102 year old lens attached to digital camera

Not to take anything away from that, but I thought I'd point out that you can mount 50 year old Nikon lenses on modern Nikon DSLRs, no adapter required, due to Nikon's commitment to the F-mount it introduced in 1959:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F-mount

Re: 102 year old lens attached to digital camera

#8

Post by js2 » Sat, Sep 18, 2010, 9:36 PM UTC

lotusleaf1987 wrote: post #3

Does anyone know where you could find a how-to guide to do this yourself? Or is this the type of thing best left to professionals?

It may be a 39mm lens:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M39_lens_mount

You could start with a T-mount adapter to get to 42mm:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-mount

http://www.adorama.com/LNTMEOS.html

Then a 42mm to 39mm step-down adapter ring:

http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-M39-Adapter-Zeiss-Pentax/dp/B...

Not sure about the clearances, and you may not get infinity focus depending upon how far out the lens ends up being situated from the focal plane of the sensor.

Edited to add: google turned up this direct EOS to M39 adapter:

  http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110365260908&ssPageName=STRK

But note "DOES NOT allow focus to infinity".

Re: 102 year old lens attached to digital camera

#9

Post by marilyn » Sat, Sep 18, 2010, 9:39 PM UTC

lotusleaf1987 wrote: post #3

Does anyone know where you could find a how-to guide to do this yourself? Or is this the type of thing best left to professionals?

While it's not the same, there are several how to's for using a Holga lens with a DSLR (like http://www.howcast.com/videos/217390-How-To-Make-Your-Holga-...). Extrapolating from these would certainly help get you at least part way there.

Re: 102 year old lens attached to digital camera

#10

Post by jacobolus » Sat, Sep 18, 2010, 9:39 PM UTC

js2 wrote: post #7

So this is a 102 year old lens mounted on modern Canon DSLR. Obviously it requires an adapter to physically mate the two. Not to take anything away from that, but I thought I'd point out that you can mount 50 year old Nikon lenses on modern Nikon DSLRs, no adapter required, due to Nikon's commitment to the F-mount it introduced in 1959: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F-mount

> So this is a 102 year old lens mounted on modern Canon DSLR

Isn’t that precisely what is suggested by the title?

Also, this isn’t any “adapter”:

> My friend, a Russian lens technician, who loves nothing more than to frankenstein equipment [...] called me into his store in NYC. [...] He found in a box of random parts, hidden inside anther lens this gem. A circa 1908 (possibly earlier) 35mm lens. Still functioning, mostly brass, and not nearly as much dust or fungus as one would think after sitting in a box for over a hundred years. This lens is a piece of film history people, and at this point rare beyond words. So i say to him, “Wow... what do you have in mind?” He smiles, and says (in the thickest Russian accent you can imagine) “I can make this fit EF you know....” My eye twinkled, and then 6 nail-biting hours later, he had it finished. My Russian lens technician is a mad scientist and he took what sounded like an angle grinder to the lens to make it clear the flange distance and the mirror.... This lens’s value is unclear. It’s sort of on loan. It’s the only lens of its kind on a 5D... or any digital for that matter.