Adapting 35mm lens.

[pigpen]

I'm sorry if this has been covered, a quick search didn't yield much. There was a recent post about a seller on Etsy selling lens boards that are set up for M42/L39 lenses. Any advice on this would be appreciated, I'd like to hear from someone with more experience than me (literally everyone on this forum) before I purchase.

I know there are many things to consider, like my lens cap would be the shutter. Another one is focus. Would you set the lens to infinity then focus w/gg? Will this work at all??? One of the lenses I'd like to try is a Soviet Helios w/the front element reversed. This will most likely make focusing even more difficult due to the very small "focus" area on the reversed lens, and how much (or how little) coverage I get.
Thank you.
Michael

[John Layton]

Years ago, I reverse-mounted an old 55mm f/3.5 Micro Nikkor lens by way of a salvaged (glassless) filter ring, which I'd glued into a hole cut into a piece of masonite which I'd sized to fit my old 4x5 Crown Graphic. I then unscrewed the glass from the Graphic's Optar lens, and mounted the naked shutter into a hole cut into a Nikon rear lens cap, which I then mounted to the back of that Micro Nikkor. This gave me a shutter with Flash sync. on that reverse-mounted lens, which worked great for larger than lifesize photos. Here's an example:

245738

(watch movement floating on surface tension - water sprinkled with aluminum powder in a paper cup)

[Dan Fromm]

I'm sorry if this has been covered, a quick search didn't yield much. There was a recent post about a seller on Etsy selling lens boards that are set up for M42/L39 lenses. Any advice on this would be appreciated, I'd like to hear from someone with more experience than me (literally everyone on this forum) before I purchase.

I know there are many things to consider, like my lens cap would be the shutter. Another one is focus. Would you set the lens to infinity then focus w/gg? Will this work at all??? One of the lenses I'd like to try is a Soviet Helios w/the front element reversed. This will most likely make focusing even more difficult due to the very small "focus" area on the reversed lens, and how much (or how little) coverage I get.
Thank you.
Michael
Oy? Which format do you intend to use a "35mm lens" on? What do you hope to accomplish?

I ask because, although lenses for 35 mm cameras can be used on larger formats for macro work, as John Layton mentioned in post #2 above, in general they're useless on 4x5. No coverage, timing exposure requires heroic measures. In general, the lens cap trick gives exposures longer than desired when using even slowish films.

[xkaes]

It's easy to get these lenses on LF cameras -- just get a lens board with the largest hole possible for your lens adapter. You might need more than one -- or use step-up/down rings.

What's your adapter? A simple step-up ring to 42mm or 39mm or whatever the thread is. Then super glue it if the front of the lens board. You'll need to get a lens board with the hole placed appropriately for your camera.

If you want to reverse the lens, just use another reverse ring, such as 42mm-to-55mm -- or whatever the lens filter thread is.

Getting the lens on the camera is the easy part. Keep in mind that if you are using a 35mm lens, the USABLE image circle will likely be around 45mm at infinity. If you focus closer, the image circle will increase in size.

The bigger problem is getting the lens to focus on the film/ground glass. It has to be about 45mm away from the film to focus on infinity, and most LF cameras can't do this -- even with a recessed lens board. For MACRO work, where you have more extension, it is easier, but without a shutter, and a tripod, and flash light, macro work is not easy.

That's why there is not much discussion about it.

[pigpen]

Thanks all. This is why I wanted to ask here before I spent $$. My original idea, before I found the seller on Etsy, was a step-up ring on the back of a DIY lens board. I had given up on the idea until I saw the guy making the boards. I thought, if he's making the boards people must be doing it. I give up again, I'm good at that.

[ic-racer]

An 50mm enlarging lens might be better than camera lens seeing as the only way a 50mm lens will work on 4x5" format is in the macro range.
Without a shutter, I'd use strobe lights. Vibration at high magnification may degrade your image quality, so the rapid exposure time will help.

[John Layton]

...the exposure of the watch movement was made in a dark room with the (auxiliary) shutter open - by turning on a high intensity desk lamp for about one minute (no strobe) - on 4x5 Plus-X film.

[ic-racer]

It is a very nice image!

[monochromeFan]

There are several busch pressman cameras on ebay right now that are using enlarging lenses and the cameras focal plane shutter.

[pigpen]

I do have a Nikon 50mm enlarging lens that's been sitting on the shelf for 10 years.............

[pigpen]

I bought a Crown Graphic instead of a Speed Graphic because it didn't have a focal plane shutter. I've heard some stories about people needing to remove the focal plane shutter (or just keep it open) because it had deteriorated to the point of it not working. Since this was my first LF camera, I wanted to keep it as simple and affordable as I could. If I get another one it will have the rear shutter.

[Dan Fromm]

pigpen, in post #3 above I asked you what you wanted to accomplish by mounting a "35mm lens" on a larger format camera. Please answer my question.

Your post #11 above on why you have a Crown Graphic was very illuminating.

There are many ways to get timed exposures with lenses in barrel. A camera like the Speed Graphic, which has a focal plane shutter, is one way. Some of us have hung -- many are the ways -- barrel lenses in front of leaf shutters. You'd do well to educate yourself, and about shopping as well as technology, before spending more money.

[pigpen]

pigpen, in post #3 above I asked you what you wanted to accomplish by mounting a "35mm lens" on a larger format camera. Please answer my question.

Your post #11 above on why you have a Crown Graphic was very illuminating.

There are many ways to get timed exposures with lenses in barrel. A camera like the Speed Graphic, which has a focal plane shutter, is one way. Some of us have hung -- many are the ways -- barrel lenses in front of leaf shutters. You'd do well to educate yourself, and about shopping as well as technology, before spending more money.

I have 2 sharp LF lenses and was looking for an affordable way to get soft focus. I have many M42/L39 lenses, the lens board would cost $20. Yes, I purposely bought the Crown as to keep my first step into LF as simple as possible. I thought asking questions here was "educating myself", maybe not. I mentioned in my second post that I was posting this question "before spending any money".

[Dan Fromm]

Thanks for explaining what you're trying to accomplish. Using a small format lens on a larger format isn't a good approach to getting "soft focus." Nearly all small format taking lenses are designed to give good image quality -- sharpness, if you will. And few of them will cover larger formats.

If you want a smallish circular image on a large piece of film, a small format lens may be just what you want. And if you want to use a shortish lens, your Crown Graphic is a much better camera for the purpose than a Speed Graphic. The 4x5 Crown's minimum flange-to-film distance is 52.4 mm. It varies a little with the version, but Speeds' f-to-f distances are around 67 mm. Neither will focus a 35 mm (that's a focal length, not a format) lens for 35 mm (film size) to infinity. I may have missed one, but I think that no 35 mm (film size) SLR's f-to-f distance is as large as 52.4 mm.

The inexpensive way to get soft focus is to use a pinhole. There's a literature on pinhole photography, there are sites dedicated to it, ... And there's software for designing the best (sharphest) pinhole for a focal length (= pinhole to film distance). I'm aware of all these resources but since I'm not much interested in fuzzy photos I can't give directions to them. If you look you'll find more than you need.

Pinholes in holders that screw into standard shutters are commercially available. Getting timed short exposures with pinholes, if needed, is very possible.

[Alan Townsend]

Thanks all. This is why I wanted to ask here before I spent $$. My original idea, before I found the seller on Etsy, was a step-up ring on the back of a DIY lens board. I had given up on the idea until I saw the guy making the boards. I thought, if he's making the boards people must be doing it. I give up again, I'm good at that.

As someone else mentioned, these may be intended for using enlarging lenses on view cameras. There may be some 135-150mm enlarging lenses for 4x5 that will fit these threads. I have a 135mm Rodenstock Rogonar-s mounted on my 4x5 speed graphic with a custom made lens board that I made. These are not 35mm lenses.

To actually mount 35mm lenses on 4x5 view cameras would require an adapter with approximately a 4x magnification, which would take a negative focal length lens element that would be difficult to design. There are adapters similar to this for digital cameras to use longer or shorter lenses on different sensor sizes. There used to be a really weird gadget called the speed-magney that did something like this, to adapt Nikon cameras to take 4x5 film. A simple achromatic negative lens, like a "barlow lens" for telescopes might work sort of for this with the camera lens stopped all the way down if you don't mind fuzzy and distorted photographs, which seem to be all the rage today.

Looks like a job for a lens tinkerer to me.

Have fun,

Alan Townsend

[Tin Can]

I bought a stack of Pinhole books for almost nothing

1970s 's was a peak

One book shows incidental Pinhole

Meaning we may find them produced anywhere

One was a huge hole in a bridge casting an image

[xkaes]

I'm aware of all these resources but since I'm not much interested in fuzzy photos I can't give directions to them. If you look you'll find more than you need.

Here are several links -- and more:

http://www.subclub.org/fujinon/pinhole.htm

[r_a_feldman]

I may have missed one, but I think that no 35 mm (film size) SLR's f-to-f distance is as large as 52.4 mm.



The T2 mount (M42×0.75) is 55mm.

https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

[Dan Fromm]

The T2 mount (M42×0.75) is 55mm.

https://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html

Is there a T-mount SLR?

[r_a_feldman]

Is there a T-mount SLR?
Not natively, but many SLR’s had T-mound adapters that were made for them, e.g., https://www.ebay.com/itm/283911351011

[xkaes]

The T2 mount (M42×0.75) is 55mm.

You're right, because it lacks a camera mount -- and when you put on any T-mount camera adapter, it's less.