Picking a lens mount

[Nate Downes]

I've picked up 3 35mm mechanisms, plan on building cameras around them (nice project to fill my time up with) and started thinking about lens mounts. Frankly, I was originally going to use Leica M-mount lenses, but then I could not find a good donor camera to get the bayonet off of. The ones I found were attached to bodies which were in too darn good a shape.

 

So, question for you all, which lens mount would you recommend for a new camera, and where could I get the needed bayonet for a decent (that is, under $50) price?

[andrewbuchanan]

Jammed Nikon F (FE, FM,FA, etc) bodies are cheap and there are about 1 zillion of them floating around. I wager that you could get one for less than $20. Lenses are fairly inexpensive as well.

[Nate Downes]

I've been looking at Nikon or Pentax (glancing at Minolta too, as I already own Minolta lenses for my X-700) primarily. I'd wanted to use rangefinder lenses, but it looks as if those are hard to get.

[Paul Bruening]

I already tried the F mount from dead SLR trick. The mounting unit is flimsey and unalterable. You may consider a cine lens conversion fitting and figure out how to mount that.

[Nate Downes]

@Paul

 

I don't see too many conversion rings for cine lenses out there however. Saw one for a PL mount, but I cannot afford PL lenses at this point.

 

For now I bought some Pentax K-mounts (just the mount, no bodies attached) that I'll experiment with till I can afford a true cine mount, like a PL or OCT-19.

 

Then again, those mounts are designed for reflex cameras, and my deaign is rackover. Wonder if someone has the specs on the Mitchell's mount. 8)

[Dimitrios Koukas]

@Paul

 

I don't see too many conversion rings for cine lenses out there however.  Saw one for a PL mount, but I cannot afford PL lenses at this point. 

 

For now I bought some Pentax K-mounts (just the mount, no bodies attached) that I'll experiment with till I can afford a true cine mount, like a PL or OCT-19. 

 

Then again, those mounts are designed for reflex cameras, and my deaign is rackover.  Wonder if someone has the specs on the Mitchell's mount.  8)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Downix,

Good luck with your project m8, optex and century optics are doing the most conversions for lences mounts e.t.c.

Try visit their sites, maybe you would find information about calculation and mount depths and distances there.

Dimitrios

[Stephen Williams]

I don't see too many conversion rings for cine lenses out there however.  Saw one for a PL mount, but I cannot afford PL lenses at this point. 

 

For now I bought some Pentax K-mounts (just the mount, no bodies attached) that I'll experiment with till I can afford a true cine mount, like a PL or OCT-19. 

 

Then again, those mounts are designed for reflex cameras, and my deaign is rackover.  Wonder if someone has the specs on the Mitchell's mount.  8)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Hi,

 

Try http://www.rondexter.com

 

Ron's site has some good tips.

 

Stephen

[Nate Downes]

Thanks for the lead, Rons site does have a lot of the info needed, but it does not have a diagram to show me what these mounts actually look like, so I could reproduce them.