Beginner Hello - I am new and could do with some help

Stealth_303

Stealth_303

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Name
Merlin
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Hello,

I have an 1100D, I've done alright with the kit lens and so bought a 50mm Zeiss Jena (wooohoo)

I love the Jena lens, it's great, it came converted already and just slots on and works no problem.

Since then
I bought a :

INDUSTAR-69 2.8/28 Russian Wide Angle Pancake Lens M39 MMZ-LOMO 7
And a

Industar-61 M39 Leica Soviet lens
Both of these lenses are M39, so I bought a couple of mounts to go from M39 to 1100D

The mounts came today, and straight away I found that both lenses will not focus at all unless they are held 3 inches away from a subject.

Please can someone tell me what I am doing wrong.

Thank you

Best regards

Merlin
 
Last edited:
It sounds like the adaptors are too long, in which case you've probably bought the M39 Zenit mount adaptor (45.2mm) and not the M39 LTM adaptor (28.8mm).

You should only need one adaptor per mount, one per lens isn't necessary.
 
Alastair said:
It sounds like the adaptors are too long, in which case you've probably bought the M39 Zenit mount adaptor (45.2mm) and not the M39 LTM adaptor (28.8mm).

You should only need one adaptor per mount, one per lens isn't necessary.
Click to expand...

Hi Alastair,

I have now been told that the lenses need to closer to the sensor and that they cannot be moved closer because of the mirror, essentially they're both no good for a 11000D : (
 
Maybe find yourself a used Fuji X-A1? - mirrorless is the way to go for maximum compatibility with vintage lenses.
 
This looks like a problem with the flange focal distance (FFD), also known as the lens registration distance and by various other similar names.

Every different type of camera / lens system is designed with a fixed distance between the lens mount and the sensor / film plane. This is the FFD. If you want to use a lens on a camera for which it was not designed, obviously you need some sort of physical adapter but you also need to worry about the FFDs. If the lens is not mounted at exactly the right distance from the sensor then you won't get the full range of focusing: if the lens is too far from the sensor you'll be able to focus close-up but not at distance, whereas if the lens is too close to the sensor you'll be able to focus at distance but close-up. This latter problem shouldn't occur in practice though because you can use the adapter to hold the lens at the right distance from the sensor.

If you want to mount a lens with a big FFD onto a camera with a small FFD, you can do it by using an adapter with a suitable thickness. For example the Nikon F-mount has a FFD of 46.5mm and the Canon EF mount has a FFD of 44mm. This means you can mount a Nikon lens onto a Canon camera with an adapter which is 2.5mm thick, and get the full range of focusing. But you can't mount a Canon lens onto a Nikon camera without losing the ability to focus at distance, unless your adapter contains some corrective optics.

Now, as mentioned the FFD of the Canon EOS system is 44mm. So what's the FFD of an M39 lens? Well, it depends. M39 means it's a lens with a throat diameter of 39mm, but there are actually several systems which use that throat diameter and they don't all have the same FFD. The Zenit M39 mount has a FFD of 45.2mm, so that will fit on a Canon camera with a 1.2mm thick adapter and everything will work properly. But the Leica M39 mount has a FFD of only 28.8mm, so obviously it won't give you the full range of focusing. It will still physically fit - the M39 screw thread is the same for all varieties of M39 mount - but that 1.2mm adapter will be holding the lens at 45.2mm from the sensor when it should really be 28.8mm.
 
Yes Stewart, that is the one mate. That is the situation, my camera body and mirror mean I can never get the lens close enough.

Aww well, you live and learn.

I really appreciate the wisdom coming in off this forum. TY : )
 
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