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Mounting a lens out of a Minolta super 8 camera to work on the gh3
  • tylerknighttylerknight

    I recently took apart my Minolta xl400 super 8 film camera after seeing that the lens was an f1.2 constant zoom 8.5-34mm

    I am going to attempt to make an adapter for it, but as of right now the focal distance is almost 6 inches so I am going to need some sort of reducer lens assembly to get it closer to the sensor.

    Does anyone have any ideas as to how I could do this?

    I have tried a macro step lens kit, tried taking out the rear assembly out of some old broken lenses to see if they would do the trick and unfortunately with them on it vignettes too much to use.

    The closest thing I have found was a 50mm f4 development enlargement lens but still vignettes and obviously reduces that 1.2 to a much higher Fstop.

    I would really appreciate some input from anyone who has attempted to make adapters themselves! This would make for the fastest wide angle ever!!

    think 1.2 at 8.5mm

    TASTY!

  • 9 Replies sorted by
  • svartsvart

    Hate to be the one to tell you this, but it isn't going to work.. The lens was designed for a much much smaller target, I.E., the 8mm frame, and thus, the focusing will only work with that lens-to-film spacing. Moving the lens further away to increase the size of the projected circle will take the lens too far outside of it's focal distance. Attempting to use reducers or any other lenses will not only add significant distortions, but also reduce light throughput. If you somehow find a combination that would create a projected circle the right size AND bring the focal distance to work, then you'll have excessive light falloff through the adapter.

    Unfortunately physics is against you on this one. There is a reason that nobody has done this already.. it's not that people haven't tried for years to leverage the vast amount of cheap old 8 and 16mm lenses, it's because what you are wanting to do can't be done.

  • tylerknighttylerknight

    Well thanks for ruining the the christmas dreams of a little boy :(

    Haha just kidding, I figured this was the case!

    Thanks for your insight that was a lot of help.

    I can finally stop trying to make it work haha.

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    You could get a 12mm f 1.8 lens and use a speesbooster and that would get you about the same focal length and f stop.

  • tylerknighttylerknight

    @matt_gh2

    I COULD but that would be well over $1000 whereas this is free :)

  • matt_gh2matt_gh2

    That's a good point - lol

  • kurthkurth

    It wouldn't even cover in etc mode . Maybe at 4x digital zoom ? The slrmagic 12mm f1.6 costs about 500. 16mm lenses will cover in etc however but you multiply the focal length by over 5x ! How 'bout the samyang 7.5 for 250 or the sigma 8-16 w/adapter. And kowa has the upcoming 8.5 for ??...or you could have just left the s8 camera alone, and shot some s8 with it !

  • tylerknighttylerknight

    @Kurth To have this particular lens actually have a focal point, it has to be almost 12 inches from the camera, so It would need some sort of adapter with another lens assembly which like @svart stated, would reduce quality, slow down the lens and just make it run into more problems.

    I will probably wait for the Kowa 8.5 but I just thought I would at least try my hand at at DIY adapter but I guess he's right about that's the reason why no one else is using these lenses haha

    @Kurth

    I have quite a few s8 cameras still that I use this one was broken I would never kill a living creature!

  • kurthkurth

    @tylerknight

    tyler....I don't understand the 12" part. It wasn't 12 inches from the s8 filmplane. I think there's some info on the angenieux's for the beaulieu s8's and etc mode. If the autoexposure module is removed, I believe they can be mounted with a standard cmount adapter. They might work using the 4x digital zoom feature. And there's some videos on vimeo using the 12-120 ang in etc mode. Of course the 12mm turns into 50. Also check out the cheap 7.5mm . If you keep it horizonal , it's quite nice and very wide. I also have my collection of s8's, still hoping someone would make a digital module cartridge.

  • lolololo

    i once used a polaroid plastic lens over a gh2, you could use the m4/3 macro tubes (u$10) and clay to keep the lens where it must be to proper focus

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