Weird, kooky but interesting old lenses for mirrorless adaptation

Funny, after several years of not looking for Cine lenses, today I found a Filmo camera with a Bell and Howell 25/1.9 lens on it for $10 bucks. Took a chance, and it covers m4/3 pretty well! That's hard to find on a 25mm lens. I like it.

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goamules said:
Funny, after several years of not looking for Cine lenses, today I found a Filmo camera with a Bell and Howell 25/1.9 lens on it for $10 bucks. Took a chance, and it covers m4/3 pretty well! That's hard to find on a 25mm lens. I like it.
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Both shots are nice but I love the bokeh shot of the berries. I need to start thinking about some C mount lenses just for fun.
 
Wondering who is using medium and large format lenses with home made / stacked adapters.

One lens I really like, and about which I have posted here before, is a Tele Xenar 105mm f3.5 by Schneider Kreuznach. Mine is in Exakta mount and has a 1951 serial number based on a list posted by Raid. I have read that the basic Tele Xenar lens started its like as a medium format or large format lens before being offered in 35mm film focusing mount by Schneider. (The lens elements and focussing helicals in mine are all up front on this lens with basically just a big hollow tube behind.) I have seen others in identical mounts and near identical ones in 135mm, 150mm and 180mm lengths on eBay.

There are a few other weird and wonderful adapted lenses including some LF ones depicted in that prior thread of mine by other posters. And it shows some images I made with the Tele Xenar - which I think lends itself very nicely to portrait work.

https://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162824
 
I shoot Large Format a lot, but there aren't really "adapters" that I can think of. They are just threaded for either a mounting flange, or a shutter.

Most, but not all, Cine lenses are really down from their high of about 8 years ago. I remember I had an Angenieux 25mm F0.95 for a while, but sold it. A stranger pinged me on some forum asking how much I regretted selling it for "only $1000". I told him they're coming down, and I don't want to be stuck holding the bag (paid a lot). He didn't believe me. But here we are in 2018, and most lenses are down from that time. Today:
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Sumarongi said:
Here's someone using MF lenses on a Sony:
http://www.gunpowdervideo.com/2017/02/28/budget-digital-medium-format-a-kipon-focal-reducer-review/
—— Not homemade, not inexpensive, but also quite interesting.
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That looks interesting. I have recently seen something advertising adapters that allow MF lenses (Hasselblad, Pentax and so forth) to be used on mirrorless. But I did not know of ones with glass elements. I like this idea (being a lens addict). When I further searched it online after reading your post, I came upon this video which seems to refer to the same adapter you reference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URZBQvzBy98

and here in this thread https://cameraderie.org/threads/medium-format-lenses-on-mirrorless-cameras.35325/

I have also seen some hand made concoctions referred to here and there to allow MF or Large Format lenses to be used on mirrorless - often by tactics like glueing a couple of other adapters together or by glueing some kind of tube that mounts the lens on the front with an adapter on the rear.

A representation of the Kipon adapter and a silver chrome lens. Now that looks weird and wonderful.

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goamules said:
Most, but not all, Cine lenses are really down from their high of about 8 years ago. I remember I had an Angenieux 25mm F0.95 for a while, but sold it. A stranger pinged me on some forum asking how much I regretted selling it for "only $1000". I told him they're coming down, and I don't want to be stuck holding the bag (paid a lot). He didn't believe me. But here we are in 2018, and most lenses are down from that time. Today:
30887642777_b74dd37515_z.jpg
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As someone who takes pride in collecting old movie cameras with their correct lenses I am sad to see useless bodies stripped of their lenses up for sale. On the other hand it is good to see quality equipment being used!
 
Benjamin Marks said:
FrankenKamera:

and the resulting photo with the Pentax screw mount lens:
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I like both of these lenses. I have the (non goggled) Summaron 35mm f3.5. BUt for some reason I have not used it much on my mirrorless cameras. I will correct that failure to act today so thanks for the inspiration. I have never thought to use it with an extension tube though. I do have an M42 to Canon adapter and a Canon extension tube which could be used with a Canon to M43 adapter just for the hell of it.

I think the other lens is the SMC Takumar 85mm f1.8???????? Least it looks like it - it looks bigger than the 50mm though that may just be due to the camera it is mounted on. I have the early auto Takumar version and enjoy using it on mirrorless. Its a superb lens.
 
peterm1 said:
I think the other lens is the SMC Takumar 85mm f1.8???????? Least it looks like it - it looks bigger than the 50mm though that may just be due to the camera it is mounted on. I have the early auto Takumar version and enjoy using it on mirrorless. Its a superb lens.
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Alas, it is the less-desirable 1.9 version. You know, there were two Pentax SM lenses that never really lost value: the 85/1.8 and the 32/2. I have the 35, but never could quite pull the trigger on the more desirable of the two 85's.

In general though, I love the Pentax screw-mount lenses. Unbelievable build quality, particularly for what they sell for these days. The 50/1.4's are a particular screaming deal, often going for US$79 or less -- essentially free in today's camera world. [I just checked e-Bay and it looks like the asking prices have gone up a bit since I last checked -- still pretty affordable, though.] Quite a few of the screw-mount lenses have made their way into my lens cabinet over the last few years. The 105/2.8 and the 55/2 (currently $29 at KEH) are also favorites of mine.

And if we are talking guilty pleasures, the Sears brand of Pentax K mount lenses (possibly made by Konica?) have performed waaay beyond their price point. I think I picked up a 50/1.4 for $12 last year.
 
Been meaning to buy an adapter for my Pentax 110 lens on my Fuji X-M1, but it won't cover the whole frame or allow me to stop down.

It's so cute though!
 
Yea, another Contarex aficionado. I use a Metabones adapter to use my Contarex mount lenses on my Sony a7R & a9. Well, most of the lenses, anyway--I have yet to try the 250/4 Olympia Sonnar (worried about breaking something)!



Sumarongi said:
Peter,
thank you for mentioning K&F :) In another thread I was scolding Chinese adapters, but I agree, K&F seem to be a good choice! (I have C/Y > M, Minolta SR > M, and Pentax K > M —— no complaints.)

Aaargh! There are so many super cool snazzy bonkers kooky lenses ready for Saint Adaptius!
Again, not mine:

Snazzy Ultron:

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—— Original:

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Snazzy Distagon:

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—— Original:

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I have a Quinaron 35mm that I've used a couple times on my Sony A7R2. It's a nifty lens with an interesting signature. My copy was inherited from my father, and he was apparently in the process of fixing it at the time because the auto-aperture block is missing the cover and some other bits. Of course that doesn't matter unless you're using it on an Exakta.

Recently I took an Isco-Gottingen Westar 100mm f4.5 out to the beach on my old Olympus E-PL1. It was a $5 UGLY lens from KEH I cleaned up a little. I enjoyed the results quite a bit.
 
bcostin said:
I have a Quinaron 35mm that I've used a couple times on my Sony A7R2. It's a nifty lens with an interesting signature. My copy was inherited from my father, and he was apparently in the process of fixing it at the time because the auto-aperture block is missing the cover and some other bits. Of course that doesn't matter unless you're using it on an Exakta.

Recently I took an Isco-Gottingen Westar 100mm f4.5 out to the beach on my old Olympus E-PL1. It was a $5 UGLY lens from KEH I cleaned up a little. I enjoyed the results quite a bit.
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There is something about these old German lenses that I like. They mostly seem to render in a low contrast (useful for digital) businesslike and non fussy way. And I like 100mm lenses best of all. For me a 100mm is like a 50mm for other people.

I have not used any Isco-Gottingen lenses but have been looking recently for interesting marques like this. And in particular those which have a 100mm / 105mm in their line up. I recently bought a Schneider 105mm f3.5 Xenar and a 135mm f4 Zeiss Triotar (a bit longer than strictly speaking I prefer but nice). And of course as you have seen the same Quinaron 35mm you have - I buy few wide angles but this looked so good I could not resist. And like you I like how it renders. Mine is fully intact and has the auto aperture mechanism but I do find it to be as quirky as it looks - the button on its front which has to be pulled out to make the aperture fully manual has a tendency to get bumped to the "off" position which means that I may think I am shooting in say f8 but am actually shooting fully wide open even though the aperture ring is set to f8.
 
Afterthought.

Anyone adapting lenses for cameras like the Argus "Brick" or the Robot Royal for example?

Not exactly weird but a little different from the norm.

in the same vein, I would be interested in hearing about and seeing lenses with DKL mount (eg some of those made for the Retina reflex) adapted to mirrorless too. I see these lenses on eBay quite regularly and think they could be of interest being quite inexpensive and as far as I know, reasonable performers.
 
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