caila77
Well-known
I’m a happy owner of a Mamiya SX 55mm f/1.8 M42 lens. I find this lens to be of excellent quality, only slightly inferior to the Takumar 55/1.8, especially at maximum aperture.
The main issue with SX lenses is compatibility with other M42 cameras. At the moment, I use the lens with an adapter only on my Olympus EM10 MKII. SX lenses tend to create some compatibility problems when mounted on other M42 camera bodies or adapters (I’ve tried it on a Voigtländer VSL2 and a Minolta X700 using the appropriate adapters).
The lenses have a fairly deep “lip” or overhang on the rear of the aperture ring. This lip prevents the lens flange from seating properly against the mount face on the camera body, and the aperture ring function is compromised.
There’s an index “pin” just inside the lip that can interfere with the cutouts on non-flanged adapters.
The SX lenses have no Auto/Manual switch, so manual aperture operation is not straightforward.
The simplest solution to the problem would be to buy a compatible Mamiya film camera. Personally, I’d like to mount these lenses on film cameras without having to buy another body, since I already own several with M42 mounts (Pentax Spotmatic, a couple of Prakticas, a Chinonflex, Zenit, Fujica, and adapters for Minolta and Voigtländer).
several people online have suggested different methods to adapt SX lenses, especially for use with mirrorless adapters, not always reversible:
Grinding down the aperture ring lip so the lens can seat correctly.
Removing the index pin.
Modifying the actuator pin so that it is always depressed, making the aperture fully manual.
Has anyone here had experience with this issue?
The main issue with SX lenses is compatibility with other M42 cameras. At the moment, I use the lens with an adapter only on my Olympus EM10 MKII. SX lenses tend to create some compatibility problems when mounted on other M42 camera bodies or adapters (I’ve tried it on a Voigtländer VSL2 and a Minolta X700 using the appropriate adapters).
The lenses have a fairly deep “lip” or overhang on the rear of the aperture ring. This lip prevents the lens flange from seating properly against the mount face on the camera body, and the aperture ring function is compromised.
There’s an index “pin” just inside the lip that can interfere with the cutouts on non-flanged adapters.
The SX lenses have no Auto/Manual switch, so manual aperture operation is not straightforward.
The simplest solution to the problem would be to buy a compatible Mamiya film camera. Personally, I’d like to mount these lenses on film cameras without having to buy another body, since I already own several with M42 mounts (Pentax Spotmatic, a couple of Prakticas, a Chinonflex, Zenit, Fujica, and adapters for Minolta and Voigtländer).
several people online have suggested different methods to adapt SX lenses, especially for use with mirrorless adapters, not always reversible:
Grinding down the aperture ring lip so the lens can seat correctly.
Removing the index pin.
Modifying the actuator pin so that it is always depressed, making the aperture fully manual.
Has anyone here had experience with this issue?
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