Vintage glass,
properly documented.
Specifications, mounts, production dates and cited manufacturer histories for 1,153 vintage lenses. Verified against primary sources, open to everyone, no account required.
Try Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 · M42 · Contax C/Y · Distagon
Start with a mount
Most vintage lens questions begin with a mount. These are the systems documented most deeply so far.
What’s here
A catalog, not a listing
Every entry carries its source. Specifications are verified against manufacturer documentation or primary reference, and each record shows when it was last checked. Where a figure isn't known, the field is left empty rather than guessed.
datingSerial-number dating
Date a body or lens from its serial number using published factory schemes and recorded production ranges. Hasselblad and Zeiss, Leica and Canon are live. Rollei is too, on its own terms: its numbers were reserved in blocks rather than issued in build order, so you identify the camera first and the serial then places it. Where a manufacturer never published a scheme — Minolta, and Contax in the C/Y era — the tool says so plainly and tells you what does work instead.
historiesManufacturer & lens histories
Long-form, cited histories of the companies and the optics — who designed them, what changed between versions, and why a given lens renders the way it does. Open to everyone, with the sources listed. This is the newest part of the reference and the library is still small; histories are added as the research clears review.
Modern equipment hasn’t gone anywhere
2,965 itemsacross current and historical mounts, held to the same specification discipline. Vintage is simply what we’re leading with.
Browse the full catalog →Brass & Glass documents photography equipment from verified data and cited sources. Vintage equipment is cultural heritage, not nostalgia bait — we treat it accordingly.