Tripod adaptor to fit Soviet MTO 1000A f10.5 mirror lens

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My son’s just bought this whopping old Soviet lens on eBay for Astrophotography and is looking for some sort of adapter to mount it on his Manfrotto tripod with MHXPRO-3W head.

Has anyone come across anything that would work?
 
Sounds to me like he's got one of the older models with a 3/8th inch socket. If so, you just need a 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch adapter. You can find them on Amazon or Ebay.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61+vo0etOYL._SL1000_.jpg
Thanks for this. Can I just clarify your point? The lens come with a bracket that has 3 holes in it: a central one that is 1cm diameter and a smaller one on each side each with a diameter of 5mm. What is the adapter you refer to for? I don’t see how you could attach the lens to the tripod head with it. Probably me being a bit dense!
 
a central one that is 1cm diameter
That sounds like it's 3/8 inch and should be threaded.
and a smaller one on each side each with a diameter of 5mm.
If these have threads they might be 1/4 inch.
What is the adapter you refer to for?
If you only have a 3/8 inch screw hole the adapter screws into that and the tripod screws into the adapter.

My MTO 1000 had a single 3/8 inch screw hole so it was simple but it sounds like you have a different version. Perhaps a picture or two showing the mount will clarify what is happening.
 
That sounds like it's 3/8 inch and should be threaded.
If these have threads they might be 1/4 inch.
If you only have a 3/8 inch screw hole the adapter screws into that and the tripod screws into the adapter.

My MTO 1000 had a single 3/8 inch screw hole so it was simple but it sounds like you have a different version. Perhaps a picture or two showing the mount will clarify what is happening.


Hi Andrew, here are a couple of shots of the lens and bracket - hope this helps:
Soviet lens 1.jpg

Soviet lens.jpg
 
I've not seen a bracket like that on an MTO before. It looks like it's made to hold the lens onto some other equipment. What size thread are the bolts holding it on?
 
I'm not sure I want to remove the bolts holding the bracket on to measure them in case I can't get it back on again. It didn't come with any other bolts.
 
It looks to me like you are going to need something bespoke made.....

.. either a threaded stub to fill the bigger hole which will receive the tripod screw.

Or and possibly the best option something more substantial attached to it with the tripod size hole(s) drilled and tapped into it

??????

@GyRob is a skilled engineer/maker of things......I wonder if, for an appropriate exchange of £'s, he can help???
 
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It looks to me like you are going to need something bespoke made.....

.. either a threaded stub to fill the bigger hole which will receive the tripod screw.

Or and possibly the best option something more substantial attached to it with the tripod size hole(s) drilled and tapped into it

??????

@GyRob is a skilled engineer/maker of things......I wonder if, for an appropriate exchange of £'s, he can help???

Thank you very much for the suggestion, that's kind of you. I've messaged @GyRob with a request for help and linked him to this thread,
 
I would get a short length of 1/4" (6mm) thick bar stock from the home store... aluminum would be fine.
Drill and countersink two holes to line up with the smaller holes. If you can match the threads in the smaller holes use matching bolts, if not, use smaller/longer bolts and nuts/washers on the other side.
Drill and tap a 1/4-20 hole in the center where the large hole is... the Manfrotto plate will screw into that hole. If that's too much hassle; just drill a through hole and replace the screw in the Manfrotto plate with something longer that can be secured with a nut/washer, but the nut/washer will need to fit w/in the larger diameter hole.
 
The central hole is obviously plain, but looking at the 2 outer holes, there's a hint that they are threaded - is this the case? The possible thread looks quite coarse and could well be 1/4" Whitworth as per standard tripod mount. But I'm thinking that a simple adapter plate could be fashioned in any case.

Ideally, I'd like the lens in front of me for this. But if I was to make a plate, I'd need to know the exact centres (spacing) of those outer holes. If they are threaded, test them by lightly attempting to engage a 1/4" tripod screw. But the main issue is the spacing, & accuracy is paramount. Maybe a pencil & paper rubbing would do it?

And the head I think has a Manfrotto 200pl plate with 1/4" screw? All my taps are metric, so I'd have to buy a tap (about a fiver). Postage, about £4?

Material would be from my scrap box. My time would be free. Want to talk?
 
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The central hole is obviously plain, but looking at the 2 outer holes, there's a hint that they are threaded - is this the case? The possible thread looks quite coarse and could well be 1/4" Whitworth as per standard tripod mount. But I'm thinking that a simple adapter plate could be fashioned in any case.

Ideally, I'd like the lens in front of me for this. But if I was to make a plate, I'd need to know the exact centres (spacing) of those outer holes. If they are threaded, test them by lightly attempting to engage a 1/4" tripod screw. But the main issue is the spacing, & accuracy is paramount. Maybe a pencil & paper rubbing would do it?

And the head I think has a Manfrotto 200pl plate with 1/4" screw? All my taps are metric, so I'd have to buy a tap (about a fiver). Postage, about £4?

Material would be from my scrap box. My time would be free. Want to talk?

Sounds good. Is there a way on here to DM?
 
Sounds good. Is there a way on here to DM?

Good for @droj making an offer to create something.

If by DM you mean Direct Message......here it is Start Conversation ~ if click his name one of the options is titled that :)
 
I found this photo I think it is one of the bracket fixings you may have the fixing you need under your bracket ?
Rob.
s-l1600.jpg
 
I found this photo I think it is one of the bracket fixings you may have the fixing you need under your bracket ?
That looks like the fitting I had on my MTO 500. The MTO 1000 only had the 3/8" hole (which makes sense given its weight).
 
@mercurius
I just had a look at the video in the Imaging Resource page I linked to here
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0G28qggxYM#action=share


And at approx 17 and 26 seconds in, as he is handling it, you can see two off of the dual threaded holes shown in @GyRob 's image. To me that re-enforces that the bracket @mercurius has on his lens is a home brew one and if removed will yield suitable points to attach some form of standard plate???

In an ideal world to avoid/reduce rotational skewing if fitted to one hole you need to affix to both holes....................this lens plate comes with two screws ~ one of each standard sizes

Manfrotto 500PLONG Video Camera QR Plate
https://images.uttings.co.uk/images/products/manfrotto/video-camera-qr_CD364A4B_large.jpg

No doubt others could be found.............and pre-suppose that the holes are the (now) standard 1/4" and 3/8" ones, though that should be easy to check ;)
 
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@mercurius

PS
The image I have found, below the one here copied from your post #7, clearly shows what is (or seems to be) the same lens as yours ~ it shows the same curve edge to the mounting point as seen in your picture here:-
soviet-lens-jpg.262842
.

The picture appears to show a modern QR type head with what must be standard QR plate attached to it.

Maybe the solution is more simple than it at first appeared to be :)
6938114350_fcf805c752_b.jpg

Full address for clarity and attribution https://live.staticflickr.com/5039/6938114350_fcf805c752_b.jpg

Close up of the mount point
test6938114350_fcf805c752_bCROPPED_GAI (1).jpg
 
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If yours turns out to be just 3/8 you only need a thread adapter .
Rob.
 
That looks like the fitting I had on my MTO 500. The MTO 1000 only had the 3/8" hole (which makes sense given its weight).
Thanks for that.

@mercurius
I just had a look at the video in the Imaging Resource page I linked to here
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0G28qggxYM#action=share

And at approx 17 and 26 seconds in, as he is handling it, you can see two off of the dual threaded holes shown in @GyRob 's image. To me that re-enforces that the bracket @mercurius has on his lens is a home brew one and if removed will yield suitable points to attach some form of standard plate???

In an ideal world to avoid/reduce rotational skewing if fitted to one hole you need to affix to both holes....................this lens plate comes with two screws ~ one of each standard sizes

Manfrotto 500PLONG Video Camera QR Plate
https://images.uttings.co.uk/images/products/manfrotto/video-camera-qr_CD364A4B_large.jpg

No doubt others could be found.............and pre-suppose that the holes are the (now) standard 1/4" and 3/8" ones, though that should be easy to check ;)

Many thanks for that!

@mercurius

PS
The image I have found, below the one here copied from your post #7, clearly shows what is (or seems to be) the same lens as yours ~ it shows the same curve edge to the mounting point as seen in your picture here:-
soviet-lens-jpg.262842
.

The picture appears to show a modern QR type head with what must be standard QR plate attached to it.

Maybe the solution is more simple than it at first appeared to be :)
6938114350_fcf805c752_b.jpg

Full address for clarity and attribution https://live.staticflickr.com/5039/6938114350_fcf805c752_b.jpg

Close up of the mount point
View attachment 262896

Brilliant, thanks for this pic.That makes it very clear.

Ah yes. It appears that if the large bracket is removed there will be two 3/8-16 and two 1/4-20 threaded holes which any standard tripod/head/plate can mount to.

Thanks.

If yours turns out to be just 3/8 you only need a thread adapter .
Rob.

Do you think one screw will be enough to hold it with out it sheering off? It's a real beast of a lens - weighs about 5-6kg!
 
Do you think one screw will be enough to hold it with out it sheering off? It's a real beast of a lens - weighs about 5-6kg!

If you have the two holes illustrated.......I refer you to my post ref: using two screws ;)
 
Hopefully the Manfrotto plate's screw will be high-tensile steel rather than budget material, and will do the job ...

The head mentioned seems to require the 200PL plate as the only interface it will accept, so all else in that case is subservient to that.

The lens body is almost certainly aluminium, though, and one wouldn't want to strip its threads - ie don't use pliers to magnify the torque on the plate screw!
 
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Yes, saw your post, but I don't think that baseplate would fit his tripod mount.
Hopefully the Manfrotto plate's screw will be high-tensile steel rather than budget material, and will do the job ...

The head mentioned seems to require the 200PL plate as the only interface it will accept, so all else in that case is subservient to that.

The lens body is almost certainly aluminium, though, and one wouldn't want to strip its threads - ie don't use pliers to magnify the torque on the plate screw!


Ah! my bad missing the head model.

Just my thoughts:-
As mentioned beware of being tempted to overtighten.
The rubber on the plate will do it's job (NB if the plate is an old one and the rubber is in any marked/slightly degraded ~ buy a new one).
Bearing in mind that the head is rated at 8kg, if it was my rig I would try to be conscious of, as it is astrophotography, the angles of setting up to avoid where possible for the centre of gravity causing a rotational 'moment' that will impact on the stability of the whole and maybe more so the small risk of loosening the lens to plate tightness!
 
Do you think one screw will be enough to hold it with out it sheering off? It's a real beast of a lens - weighs about 5-6kg!
One screw should be more than enough... even if it was made out of aluminum. The biggest issue will be the weight wanting to twist it on the plate, which one screw may not be able to prevent.

TBH, if it were mine I would probably buy another 200PL plate, remove it's existing screw, drill two holes through it and that bracket (opposite sides of the large hole), and then permanently bolt the plate in place with nuts/washers on the backside of the bracket.
 
One screw should be more than enough... even if it was made out of aluminum. The biggest issue will be the weight wanting to twist it on the plate, which one screw may not be able to prevent.

TBH, if it were mine I would probably buy another 200PL plate, remove it's existing screw, drill two holes through it and that bracket (opposite sides of the large hole), and then permanently bolt the plate in place with nuts/washers on the backside of the bracket.

I think the plate has a removable "stop pin" used to stop rotation when used with video cameras....but it goes into a corresponding hole.

As it, I think can be unscrewed and located into one of four positions...... could it be used like a 'grubscrew' lock? Though doing so means it will likely be cutting into either the lens mount point plate (the part seen with 4screws holding it) or the lens barrel. If the latter, not a good idea!
 
I think the plate has a removable "stop pin" used to stop rotation when used with video cameras....but it goes into a corresponding hole.
If, by some miracle, both the screw and one of the stop pin holes line up with both threaded openings on the lens well enough; then the 3/8-16 adaptor could be used on the screw and the pin in the 1/4-20 threaded hole to prevent twisting. It looks like the pin is just a press fit, not threaded.
 
If, by some miracle, both the screw and one of the stop pin holes line up with both threaded openings on the lens well enough; then the 3/8-16 adaptor could be used on the screw and the pin in the 1/4-20 threaded hole to prevent twisting. It looks like the pin is just a press fit, not threaded.

Just found another image........yup, a push fit 'stud' so yes if it lines up it has the potential to act as a "stop" should weight shifting loosen the connection!
 
To help stop twist double sided carpet tape works well on any single screw fitting plate as does carpet glue and if you ever want to take it off just soak in warm water Iv used this on thousands of gimbals to help stop the clamp from twisting as a fail safe with my screw and never had one come undone or twist .
Rob.
 
Hopefully the Manfrotto plate's screw will be high-tensile steel rather than budget material, and will do the job ...

The head mentioned seems to require the 200PL plate as the only interface it will accept, so all else in that case is subservient to that.

The lens body is almost certainly aluminium, though, and one wouldn't want to strip its threads - ie don't use pliers to magnify the torque on the plate screw!
I think the plate has a removable "stop pin" used to stop rotation when used with video cameras....but it goes into a corresponding hole.

As it, I think can be unscrewed and located into one of four positions...... could it be used like a 'grubscrew' lock? Though doing so means it will likely be cutting into either the lens mount point plate (the part seen with 4screws holding it) or the lens barrel. If the latter, not a good idea!
If, by some miracle, both the screw and one of the stop pin holes line up with both threaded openings on the lens well enough; then the 3/8-16 adaptor could be used on the screw and the pin in the 1/4-20 threaded hole to prevent twisting. It looks like the pin is just a press fit, not threaded.
Just found another image........yup, a push fit 'stud' so yes if it lines up it has the potential to act as a "stop" should weight shifting loosen the connection!
To help stop twist double sided carpet tape works well on any single screw fitting plate as does carpet glue and if you ever want to take it off just soak in warm water Iv used this on thousands of gimbals to help stop the clamp from twisting as a fail safe with my screw and never had one come undone or twist .
Rob.

Many thanks for all the excellent suggestions received: I just wanted to update on what's happened.

I managed to remove the bracket without any problem, as, although the bolds looked rusty, they moved easily. Underneath there were two holes with threads and I found that the screw on the 200PL plate fitted the smaller one. I had hoped that I could also also fit another screw into the second hole through the plate using one of the 4 holes surrounding the main plate screw, but the holes just don't line up. It seems fairly stable on the tripod head fixed with the one screw though, so fingers crossed it will work out in the field!
 
Good to hear about progress, and glad you're on track so far.

One thing that could be easily done is to replace the 1/4 plate screw with a 3/8 one - but you'd have to drill out the plate to take it, and make sure that the screw head was shallow enough to fit within the depth of the recess under the plate.
 
One thing that could be easily done is to replace the 1/4 plate screw with a 3/8 one - but you'd have to drill out the plate to take it, and make sure that the screw head was shallow enough to fit within the depth of the recess under the plate.
Not really any significant advantage to that though... a single 1/4-20 screw is more than strong enough to handle the weight.
 
Is that your gut feeling, Steven, or have you done some calculations?
General mechanical properties... i.e. an annealed 1/4-20 stainless steel bolt has a yield strength of at least 30ksi and a shear strength of over twice that (hardened stainless is much higher). Even 6061 aluminum has a shear strength of 30ksi. And when threaded engagement is equal to diameter you get a failure strength close to that of the material itself. Granted, 1/4" diameter is nowhere near 1si, but the joint's tensile strength is probably at least 1000lb.
Heck, just look at how small the 4 screws are that hold the mount onto the lens, or how small the screws are that secure a lens mount... the 1/4-20 connection is not a concern.
 
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