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Has anyone tried to adapt a (Leitz) slide projection lens to Fuji X?


milandro

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Has anyone tried to adapt a ( Leitz) slide projection lens to Fuji X?

 

Ad if you did, how did you do it?

 

I am toying with the idea of adapting one of these lenses, a Leitz Elmaron f2.8 50mm to my camera. 

 

to do this one needs an helicoid macro  adapter( front M42  to Fuji).

 

41IhY97fRyL._SX300_.jpg

Edited by milandro
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  • 3 weeks later...

well, the response to these threads of mine on adapting lenses and weird lenses is, has been, as always, overwhelming  ;)  :D ... so, in the end I did get de helicoid macro tube and I did manage to adapt a slide projector lens on it , for the time being it is not, yet, the 50mm Elmaron but I have tried a 100mm Isco anastigmant.

 

The results of this last lens are not really exciting. Predictably the lens quality (no aperture) is not huge and especially contrast is very low. This required corrections both is shooting and some in post production but this is the result.

 

As you can see the lens is soft and has a decent “ bokeh” ( whatever that is) :rolleyes:  :ph34r:

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Edited by milandro
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I have done the adapting of the Elmaron 50mm f 2.8 ( which required a bit more ingenuity than the other adaptation. I used the helicoid but I also used a T2-M42 adapter where I took away the actual T2 ring and used the retainer screws to hold another ring which holds the lens mounted in the whole construction.

 

These are the results. I like the portrait capabilities very much. The other pictures are just to show how the lens deals with unsharp bits  ( I think it is fair to define this a soap bubble lens) and the third shows (sorry my phone is not a camera) what the whole thing looks like.

 

The last shot is a simulated tilt effect adding the miniature advanced filter to this lens, pretty convincing ( butI find the tone of the miniature effect generally not so nice and you get no raw with any of those).

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Edited by milandro
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Well, for clarity, maybe better to reiterate that the last picture of the series is made with the added use of the miniature effect ( one of the advanced filters).

 

The first picture is taken with the modified Elmaron lens, as is, no effects added, at f 2.8 ( and as far as sharpness in the middle and depth of field, I think that it is very good for being f2.8).

 

Of course, to get a sharper rendition it would be very nice if I could ( and it is possible to do) mount an aperture ring in the construction but I am not sure that I want to go there.

 

I wasn’t aiming at reaching an effect that I can reach with any other M42 lens that I can buy for little money.

 

This is a slide projector lens after all.

 

This construction serves the purpose to show that one can use these lenses, how to do that is a relatively simple way.

 

The entire rig costed me les than €30 and the use of a few things that I had already. If you compare this to the result of a lens specifically made for portraits where the sharpness of the borders is not the result you need or want.

 

I am very happy about it.

 

As for the cork, that has been applied to a L plate with a front grip. The front grip didn’t offer much in a manner of grip because it is made of smooth aluminum witha ridge for one finger.

 

I decided to buy a piece of high density cork and cut out a piece, then I drew the contour of the front grip inside and sanded it down then I took the front and gave it a rounded shape.

 

Some double adhesive tape when inside and I glued the cork onto the grip.

 

I am NOT naturally a very DIY inclined person but necessity ( or in the case just wanting to do something) is the mother of invention.

Edited by milandro
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well, that will be  the same as using any other “ legacy” analog photography lens to digital.

 

But this is a different kettle of fish, this is a projector lens, not a lens meant for the taking of photographs or films. There are people using lenses made for all sorts of purposes ( Night Vision, Binoculars, Film or Slide projection, Surveillance CCTV cameras) on digital cameras.

 

Run a search on google and you’ll see a pretty large community of aficionados of these lens conversions often used for filming but also photography.

 

This gave new life to equipment which would otherwise be thrown out.

 

I am stil trying to find a use for the old focal multipliers. I anyone knows one there are tons of old and unused ones around.

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  • 1 month later...

Another chance acquisition brought me a Leitz Colorplan 90mm , which has to be one of the best projection lenses out there. The adapter that I’ve used was a T mount M42 adapter which I’ve used removing the T adapting ring ( and used the 3 screws to fasten the colorplan) then I have put the lens on my helicodal adapter shown above.

 

The lens is rather heavy and can’t be used at infinity yet it is usable for portraits which is, what you wan to do with a lens like this, remember, there is no aperture here.

 

The results are similar to the Leitz Elmaron albeit with a slightly different effect caused by different compression.

 

Considering that these adaptations cost virtually nothing if you have the the rings and the helicoidal adapter I really think that you get a great portrait lens for pennies.

 

 

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Leitz colorplan f2.5

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  • 6 months later...

in the attempt to make this project a bit more usable I will buy a new type of helicoid which I will then connect to a set of adapters with a stopless aperture.

 

This will allow to develop certain amount of extra depth of field ( although having an aperture outside the lens, between lens and camera, is far from ideal..) as opposed to shooting at full opening, which has its charm but it has also many limitations.

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