readily found on Ebay again, a willingness to try something different, and a tad bit of effort, you can bring new light to your photographic experience. Give it a try, it worked for me!

Here are some great resources covering this topic in much greater depth:

Lens Adaption & Conversion Forums
Adapting and converting lenses to various camera mounts.
http://forum.cogitech.ca

Manual Focus Forum
Discuss how to buy, fix, clean, and use all the old manual focus photography kit you can find. M42, Pentacon 6, Contax, Leica, Canon, Nikkor, Carl Zeiss Jena, Asahi Pentax Takumars etc!
http://forum.manualfocus.org

Custom-Focusing-Screens
http://www.katzeyeoptics.com

Using Classic Manual Focus Lenses on the Canon Digital Rebel
http://ca.geocities.com/spirope/EOSclassiclenses.htm

Quality Lens Adapters
http://www.cameraquest.com