Allyn Iwatsuru

The mount is finished and ready for sale, the mount alone will be $100+shipping. If this is inappropriate to post here I’ll move it to the classifieds. I also made an Instagram figuring that maybe a better way for people to view photos of the mount and example clips. https://www.instagram.com/microcmount?igsh=MWYzMXB5cXdlZTV2Yw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

I have sample footage from the prototype that is an amalgamation of two mounts put together (see the first two posts in this thread). I have not received the new mounts yet, but they are the same concept, footage wont look any different since it’s the same lens just different mount design.

Got my samples, full production should come shortly. Photo in the link. A couple of things to make clear, this is not an adapter but a conversion mount. There’s roughly only 2mm in difference between m4/3 and c mount focal flange distance so an adapter in my eyes is impossible. Second this does cover the entire frame of standard 16mm but does not cover the entire frame for super 16mm. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QdDjusuT9NXGzNtpmfVMdksgNRFBqwth/view?usp=drivesdk

Not sure haven’t tested it on any, the rear lens barrel has to be small enough to fit inside the c mount barrel. So short answer, no it is not universal. The next lens I’d like to try and fit it on would be the Laowa 6mm cine lens. If anyone lives in Los Angeles or Southern California and owns this lens and would be willing to let me do some measurements I’d like to work out some sort of deal. Yes it works on other c mount cameras, I own a bolex rex5, eclair acl and a super 8 Beaulieu 2008 and it works on all of the above. The only other common 16mm I can think of I haven’t tested it on is the Beaulieu r16, but it doesn’t appear anything would obstruct you from mounting this lens and the c mount is universal through all camera systems so I see no reason why this wouldn’t work on that camera system.

What would you like to know? It’s not really an adapter as it’s more of a replacement mount, it’s just a c mount for the meike fisheye. I’ll post pictures of the product as soon as I get my sample (should be as early as next week).

PayPal will be fine, along with Venmo and Zelle. I won’t be doing a website or Shopify because I’m making this run of 20 and that’s it.

Update: the mounts are going into production, they’ll be made out of aluminum and then anodized. The earliest I should get a sample will be in about a week, if everything’s good I’ll have the full production run of 20 in about another week give or take. Then they’ll need to be anodized ( not sure on the turn around). They’ll be priced roughly around $100 usd (that could change depending on the anodized cost).

Not to get the few people that are interested hopes up but since there is still actual interest in this I’ve been working on an actual c mount fabricated out of aluminum. The process is still in its very early stages ( I made a completely useless 3d printed mount), but since I have no engineering background or 3d modeling background it’s taking me a long time because I’m learning how to do this from scratch. I have a fabricator lined up that gave me a very rough estimate on cost and if I get these made they will be hopefully very affordable. Take all this with a grain of salt because I still have a long way to go.

Sorry to leave you hanging, I emailed you. A 3d printed one would be super cool.

It will vignette, I can see a little bit of vignetting on the upper left and I’m shooting just regular 16. Another friend I showed how to make this has hard vignetting on the right.

So I went through a lot of tedious calculations and measurements but then just realized if I inverse the adapter (putting the adapter on the way I currently have it), that inherently makes it the correct flange depth. I want to do the Laowa 6mm as well, I’m waiting for one to pop up on sharegrid so I can rent it and take measurements. There’s two main things I have to look out for, the rear lens element housing fits inside the c mount throat and the outer lens housing clears all the stuff on the turret of a bolex ( the eclair acl also runs into this problem as the base protrudes out below the lens mount).

I made this mod for the meike 3.5mm which works great for under $200 https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/88096-converted-meike-35mm-m43-to-cmount-for-bolex/#comment-560123 Laowa has been making some interesting wide angle mft “cinema” lenses that I would like to check out and take measurements of to see if they can be modified in the same way.

Let me start by saying I admire what you are doing for the film community being that you are the only one producing new film cameras. I have a few questions I’m hoping you can answer on the forums so everybody has access to them if they are interested as well. Will this camera have a low enough operating dB level it can be used for sync sound? I don’t know all the technical aspects of 3g sdi compatibility but will these be compatible with atomos recorders? Having the ability to playback a recorded image for reference would be huge. And what’s repair/service going to be like? If there are bugs in the firmware will we be able to download a possible patch fix? Thanks for your time and any light you can shed on these questions.

Btw to get it to fit on any camera you have to file down that skirt on the rear of the lens body, but on the acl you have to file down a significant amount or it hits where it starts to protrude out for the base of the camera below the lens mount. I’ve fit this lens on a bolex, eclair acl ii and a Beaulieu 2008s. The eclair is the hardest to work with because the handle and the kinoptik viewfinder can be in frame so you have to rotate them back.

I entertained the thought of finding a metal shop to fabricate some adapters since I had got a lot of interest from friends of friends, but after short research I found that metal shops typically only do large quantities. That idea was killed quickly. I wouldn’t worry about the focus scaling marks it’s a 3.5mm, if it hits infinity practically everything is in focus

Literally just glued the two adapters together hahaha, the c mount extension tube screws into the m4/3 adapter so you don’t have to worry about centering it. Drilling holes for screws would be simple enough and I would do it if I was adapting a more expensive heavier lens. The new mount does actually allow for infinity focus (a little closer, maybe at the 7ft mark off the top of my head) because it’s the adapter flipped upside down so it’s essentially just a m4/3 mount with c mount threads. The reason why it doesn’t hit infinity perfectly on mark is cause I had to file some of lips away thus making it closer to the film plane.

So to chime in on this micro 4/3rds to c mount or film cameras in general… it can be done very simply but with some restrictions, I did it here with a Meike 3.5mm https://cinematography.com/index.php?/forums/topic/88096-converted-meike-35mm-m43-to-cmount-for-bolex/#comment-550370 It’s very very very crudely put together but it works. The major problem one might run into is the flange distances of both c mount and mft are so close in comparison the mft rear lens element has to fit in the cmount thread barrel. The next lenses I’m looking into modding are the Laowa 7.5mm cine version and Vazen 28mm anamorphic. I started with this fisheye because frankly it’s super cheap so worth the risk and there aren’t many fisheyes out there for c mount. The Laowa is a moderately priced lens but that vazen is quite expensive. I would like to rent the lenses and take measurements but I don’t ever seem to have the time and it’s down a long list of things I need to do in life.

Pm’d

I actually bought about 11 100ft spools of 7245 about 2 years ago, still have some, I use it intermittently. About exposing, 2 stops over usually is the best spot to expose it, sometimes 1 stop works, sometimes I should have gone 3. That’s the issue though with my film at least, it’s not predictable. The guy I bought it off shot surfing about 2 decades ago, he said it had been in a case in a closet most it’s life and he lived by the beach so temperatures are relatively cool and consistent. Another issue with mine but is easily remedied is the remjet is a bit tougher to remove, I don’t know if that’s all old stock film. I wouldn’t use the film on any serious projects that didn’t seem fit to have a slight experimental look.

This I have not ruled that out, but didn’t think it was the issue because it’s so constant. Maybe there’s an issue with my viewfinder. I can’t close the shutter all the maybe I’ll just remove it and cover the port.

good point, thank you. I've seen the discussion on the flicker issue you've mention and there are no holes on the front and my camera is regular 16. I've tested two different mags 1x400ft and 1x200ft, two different film stocks, two different scans from two different companies and it doesn't matter which lens mount I use TS or C. https://youtu.be/n1sLF6PW-u0

I’ll give it a shot, do think using a fine tip marker on the claw could have any serious negative effects? I can’t imagine it would since it’s only coming in contact with the perfs. I’ve done this and it’s not a sync issue, thank you though. I can’t seem to embed photos from Flickr but I took a picture and you can clearly see light reflecting off the claw which would also mean it’s coming through the gap the claw moves through. This seems to make sense since it’s every other frame and the mirror covers it every other frame.

So I’ve been having a tiny flicker issue in the top left corner of my image on my acl and I think ive deduced it to light reflecting off of the pulldown claw when it recedes. Does anybody have any bright ideas on fixing this issue?

This is an interesting idea. After a little research though the throat of a b4 mount might be too wide and you may need to modify your k-3 body. This is only a guess as I don’t have a b4 mount or lens on hand

I’m surprised this hasn’t been mention but on Logmars website they have a new camera listed in development, Rockhopper. I’m really excited to see what they create as their Chatham and Magellan cameras were awesome.