Nikon F to PL Adapter? I could have sworn...

[Zack Birlew]

Hi, everybody, I was looking into adapters for PL mount and I'm just not seeing Nikon F mount and I could have sworn that there was something for adapting this, am I wrong? I know there's whole Nikon F mount attachments for cameras like RED, Blackmagic, etc. but for lenses I thought there were adapters you could get. If not, would these be possible for someone to make or maybe for companies like Simmod to make mount replacements like they do for FD/nFD/EF/etc.?

 

[Phil Holland]

Canon FD = 42mm
Canon EF = 44mm
Nikon F = 46.5mm
PL = 52mm

In terms of a PL mount to F to allow mounting of PL glass on a Nikon DSLR, not enough room. Even the very few EF to PL adapters also "don't work for much". Which is why initially a better solution was to remove the mount entirely. Which is something we did on a few N90 bodies way, way back.

If you're going Nikon F on the lens to a PL Mount, no. But you can fully rehouse Nikon glass to PL, at least a good chunk of it. TLS Vega are exactly that and the focus pull is put in the correct direction on those.

Z to PL, camera body to PL mount is very doable. Z-Mount glass to PL, extremely hard if not impossible.

Prior to Simmod taking it over and well before they existed as a company Ed Mika provided kits to fully convert Canon FD (and some FL) to EF, which required removing the mount. My very first custom conversion as a teenager was FL to EF and eventually I switched to Ed's work. Simmod has taken that over. The previous FD to EF adapters, not conversions, featured a magnifying optic that was usually fairly low quality, which is why the conversion was/is so desired.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Anything specific you're looking to adapt, Zack? I'm kinda diving off the deep end here, but if you're looking to hook up some obscure or vintage glass, effects lenses or something like that... Maybe there are some crazy things to try. I wonder with the latest 8K cinema and high megapixel cameras what could be cooked up in the look department -- if revisiting things from the recent past like focal plane adapters / lens tube setups, etc..

 

[Zack Birlew]

Well, it's connected to my post about the Laowa 1.33x Rear Anamorphic adapter which I ordered and just got in. I have a set of PL adapted Ironglass Adapters Anamorph-fake modded lenses and wanted to test them with the adapter to see if it makes a nice combination and I thought about other M42 to PL combinations that could be fun but then I thought about Nikon F in case I could use any of my Nikon F lenses or, more simply, my Rokinon Cine DS Nikon mount lenses. However, I just couldn't find anything so I guess if there are no adapters out there then it's just up to Laowa to make a Nikon F version or maybe see if throwing a Nikon adapter on the originally mentioned but not yet produced EF version could do the trick. Until then it's just PL to PL so I guess I'll be experimenting with M42 to PL and my Ironglass lenses and see how it does.

 

[Luka Sanader]

I have Denz made Nikon F (lens) to PL mount (camera), +3, +5mm, +10mm macro tubus adappteur. There was quite a lot Nikon F to Arri Bayonet macro tubes like this. And over the yers i bumped to them on a eBay and forums sold as "adapteurs". they were made for Nature life and macro work only and if i remember correctly with +3 and 50mm lens your infinty is at 3ft or so

 

[Robert Hart]

A Laowa 1:33 rear-anamorphic adaptor with PL-Mount on the rear and a Nikon F-Mount on the front is doable - just. It requires a remake of the body of the adaptor. There remains little workspace to arrange a locking pin for the Nikon mount. Unless there is a decent market, I doubt that Laowa will go there. In effect it becomes a majorly different product although the rear fitments including collimation adjustment remain identical. I doubt there will be an EF-Mount version as the workspace is just not there. The entire adaptor would have to be redesigned from scratch. The complication is that the optical cell for the Laowa adaptor has to be inserted from the front. The collimation adjustment attaches from the rear. The optical cell is wider than the diameter of the attachement screw cetres for the Nikon mount. A separate stepdown adaptor ring for the Nikon mount to attach onto has to be made. Securing this adaptor into the front of the custom body requires grub screws on radial centres and there is very little workspace to install them. There is some question as to how strong this arrangement can be made. The one I made was from bronze material. A heavy telephoto lens would tear it right out. A threaded ring would be stronger. A stainless body and stepdown would probably work for heavier lenses.

 

[Robert Hart]