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testing m42 - nikon lensed adapter
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2012 9:03 pm    Post subject: testing m42 - nikon lensed adapter Reply with quote

I use a lensed adapter with my screw lenses. There have been posts about these adapters. I tested my Helios 44-2 58mm f2.

Taken on a Nikon d3200 First photo is a straight shot, the rest are 100% crops.

full frame:













I think even one stop down makes a difference. The corner blur is not too noticeable on longer lenses.

I think they're worth the money. I have three different makes and they all perform to the same standard

edit: I mention this as you may be wondering. The contrast on the f4 pic was tweaked in photoshop for a reason known only by my subconcious, and only it knows why I didnt change the rest.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Depends what you expect. For most it should be OK to use such adapters, very critical pixelpeepers
certainly should better stay away from using such. But sometimes there is actually no choice to get
a certain lens mounted to a Nikon body otherwise. I use it too from time to time and it worked for me.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All the lensed adapters I tried (minolta MD to Minolta AF, Nikon to sony AF, some others) had this behavior:
almost unusable wide open due to glow, highlight softness and aberrations, acceptable from 1-1 and a half stops down.
Then there are better and worse ones, but none was acceptable wide open with none of the lenses I tried them with.

Anyway, since you don't often need wide open and focus at infinity together, having a glassed and a not glassed adapter can be a good (though a bit uncomfortable) solution.


PostPosted: Fri Nov 16, 2012 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aanything wrote:
All the lensed adapters I tried (minolta MD to Minolta AF, Nikon to sony AF, some others) had this behavior:
almost unusable wide open due to glow, highlight softness and aberrations, acceptable from 1-1 and a half stops down.
Then there are better and worse ones, but none was acceptable wide open with none of the lenses I tried them with.

Anyway, since you don't often need wide open and focus at infinity together, having a glassed and a not glassed adapter can be a good (though a bit uncomfortable) solution.


+1 use them only without glass and if need infinity use Nikon or medium format lenses, like Pentacon SIX and Tamrons.


PostPosted: Sat Nov 17, 2012 11:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kuri Bay wrote:
Philslizzy,
This is interesting because the other day I had noticed this exact same 'foggy' effect when testing a recently acquired 55mm f/1.8 M42 lens (different brand). I was also using an M42-to-Nikon adapter that has an infinity focus lens.
I had not attributed the 'fogginess' to the M42/Nikon adapter at the time. I have seen no such effect with any other lens I have used on my adapter, but my 55mm f/1.8 lens is the lowest aperture M42 lens I have tested.
As with your test, my 55mm f/1.8 lens will sharpen up at about f/4.
Now I will have to try my lens again to see if the adapter is what was causing the issue.
Have you tried your lens with an M42-to-Nikon adapter that has no infinity focus lens, using a closer subject, to see if the infinity focus lens is actually the problem?
Have you seen this issue with other lenses mounted on your adapter?

My M42-to-Nikon infinity adapter is a fairly cheap brand, but I have seen no issues with any lens I have tried before, other than a slight added focal length.


Re this and your later post:

The Helios lens doesnt have any softness issues, I've used the helios quite a lot without the adapter and there's no softness. I'll try it with a couple of other screw fit lenses and show it here.

The adapter i used in this test was my first, about £8 from China on ebay. I have 3 different and they are pretty consistent.

I expect with a full frame camera the edges will be very soft. I'll try a couple of shots on the Nikkormat. But on the APS-C sensor I'm happy with the results. I suppose if I was to require shallow depth of field for portraits etc the edges wouldnt matter so much anyway.


PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice test samples. Thanks for posting.


PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The helios thread has some images posted from Nikon camera, glassless M42 adapter and Helios 44-2

Wide open is usually softer, like this image:

(image deleted - please observe maximum upload size of 1600 wide)


Then you step it down and gain more sharpness and IQ, and then you are happy:

(image deleted - please observe maximum upload size of 1600 wide)

(Feel free to re-upload them at 1600 or go to the widescreen section of the forum)

Edited by Farside


PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok so heres a test done this morning.

The First shot was taken with my Nikkor 18-55 at about 50mm, widest aperture f5.6 focused on the centre of the image




next is a series of shots taken with Helios and Pentacon lenses with and without adapters. I have included 50mm f1.8 nikkor as a control standard. These are 100% crops





The helios holds its own against the nikkor at just one stop down
at f5.6 theres almost no difference

I actually quite like the Pentacon softness, that would be great for dreamy portraits

My conclusion: Quality and softness? Depends what lens you use

BTW you can see the extra magnification that the adapter gives you.

I may try these on my full frame film camera