You could just get a reverse-ring to mount one of your existing lenses backwards, but I want to steer you into the rabbithole of vintage lenses anyway

Ebay has loads of all kinds of them, and many are in no way behind modern lenses in terms of image quality, while being super affordable.

But then there's also lenses people specifically seek out because they aren't perfect, and exhibit visual quirks that make them interesting for creative work.

The soviet Helios 44-2 for example has some strong spherical abberations going on, producing what most people call a „swirly bokeh“.
This lens has been used in some scenes of The Batman, and they even modified their expensive anamorphic cinema lenses to look more like the Helios.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

ouuuu, I do love playing with how my photos look like before the light even reaches the sensor. I think one of my friends once got himself an old soviet lens, I'll have to ask him about how it shot

[–] miss_brainfarts@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Another one I like a lot is my Pentacon auto 50mm 1.8 multi coating. If you can find one in good condition, this is a great looking lens you should be able to get below 50 bucks. At least that's the kind of price I remember last time I checked.

And it uses (like the Helios) the m42 screw mount instead of a proprietary bayonet. So that's a big plus for fans of open standards, even if it's absolutely irrelevant today, since you'll need adapters anyway.

But my favourite might be the Minolta Rokkor 50mm 1.4, that is just a nice lens. There's also a 1.2 variant, but it's harder to find and more expensive.

[–] shneancy@lemmy.world 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

guess I'll need to start hunting for vintage lenses lol! I've only stuck to modern ones so far to expand my range but you're tempting me a lot with those comments :D

[–] miss_brainfarts@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 9 months ago

Do it :D