Hopefully this is helpful!! Let me know if you have questions, and for the pros at this let us know any tidbits or advice you have to help someone new on this journey 👍
What about adapting the Mamiya RB67 lenses, 112.00 mm flange distance, to a Sigma SD14 or SA9, Sigma SA Mount with a 44.00 mm flange distance ? An adapter would need to be 68.00 mm.
You can get a pretty good estimate of flange depth by just holding the lens near the camera without an adapter and moving it forward and back until you find infinity focus, then measuring the distance. Just "free lensing" it. If the camera and adapter aren't in direct light, no overhead lights shining on the sensor, and you're aiming the combination at something in good light, it's quite easy to see.
I've been doing this for about 10 years and have done it with many different lenses. One of the lenses I adapted was from an old Argus camera and I used a body cap a Dremel tool and a lot of trial and error to get it to work on my Canon DSLR. Canon EF Mount is really good one to adapt a lot of lenses of course. I've done Olympus Pentax Yashica Nikon and others. But in the last few years I've mainly made custom adapters for my Sony mirrorless. Many of the lenses that I've done come out of fixed lens cameras that I take apart and make my own homemade adapter. There are cameras with tiny glass lenses that are maybe like a quarter inch wide that were made to cover full 35mm frame. There's nothing like finding an old point and shoot 35 mm or APS camera that cost $5 or so with a 24 or 28mm glass lens taking it apart and adapting it. Putting it on the camera and being blown away by how good the images are. I spent many many hours figuring out a way to do this the hard part is getting the lenses so you can adjust the focus, some people have said on here a helicoid might be a really good way to do it but in my case I kind of defeats the purpose because of how much they cost and takes the fun and challenge out of it. Because for 25 or 30 bucks I could get a decent 28mm lens and then spend 12 or so on an adapter and put it directly on the camera which of course I've done. I have quite a few 24 and 28mm lenses from slrs and a few Pentax Auto 110 lenses Etc as well which I made my own aperture for.
Funnily enough, this lens is an Argus C4 lens, but was sold as an m42 (and I failed to double check)! So how do you focus with your adapted fixed camera lenses? I saw one (already adapted) for sale from a Canon Autoboy and loved the sample photos the seller showed but I procrastinated too long and somebody else bought it. I really want to try it myself.
@@thelightslide one way is to use the combination of macro tubes and some kind of cheap lens adapter like for c mount to Sony E, another way to looks a little funny is to use a 3/4-in PVC adapter with a nut to screw it into which you super glue to a flat piece of plastic that you cut a hole in and you can actually hold it onto the camera body which is kind of a pain or you can super glue that to some other kind of adapter like a close in m42 or a reverse macro ring thing or something to mount it onto the camera. But I have collected a pretty large amount of spare parts from the thrifting camera and camera accessories for quite a while so a lot of these parts are not really costing me anything at the time they came along with an old camera I bought or some lenses or something like that and the adapters that you do have to buy a few years ago used to be a lot cheaper. If anyone has any better ideas as long as it doesn't cost too much I'd love to hear them as well.
Helicoid is needed for when a lens comes with no focusing parts (projectors, enlargers, shutters, etc). Also, helicoid allows closeup however you please.
I've been trying to find an adapter for my Mansfield Holiday lenses to my Sony a7s. They are screw mounts so I was wondering if there is a general adapter for that
Good to find someone else who will take on a project just because it appears possible. My current on going project is a Ford F150 with a newer engine and 2 computers, 1 for the engine and 1 for the rest of the truck. The wiring harness looks like a messy ball of wires.
I adapted an old worn out 35mm manual shift lens from a Nikon mount to a Minolta mount in the '70's. (I should have adapted it to "T" mount - oh well!). I used a Dremel tool to cut off the Nikon mount, then epoxied the lens to a Pentax screw to Minolta adapter. It was so ugly, but it worked and I used it for years. I did do all the measuring like you mentioned. I knew I wouldn't get the flange distance perfect so I purposely sacrificed close focus to guarantee infinity focus. I thought that was a good trade off for an architectural lens. Great topic!
Something I want to add. 1. If some lens can’t adapt to a camera. It’s usually because the flange distance of the body is bigger than the original lens system. But you can fix that by put another len between the adapter. Just like a speed booster. You can find canon FD to canon EF mount. 2. Flange distance of the digital camera not exactly that simple. Because in front of the sensor is a dust filter. I once remove a damaged dust filter , after put everything together I found out I can’t focus to infinity anymore. After that I have to remove few spacer between the sensor and the body , make the sensor move closer to the mount. It works like normal again. That’s why. However you try to caculate It’s will messed up somehow. All the adapter manufacturers know that. They stop trying to make a perfec adapter. Instead simply make it little bit shorter. To make sure the len you use can focus to infinity. You guys can try that on your lens , camera. 1. Minimum focus always further than the lens said( distance indicates on the lens) , 2 it’s always focus pass infinity. That’s why you can’t Zone focus like some photographers on RUclips show. One more thing. If you can’t find a 3D printer , or just want to mess around. You always can use a PVC tube, a body cap (for the body end of course) , and a len cap ( for the lens mount ) worst thing can happen is the tube not cut good enough. Two caps not parallel, and you got a “tilt shift “ lens , with real miniature effects 😂😂😂 Manual glass is my things. I can talk about it all day.
I found Altix V mount adapter for Fujifilm cameras. I have full Meyer Optik set for Altix. They are pretty rare to find so this was really a surprise that someone made it. And for that mount exist only 4 lenses Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f2.8, Meyer Optik Gorlitz Primagon 35mm f4.5, Trioplan 50mm f2.9 and Telefogar 90mm f3.5.
This video kinda read my mind! I have been seriously considering doing my own attempt of 3D printing an adapter to use my Canon RF lenses on my Nikon Z system. That would be a very thin adapter that's only 4mm thick and has to accommodate both mount designs (Nikon Z from the outside and Canon R from the inside). However, the problem with such an adapter without contacts for aperture control is that you'll be using the maximum aperture of your lens all the time. In principle, I know the adapter will work because Sony E-mount to Z-mount adapters exist out there, and Sony's flange distance is even shorter than Canon R by 2mm. No company would ever dare to make this adapter because Canon will make sure that the idea dies in the crib!
Where 3D printed adapter is really useful is in harvesting lenses from old fixed (non-removable) lens cameras, e.g., Yashica Electro 35 GT, Minolta Hi-Matic, etc. The lenses itself comes off easily enough, but won't be to a standard mount. Each one is a custom job. Come to think of it, I should probably stock up on the old fixed lens junkers while the going is still good. Good vintage lens deals are already becoming rarer.
A helicoid adapter can help you hone in on those flange distances. For some stuff it's pretty much required, and you also get something useful for macro. I have a helicoid M42 to MFT adapter, as wel as a Tilt adapter and a C-mount adapter. There's just a lot of fun to be had in mirrorless and it's taken me to the point where I am saving up to get something like a Canon R series to just get that extra sensor surface to really pull as much as possible from all the weird lenses I've managed to pick up over the years.
That's a really good tip, thanks! And yes, I do think there's something special about using some of the 35mm glass on a FF sensor. I've done that with Pentax K mount glass and my Pentax K-1. I've never actually owned a full frame mirrorless camera. I know some people into adapting vintage stuff grab the original Sony A7. I think it's the cheapest full frame mirrorless you can get ATM. But maybe not good in other ways, I don't know.
@@TheRebelBagel I'd like to have the option for 4K too, though. So I'm still waiting around a little bit. The R6 comes with image stabilization on the sensor too, which is kind of my next goal. It all really depends on how my wallet goes in the next couple of months.
Yesssssssssssssss!! Thank you so much for adapting this difficult old lens for me! I’m so excited to try it and loved this video, as someone who’s never done 3D printing before, you make it seem less intimidating to try it for the first time.
I am a foto noob and I spend last weekend trying to adapt a giant machine-vision lens I found at the scrapyard to my old DSLR. Soo funny to see there is a whole community of people doing the same exact things! I found the sensor distance of the lens by projecting the image on a postcard and measuring the distance to the flange.
I once made an adapter for a hacksawed polaroid camera for a friend who wanted to use medium format lenses on it. We made it work, the motor worked too that pushed out the film. It was scuffed but worked, he focused using a laser rangefinder.
I am new to photography, and use a 14 year old camera released in 2008 for photos the Canon Rebel XS with a 75-300mm lense, It doesn't take video but takes good pictures (I'm pretty sure its a DSLR but I don't know a lot about cameras and their specs sorry). For video though, I use a Panasonic HC-v770 which is an action camera and was released in 2015. Idk if you've done a video on these but it may be interesting for you.
If you plan to do more pf this type of design, use a rail system, slide the lens back and forth first to find the correct distance. That may save you some time.
Have no access to a 3D printer nor any classic lenses. Still, I found this video interesting and fun to watch! Your explanation of the process made it sound doable even for an amateur ! Thank you!!
Get a body cap and a lens cap (if they are available) may get you by. Add a baffle or sunk len cap into body cap if you can to make up the distance. (Cut holes, of course)
In 2011 I was migrating from four thirds to micro fourthirds - but early on in M43, there was a lack of glass. Even if you like manual stuff - a lack of fast-wide glass. I bought a Canon PHF 35 F1.2 TV lens. This was C-mount, and there C-mount adapters, but the shape of this lens got in the way of properly screwing down and giving focus beyond a few inches. At some point I was determined to get my focus back so I took apart the lens and trimmed the body of the lens, and the helicoid. This gave me infinity focus, and I could still close focus under a couple feet away. Next issue - The base of the helicoid has a stop, and without it, the lens can "focus" until it falls off the helicoid. Solution - TV lenses have a screw that's normally in place to lock focus at a point. I threadlocked a screw in place, but not to lock the lens. In the C-mount adapter I used, I bent one side up to get in the way of the screw when focusing, limiting the focus. I've been using it recently again - spot of sharpness in the center with "character" 😆 The edge gets soft, and bokeh is swirly at the ends. Makes for interesting Christmas and portrait pics. PS: I really don't recommend doing this, especially with crappy tools. I may have spent an hour or 2 trimming the helicoid, but I spend another couple of days sanding, polishing, and trimming so that the helicoids would spin smoothly afterwards.
Hi! thanks for the video! I build my own adapters as well but not in the same way, in the past I would mill them out, but now I prefer to make a model in clay or plasticine and make a mould than I cast out in carbon fiber, but I test them before making the final product, otherwise is too much trouble.
Great video and inspiration for many ideas for me. One question for you: aren't you afraid that the printed plastic will break or chip off and go into the sensor?
You can get a good starting point for unknown flange distance quite easily. Set the lens to infinity, point it at a clearly defined light source (a bulb in the ceiling for example) and hover it over a white surface, moving it back and forth until you see your light fixture image clearly projected onto the surface (meaning you can differentiate the edges of the bulb or whatever, it’s in focus). Then take whatever measurements you need. Not sure how you’d want to keep it stable while measuring, but that’s up to you. It’s your lens, leave me alone, I’m busy.
Hi there! Thanks for the inspiring video, definitely now I want to 3d print some flanges. I've already used a body cap with some plumbing tubes and a rubber corrugated tube from an auto repair shop with the lens I've dismounted from an old projector ) it looks lame but it's working 😊
Watching this video after I already had modified two lenses for Nikon DSLR. Those lenses were Olympus Zuiko 35mm f2 and Helios 44/2 f2 (M39 mount) and it was really interesting because in my case the distance between camera sensor and lens was negative. For that I had to cut Lenses into two halves and fix Nikon's mount in order to let the lens sit inside the mirror assembly. Yes, during the testing, the mirror hit the lens few times but luckily didnt break. Both focus to infinity and works like champ! :)
Thanks! I have so many great mostly functional vintage lenses I buy for CA$5 from the quote-un-quote "garbage bin" at my local camera store (if they can't resell the lens for more than CA$50, it's not worth anything to them. Too strict if you ask me) and from the thrift stores, but real lens adapters like the Fotodiox ones are to expensive to justify using on such an old and cheap lens. I'm excited to try this. I have an immaculate Miranda MIR 50mm f/2.8 prime lens that came on a Miranda Auto Sensorex EE for $10 I picked up at the Salvation Army which takes amazingly sharp, clear, and beautiful film photos that I wouldn't mind testing on a mirrorless camera.
I have three vintage lenses, two canon and one hanimex, that I'm trying to adapt to a sony a5000. It's something I'm excited to accomplish to see what kind of pictures I can take with them. Most of them have macro capability with two being telescoping of varying distances.
I recently managed to adapt an old Meopta 12,5mm for 8mm cine camera, lens to MFT , it focuses to infinity , it just has a small image circle , it can be used to shoot video mainly, when cropped the sensor.
Cooke offers 'user interchangeable' lens mounts on their S3/i. I'm surprised other manufacturers don't do that. Of course I expect that Nikon, Canon, Sony and Fuji won't, but 7Artisans, TTArtisan, Viltrox, Sigma etc... Thanks for that, I need to get crafting.
Amplifier machine lenses are good candidates to experiment. They are sharp and have aperture control but no focus. A small helicoid is the best way to adapt them
*almost any lens. Some of us like to suffer by adapting lenses that don't have any means of focusing without the original camera :) I've purchased the 90mm contax g lens, and while waiting for it to arrive from Japan I'm contemplating the way I'm going to adapt it to Fuji x mount. Existing adapters are very much hit-or-miss and good ones cost more than the lens itself. So while reading the comments under this video I saw someone mentioning helicoid adapters. I immediately thought of using Leica-Fuji adapter with macro focus ability, and swapping the lens mount with 3d printed contax g mount. And although it is very tempting to take on this unnecessarily complicated project, I don't think the end result will be worth it :) Really love the variety of your videos!
Interesting. I just looked into the Contact G series lenses and see the big issue is no manual focusing ring. The idea of moving the lens further or closer for focusing is a good enough idea! Not sure how much range that'll give you. Cool lens though.
When adapting a set of enlarger lenses for UV photography, I discovered focussing helicoids. They are cheap in M42 thread, and instantly solve flange distance issues.
you can use fernell lenses to cancel out flange distance difference make a focus plane with a converging or diverging lens at your lens's flange distance and then adjust the rear flange of the flat fernell lens to your camera's flange distance legit way to adapt anything to anything, just needs a little engineering P.S. sorry for my bad english, it's not my first and neither my second language
I have a load of adapted lenses for my Sony and Fuji, and even adapters for my Pentax Q. I love putting huge vintage lenses (Contax Yashica 300/4) on the Q, just for the humor.
I didnt know you could do something like this, i have a nikon dslr camera and a different lens i got quite recently now all i need is a 3d printer and a lot of learning to try and make it work
An interesting experiment would be to see if increasing or decreasing the layer height affects the performance of the lens. Would color/texture affect a mount?
Internal reflections or any translucence in the print material would probably lower contrast or add veiling flare, hence why a lot of lens or adapter barrels are “flocked” (adding non-reflective black fabric) or they add stepped ridges that capture stray light. But, I bet you could change the color of the material to add a tiny bit of a color cast for an in-camera “film look.” It probably would be a cool idea to play around with!
Yeah I think if it was shiny/translucent you'd get some effects. Are you thinking with a layer height that lets light in through cracks? Otherwise the big thing with layer height is print quality at the cost of time/more material. I haven't printed at any thickness/layer height that has allowed light to pass through in any noticeable way.
@@snappiness I was thinking more along the lines of increasing it to create a more stepped grade along the barrel/cone. Now that I think about it, it'd be more appropriate to say it's the "resolution" of the cone (a change in the design) rather than a change in the layer height (a change in production).
I would love to be able to convert Fuji lenses to Leica L-Mount for the Sigma FP if I were to get my hands on one. Very cool video. I've downloaded this video just incase your channel gets censored.
This was interesting! I have an Ender and now I'm looking at all my old cameras/lenses to see if there is something I don't have an adapter for that I can create.
@@snappiness I got the 3D printer because I did not like the 4X5 film holders to develop film in a Paterson tank and found a better design on Thingiverse.
I wish there were more adapters that can also adapt the electronics, for instance when canon created the l1 camcorder, they made a new mount called the interchangeable video mount, aka VL mount, they made an adapter that let you use preexisiting Canon EF - nothing lenses on the camera, and it had adapting for the electronics, I am not sure how much it can adapt, but most likely it can do AF, and possible motor zoom
It's such a fun hobby, in case you need another one on top of cars and photography and whatever else you're into 😆 I'm using an ender 3 I bought used for under $100. Printers are so easy to come by nowadays. But the cheaper ones do need a little tinkering to get working optimally, whereas the much pricier ones are pretty much plug and play.
Hey! I'm doing a project where i do actually need a flange distance shorter than Nikon F and Pentax K (to sony E). I am a complete noob with design stuff, how hard is it to take Nikon to Sony and Pentax to Sony designs from Thingverse and make them shorter without affecting any of the other critical dimensions of the bayonets? I have had no luck in Blender. Also, if you print yourself a lens holder with a sliding paper holder behind it, you can use a candle set to the min focus distance of the lens (so like, lens set to 0.3m, candle at 0.3m) and find the flange distance when the candle is in focus on the paper. Just measure from paper to lens.
You can probably mount an e mount or other mirrorless lens to other bodies, but it will require a precisely made and precisely placed concave lens inside the adapter.
Instead of making prototypes, you could have just put the lens in a tube and held it up to the body. Then using a stick or something, push it deeper into the tube until you reach infinity. Then, use a caliper to measure the depth and just make the adapter 0.5mm shorter than that.
Fantastic video!! Congrats! I am getting inspiration to adapt an old Konica F lens to sony e-mount. The only available adapter on eBay costs over 60€ and with shipping and taxes to Portugal it raises up to almost 100€... 4x the value of the lens I want to adapt....
So idk if you can help and you’re gonna laugh but I want to use Nikon F mount lenses on my Minolta MD camera body. The different is 3mm between both FFDs which means the adapter has to be about that thick? It’s a wild idea, but my guess is I can just swap out the bayonet on a Nikon lens and tweak it if I can’t make an adapter what do you think?
@@snappiness What you want is a C mount adapter. That'll let you mate surveillance/industrial/scientific C, CS optics and old cine lenses. I have an original Q, real perty-like in her all white leatherette.
Oh my GOD thank you for making this! I'm also here for PEN-F half frame nonsense, I just picked up a PEN-F film camera and have been tearing my hair out trying to find any of the old official adapters without spending $100+ for them. I wanted to try to adapt some of my old Leica M glass onto it for portraits and it looks like while I won't be able to hit infinity focus, the difference in distances is only -1 mm (Leica M is 27.80mm, PEN-F is 28.95 mm), which means... I think I would be able to get pretty close, if I'm understanding this right? Would love your thoughts on this mad science experiment. I think it would be fun to have what's basically an M-rangefinder sized SLR.
That's right, that means you only have 1mm to build an adapter which is really not enough room, especially since I'm assuming the Leica M mount has a larger diameter than the Pen F mount (just guessing). What you could try it making one anyway as thin as possible and seeing how much range it gives you. You won't be able to hit infinity more than likely, but maybe still portrait range?
@@snappiness That was my plan! And yes, technically, although they look to be almost the same size when you just put one up against the other. So yeah, if we can make it as thin as humanly possible, hopefully should be able to get some kind of range on it? Since in your experiments, I imagine that even when the flange distance was off by 5 mm or so you were still able to get some kind of focus
There is also the option of tucking the lens inside the camera. If you look at a C Mount to MFT adapter you’ll see that the C mount part of the adapter sits behind the mounting plate for an MFT camera. This only works when the lens to be mounted is smaller than the cameras mount. Sometimes I’ve been lucky and was able to start with a cheap C mount adapter and then modify it to stick a lens inside the camera. To test your lens put your camera on a tripod, turn your camera on and carefully hold your lens up to the camera’s mount using you hand to shield light leaks. Look through viewfinder and you’ll find out what focus range you have. From my experience at 1mm over the flange distance you will still have a very useful lens
Love the video... I have been desperately trying to mount a lens I have had for a while to my canon EOS M....but there is n adapters... its a cinema lens and that came on the Canon L1 Hi 8 camera..the lens is supposedly the "CL mount"(cinema lens).I found the camera in a dumpster at work busted up but the lens is perfect... however the aperture controll is not manual on it so there is no way to even take a picture through the lens at all unless I can power it up... and there is only an adapter made that would allow for EF lenses on the VL1 body but none to allow for the CL lens mount to be able to mount to anything else...there seems to be more going on inside of this cinema type lens that in my usual zoom lenses...the thing zooms for 8mm up to 120mm..... Cannon did make a speed booster for the VL1 camera so I can already account for the 8mm zoom range...I know its not going to be 8mm when I adapt it...but I dont care.... I would be happy to pay for help with this as I have been trying to figure out a way to do this for over 3 years now with no luck... my only other option is to 3d print an adapter... I found a source online of a guy that was able to get the wiring corrected for the auto focus and aperature control using a differnt type of camera...so I do have the scematic for the VL1 lens to account for the auto focus control on the EOS-M body.... any help is more than apreciated...thanks so much
Two of my favourite lenses are the 53mm Helios 103 and the 35mm Jupiter 12, for Kiev rangefinder cameras. These are difficult to adapt because the helicoid screw is in the camera body, and the Jupiter has a huge rear element. A few sellers offer a Frankendapter consisting of a donor helicoid mated to a third-party mount, but these look suboptimal and not very accurate. Sad because they are very interesting lenses.
I don’t know about the Helios 103 but you can get the Jupiter 12 in other mounts like L39, which is easy to adapt (if it’ll fit into the camera - which it usually won’t; it does fit my Ricoh GXR M module camera and will fit Leica digitals too, I think).
TinkerCAD ownnnnsss.. Wish they had a R to T mount that is not corrected for distance.. like several cm, no I need right on the other side. Like I have a project I'm working on that already takes the distance away, but the mount ruins that length. I need to get a mount literally direct R|T, but the style that has the adjustable ring. I wonder if a good durable material can hold the few pound attachment.
Hi there! My name is Bohus - I used to do demo videos for Fotodiox. That adapter finder thing was my project - I’m glad you like it! I’d really like to adapt Nikon Nikonos (their old underwater camera line) to MFT or EF-M. Not for any good reason, just that those lenses look SO COOL! It would be great to 3D print one, but I haven’t found anything like that after some deep searches. I was hoping to find an STL for the Nikonos mount at least so I could make my own, but no luck so far. Any ideas?
i just got a pen f half frame camera and i'm having trouble adapting lenses. i have an ef adaptor on its way and i'm going to use it to adapt m42 and fl lenses but would love more, smaller options.
Hey love your videos, I just bought a Olympus e330 in neat condition but. I always wondered with this strange 4/3 mount ( not m4/3) I could use more modern mount like Fuji x mount so I could adapt some ttartisans. What you think ?
I’d love to be able to adapt my Pentax auto 110 lenses to my x-pro 3/ xt4 but I really don’t think it could work also don’t have access to a 3-d printer. But love the concept awesome video
It does work! I adapt them to my Fuji cameras all the time. The only caveat is that some of the 110 lenses don't cover the full APSC sensor size, as they were designed for a film plane more the size of m43. But I think they are really lovely on APSC! Just some vignetting. And you can just buy an adapter for Fuji and 110 lenses, they make them for cheap :)
@@kmcsmart in theory yes, but it needs another setup for extracting and making recycled filament, what's more, you can recycle PET bottles to make 3d printing filament
Wonderful video ... clear and simple as ever could be. I've been tinkering on adapting lenses to almost everywhere but I can't find an answer to this problem. I have a number of MFT lenses and I can adapt them to Sony Next mount very easily as a readymade adapter already exist sand can be bought for rather cheap. Now, Next flange distance is 18mm, fine. But also flange distance for the Eos M mount is exactly 18mm. But unfortunately no one ever seems to have devised a likewise simple and cheap adapter ring to fit a MFT lens onto an Eos M body. No problem of automatisms or electric connections, iris transmissions or anything like. Just plain vanilla fitting the lens into that EosM "mouth". Any suggestion for me? I would really be grateful
I just do it loose leaf fixer dots. Paint them black. Think I told you this before 😂. Rochester camera old antique makes a entire aperture they connect on the lens..there likes 60 year old but very cool and cheap.
Great video as always! BTW if you get a chance, could you please compare 16-85 lens with 18-135 lens . Heard the image quality of 18-135 is similar to slightly expensive 16-85. If this is the case I might think to exchange my 16-85 for wide zoom range. Thank you !
I didn't make a video about it, but I have owned both and I would agree with the idea that they are very similar. I ended up preferring the 18-135 for the longer zoom and cheaper price. If you haven't tried it, you should! It's a really nice kit of a lens. Great for when you only want to bring one lens and stay light. It was a go-to lens of mine for years.
Actually, if the adapter is way too short, you cannot focus at all. If it is a bit too short, you lose close focus only. If it is too long, then you may do close subjects only and lose infinity focus.
Enjoyed finding this video and your channel today. I'm always searching for something to adapt to my Sigma SD Quattro that has the Sigma SA mount (not to be confused with the Sony Alpha mount). I would love to be able to adapt my Sigma SA lenses to my Samsung NX camera. Bought a Pentak K to Samsung NX hoping I could modify it, but I'm not very crafty and trying to shave off that 1mm didn't go well - but hey, works great with Pentax K! I hadn't considered searching for 3D designs online, so I attempted with no such luck.
I love that you brought up adapting lenses to the Pen FT because I landed on this video thinking…hey I wish I could mount my Nikon glass to my Pen FT but nobody seems to sell an adapter. I think historically these mounts did exist from Olympus but are quite rare. I was able to find a third party EF adapter and I can further adapt Nikon onto it but it was more $ than i wanted to spend…may go for it eventually.) But what I really wish is someone would make a speed booster for Pen F haha…
That would be cool! I think there was even a third party one to K mount as well, but it was $80-100 on eBay and only one or two available when I lasted looked. So I know the struggle.
@@snappiness On the subject of obscure Pen FT accessories I do have a set of the Bellows 2 for Pen F which are pretty cool and very compact. Good on mirrorless too.
Bro.. This is awesome. So here’s my thing, and it might be one of the more obscure. I’m buying a vintage Fuji medium format camera (the GM670) but the lenses are crazy expensive. So, I want to adapt the Zeiss Jena lenses for the Pentacon Six mount to them. No such adapter exists.. What would it take for you to help a brother out? I will pay you for this lol.
Hey friend- we're cut from da same cloth. I've got everything from Contax RF, M42, K, FD, M39, C mount. I'm actually looking to get the bayonet system of Contax RF on a MFT sensor with a donor Kiev camera for the all important helicoid. I need help!
Do you have any tips or solutions for if that number after doing the math is negative? I’m trying to adapt a 35mm film lens to a 6x12 camera, and needless to say I’m coming up quite short. Using parchment paper I can get the lens to focus on my focal plane but infinity on the lens is like 2 or 3 feet away. Any ideas would be appreciated!
As far as I'm aware I'm the only person to adapt an RE Auto Topcor successfully to a 5D2 Then 5D3 without catching mirror. Still working on finished version and will be making a YT vid of it when finished.. : )
What would you recommend I do with a Leica R lens and a Canon FD body? The lens flange distance is 47mm and the FD body flange distance is 41.9 meaning I have only 5.1mm to work with. Also, if I use a Leica R lens to Nikon F body and a Nikon F lens to Canon FD body adapter, would that be too large?
Hi snappy, im trying to adapt a ttartisan 50mm f/0.95 with an EF-M mount to a pentax q. I bought a eos-p/q adapter for it but then learned about the flange distance difference of the ef and ef-m mounts. Have you tried to make this type of ef-m to p/q combo yet?
I'd love to have some AF K mount adaptor for any other ILC system. So far only one exist for Sony and it only supports few Pentax lenses while omitting Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and others... So at least I have nice K mount to M4/3 adaptor with aperture control lever, which works even with DA lenses that have no aperture ring. MF only unfortunately. But at least something. It is K&F Concept PK/DA-M4/3 adapter
i have a huge doubt and maybe you could give me some insides, i have a rokkor fisheye 16 mm to use it with a BM6KPRO, what would you recomend? if i buy the adapter i have the flange distance issue woth the infinite focus? thanks for the respond and great video
Ah, the BM6K is an EF mount which is 44mm, and the Minolta A which I'm assuming is what you mean by Rokkor (minolta series) is 44.5mm. So, yeah, any adapter would force the lens to lose infinity focus unless there was glass added in the adapter to account for it. Some third party adapters have this (they cost more). Not sure if there's one from EF to A
Haha you should! I found this one used for under $100. It will open up a whole new world of tinkering and learning, but the ability to print stuff yourself is worth it
I would be a bit cautious with the 3D printed adapters, PLA melts at very low temperatures and can leave wacky residue if the print is low quality, wouldn’t want that on the sensor…
Being cautious is good, but this seems like an extreme concern. I've never had an issue of wear let alone residue, and this is a pretty popular way to adapt lenses. I guess don't set it on the windshield of a car parked in a desert.
@@snappiness You´re right that it´s no big risk to do it this way, I just personally had a scare way back when I 3d printed an adapter for my canon 400D and a small peice of support material got loose and struck the mirror, but I guess I´m just paranoid haha!
Get channel!! Hi, I am trying to mount some new "Cine Prime" type lenses on my profession cinema camera SOny FS7 Mrk 11. Both the camera and the lenses are E mounts but the focus is way off the marks and it will not focus to infinity. When I do a focus chart at 1 meter, the lens reads 2 meters on the scale. Should I take the mount off the lens and remove the shims to get a closer flage distance? The Thanks for your great help!
I have both Sony a and e mount lens and cameras and I would really love to put e mount lens onto a mount camera then I could in theory mount any lens onto my Sony a350(it funny color :)
I am currently on the journey of adapting the fujifilm x mount lens to a micro four thirds body! Specifically the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 to the Panasonic Lumix Gh5 I NEED HELP
There are some adapters for M42 lenses to Pentax K mount, but none reverse: from Pentax K lenses to M42 cameras - at least after my own research. Did you find such? I own a very beautiful black body Asahi Pentax Spotmatic from 1971/72, and because of the overpriced SMC Takumar 1.8/85 M42 (about 400-600 euros) my intention is fitting the 2/85 Pentax K lens. My current Takumar M42 lens is the 2.8/120 which has been purchased for an acceptable price (120 euros).
Hi! It is possible to adapt PK mount lenses to M42, but it is complicated 1. You can buy an adapter to use Canon EF lenses on an M42 camera (it will not be able to focus to infinity) Then you can buy a PK-EF adapter And you will have to connect the 3 adapters. 2.The other, more complex way would be to disassemble the lens, and change the mount from PK to M42, but it is something very complex, and I don't know if anyone has tried it
So, i have a zenit lens and a olympus body, and i believe that the result number of both flange distances is 1,58mm. Could i pull it off? or is a very insignificant number. Super dope video, thanks for the information, greetings from Chile
That would be very difficult to achieve infinity focus, unless you were able to recess the zenith lens in the camera body. Is this Olympus m43 mount or original four thirds?
Hello, I want to print an adapter for a helios 44-2 lens for Nikon Z mount. I don't know how to calculate the width of the adapter so as not to lose focus to infinity. Greetings from Buenos Aires!
Hopefully this is helpful!! Let me know if you have questions, and for the pros at this let us know any tidbits or advice you have to help someone new on this journey 👍
Vintage optiks is a good channel for this. Thanks
This was very helpful, thank you. You got yourself another sub.
Looks likes spammers are getting to you.
SIRUI 50MM with RF conversion To LUMIX GH5
What about adapting the Mamiya RB67 lenses, 112.00 mm flange distance, to a Sigma SD14 or SA9, Sigma SA Mount with a 44.00 mm flange distance ? An adapter would need to be 68.00 mm.
You can get a pretty good estimate of flange depth by just holding the lens near the camera without an adapter and moving it forward and back until you find infinity focus, then measuring the distance. Just "free lensing" it. If the camera and adapter aren't in direct light, no overhead lights shining on the sensor, and you're aiming the combination at something in good light, it's quite easy to see.
That's a good idea! I'll try that out next time.
I've been doing this for about 10 years and have done it with many different lenses. One of the lenses I adapted was from an old Argus camera and I used a body cap a Dremel tool and a lot of trial and error to get it to work on my Canon DSLR. Canon EF Mount is really good one to adapt a lot of lenses of course. I've done Olympus Pentax Yashica Nikon and others. But in the last few years I've mainly made custom adapters for my Sony mirrorless. Many of the lenses that I've done come out of fixed lens cameras that I take apart and make my own homemade adapter. There are cameras with tiny glass lenses that are maybe like a quarter inch wide that were made to cover full 35mm frame. There's nothing like finding an old point and shoot 35 mm or APS camera that cost $5 or so with a 24 or 28mm glass lens taking it apart and adapting it. Putting it on the camera and being blown away by how good the images are. I spent many many hours figuring out a way to do this the hard part is getting the lenses so you can adjust the focus, some people have said on here a helicoid might be a really good way to do it but in my case I kind of defeats the purpose because of how much they cost and takes the fun and challenge out of it. Because for 25 or 30 bucks I could get a decent 28mm lens and then spend 12 or so on an adapter and put it directly on the camera which of course I've done. I have quite a few 24 and 28mm lenses from slrs and a few Pentax Auto 110 lenses Etc as well which I made my own aperture for.
Funnily enough, this lens is an Argus C4 lens, but was sold as an m42 (and I failed to double check)!
So how do you focus with your adapted fixed camera lenses? I saw one (already adapted) for sale from a Canon Autoboy and loved the sample photos the seller showed but I procrastinated too long and somebody else bought it. I really want to try it myself.
@@thelightslide one way is to use the combination of macro tubes and some kind of cheap lens adapter like for c mount to Sony E, another way to looks a little funny is to use a 3/4-in PVC adapter with a nut to screw it into which you super glue to a flat piece of plastic that you cut a hole in and you can actually hold it onto the camera body which is kind of a pain or you can super glue that to some other kind of adapter like a close in m42 or a reverse macro ring thing or something to mount it onto the camera. But I have collected a pretty large amount of spare parts from the thrifting camera and camera accessories for quite a while so a lot of these parts are not really costing me anything at the time they came along with an old camera I bought or some lenses or something like that and the adapters that you do have to buy a few years ago used to be a lot cheaper. If anyone has any better ideas as long as it doesn't cost too much I'd love to hear them as well.
Someone else mentioned adapting cheap fix lens camera lenses - that is so cool!
Helicoid is needed for when a lens comes with no focusing parts (projectors, enlargers, shutters, etc). Also, helicoid allows closeup however you please.
I've been trying to find an adapter for my Mansfield Holiday lenses to my Sony a7s. They are screw mounts so I was wondering if there is a general adapter for that
Good to find someone else who will take on a project just because it appears possible. My current on going project is a Ford F150 with a newer engine and 2 computers, 1 for the engine and 1 for the rest of the truck. The wiring harness looks like a messy ball of wires.
Sounds like an amazing (and crazy) project! Always thought I would like cars if I had just grown up different. Looks like a fun hobby for tinkerers.
No prob. All you need is to 3D print some adapters. Just make sure to use them new fangled high temp filaments.
I adapted an old worn out 35mm manual shift lens from a Nikon mount to a Minolta mount in the '70's. (I should have adapted it to "T" mount - oh well!). I used a Dremel tool to cut off the Nikon mount, then epoxied the lens to a Pentax screw to Minolta adapter. It was so ugly, but it worked and I used it for years. I did do all the measuring like you mentioned. I knew I wouldn't get the flange distance perfect so I purposely sacrificed close focus to guarantee infinity focus. I thought that was a good trade off for an architectural lens. Great topic!
Something I want to add.
1. If some lens can’t adapt to a camera. It’s usually because the flange distance of the body is bigger than the original lens system. But you can fix that by put another len between the adapter. Just like a speed booster. You can find canon FD to canon EF mount.
2. Flange distance of the digital camera not exactly that simple. Because in front of the sensor is a dust filter. I once remove a damaged dust filter , after put everything together I found out I can’t focus to infinity anymore. After that I have to remove few spacer between the sensor and the body , make the sensor move closer to the mount. It works like normal again.
That’s why. However you try to caculate It’s will messed up somehow.
All the adapter manufacturers know that. They stop trying to make a perfec adapter. Instead simply make it little bit shorter. To make sure the len you use can focus to infinity.
You guys can try that on your lens , camera. 1. Minimum focus always further than the lens said( distance indicates on the lens) , 2 it’s always focus pass infinity.
That’s why you can’t Zone focus like some photographers on RUclips show.
One more thing. If you can’t find a 3D printer , or just want to mess around. You always can use a PVC tube, a body cap (for the body end of course) , and a len cap ( for the lens mount ) worst thing can happen is the tube not cut good enough. Two caps not parallel, and you got a “tilt shift “ lens , with real miniature effects 😂😂😂
Manual glass is my things. I can talk about it all day.
Awesome info, thank you. Do you have a blog?
Sheer genius using lens cap.Re-purposed
I found Altix V mount adapter for Fujifilm cameras. I have full Meyer Optik set for Altix. They are pretty rare to find so this was really a surprise that someone made it. And for that mount exist only 4 lenses Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f2.8, Meyer Optik Gorlitz Primagon 35mm f4.5, Trioplan 50mm f2.9 and Telefogar 90mm f3.5.
This video kinda read my mind! I have been seriously considering doing my own attempt of 3D printing an adapter to use my Canon RF lenses on my Nikon Z system. That would be a very thin adapter that's only 4mm thick and has to accommodate both mount designs (Nikon Z from the outside and Canon R from the inside). However, the problem with such an adapter without contacts for aperture control is that you'll be using the maximum aperture of your lens all the time. In principle, I know the adapter will work because Sony E-mount to Z-mount adapters exist out there, and Sony's flange distance is even shorter than Canon R by 2mm. No company would ever dare to make this adapter because Canon will make sure that the idea dies in the crib!
Where 3D printed adapter is really useful is in harvesting lenses from old fixed (non-removable) lens cameras, e.g., Yashica Electro 35 GT, Minolta Hi-Matic, etc. The lenses itself comes off easily enough, but won't be to a standard mount. Each one is a custom job.
Come to think of it, I should probably stock up on the old fixed lens junkers while the going is still good. Good vintage lens deals are already becoming rarer.
Oooo, the possibilities are endless.
A helicoid adapter can help you hone in on those flange distances. For some stuff it's pretty much required, and you also get something useful for macro.
I have a helicoid M42 to MFT adapter, as wel as a Tilt adapter and a C-mount adapter. There's just a lot of fun to be had in mirrorless and it's taken me to the point where I am saving up to get something like a Canon R series to just get that extra sensor surface to really pull as much as possible from all the weird lenses I've managed to pick up over the years.
That's a really good tip, thanks! And yes, I do think there's something special about using some of the 35mm glass on a FF sensor. I've done that with Pentax K mount glass and my Pentax K-1. I've never actually owned a full frame mirrorless camera. I know some people into adapting vintage stuff grab the original Sony A7. I think it's the cheapest full frame mirrorless you can get ATM. But maybe not good in other ways, I don't know.
@@snappiness I have seen the Canon RP for around 900 and even as low as 800 bucks. Still a lot of money, but arguably "cheap".
@@theothertonydutch RP is a solid pick but you can grab an original A7 for as low as $400 which is a bit insane for full frame mirrorless.
@@TheRebelBagel I've managed to see a a7r and a7iii sub 1000 aud
@@TheRebelBagel I'd like to have the option for 4K too, though. So I'm still waiting around a little bit. The R6 comes with image stabilization on the sensor too, which is kind of my next goal. It all really depends on how my wallet goes in the next couple of months.
I'm not even a photographer but this video had all I needed to know to change the lens on a night vision device. Thank you!
Yesssssssssssssss!! Thank you so much for adapting this difficult old lens for me! I’m so excited to try it and loved this video, as someone who’s never done 3D printing before, you make it seem less intimidating to try it for the first time.
This was a super cool and fun video. My 3D printer itch is acting up again 🙂
I am a foto noob and I spend last weekend trying to adapt a giant machine-vision lens I found at the scrapyard to my old DSLR. Soo funny to see there is a whole community of people doing the same exact things! I found the sensor distance of the lens by projecting the image on a postcard and measuring the distance to the flange.
I once made an adapter for a hacksawed polaroid camera for a friend who wanted to use medium format lenses on it. We made it work, the motor worked too that pushed out the film. It was scuffed but worked, he focused using a laser rangefinder.
Hey that's pretty cool!
I am new to photography, and use a 14 year old camera released in 2008 for photos the Canon Rebel XS with a 75-300mm lense, It doesn't take video but takes good pictures (I'm pretty sure its a DSLR but I don't know a lot about cameras and their specs sorry). For video though, I use a Panasonic HC-v770 which is an action camera and was released in 2015. Idk if you've done a video on these but it may be interesting for you.
If you plan to do more pf this type of design, use a rail system, slide the lens back and forth first to find the correct distance. That may save you some time.
Have no access to a 3D printer nor any classic lenses. Still, I found this video interesting and fun to watch! Your explanation of the process made it sound doable even for an amateur ! Thank you!!
Get a body cap and a lens cap (if they are available) may get you by. Add a baffle or sunk len cap into body cap if you can to make up the distance. (Cut holes, of course)
In 2011 I was migrating from four thirds to micro fourthirds - but early on in M43, there was a lack of glass. Even if you like manual stuff - a lack of fast-wide glass.
I bought a Canon PHF 35 F1.2 TV lens. This was C-mount, and there C-mount adapters, but the shape of this lens got in the way of properly screwing down and giving focus beyond a few inches.
At some point I was determined to get my focus back so I took apart the lens and trimmed the body of the lens, and the helicoid. This gave me infinity focus, and I could still close focus under a couple feet away.
Next issue - The base of the helicoid has a stop, and without it, the lens can "focus" until it falls off the helicoid.
Solution - TV lenses have a screw that's normally in place to lock focus at a point. I threadlocked a screw in place, but not to lock the lens. In the C-mount adapter I used, I bent one side up to get in the way of the screw when focusing, limiting the focus.
I've been using it recently again - spot of sharpness in the center with "character" 😆
The edge gets soft, and bokeh is swirly at the ends. Makes for interesting Christmas and portrait pics.
PS: I really don't recommend doing this, especially with crappy tools. I may have spent an hour or 2 trimming the helicoid, but I spend another couple of days sanding, polishing, and trimming so that the helicoids would spin smoothly afterwards.
What a golden hands are hidden behind this channel? No problem with old digicam or Pentax content but I want more 3D printing camera experiments!
Haha, good to know! There's tons of rabbit holes to go down with this...
Hi! thanks for the video! I build my own adapters as well but not in the same way, in the past I would mill them out, but now I prefer to make a model in clay or plasticine and make a mould than I cast out in carbon fiber, but I test them before making the final product, otherwise is too much trouble.
Great video and inspiration for many ideas for me. One question for you: aren't you afraid that the printed plastic will break or chip off and go into the sensor?
The hippiest hipster this side of the Mississippi. lol Love it
You can get a good starting point for unknown flange distance quite easily. Set the lens to infinity, point it at a clearly defined light source (a bulb in the ceiling for example) and hover it over a white surface, moving it back and forth until you see your light fixture image clearly projected onto the surface (meaning you can differentiate the edges of the bulb or whatever, it’s in focus). Then take whatever measurements you need.
Not sure how you’d want to keep it stable while measuring, but that’s up to you. It’s your lens, leave me alone, I’m busy.
Hi there! Thanks for the inspiring video, definitely now I want to 3d print some flanges. I've already used a body cap with some plumbing tubes and a rubber corrugated tube from an auto repair shop with the lens I've dismounted from an old projector ) it looks lame but it's working 😊
Watching this video after I already had modified two lenses for Nikon DSLR. Those lenses were Olympus Zuiko 35mm f2 and Helios 44/2 f2 (M39 mount) and it was really interesting because in my case the distance between camera sensor and lens was negative. For that I had to cut Lenses into two halves and fix Nikon's mount in order to let the lens sit inside the mirror assembly. Yes, during the testing, the mirror hit the lens few times but luckily didnt break. Both focus to infinity and works like champ! :)
Thanks! I have so many great mostly functional vintage lenses I buy for CA$5 from the quote-un-quote "garbage bin" at my local camera store (if they can't resell the lens for more than CA$50, it's not worth anything to them. Too strict if you ask me) and from the thrift stores, but real lens adapters like the Fotodiox ones are to expensive to justify using on such an old and cheap lens. I'm excited to try this.
I have an immaculate Miranda MIR 50mm f/2.8 prime lens that came on a Miranda Auto Sensorex EE for $10 I picked up at the Salvation Army which takes amazingly sharp, clear, and beautiful film photos that I wouldn't mind testing on a mirrorless camera.
I have three vintage lenses, two canon and one hanimex, that I'm trying to adapt to a sony a5000. It's something I'm excited to accomplish to see what kind of pictures I can take with them. Most of them have macro capability with two being telescoping of varying distances.
I recently managed to adapt an old Meopta 12,5mm for 8mm cine camera, lens to MFT , it focuses to infinity , it just has a small image circle , it can be used to shoot video mainly, when cropped the sensor.
Good work again snappy..keep the good work..it's awesome the age we live in..
It is!! Thanks!
Cooke offers 'user interchangeable' lens mounts on their S3/i. I'm surprised other manufacturers don't do that. Of course I expect that Nikon, Canon, Sony and Fuji won't, but 7Artisans, TTArtisan, Viltrox, Sigma etc... Thanks for that, I need to get crafting.
Amplifier machine lenses are good candidates to experiment. They are sharp and have aperture control but no focus. A small helicoid is the best way to adapt them
*almost any lens.
Some of us like to suffer by adapting lenses that don't have any means of focusing without the original camera :)
I've purchased the 90mm contax g lens, and while waiting for it to arrive from Japan I'm contemplating the way I'm going to adapt it to Fuji x mount.
Existing adapters are very much hit-or-miss and good ones cost more than the lens itself.
So while reading the comments under this video I saw someone mentioning helicoid adapters. I immediately thought of using Leica-Fuji adapter with macro focus ability, and swapping the lens mount with 3d printed contax g mount. And although it is very tempting to take on this unnecessarily complicated project, I don't think the end result will be worth it :)
Really love the variety of your videos!
Interesting. I just looked into the Contact G series lenses and see the big issue is no manual focusing ring. The idea of moving the lens further or closer for focusing is a good enough idea! Not sure how much range that'll give you. Cool lens though.
When adapting a set of enlarger lenses for UV photography, I discovered focussing helicoids.
They are cheap in M42 thread, and instantly solve flange distance issues.
you can use fernell lenses to cancel out flange distance difference
make a focus plane with a converging or diverging lens at your lens's flange distance and then adjust the rear flange of the flat fernell lens to your camera's flange distance
legit way to adapt anything to anything, just needs a little engineering
P.S. sorry for my bad english, it's not my first and neither my second language
And your image quality will becone utter garbage with giant circles of light dverywhere from the fresnel ridges
I have a load of adapted lenses for my Sony and Fuji, and even adapters for my Pentax Q. I love putting huge vintage lenses (Contax Yashica 300/4) on the Q, just for the humor.
Haha, me too!
I didnt know you could do something like this, i have a nikon dslr camera and a different lens i got quite recently now all i need is a 3d printer and a lot of learning to try and make it work
An interesting experiment would be to see if increasing or decreasing the layer height affects the performance of the lens. Would color/texture affect a mount?
Depending on reflectivity, and internal reflection could potentially mess up the image in unforeseen ways
Internal reflections or any translucence in the print material would probably lower contrast or add veiling flare, hence why a lot of lens or adapter barrels are “flocked” (adding non-reflective black fabric) or they add stepped ridges that capture stray light.
But, I bet you could change the color of the material to add a tiny bit of a color cast for an in-camera “film look.” It probably would be a cool idea to play around with!
Yeah I think if it was shiny/translucent you'd get some effects. Are you thinking with a layer height that lets light in through cracks? Otherwise the big thing with layer height is print quality at the cost of time/more material. I haven't printed at any thickness/layer height that has allowed light to pass through in any noticeable way.
@@snappiness I was thinking more along the lines of increasing it to create a more stepped grade along the barrel/cone.
Now that I think about it, it'd be more appropriate to say it's the "resolution" of the cone (a change in the design) rather than a change in the layer height (a change in production).
Pentax K100 on Nikkor 18-200mm. Manual focus, Manual aperture. Done !!
I would love to be able to convert Fuji lenses to Leica L-Mount for the Sigma FP if I were to get my hands on one. Very cool video. I've downloaded this video just incase your channel gets censored.
This was interesting! I have an Ender and now I'm looking at all my old cameras/lenses to see if there is something I don't have an adapter for that I can create.
Oh and there's lots of other fun camera related things to 3D print too! Have you ever done extension tubes, grips, SD card cases, body caps, etc?
@@snappiness I got the 3D printer because I did not like the 4X5 film holders to develop film in a Paterson tank and found a better design on Thingiverse.
I wish there were more adapters that can also adapt the electronics, for instance when canon created the l1 camcorder, they made a new mount called the interchangeable video mount, aka VL mount, they made an adapter that let you use preexisiting Canon EF - nothing lenses on the camera, and it had adapting for the electronics, I am not sure how much it can adapt, but most likely it can do AF, and possible motor zoom
I've been contemplating on jumping into 3d printing. This may have pushed me over the fence 🙂
It's such a fun hobby, in case you need another one on top of cars and photography and whatever else you're into 😆 I'm using an ender 3 I bought used for under $100. Printers are so easy to come by nowadays. But the cheaper ones do need a little tinkering to get working optimally, whereas the much pricier ones are pretty much plug and play.
Hey!
I'm doing a project where i do actually need a flange distance shorter than Nikon F and Pentax K (to sony E). I am a complete noob with design stuff, how hard is it to take Nikon to Sony and Pentax to Sony designs from Thingverse and make them shorter without affecting any of the other critical dimensions of the bayonets? I have had no luck in Blender.
Also, if you print yourself a lens holder with a sliding paper holder behind it, you can use a candle set to the min focus distance of the lens (so like, lens set to 0.3m, candle at 0.3m) and find the flange distance when the candle is in focus on the paper. Just measure from paper to lens.
Also, 0.01mm isn't impossible, but it's incredibly specific. It's for an L39 to an M42. It's basically just a threaded ring.
You can probably mount an e mount or other mirrorless lens to other bodies, but it will require a precisely made and precisely placed concave lens inside the adapter.
Instead of making prototypes, you could have just put the lens in a tube and held it up to the body. Then using a stick or something, push it deeper into the tube until you reach infinity. Then, use a caliper to measure the depth and just make the adapter 0.5mm shorter than that.
Fantastic video!! Congrats!
I am getting inspiration to adapt an old Konica F lens to sony e-mount. The only available adapter on eBay costs over 60€ and with shipping and taxes to Portugal it raises up to almost 100€... 4x the value of the lens I want to adapt....
So idk if you can help and you’re gonna laugh but I want to use Nikon F mount lenses on my Minolta MD camera body. The different is 3mm between both FFDs which means the adapter has to be about that thick? It’s a wild idea, but my guess is I can just swap out the bayonet on a Nikon lens and tweak it if I can’t make an adapter what do you think?
This is awesome, especially for adapters that have gone out of style. Took quite a bit of digging to find D & C mount adapters for my Pentax Q!
This is a realm I'm going to get into next year with my newly acquired Pentax Q7 :)
@@snappiness Awesome! Looking forward to possible videos on it!
@@snappiness What you want is a C mount adapter. That'll let you mate surveillance/industrial/scientific C, CS optics and old cine lenses.
I have an original Q, real perty-like in her all white leatherette.
Oh my GOD thank you for making this! I'm also here for PEN-F half frame nonsense, I just picked up a PEN-F film camera and have been tearing my hair out trying to find any of the old official adapters without spending $100+ for them. I wanted to try to adapt some of my old Leica M glass onto it for portraits and it looks like while I won't be able to hit infinity focus, the difference in distances is only -1 mm (Leica M is 27.80mm, PEN-F is 28.95 mm), which means... I think I would be able to get pretty close, if I'm understanding this right? Would love your thoughts on this mad science experiment. I think it would be fun to have what's basically an M-rangefinder sized SLR.
That's right, that means you only have 1mm to build an adapter which is really not enough room, especially since I'm assuming the Leica M mount has a larger diameter than the Pen F mount (just guessing). What you could try it making one anyway as thin as possible and seeing how much range it gives you. You won't be able to hit infinity more than likely, but maybe still portrait range?
@@snappiness That was my plan! And yes, technically, although they look to be almost the same size when you just put one up against the other. So yeah, if we can make it as thin as humanly possible, hopefully should be able to get some kind of range on it? Since in your experiments, I imagine that even when the flange distance was off by 5 mm or so you were still able to get some kind of focus
There is also the option of tucking the lens inside the camera. If you look at a C Mount to MFT adapter you’ll see that the C mount part of the adapter sits behind the mounting plate for an MFT camera. This only works when the lens to be mounted is smaller than the cameras mount. Sometimes I’ve been lucky and was able to start with a cheap C mount adapter and then modify it to stick a lens inside the camera.
To test your lens put your camera on a tripod, turn your camera on and carefully hold your lens up to the camera’s mount using you hand to shield light leaks. Look through viewfinder and you’ll find out what focus range you have. From my experience at 1mm over the flange distance you will still have a very useful lens
Love the video...
I have been desperately trying to mount a lens I have had for a while to my canon EOS M....but there is n adapters...
its a cinema lens and that came on the Canon L1 Hi 8 camera..the lens is supposedly the "CL mount"(cinema lens).I found the camera in a dumpster at work busted up but the lens is perfect...
however the aperture controll is not manual on it so there is no way to even take a picture through the lens at all unless I can power it up... and there is only an adapter made that would allow for EF lenses on the VL1 body but none to allow for the CL lens mount to be able to mount to anything else...there seems to be more going on inside of this cinema type lens that in my usual zoom lenses...the thing zooms for 8mm up to 120mm.....
Cannon did make a speed booster for the VL1 camera so I can already account for the 8mm zoom range...I know its not going to be 8mm when I adapt it...but I dont care....
I would be happy to pay for help with this as I have been trying to figure out a way to do this for over 3 years now with no luck...
my only other option is to 3d print an adapter...
I found a source online of a guy that was able to get the wiring corrected for the auto focus and aperature control using a differnt type of camera...so I do have the scematic for the VL1 lens to account for the auto focus control on the EOS-M body....
any help is more than apreciated...thanks so much
Two of my favourite lenses are the 53mm Helios 103 and the 35mm Jupiter 12, for Kiev rangefinder cameras. These are difficult to adapt because the helicoid screw is in the camera body, and the Jupiter has a huge rear element. A few sellers offer a Frankendapter consisting of a donor helicoid mated to a third-party mount, but these look suboptimal and not very accurate. Sad because they are very interesting lenses.
I don’t know about the Helios 103 but you can get the Jupiter 12 in other mounts like L39, which is easy to adapt (if it’ll fit into the camera - which it usually won’t; it does fit my Ricoh GXR M module camera and will fit Leica digitals too, I think).
I have not played with these lenses before, interesting design!
Currently trying to get Konica F mount and Yashica Pentamatic lenses onto E mount with minimal success
TinkerCAD ownnnnsss..
Wish they had a R to T mount that is not corrected for distance.. like several cm, no I need right on the other side. Like I have a project I'm working on that already takes the distance away, but the mount ruins that length. I need to get a mount literally direct R|T, but the style that has the adjustable ring. I wonder if a good durable material can hold the few pound attachment.
Been looking for an adapter to mount MFT lenses onto the body of a Four Thirds camera. Haven't had any luck.
Hi there! My name is Bohus - I used to do demo videos for Fotodiox. That adapter finder thing was my project - I’m glad you like it!
I’d really like to adapt Nikon Nikonos (their old underwater camera line) to MFT or EF-M. Not for any good reason, just that those lenses look SO COOL!
It would be great to 3D print one, but I haven’t found anything like that after some deep searches. I was hoping to find an STL for the Nikonos mount at least so I could make my own, but no luck so far. Any ideas?
I would love to see someone attempt Sony E to Fuji X mount. They say it cannot be adapted .
i just got a pen f half frame camera and i'm having trouble adapting lenses. i have an ef adaptor on its way and i'm going to use it to adapt m42 and fl lenses but would love more, smaller options.
Hey love your videos, I just bought a Olympus e330 in neat condition but. I always wondered with this strange 4/3 mount ( not m4/3) I could use more modern mount like Fuji x mount so I could adapt some ttartisans. What you think ?
I’d love to be able to adapt my Pentax auto 110 lenses to my x-pro 3/ xt4 but I really don’t think it could work also don’t have access to a 3-d printer. But love the concept awesome video
It does work! I adapt them to my Fuji cameras all the time. The only caveat is that some of the 110 lenses don't cover the full APSC sensor size, as they were designed for a film plane more the size of m43. But I think they are really lovely on APSC! Just some vignetting. And you can just buy an adapter for Fuji and 110 lenses, they make them for cheap :)
I don't know if auto white balance was used here. But UW Nikkor lenses are coated to eliminate the blue colour cast that's there in underwater...
oh, so it's not only me who wastes a lot of filament on incremental changes and prototyping :D
Haha, that is very much my style. Measure once cut twice 😆
Can you chop up the bad adapters and feed the plastic back into the printer again or is it just a one time deal?
@@kmcsmart in theory yes, but it needs another setup for extracting and making recycled filament, what's more, you can recycle PET bottles to make 3d printing filament
Wonderful video ... clear and simple as ever could be. I've been tinkering on adapting lenses to almost everywhere but I can't find an answer to this problem. I have a number of MFT lenses and I can adapt them to Sony Next mount very easily as a readymade adapter already exist sand can be bought for rather cheap. Now, Next flange distance is 18mm, fine. But also flange distance for the Eos M mount is exactly 18mm. But unfortunately no one ever seems to have devised a likewise simple and cheap adapter ring to fit a MFT lens onto an Eos M body. No problem of automatisms or electric connections, iris transmissions or anything like. Just plain vanilla fitting the lens into that EosM "mouth". Any suggestion for me? I would really be grateful
Yep, did this for a EF-M to M39 adapter
I just do it loose leaf fixer dots. Paint them black. Think I told you this before 😂. Rochester camera old antique makes a entire aperture they connect on the lens..there likes 60 year old but very cool and cheap.
What type of plastic do you use and how comfortable are you with the safety margin in terms of sturdiness?
Great video as always!
BTW if you get a chance, could you please compare 16-85 lens with 18-135 lens . Heard the image quality of 18-135 is similar to slightly expensive 16-85. If this is the case I might think to exchange my 16-85 for wide zoom range. Thank you !
I didn't make a video about it, but I have owned both and I would agree with the idea that they are very similar. I ended up preferring the 18-135 for the longer zoom and cheaper price. If you haven't tried it, you should! It's a really nice kit of a lens. Great for when you only want to bring one lens and stay light. It was a go-to lens of mine for years.
Actually, if the adapter is way too short, you cannot focus at all. If it is a bit too short, you lose close focus only. If it is too long, then you may do close subjects only and lose infinity focus.
Enjoyed finding this video and your channel today. I'm always searching for something to adapt to my Sigma SD Quattro that has the Sigma SA mount (not to be confused with the Sony Alpha mount). I would love to be able to adapt my Sigma SA lenses to my Samsung NX camera. Bought a Pentak K to Samsung NX hoping I could modify it, but I'm not very crafty and trying to shave off that 1mm didn't go well - but hey, works great with Pentax K! I hadn't considered searching for 3D designs online, so I attempted with no such luck.
Hi this video is very helpful can you tell me what is the back focal distance of boson cz 14-75 thermal lens or how to make adapters for unknown bfl
I love that you brought up adapting lenses to the Pen FT because I landed on this video thinking…hey I wish I could mount my Nikon glass to my Pen FT but nobody seems to sell an adapter. I think historically these mounts did exist from Olympus but are quite rare. I was able to find a third party EF adapter and I can further adapt Nikon onto it but it was more $ than i wanted to spend…may go for it eventually.)
But what I really wish is someone would make a speed booster for Pen F haha…
That would be cool! I think there was even a third party one to K mount as well, but it was $80-100 on eBay and only one or two available when I lasted looked. So I know the struggle.
@@snappiness On the subject of obscure Pen FT accessories I do have a set of the Bellows 2 for Pen F which are pretty cool and very compact. Good on mirrorless too.
A step further would be to print the rear mount so that it can mount regardless of the flange distance
hey :) where is the video where you adapted the pentax k to olympus pen f ? I wonder if you can focus to infinity with it
9:25 Can you help me make an adapter to fit the Hubble Telescope onto my iPhone camera. Plz.
Let's do it 🤝
one day i wanna do this with the lost wax technique cause i much prefer hands on sculpture to 3d modeling
Bro.. This is awesome. So here’s my thing, and it might be one of the more obscure.
I’m buying a vintage Fuji medium format camera (the GM670) but the lenses are crazy expensive. So, I want to adapt the Zeiss Jena lenses for the Pentacon Six mount to them. No such adapter exists.. What would it take for you to help a brother out? I will pay you for this lol.
Hi! Great video! I would like to find an adapter to get microprime fuji XF lens to EF mount, not the fx35mm version, do you have any ideas?
I am adapting my manual focus collection, since i've bought my A7. So....this is now 9+ years ago. 🙂
Came for the content, stayed for the SM57 on the A55m
Haha! I just got it. I am still learning how to use it well, so apologies while I figure it out, but so far so good.
Hey friend- we're cut from da same cloth.
I've got everything from Contax RF, M42, K, FD, M39, C mount.
I'm actually looking to get the bayonet system of Contax RF on a MFT sensor with a donor Kiev camera for the all important helicoid. I need help!
Do you have any tips or solutions for if that number after doing the math is negative? I’m trying to adapt a 35mm film lens to a 6x12 camera, and needless to say I’m coming up quite short. Using parchment paper I can get the lens to focus on my focal plane but infinity on the lens is like 2 or 3 feet away. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Can you make an extra tutorial for 3D modeling and printing? I am a nerd, but majorly for code.
As far as I'm aware I'm the only person to adapt an RE Auto Topcor successfully to a 5D2 Then 5D3 without catching mirror. Still working on finished version and will be making a YT vid of it when finished.. : )
That sounds like a cool project!!
What would you recommend I do with a Leica R lens and a Canon FD body? The lens flange distance is 47mm and the FD body flange distance is 41.9 meaning I have only 5.1mm to work with. Also, if I use a Leica R lens to Nikon F body and a Nikon F lens to Canon FD body adapter, would that be too large?
Interesting! How do you find the right thread profile of the lens?
How about making a tilt-shift adapter? :)
Hi snappy, im trying to adapt a ttartisan 50mm f/0.95 with an EF-M mount to a pentax q. I bought a eos-p/q adapter for it but then learned about the flange distance difference of the ef and ef-m mounts. Have you tried to make this type of ef-m to p/q combo yet?
I'd love to have some AF K mount adaptor for any other ILC system. So far only one exist for Sony and it only supports few Pentax lenses while omitting Sigma, Tamron, Tokina and others...
So at least I have nice K mount to M4/3 adaptor with aperture control lever, which works even with DA lenses that have no aperture ring. MF only unfortunately. But at least something. It is K&F Concept PK/DA-M4/3 adapter
Yeah I have that adapter too with the aperture control, which is nice. An AF one would be pretty cool :)
i have a huge doubt and maybe you could give me some insides, i have a rokkor fisheye 16 mm to use it with a BM6KPRO, what would you recomend? if i buy the adapter i have the flange distance issue woth the infinite focus? thanks for the respond and great video
Ah, the BM6K is an EF mount which is 44mm, and the Minolta A which I'm assuming is what you mean by Rokkor (minolta series) is 44.5mm. So, yeah, any adapter would force the lens to lose infinity focus unless there was glass added in the adapter to account for it. Some third party adapters have this (they cost more). Not sure if there's one from EF to A
That was so interesting. Thank you. Now where did I put that nerd? Oh no, that's me. I need to get a 3D printer pronto :)
Haha you should! I found this one used for under $100. It will open up a whole new world of tinkering and learning, but the ability to print stuff yourself is worth it
Currently trying to adapt an old range finder lens (internal shutter) to EOS R mount
Had to remove the shutter and now I need to manufacture a custom mount plate, poliminary testing shows it's about 36mm.
Very cool project!
I would be a bit cautious with the 3D printed adapters, PLA melts at very low temperatures and can leave wacky residue if the print is low quality, wouldn’t want that on the sensor…
Being cautious is good, but this seems like an extreme concern. I've never had an issue of wear let alone residue, and this is a pretty popular way to adapt lenses. I guess don't set it on the windshield of a car parked in a desert.
@@snappiness You´re right that it´s no big risk to do it this way, I just personally had a scare way back when I 3d printed an adapter for my canon 400D and a small peice of support material got loose and struck the mirror, but I guess I´m just paranoid haha!
Get channel!! Hi, I am trying to mount some new "Cine Prime" type lenses on my profession cinema camera SOny FS7 Mrk 11. Both the camera and the lenses are E mounts but the focus is way off the marks and it will not focus to infinity. When I do a focus chart at 1 meter, the lens reads 2 meters on the scale. Should I take the mount off the lens and remove the shims to get a closer flage distance? The Thanks for your great help!
I have both Sony a and e mount lens and cameras and I would really love to put e mount lens onto a mount camera then I could in theory mount any lens onto my Sony a350(it funny color :)
I am currently on the journey of adapting the fujifilm x mount lens to a micro four thirds body! Specifically the Fujifilm XF 35mm f/1.4 to the Panasonic Lumix Gh5 I NEED HELP
Hey, I got to your post on my forum finally (been traveling).
What about cameras with a non-removable lens, like my Nikon Coolpix L330?
There are some adapters for M42 lenses to Pentax K mount, but none reverse: from Pentax K lenses to M42 cameras - at least after my own research. Did you find such? I own a very beautiful black body Asahi Pentax Spotmatic from 1971/72, and because of the overpriced SMC Takumar 1.8/85 M42 (about 400-600 euros) my intention is fitting the 2/85 Pentax K lens. My current Takumar M42 lens is the 2.8/120 which has been purchased for an acceptable price (120 euros).
Hi! It is possible to adapt PK mount lenses to M42, but it is complicated
1. You can buy an adapter to use Canon EF lenses on an M42 camera (it will not be able to focus to infinity)
Then you can buy a PK-EF adapter
And you will have to connect the 3 adapters.
2.The other, more complex way would be to disassemble the lens, and change the mount from PK to M42, but it is something very complex, and I don't know if anyone has tried it
So, i have a zenit lens and a olympus body, and i believe that the result number of both flange distances is 1,58mm. Could i pull it off? or is a very insignificant number.
Super dope video, thanks for the information, greetings from Chile
That would be very difficult to achieve infinity focus, unless you were able to recess the zenith lens in the camera body. Is this Olympus m43 mount or original four thirds?
@@snappiness it’s an Olympus om-10.
This past month a friend has been trying to 3d print a prototype, but I believe it is too thin
Hello, I want to print an adapter for a helios 44-2 lens for Nikon Z mount.
I don't know how to calculate the width of the adapter so as not to lose focus to infinity. Greetings from Buenos Aires!
Can you adapt a lens to a... Brownie Hawkeye?