He also says he believes that a manually focused lens often surpasses the accuracy of the few autofocus lenses he still owns. “There is a tactile quality to holding onto a metal focus ring,” said Mr. Yates. “The damping of the ring  the resistance  allows me to fine-tune the focus so much more accurately. When I manual-focus with the newer lenses, they just don’t feel the same.”

Usually all that is needed to get many vintage lenses working on a new camera is a simple twist-on adapter, costing $10 to $30. Because each adapter is unique to a specific lens mount and camera combination and adapters are relatively inexpensive as camera gear goes, photographers usually buy a separate adapter for each lens. They can be found on eBay, though some manufacturers, like Pentax, sell their own. Many vendors sell generic adapters, but it is best to search online for reviews on the quality and compatibility of specific lens, camera and adapter combinations. Online photography communities like fredmiranda.com and ManualFocus.org are good places to start the research.

Image Shawn McCully, a lawyer, above, made an adapter to mount an old manual-focus lens on his digital single-lens reflex camera. The old lenses are an alternative to expensive, contemporary models that do fit the new cameras. Credit... Photographs by Kevin P. Casey for The New York Times

But like shooting with a manual lens, buying them can be complicated. For mechanical and optical reasons, some brands of D.S.L.R.’s work with a wider array of vintage lenses than others. Nikon D.S.L.R.’s can take scores of vintage Nikon lenses without adapters. But the Nikon cameras don’t work well, if at all, with the majority of vintage lenses from makers like Olympus, Pentax and Zeiss.

Canon cameras have the opposite characteristic. They are incompatible with most vintage Canon lenses, but with cheap adapters can mount dozens of brands of third-party vintage lenses.

Olympus D.S.L.R.’s can mount most of the same vintage lenses Canon cameras can, along with vintage Olympus lenses if you have the adapters.

Pentax D.S.L.R.’s can mount just about every Pentax lens ever made and the third-party lenses that use the Pentax-style lens-mount. Sony D.S.L.R.’s are the least compatible of the major manufacturers. Those cameras work with certain Minolta lenses and, with an adapter, lenses that use what is known as an M42 screw mount.