Infinity focus problems.

666jtk666 · Joined: 02 Mar 2012 Posts: 6

I have a Canon T3i
I have purchased 2 M42 to EF/EFS mount adapters, A dotline and when that didn't work a fotodixo v2 adapter.
Neither of these allow my M42 lenses to achieve Infinity focus.
My lenses are vivitar P&B 135 mm and Asahi Super Takumar 200 mm
The fotodixo v2 get's the closest but it's still a blurry mess.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
At this point I am thinking my manual focus experiment's are a bust.

kansalliskala · Expire: 2016-12-30

Can you check the lenses on other cameras, preferably native m42?

If not, put the camera on tripod and check lens without adapter holding the lens with your hand.

666jtk666 · Joined: 02 Mar 2012 Posts: 6

OK I will do that today and get back to you asap.

Ok , with both lenses hand held with lens set at infinity I can focus out to about 300 ft anything beyond that gets blurry. Moving the lens further into the body helps but not enough.
Oddly moving the lens further away from the camera body sharpens things up a bit for things 300+ feet away. I have a set of extension tubes, I am going to add the smallest one with my M42 adapter and see what that does tomorrow.
It seems illogical as the greater distance from the body increases the FL and I thought that by using tubes you remove any chance at infinity focus.

666jtk666 · Joined: 02 Mar 2012 Posts: 6

OK using my smallest extension tube (7mm) did not work either.
the reason i want infinity so bad is that i really was hoping to take some shots of the moon, without infinity that just is not going to happen.

Would it be a good idea to try a different lens mount system. say the Tamron adaptall II lens mount ? Is there an optimum lens system besides EF/EFS lenses that can do infinity easy?

ForenSeil · Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 2726 Location: Kiel, Germany.

I know this issue from from some Sony Alpha/M42 adapters. With some lenses I really had screw them in very brutally to reach infinity.

200mm and 135mm will be both a little short to shoot the moon bye the way.

What about T2 lenses? T2 is very easy to adapt. There some affordable 300/5.6 and 500/8 and maybe even longer lenses with T2 mount.

Some M42 teleconverters are allowing the lens to focus slightly over infinty as far as I know... but I can't name good one.

666jtk666 · Joined: 02 Mar 2012 Posts: 6

I am putting my M42 lenses up on Ebay to hopefully recover some of what I have wasted on these. With any luck I will break even.