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How-to: Fix lens to adapter looseness
  • svartsvart
    So I figured out a way to get rid of the looseness between lenses and their adapters. Since most of us use still lenses that tend to fit a little loose in their mounts and then wiggle and move when focused. This can cause the frame to shift slightly and it's very noticeable when rack focusing. I found very thin adhesive PTFE(teflon) sheets that can be cut out to the same shape as the mounting face and used to shim the lens to make a tight fit. I just cut out a piece large enough to cover the face of the mount and then trimmed the PTFE to the OD and ID of the mount face. Teflon is of course very slick and has a bit of pliability to it so that it won't mar the mounting surface of your lens. In any case, I make no warranty about this so do it at your own risk. :)

    What I used was .005(PN 2208T21) and .01(PN 2208T111) thick sheets of adhesive PTFE from McMaster-Carr supply:
    www.mcmaster.com

    I'm not sure where you can get sheets of adhesive PTFE in other countries though. I assume there are industrial supply companies that have raw materials like this.

    I'll get some pictures of them up soon.
  • 45 Replies sorted by
  • goldgenie69goldgenie69

    ciecio7 is indeed a gent - and industrially built stuff - a Lomo induced breakage was dealt instantly by him without question, by issuing a new adapter pre sending the erroneous one back - hats off to the engineer and business ethic.

  • kluteklute

    Question: Would it be possible to use Zeiss DigiZoom and Zeiss DigiPrime on a GH2? If so, what kind of adapter would I need and where might I be able to buy one. Preferably in Europe. Would it be something to recommend or something I should stay away from?

  • AlbiAlbi

    Hey, I also have chinese nikkor m4/3 adapter. Surprisingly it fits really really well but my problem is all my lenses focus past infinity. I have emailed that shop in the link with no joy. Can anyone recommend a good adapter brand or where to buy that fits tight with good focus? Thanks, Albi

  • punditpundit

    My Pentax K > m43 adapter arrived yesterday. After fitting it I discovered a very large amount of play. It turned out the three screws that hold the brass bayonet ring to the adapter tube were extremely loose. Three drops of thread lock fixed the problem.

    I have a Shoot35 follow focus and have noticed the GH2 body flexes a little around the lens mount when rack focusing and even more so around its tripod mount point. So now I need to get a bloody cage to lock the camera down solid!

    I'm going to call the GH2 the 'plastic fantastic'. It takes great video but the build quality ain't nothing like my Pentax K5.

  • DirkVoorhoeveDirkVoorhoeve

    I found my adapters as well as the stock lens being a bit loose on my camera. I can turn it a little, even if it's locked to the camera. I went back to the shop and we've had a look at other GF and GH camera's: exactly the same. The guy at the shop said it's normal, to allow mounting/unmounting at higher/lower temperatures and that he remembers his nikon/canon has the same 'problem'.

    I'm also using the tripod-mount on the adapter and this looseness of the m43 mount is really annoying as i'm risking a slight change of horizon in between shots if I touch my camera too much. Is this really normal for m43 mounts?

  • GrueGrue

    I'm not sure off-hand, though I'm pretty sure I read someone quoting it somewhere... Anyone else know? (I want to say it was something around 2 pounds or so but I can't say with any degree of certainty and someone probably knows better than I...)

    In my case, I'm pretty sure that the lens is still within tolerances to not strictly require me to use a tripod mounted adapter, but it's certainly heavy eniough that I'm more comfortable in a setup that reduces long-term strain on the camera's lens mount.

    My 28mm and 50mm Nikon AIS primes are light enough that I didn't give it much thought until I picked up the Tokina 28-70mm, which weighs around 700g/1.5 lbs.

    I must admit that the weight limit was something I was thinking about too when I started looking for a higher-quality adapter, and the tripod mount wasn't what made me pull the trigger but it's certainly a nice bonus--only other Nikon to Micro Four Thirds adapter that I can recall is a Chinese-made one of potential dubious quality avaialble on eBay...

    Of course, if you're planning to use the camera with 15mm rails, you could also use some sort of lens support, but my current setup isn't quite so elaborate.

  • meemee

    Grue, you actually brought up a question that I've had for awhile. At what point is the tripod mount on the adapter really necessary, or rather, how much weight can our GH2's handle without it?

  • GrueGrue

    Since others seemed to be interested...

    After waiting for what seemed like forever (but was in fact, just about 2 weeks) for it to arrive, finally got my ciecio7 Nikon to Micro Four Thirds adapter, and while I haven't gotten the chance to abuse it yet in a true production setting, I'm pretty happy with it so far.

    I bought it from eBay (as of this writing, there are still 6 available), as it wasn't listed on his website, so I might have paid a little more (with the favorable exchange rate), but that's the way it goes.

    What's important is how well it works, and it's a night and day difference from the loose, sloppy mess that was my Fotodiox G adapter. This one's rock solid and seems to pretty much nail infinity, and I really appreciate the tripod mount, especially when using heavy zoom lenses, such as my Tokina 28-70mm f/2.8. Only real downside is the lack of an aperture ring, but that's not a problem for me as my current lenses do.

  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    Will have to check his ebay to see when he will have them. I would like to get a Nikon and Canon fd mount. I hope that the price will be in the Nikon fd mount price. What someday should be nice is some mount with space for nd filters. Perhaps it is impossible, but just a little space to place a small ND filter.
  • meemee
    and.. the sites back up http://fotoakcesoriaen.epoksystem.pl/index.php/shop/index/idcategory/32/page/2

    Time for me to dance on the corner for change.
  • meemee
    Well, I am flat out of cash once again, so I will patiently wait for him to fix his site.. until I have money again :) To bring things back around to the subject, I guess the best way to fix a loose adapter is to buy a good one in the first place. Glad I never grabbed a cheap one.
  • GrueGrue
    I mentioned that the website is down in my original message to him, but (as you can see) he didn't comment on it in his response.
  • meemee
    Grue, did you buy chance mention to him that his website is down? Unfortunately my ebay account has issues. I feel the need to say I was a top seller and buyer that got shafted by their new policy's. Anyways, If you could let him know about his website, or even let him know he has some email to respond to ;)
  • GrueGrue
    For what it's worth, I just got a reply from ciecio7 via eBay:

    "I will have some Nikon to MFT adapters in 2-3 weeks.I can let you know when they are available."
  • WhiteRabbitWhiteRabbit
    Perhaps try this email address:

    info @ foto-akcesoria.com.pl < remove space

    or message eBayer: ciecio7

    A few months ago, I was wondering why there was no email reply from foto-akcesoria. Krzysztof's prompt email reply had been flagged and placed automatically in my spam bin, which I found later. Perhaps they're taking a break at the moment.

    Quality is great. Very happy with my OCT-19 mount, and my former PL mount was also excellent. I purchased direct from their website, as it was almost US$100 less than the eBay listing, taking into consideration the exchange rate at the time.

    I would like a M42 to M4/3 adapter with some custom tweaks, yet, even if available, price would be hard to fathom as these adapters are already available on eBay for such little outlay.
  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    Perhaps he is just enjoying some holidays or rebuilding his site or decided to use ebay has his sole store front? It would be nice if we personal-view users could like ask him for that. I think he was the first to do the Nikon adapter with aperture change, but them came the Chinese one for much less that just wipe everything out, but in the end those Chinese one are not that good. I see people that say that they are good, but this is not my experience. It would be nice to get a good alternative at a fare price. His FD adapter is in the $ 50 range that I find a reasonable price. But an adapter at $ 300 is just insane for me. You can get a high quality machined rig from Gini for that price, even his follow focus that got great reviews is about $ 200. Perhaps people should email gini to produce such adapter.
  • meemee
    I have two email addresses from the website that came to me as an automated "we will respond soon" sorta a response. If you want them I can send them in PM. I figure posting them directly in a forum could get the guy some spam.
  • GrueGrue
    Well, I just sent him a message. I couldn't find an email address--perhaps it would have been listed on the broken website--so it's going through eBay. Crossing my fingers.
  • GrueGrue
    I have been actually in a similar situation, was considering firing him off a message inquire about the possibility of a Nikon adapter, but it's not just you, the web site is borked, no matter which language you choose.

    I got burned with another cheap adapter, but can't afford to spend hundreds on the high end ones (which while solid are still ridiculously overpriced).
  • meemee
    Well, on his website he says to ask him if you have a special adapter need, so I would guess it can be done. I sent him an email several days ago and thought the lack of response was due to the holidays, but now the website appears to be down www.foto-akcesoria.com.pl If someone can please click on either flag at the front page and let me know if they can get in I would appreciate it, since it could just a problem with my browser I suppose.
  • danyyyeldanyyyel
    Yes same here, should ask him to do the Nikon one. I have one of the Chinese one. I can work with it but it is far from perfect. I it not a tight fit, it moves a little bit if you rotate the lens and it lets light in (I think from the lens release). It creates flares, I have to put some tape when you have directional light (sun setting) on the left side. It would be nice to get a good adapter in between those super expensive $ 200 one and the super cheap ebay ones.
  • GrueGrue
    ciecio7's adapters seem to be very well regarded, but I don't need Canon FD, I want a Nikon adapter, which he doens't seem to do. (...anymore? I want to he used to but I could be wrong!)
    *sigh*
    But I may be straying off-topic here...
  • meemee
    @Vitaliy, I see your point. To say I am on a budget is an understatement, so FD lenses will be my focus once I get the adapter for quite awhile anyways. What do you think about the Adapter in the video. I know there are cheaper ones on ebay, but I try not to buy products from China unless I have no other choice as I feel it is like buying at wallmart, in that it destroys local economy's around the world. Seems every adapter I could find on the web for FD/FL's was from China except that one. For a laugh I asked my local Yodobashi Camera if they had an FD adapter, and sure enough they have one.. for a mere 17,000 Yen (about $215 USD). ha. I didn't even bother asking where that one was made ; P
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
    @mee

    Better get good specific FD adapter and use extra ones (even universal) for other lenses.
    It'll be much more reliable and fast to use.
  • GrueGrue
    This universal adapter seems pretty interesting... not sure how I didn't see this thread before, but glad to see someone revived it to bring this to my attention!

    Currently have a cheap Fotodiox Nikon G adapter but the fit is pretty loose with a not insignifigant amount of play between the adapter and the lens, and evidently the flange distance isn't quite right, so I'm in the market for a better quality adapter, but I'm on a budget.

    To be honest, I don't expect to get much use out of the universal nature of this adapter--I'm currently all Nikon lenses--but you never know, and if it's as solid and tight as you say Vitaliy, this could be a winner--certainly compared to the high priced adapters from Voigtlander, Novoflex, and others! (I just can't afford throwing down a few hundred bucks on adapter!)
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