Mix 'n' Match Camera Gear

[GeneW]

I took this shot this morning during a photoshoot break. (There's a very conveniently located Starbucks near the harbour where I take a lot of my pics)

This pic with my faithful, ever-present XA in the background was taken with a Digital Rebel with a Pentax screwmount Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens attached. That's getting pretty eclectic

Gene

 

[Sonnar Brian]

Canon 7 With Nikkor 5cm F1.4

 

[GeneW]

That's a fun image, Brian, and the *first* time I've seen Canon and Nikon gear used together! Neat.

Gene

 

[Doug]

Eclectic it is, Gene! Here's one made with a Minolta CLE camera, with Leica-thread to Leica M-bayonet mount adaptor, and a Pentax-L 43mm lens.

 

[Sonnar Brian]

That is the great thing about Leica 39mm mount, it gives a lot of choices. I use Canon, Leica, and Nikon Lenses on my Canon 7.

Each of the manufacturers have a different "philosophy" regarding lens design. To me, Nikon is high contrast, Leica has a "pastel" look, and Canon is somewhere in the middle.

Of course, the Bessa R can take these lenses. The Canon viewfinder and RF baselength works well with fast telephotos like the 85 F2 and 135 F3.5. The Selenium meter on mine is still going strong.

Canon 7 w Leitz 9cm F4 Elmar

 

[bmattock]

Re: Mix 'n' Match Camera Gear

I took this shot this morning during a photoshoot break. (There's a very conveniently located Starbucks near the harbour where I take a lot of my pics)

This pic with my faithful, ever-present XA in the background was taken with a Digital Rebel with a Pentax screwmount Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens attached. That's getting pretty eclectic

Gene

Gene,

Nice picture! Say, I was wondering, how did you mount an M42 lens on your Rebel? I'm lusting after a digital SLR, but have been holding off, for a variety of reasons. First, I've got a lot of Canon glass, but it's all FD-mount, not EF. Nothing will work. Yes, I know they make a converter, but it's crappy AND expensive. Second, I've got a bit of M42 glass, but I thought I'd have to wait until the price comes down on the Pentax *ist, which can mount M42 (with a *sigh* adapter) as well as K-mount lenses.

If the Rebel can mount M42 glass with an adapter and still focus to infinity, that might be the ticket for me. So, enquiring minds want to know - how you do dat?

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[GeneW]

Eclectic it is, Gene! Here's one made with a Minolta CLE camera, with Leica-thread to Leica M-bayonet mount adaptor, and a Pentax-L 43mm lens.

Doug, I'm not familiar with the Pentax-L 43mm lens. What camera was that designed for originally? Leica LTM mount?

If the Rebel can mount M42 glass with an adapter and still focus to infinity, that might be the ticket for me. So, enquiring minds want to know - how you do dat?

Bill, you're in luck. The Pentax M42 to EOS adapter has no glass in it and focuses to infinity. I have that one for my Super-Takumars and an OM-EOS adapter for my collection of Zuiko lenses. Both work well. With this caveat: metering is in stop-down mode. You set the Digital Rebel to Av or M mode, focus wide open, then stop down to the desired aperture. Not great for fast action, but I don't find it a problem for general photography. I purchased my Pentax adapter ($49.95 US if I recall correctly) from Cameraquest:

www.cameraquest.com

Check under lens adapters.

Cheers,

Gene

 

[GeneW]

That is the great thing about Leica 39mm mount, it gives a lot of choices. I use Canon, Leica, and Nikon Lenses on my Canon 7.

Brian, I've never held a Canon 7 in my hands, but the pics of it intrigue me. It looks so cool! I'll bet it's a treasure.

Gene

 

[bmattock]

Gene,

I hate to keep bugging you, but now I'm really curious! I've been shying away from 'modern' SLRs for a number of reasons:

1) I'm color-blind - so colored blinky LEDS don't TELL me anything.
2) I'm not an autofocus (or auto-anything) kind of guy.
3) I have trouble focusing through modern non-pentaprism SLRs, especially with the newer slower zooms.

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, I can have what is essentially a digital SLR version of a Bessa R! That is, TTL metering (in stop-down mode, no biggie), wide-open focus (fast super-taks, yea!), and all I need is a digital Rebel and this $50 adapter?

Sounds pretty good to me! Tell me, how is the exposure information displayed? Is it stupid LEDS that turn color to mean something, or actual printed information for us color-blind people? How's the viewfinder with your fast Super Taks? Do you find yourself shooting more with the standard Canon EOS lens, or with your M42's?

I find this all very fascinating - thanks for your patience!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Scarpia]

I bought a 42mm. to EOS adapter from Adorama for $24.95. It is still in their catalog but out of stock from time to time which indicates that it is a popular item. I then added a 39mm to 42mm adapter which the infamous Cambridge Camera happened to have and as a result can use my 1952 90mm f3.5 Kilar with my Rebel 2000. The results are excellent. Unfortunately, my Zenit 39mm SM will not focus to infinity with this setup. I intend to use the EOS adapter with a virtually mint SMC 1.4 Takumar i bought from Adorama recently for $45.00. Right now it is on a Voigtlander Bessa L with a slew of adapters and seems to focus perfectly using the scale, but have not yet seen the pics. Will keep you posted as these kinds of adaptations seem to be a sub-hobby among RF affictionados.
Kurt M.

 

[bmattock]

Doug, I'm not familiar with the Pentax-L 43mm lens. What camera was that designed for originally? Leica LTM mount?

Gene,

If I can jump in here, I think I can help. The Pentax-L SMC 43mm lens (f1.7) was made in LTM in a quanitity of 2,000. Very rare. Made with a special 43/50 viewfinder that came with it.

I'm kicking myself! I saw it on eBay a couple of weeks ago. I put it on 'watch' since I figured I could not afford it, but wanted to see what it went for. It didn't sell. The guy put it back on, with a $400 minimum bid. I lost track of it. I think it sold. I'm sorry, I should have posted the info here for LTM (and SMC) fans with bigger wallets than mine.

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[bmattock]

Oops, wait, I found it. It's sold, unfortunately...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2987733410

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[bmattock]

I bought a 42mm. to EOS adapter from Adorama for $24.95. It is still in their catalog but out of stock from time to time which indicates that it is a popular item. I then added a 39mm to 42mm adapter which the infamous Cambridge Camera happened to have and as a result can use my 1952 90mm f3.5 Kilar with my Rebel 2000. The results are excellent. Unfortunately, my Zenit 39mm SM will not focus to infinity with this setup. I intend to use the EOS adapter with a virtually mint SMC 1.4 Takumar i bought from Adorama recently for $45.00. Right now it is on a Voigtlander Bessa L with a slew of adapters and seems to focus perfectly using the scale, but have not yet seen the pics. Will keep you posted as these kinds of adaptations seem to be a sub-hobby among RF affictionados.
Kurt M.

Kurt,

Thanks for the info! I knew that there were M42->EOS adapters out there, but I assumed (big mistake) that since the FD->EOS adapter was junk and required a correcting lens in the path to be able to focus to infinity, so would the M42. Glad to see I was wrong, it changes my thinking about getting a digital Rebel instead of the Pentax digital *ist. I was a bit worried about the *ist anyway, they say it's small, and I've got big hands. I have trouble with the Yashica ST-605n series...

Yes, I admit it, I'm a lens junkie! I haven't mentioned it on this forum, but I also have a couple of Bronica C bodies (6x6 SLR) and they're very, um, adaptable. I've been fiddling around with various lens-hacking techniques to mount old 400mm and 600mm telephoto lenses (made for M42 originally) onto the 57mm screw mount that the Bronica came with. It's fun, and I'm an idiot. Great combination!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[GeneW]

Bill, first off, thanks for the info on the Pentax-L lens. I'm not all that familiar with RF lore. As I said, I'm not a collector, I've just acquired a lot of cameras ... that's my story and I'm sticking to it

Gene,

I hate to keep bugging you, but now I'm really curious! I've been shying away from 'modern' SLRs for a number of reasons:

1) I'm color-blind - so colored blinky LEDS don't TELL me anything.
2) I'm not an autofocus (or auto-anything) kind of guy.
3) I have trouble focusing through modern non-pentaprism SLRs, especially with the newer slower zooms.

So, if I'm understanding you correctly, I can have what is essentially a digital SLR version of a Bessa R! That is, TTL metering (in stop-down mode, no biggie), wide-open focus (fast super-taks, yea!), and all I need is a digital Rebel and this $50 adapter?

Sounds pretty good to me! Tell me, how is the exposure information displayed? Is it stupid LEDS that turn color to mean something, or actual printed information for us color-blind people? How's the viewfinder with your fast Super Taks? Do you find yourself shooting more with the standard Canon EOS lens, or with your M42's?

I find this all very fascinating - thanks for your patience!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Good questions. I don't know if I have all the answers but I'll take a stab at it.

The readouts in the viewfinder of the DReb are bright green against black. No colour changes -- straight info. Take a peek through one next time you're in a camera shop to see if you can read the info okay.

In Av mode, you see shutter speed, aperture, and a +/- 2 stop exposure compensation scale in 1/3 f-stops. In M mode you see shutter speed, aperture and exposure scale -- same scale as the compensation scale in Av mode.

When using adapted lenses, the aperture does not display, but the shutter speed does. I think to myself things like '3-clicks on the lens, I'm at f/4' or whatever. The onboard meter works well with the adapted lenses.

The pentaprism viewfinder on the DR is smaller than a traditional SLR and there are NO focusing aids such as microgrid or split-image. And the image is not as bright as an older film SLR. I can usually focus okay with my manual lenses by focusing in and out, narrowing down the focus, then fine-tuning by eye. I get it wrong sometimes. One other note: I wear glasses and there is a diopter dial on the cam that lets me match my glasses well. That's important because you need to see as clearly as possible to focus accurately.

The rest depends partly on the ambient lighting and the speed of the lens. Wide angles are more difficult to focus this way but often you can just preset them. I've had really good luck using my Zuiko 50mm f/3.5 macro lens on the DR, and macros require precision focusing.

So, with these cautions, the DR works well for me, most of the time, with adapted lenses. I would prefer a brighter focusing screen with a microgrid or RF, but apparently with all the AF lenses for these units, it'll never happen.

Gene

 

[Doug]

Hi, Gene -- Bill gave a good explanation of the Pentax 43mm, and the eBay link was good too, with pics. To my knowledge this is the only interchangeable rangefinder camera lens Pentax ever made. And it's recently made, not old. While the auction mentioned 2000 made, that's for the black finish; I understand there were also 1000 made in silver finish.

Pentax offers three "boutique" Special lenses for the KA mount reflexes, 31mm f/1.8, 43mm f/1.9, and 77mm f/1.8. My 43mm Pentax-L would seem to be the same glass as the reflex 43mm set into a new barrel and 39mm mount for rangefinder use. So it's physically longer than the little Minolta 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor for instance. But it uses the same 40.5mm filters. It has a focusing tab, and the focus rotation and aperture turn the same direction as on Leica lenses.

Cosina also makes a group of premium "boutique" lenses in 6 or 7 reflex mounts under the Voigtlander name, the SL series. I have the 40mm f/2 Ultron in Pentax KA mount.

So, in a display of mismatch symmetry, I have a Voigtlander reflex lens for my Pentax, and a Pentax rengefinder lens for my Voigtlander Bessa!

 

[ampguy]

Hi Doug -- M39 to M42 question

Hi Doug -- M39 to M42 question

This thread is a couple of years old but...

do you recall production #'s for the L mount versions of these?

Also, does anyone else use M39 to M42 adapters??

Hi, Gene -- Bill gave a good explanation of the Pentax 43mm, and the eBay link was good too, with pics. To my knowledge this is the only interchangeable rangefinder camera lens Pentax ever made. And it's recently made, not old. While the auction mentioned 2000 made, that's for the black finish; I understand there were also 1000 made in silver finish.

Pentax offers three "boutique" Special lenses for the KA mount reflexes, 31mm f/1.8, 43mm f/1.9, and 77mm f/1.8. My 43mm Pentax-L would seem to be the same glass as the reflex 43mm set into a new barrel and 39mm mount for rangefinder use. So it's physically longer than the little Minolta 40mm f/2 M-Rokkor for instance. But it uses the same 40.5mm filters. It has a focusing tab, and the focus rotation and aperture turn the same direction as on Leica lenses.

Cosina also makes a group of premium "boutique" lenses in 6 or 7 reflex mounts under the Voigtlander name, the SL series. I have the 40mm f/2 Ultron in Pentax KA mount.

So, in a display of mismatch symmetry, I have a Voigtlander reflex lens for my Pentax, and a Pentax rengefinder lens for my Voigtlander Bessa!

 

[Dougg]

do you recall production #'s for the L mount versions of these?

While the auction mentioned 2000 made, that's for the black finish; I understand there were also 1000 made in silver finish.

Examining my notes I see that I mis-stated the numbers, and that it was 2000 total with 800 of these silver finish and 1200 black. So this is a rather rare lens, and furthermore marketed only in Japan. Most surprising then this week to see three of them (two black and one silver) on eBay! The silver one sold on Monday for $616.06, there's a black one ending in about 7 hours. RFF member furcafe is among the bidders... And another black one for BIN $1025.95

Also, does anyone else use M39 to M42 adapters??

Well, I have an adaptor that allows M39 lenses to fit an M42 mount but it doesn't allow infinity focus on an SLR. Since some FSU SLR cameras used 39mm thread lenses, it's possible there might be a speical adaptor that allows those lenses infinity focus on a Practina or Pentax for instance. I use my adaptor with enlarging lenses on a bellows for macro shots.

Adapting the other way around is also possible; putting an M42 lens on a M39 RF camera body. Scale focus only of course, no RF coupling. And the lens would have to have the Auto-Manual switch to stop it down, as most do. I have a similar adaptor to use M42 lenses on an Olympus Pen F...

 

[ampguy]

Thanks Doug

Thanks Doug

Very interesting lens as it as a counterpart AF for the current dslr line at about ~$500 less $100 rebate.

The black LTM ones sure look longer than the first AF K ones mentioned here:

http://www.cameraquest.com/pen4319.htm

Thanks for the M39/M42 info. Apparently a few lucky folks will have lens quality on their RF's equalling SLR's

Examining my notes I see that I mis-stated the numbers, and that it was 2000 total with 800 of these silver finish and 1200 black. So this is a rather rare lens, and furthermore marketed only in Japan. Most surprising then this week to see three of them (two black and one silver) on eBay! The silver one sold on Monday for $616.06, there's a black one ending in about 7 hours. RFF member furcafe is among the bidders... And another black one for BIN $1025.95

Well, I have an adaptor that allows M39 lenses to fit an M42 mount but it doesn't allow infinity focus on an SLR. Since some FSU SLR cameras used 39mm thread lenses, it's possible there might be a speical adaptor that allows those lenses infinity focus on a Practina or Pentax for instance. I use my adaptor with enlarging lenses on a bellows for macro shots.

Adapting the other way around is also possible; putting an M42 lens on a M39 RF camera body. Scale focus only of course, no RF coupling. And the lens would have to have the Auto-Manual switch to stop it down, as most do. I have a similar adaptor to use M42 lenses on an Olympus Pen F...

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

a Digital Rebel with a Pentax screwmount Super-Takumar 50mm f/1.4 lens attached. That's getting pretty eclectic

Nice. Just to give a bit of renewed air...

I am waiting for my K-to-EOS adapter so I can use my Pentax 50/1.4 on the EOS. I took these shots with my Digital Rebel (and sometimes the 20D) and a Rollei-mount Schneider-Kreuznach Xenon 50mm f/1.8: