Cine-lens adapter - quick straightforward question...

[John-Paul Bonadonna]

We've got it coming in, and have the intention of eventually picking up a 16mm lens....

but in the short term, do lenses from 35mm film SLR cameras mount?

[Liam Hall]

Originally Posted by John-Paul Bonadonna

We've got it coming in, and have the intention of eventually picking up a 16mm lens....

but in the short term, do lenses from 35mm film SLR cameras mount?

Which adapter? What lenses?

[Jim Andrada]

Quick answer - yes and no. It depends.

Provide a little more info about what you're thinking and we'll try to help.

[John-Paul Bonadonna]

Sorry - the adapter being the JVC model, and the lenses are Canon FD type. Fingers crossed....

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by John-Paul Bonadonna

Sorry - the adapter being the JVC model, and the lenses are Canon FD type. Fingers crossed....

The JVC HZ-CA13U has a PL mount so you would need a PL to FD adapter (if such a thing exists.) I'm googling now to see what is out there.

[Jim Andrada]

I don't have any need to use 35mm lenses so I haven't really looked into this, but I have a vague feeling that somewhere i've seen that there was some issue with Canon lenses and back focus that prevented them from working this way.

I also found this on Wikipedia. But this may not be relevant to mounting on a JVC.

Using FD lenses on other mounts

The flange focal distance of the FD mount is smaller than most other lens mounts, meaning that it is impossible to mount an FD lens onto most other cameras with an adapter and maintain the same focusing distance. Canon made an adapter containing corrective optics allowing its larger, more expensive FD telephoto lenses to be used on EOS bodies. This adapter functioned as a mild tele-converter, and could not be used on normal and wide-angle lenses. Canon produced this adapter to ease the initial cost of conversion for those with expensive collections of long FD telephoto lenses. Due to the limited number manufactured, these adapters remain sought-after, with used models selling for $1000 (the orignal "new" price was $250!). A few companies have started making EOS-FD adapters, however the image quality (especially at high aperture) is greatly reduced.[6] Mechanically skilled photographers have, however, reported successfully retrofitting FD lenses with alternative mounts.[7]

FWIW. Hope I'm wrong

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

...The flange focal distance of the FD mount is smaller than most other lens mounts, ...

Your right. The FFD of the Canon FD is 42mm and Arri PL uses 52mm. This means that the lens would have to be mounted 10mm INSIDE the front of the PL mount in order to work as expected. I doubt there is enough room for such an adapter.

However it would probably be possible to machine a direct FD to 1/3" bayonet adapter much like the popular Nikon F adapters that are out there.

[Jim Andrada]

I thought the Nikons had greater FFD so were more amenable to this kind of mounting technique.

Again, not one of my problems so I really don't know for sure.

[Tim Dashwood]

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

I thought the Nikons had greater FFD so were more amenable to this kind of mounting technique.

Again, not one of my problems so I really don't know for sure.

I think Nikon's FFD is 46mm so it is a similar issue but only a 6mm difference.

[John-Paul Bonadonna]

I appreciate you guys really looking into this!

[Max Wilson]

Originally Posted by Tim Dashwood

Your right. The FFD of the Canon FD is 42mm and Arri PL uses 52mm. This means that the lens would have to be mounted 10mm INSIDE the front of the PL mount in order to work as expected. I doubt there is enough room for such an adapter.

However it would probably be possible to machine a direct FD to 1/3" bayonet adapter much like the popular Nikon F adapters that are out there.

I have a Nikon to 1/3" adapter and it is great but you get about a 7.2X crop factor... I am currently looking into ways to correct the crop factor, but am just at the beginning of my research.

[Jim Andrada]

John-Paul,

I'm constantly amazed at how helpful the folks on this forum are. I remember someone having a lighting issue and someone else who lived in the same city volunteered to drop by and help him with the setup.

Glad to have you with us.

(And I hope you find a solution to your problem, although it seems to be looking a bit bleak)

[Hunter Richards]

There is an interesting PL mount adapter at RafCamera for m42 lenses. If you get the right m42 lenses (pentax and older zeiss) they will sit 9mm or so inside of the adapter and let you reach infinity focus. Might be worth a try if you need some cheap lenses just to get it to work.

[John-Paul Bonadonna]

I will look into this!