EDNALITE ADAPTER BROCHURE

mo · Expire: 2016-07-30

(This is written by a fellow member Univer,I just helped upload the PDF link)

If you're interested in adapting unusual old lenses for modern use, you will inevitably bump up against two rather inconvenient facts. First: all old lenses benefit greatly from the use of a proper hood. Second: the filter-ring sizes of old lenses - especially obscure ones! - are a chaotic jumble of figures. Even if it were possible, it would be highly impractical to assemble an assortment of lens hoods matching all the lenses in one's collection.

This isn't a new problem, of course; photographers had to deal with this very same issue back in the day. And the solution back then, in many cases, was the remarkably flexible "series" system: a set of standardized filter and hood sizes identified by "series" - Series IV, Series V, Series VI and so on, all the way up to Series IX.To use a "series" hood, you screwed (or pushed) onto your lens a series adapter of the appropriate size. Then you simply screwed a series hood into the adapter, and you were ready to go. In practical terms, this meant that you could keep a small handful of series hoods around, and use them on all your lenses…as long as you had the correct series adapters on hand. Much more convenient than having a dedicated hood for each lens!

There are some excellent online discussions of the series system that go into much greater depth on the subject. Here's one:

http://silverbased.org/series-filters/

(As an aside, I should point out that for most photographers during the film era, the series system was more about fitting filters than hoods; nowadays, I think it's fair to say that the emphasis has shifted.)

Although many companies (including Kodak) manufactured series accessories, there were two brands that dominated the U.S. market during the 1950s and 1960s: Tiffen and Ednalite. Camera shops would have special displays featuring these brands, oftentimes set up to allow consumers to test-fit adapters to their lenses.

Tiffen series adapters were usually (not always) marked with the filter ring size in millimeters. But Ednalite…well, that's another story. Ednalite put its own 3-digit codes on its adapters. When these adapters were available new, they were sold in clever little cardboard packages printed with the Ednalite code and the millimeter equivalent. Unfortunately, when we encounter these adapters today, they're usually loose, with the packaging long gone. So all we have left is that mysterious 3-digit code.

Complicating matters further is the fact that Ednalite often sold adapters in mind-numbingly precise sizes like 48.6mm and 52.9mm. (Tiffen, contrariwise, typically stuck to 0.5mm increments.) These exact sizes were intended for use with specific lenses, and Ednalite sometimes printed on its packages a listing of the lenses for which the enclosed adapter was intended.

(In my experience, Ednalite's borderline-OCD insistence on exact sizing isn't just for appearance's sake. For example, I have an early postwar 58/1.9 Primoplan for which the "closest" Tiffen series adapters are either too small or too large. I checked the Ednalite documentation to find the correct Ednalite adapter; and lo and behold, when I tried it, I found that it was a perfect fit.)

Over the years I've searched, off and on, for a comprehensive listing of Ednalite codes and the corresponding millimeter measurements; but I never had any luck. Recently, however, I acquired a nearly-complete salesman's kit of Ednalite adapters, in its original case and accompanied by the original paperwork. (I have a similar Tiffen set, minus the paperwork.) One day I hope to scan the entire brochure, but for now I thought it might be helpful to have a simple chart correlating Ednalite codes with millimeter dimensions.

I hope you find this useful!

https://app.box.com/s/wub415w7a2lsqstrseh7

calvin83 · Joined: 12 Apr 2009 Posts: 7588 Location: Hong Kong

Thanks for sharing this useful information. It will save me time and money to find the exact size. Smile

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Very useful - thanks a lot!