Cine lenses on M42 1/2-frame still cameras?

Hello: I'm a brand-new member. Long ago, I photographed on film, mostly with Japanese 35mm (full- or half-frame) rangefinders and Olympus Pen-FT SLR. I hadn't heard of Russian lenses. Then I gave up film and got by for some years with Sony PNS digicams with Zeiss lenses. And a few months ago I moved into the DSLR bigtime with a Pentax K20D. Browsing eBay for more lenses, I discovered Russian glass and LBA. I now have a fair assortment of decent lenses... but I need MORE!!

Which leads to questions: I wonder if certain lenses for Russian 16mm cine cameras can be mounted on my Pentax? The K20D has an APS-C sensor, which is very close to the size of a 16mm full-frame or 35mm half-frame. I have M42 and M32 adapters. I see that some Meteor and other Russian cine zoom lenses may have M42 or M39 mounts. The Pentax register (working distance) is about 45.5mm; lenses with similar or greater registers should focus correctly on the Pentax.

Can anyone point me to a list of lenses that could be used on my Pentax? Is there an English-language source of technical data for Russian cine cams and their lenses? Thanks.

# Pentaxian with Russian &
German & Japanese glass
# Sonyoid without PNS envy
# Most bad pix can be fixed

if you still have a penFT there are opportunities of arri to penF adapters... usually artisanal job... the advantage being the very short flange distance of the Pen...

Stephan

Stephan

Hi Stephan:

Alas, my much-beloved Pen-FT is long gone, taken by a thief, along with other 35mm 1/2-frames and a Yashicamat 124G.

While lens-hunting, I always keep a browser window tuned to the CAMERA MOUNTS SORTED BY REGISTER page { http://www.graphics.cornell.edu/~westin/misc/mounts-by-register.html } to remind me of which lens could possibly be adapted to fit which mount. Not that I always pay close enough attention... So I've ended up with some C- and L-mount lenses that would indeed be adaptable to a Pen-mount, had I such still. My challenge there is to find some digital camera with a register (working distance) around 30mm. Then I could use the FSU and other L39/LTM glass I've accumulated, and not just for macros.

My main goal now is still to find cine lenses, especially short zooms, with M39 or M42 mounts, that can be fit to the Pentax DSLR. (In my previous post, I meant to say that I had M42 and M39 adapters, not M32.) Any help will be much appreciated.

--RioRico

# Pentaxian with Russian &
German & Japanese glass
# Sonyoid without PNS envy
# Most bad pix can be fixed

Olympus announced a Micro 4/3 camera that can use almost all lenses with a registration distance of about 20mm or longer. All Soviet LTM lenses, and Arriflex 35mm cine optics could be used with an adaptor.

Hi Zhang:

Thanks for the M4/3 pointer. Some googling http://www.google.com/search?num=100&safe=off&q=olympus+micro+4%2F3 returns these links:

Announcement: http://www.dpreview.com/news/0808/08080501microfourthirds.asp
Expanded and prettified announcement: http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/
Interview with M4/3 designer: http://forum.fourthirdsphoto.com/showthread.php?t=39818

This is exciting news for digicam'rs who want to recycle lenses for Bolex/Arri, Leica/FED/Zorki, old Canon, Olympus Pen, etc. C-mount lenses won't work; maybe I can hack a cheap PNS for a C-mount, then get a C-LTM adaptor? I wonder when these M4/3 systems will actually be produced and sold? I guess I must keep my small lenses for awhile.

Meanwhile, I'm no closer to finding which FSU M39 and/or M42 cine lenses might fit my APS-C Pentax DSLR. Ah well...

# Pentaxian with Russian &
German & Japanese glass
# Sonyoid without PNS envy
# Most bad pix can be fixed