Blue ring SK lenses on Sony mirrorless - Success!

[onasj]

I was (I think) the person who originally posted that SK BR lenses can be used on Alpa tech cameras through a simple Alpa-Mamiya adapter, available from Alpa. That small discovery helped fill a niche for me—large-aperture lenses on a tech camera, enabling, for example, an extremely compact 80/2.8 Alpa TC12 with handle and IQ4 that just fits (with two spare batteries!) in an F-stop Micro-Tiny ICU. I attach this ICU to a shoulder strap, resulting in a discrete 80 mm f/2.8 53x40 mm 150 MP camera and lens that is carried—with reasonable padding— in a 4"x6"x8" carrier that is smaller than most small ladies' purses and can be taken just about anywhere. For landscape shooting the 80/2.8 SK BR lens gets replaced with a 50/4 Rodi HR or a 32/4 Rodi HR, both of which also fit in the same F-stop Micro-Tiny ICU with TC12 and IQ4 and all necessary spacers.

However, for my own uses I don't see much benefit adapting the SK BR lenses to a Sony a7 or a9 body—the loss of autofocus and aperture variability compared to the already excellent and very compact and (by MF standards) reasonably priced Sony FE lenses is a lot of loss for little gain, for me at least. I appreciate that there will be niche uses, plus potential cost savings, of such an adaptation, however.

I would love for some to release a mirrorless AF body (much more compact than the XF) that can use the IQ4 back, but until that day arrives, I've been using a combination of live view and mounting a Leica Disto on my Alpas to focus. And when I have to get the shot and the subject or conditions are challenging, I break out the Sony a7r3.

 

[Bill Caulfeild-Browne]

Bill

Fix the lens at the aperture you want via XF. Then hit the DOF preview button on XF. This stops the lens down to selected Aperture. With DOF button still depressed release the lens from the XF. The lens should stay at the aperture you selected.

May take a few tries but will work.

Paul C

Thanks very much, Paul - I had no idea!

 

[dougpeterson]

The camera can simply be switched off while pressing the DoF button. I would never detach it with the power still on. I guess your suggestion to eject the battery is even safer :thumbup:

That’s sometimes true, but depending on make/model of camera the system will automatically override the DOF preview button and open the lens when you turn it off the “proper” way.

Again, not “officially endorsed” and use at your own risk, but my suggested method works with the widest range of cameras.

It’s a technique used heavily in time lapse, which I investigated heavily for my senior thesis years ago, and again when I authored the DT Time Lapse Editor.

 

[drunkenspyder]

I would love for some to release a mirrorless AF body (much more compact than the XF) that can use the IQ4 back, but until that day arrives,

Ain't that the truth!

 

[chbenard]

I was (I think) the person who originally posted that SK BR lenses can be used on Alpa tech cameras through a simple Alpa-Mamiya adapter, available from Alpa. That small discovery helped fill a niche for me—large-aperture lenses on a tech camera, enabling, for example, an extremely compact 80/2.8 Alpa TC12 with handle and IQ4 that just fits (with two spare batteries!) in an F-stop Micro-Tiny ICU. I attach this ICU to a shoulder strap, resulting in a discrete 80 mm f/2.8 53x40 mm 150 MP camera and lens that is carried—with reasonable padding— in a 4"x6"x8" carrier that is smaller than most small ladies' purses and can be taken just about anywhere. For landscape shooting the 80/2.8 SK BR lens gets replaced with a 50/4 Rodi HR or a 32/4 Rodi HR, both of which also fit in the same F-stop Micro-Tiny ICU with TC12 and IQ4 and all necessary spacers.

However, for my own uses I don't see much benefit adapting the SK BR lenses to a Sony a7 or a9 body—the loss of autofocus and aperture variability compared to the already excellent and very compact and (by MF standards) reasonably priced Sony FE lenses is a lot of loss for little gain, for me at least. I appreciate that there will be niche uses, plus potential cost savings, of such an adaptation, however.

I would love for some to release a mirrorless AF body (much more compact than the XF) that can use the IQ4 back, but until that day arrives, I've been using a combination of live view and mounting a Leica Disto on my Alpas to focus. And when I have to get the shot and the subject or conditions are challenging, I break out the Sony a7r3.

Thank you for sharing that discovery a while ago. It definitely triggered a cascade of ideas in my mind and helped me obtain what I was truly after: a great 35mm TS option on the Sony and revive my sadly unused collection of blue ring lenses.

Me too but not necessarily in the form of a digital back + mirrorless body. A more compact all-in-one mirrorless solution with a 54x40 60-80MP Trichromatic sensor would be highly desirable. I personally don't need AF.

 

[AndyPtak]

After sharing it on Instagram a few weeks ago (@benardphoto), I have decided to post it here as it might be helpful to others: I was able to successfully attach my blue ring Schneider Kreuznach lenses to my Sony A7RIII. As a Phase One XF owner I have a love/hate relationship with that camera. It is outstanding at what I use it for (focus stacking) but at the same time it is so frustrating that it isn't more in 2019. It is a brick to carry, there is no electronic viewfinder and it feels slow and dated overall in the mirrorless era we live in. I always wanted to extend the use of my blue ring lenses to my Sony system but couldn't find any report of someone doing it successfully.

I recently read that someone was able to adapt blue ring lenses to Alpa 12 bodies. I also happen to know a few people shooting Contax lenses on the Sony with no aperture control. The idea that came to my mind was to use the XF body to lock the aperture on the lens, then unmount the lens with its locked aperture and attach it on the Sony mirrorless system not knowing if I would be able to focus to infinity or not. So I ordered a few @fotodioxpro Mamiya 645 to Sony E-mount adapters and investigated. It turns out that Fotodiox sells several versions of the same adapter; one with a flat mount and one with a recessed mount. Only the flat mount version of the tilt-shift adapter works with the blue ring lenses (no infinity focus was achieved with either shift adapter or straight adapter). My adapter is consequently a tilt-shift one that works perfectly with the 35mm LS, 80mm LS, 120mm LS but also the older Mamiya 210mm. The results are stellar! The images are sharp from corner to corner even when fully shifted. I now use all these lenses on architectural assignments. There is no aperture control but it is not a big issue for shooting interiors and exteriors. It is in my knowledge the first report ever of successful assembly of blue ring lenses on mirrorless system (see examples and more on @benarphoto). Phase One dealers will certainly not advertise about it even though they would have a lot to gain in promoting such assembly and ask Phase One to share the protocol with adapter manufacturers for aperture control. I was recently offered a trade-in for an IQ4 and after seriously considering it I declined the offer (the electronic shutter on tech cameras is a deal breaker for me). There is no doubt in my mind: the future is mirrorless.

I have a selection of Phase One mount and older Mamiya mount lenses. I always thought they were the same thing but i see that Fotodiox say that the shift adapter will work on Mamiya but not Phase lenses. Any idea? Thanks.

 

[AndyPtak]

Bump on the last question

 

[buildbot]

It's probably the second row of contacts on D lenses / Silver / Blue ring lenses. The brand actually doesn't matter as far as I know, there are Mamiya branded D lenses. I can't remember what it was, but I've had an adapter hit that second row and not mount... Maybe it was that shift one for the GFX.