Adapting Adapter Things....PT II (Short II)
Just some more messing with things I picked up on my travels, I'll post loaned pics until the real thing turns up soon....
First up is this homemade interesting Olympus > M39/Dallmeyer (C Mount) Adapter that came with a set of AICO Bellows, more of those later, have a quick look first....
What you can't see is the solo mount is hand engraved 'Leica' and the underside one is engraved 'Ental / Dallmeyer '82 and the trio of holes you see allows them to be changed onto the Olympus Mount by tapped threads added to what looks like a nonhacked Olympus > 49mm Male Adapter, I'll add pictures later and all will be revealed to your eyeballs.
(The box contains an Olympus T-Mount and a Lensman Microscope Adapter)
You just unscrew the 3 straight machine screws to change either or for the desired effect, the Minolta EL tightened up but was loose whilst on the way, these adapters are Aluminium I think and have softer threads and over time they just relax a little and if they do ever become unusable, the Olympus Adapter has 49mm threads that are clean and still screw into the 49mm mount on the Glanz as a test and all is good.
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Let's have a quick look at these for a sec....
A set of Nikon Mounts for the Elicar Auto Bellows and according to the box, a later version, I've seen the same set but without the Aperture Ring, so it fits and what is interesting about these is they fit the AICO Auto Bellows as they share the same blueprints as the Elicar, mine came with an Olympus (OM) Set attached and the Auto function is also interesting, no matter the extension, the front and rear mounts are coupled with a simple 2 prong fork along the bottom of the rail that attaches to a small extended rod from the mount....
You can see the rod at 11ish O'Clock in the above pic and the front and rear forks for it to connect to are in the same position on the bellows....So of course, all giddy I possibly disastrously took off the rear Olympus Mount and tried the Nikon on for the maybes and it sort of worked, for a sec, sort of....When I make more of an effort I'll post my findings but up to now the only issue could be the travel for the coupling and its relationship to each makers Mounts but as we've been distracted....
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Next up is a simple, not what you might expect adapter, that brings old and new together which is handy if you use old and newer than that old gear, but as you've no idea what I'm talking about, here's a clue....
A Nikon MC-25, something I wasn't really looking for but was pointed to by a great article about using Nikon Bellows, the double cable with one cable closing the aperture, pre shutter release and the other cable releasing the shutter after that was done, there's a slight delay in each of the cable releases, you do need a MR-3 to go direct to Camera or as I do, with the MR-1, see below, this is what Nikon says about it:
The MC-25 Adapter Cord enables the use of two-pin remote accessories:
Remote Cord MC-4A, Remote Cord MC-12B, and Terminal Release MR-3. And officially compatible with:
It also worked fine with the F90X I tried it with, you should always try or
ask as you'll never know, this thing doesn't need line of sight either
and uses modern, easy to get batteries, (4xAA & 1xPP3) what it also doesn't say is, it works with an ML-1 (1976)
All for the princely sum of £21....inc Delivery but it was a bit of a slog to get it, worth it but possibly nearly didn't....Let me quickly tell the tale....I saw the MC-25, as I said earlier in another article, and did a quick EB search and found this one with a SB of £3, so I saved it and noticed the ML-1 from the same seller, 2 saves later I moved on....After the reminder I saw no bids but at the end got distracted by home life and missed the end of the auction, it was still at £3 with no bids, so I messaged the seller asking if they were going to relist as I was interested and just missed it, while I was waiting I looked again and saw none, not even close, not sure of the release price but these are still available from Nikon for $125 AFAIK.
So it might seem expensive for a bit of wire and some connectors and either not a lot were sold or people don't get rid of them as there weren't any about for a good price when I looked. I got a reply a few days later saying that both items will be relisted but not sure when as he's really busy, fair enough, so I waited for 2 weeks before they showed up again, with the same starting prices (£3 & £15 ML-1) and were listed for.....10 Days! LOL....So I bid and waited and waited and won them both for the starting price, plus £3 for delivery, sometimes it just works out for you, unlike the, as new £40 55mm f2.8 Vivitar Macro that never turned up....(It eventually did turn up but will talk later about it) And sometimes it doesn't but I always take the view, that there will always be another....
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Let's move on....
Pentax 'A' Adapter
Pentax 'B' Adapter
The 'B' Adapter was alleged to be in the wrong box but I think the seller just thought the big A on the box was the designation for the type as it is the Type B version of this beautifully made piece of real metal, it's heavy and confident and is made to do one thing and do it well, whilst it might not seem exciting these adapters are hardish to find in this condition here in the UK, cheaply anyway, there are a newer version but who wants lightweight, softer metal in something that's a vital link to what you do.
I've read posts that claim these are not common to buy and if so then I've been lucky to find both, so close together and for under £20 through the door, and if not then they are still great value, they are deceivingly heavy for the size of them and reveal the heavy metal content which inspires confidence and warming of the heart, put it on, forget about it, you know it'll work.
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Oh yeah, I liked this one so much, I bought another....
I'll end this with a warning....I bought this to mess with, it's supposed to be an Olympus Set but the front fits a Nikon Mount!
Be wary of cheap knock off EB crap.
