Kodax XL55

Jvg · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 205 Location: New York City

Curious to see if anyone was able to adapt Kodak XL55's Ektar 9-21mm F/1.2 lens onto nex or m4/3?
The lens on it seems fixed, non-interchangeable, and its removal involves heavy butchery.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4744 Location: Cheshire, England

I remember when the Kodak XL system came out, a high speed film - 160ASA - coupled with a wide aperture lens making filming possible indoors with no extra lights.

The FFD of the lens is likely to be in the single millimetres, possibly even too short for the Pentax Q. The image circle is likely to be very small as the lens is designed to cover a super 8 frame of just 4.22mm x 5.63mm. I have no doubt that the image will be sharp but there will be terrible fall off on a large sensor.

It is unlikely you can get a usable image on MFT from this lens unless it's macro and circular.

Jvg · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 205 Location: New York City

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4744 Location: Cheshire, England

Although the c-mount is standard, film and sensor sizes vary. Lenses meant for different film/sensor standards can have image circles from 5 to 17mm in diameter, so although you can get adapters to fit these, quite how they work on your camera can be a bit of a lottery. Longer lenses will generally cover more of the sensor, but the beauty of c-mount are the short focal length lenses coupled with wide apertures.

I've had a couple of c-mount lenses and not had much luck.

You need to know when buying a c-mount lens what sensor/film size it was designed for. Lenses designed for the one inch format are going to have more coverage and will be the best to buy for your purpose. Those for 3/4", 1/2", 1/4" and standard 16mm film are going to have very small image circles.

Jvg · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 205 Location: New York City

Thanks Phil for sharing all the useful info. If you don't mind pocking your brain some more Smile

I came across a cine lens lens, barely size of a thumb, i believe it was kern-paillard, also had bolex markings on the barrel, or hood. Not really fast, definitely above F2, wide angle but can't really recall its exact focal lenght. also not sure if it was c-mount since the mount diameter was tiny, so my guess d-mount? Made in Switzerland, didn't risk picking it up, since didn't know much about it and even if it was possible to do any type of adaptation.

As for c-mounts, i guess it's worth picking up the adapter and next time going back to the store with camera and trying out the lens...

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4744 Location: Cheshire, England

Its worth a try with the c mounts, why not get an adapter. See last paragraph below .

Adapters from c to d mount are available. D mount lenses such as the Kern Paillard have a shorter FFD than c-mounts and cover a smaller image circle, they were designed exclusively (to my knowledge) for standard (double) 8 cameras.
The lens you refer to could be a 13mm or possibly a 9mm Yvar, both available in f1.8 or f1.9. A special version of the Yvar was made, the 12.5mm f2.8 with a ridiculous 7.8mm FFD compared to the normal 12.29mm of normal cameras.

Back to C mount lenses, although the 1" x 32tpi thread mount is fairly universal, there are several FFD systems ranging from 12.256mm up to 17.526mm with others between. If you buy a video lens, they often come with a short extension tube to make up the difference between the Bolex C-S and the Video-C versions. I'm not too sure which FFD the common adapters have, probably the shorter one.

Hope this helps.
Phil

Jvg · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 205 Location: New York City

This actually helps a lot. Thanks again Phil.
I believe that lens was 12.5mm f2.8. I'll head to that store this weekend and pick it up just for the fun of it. Smile

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4744 Location: Cheshire, England

The 12.5mm 2.8 will definitely be d-mount but you won't stand a chance of using it on anything, it will only focus to infinity on one camera - the Bolex L8, there was a fixed focus and a focusing version. All other Yvars 12.5mm's were f2.5 and had a normal FFD for D mount.

Oh and the image circle could be very small

12.5 on c-mount will be wide angle but Bolex/Kern didn't make that focal length for 16mn cameras

Even with the right adapters on a Pentax Q you will only get macro. Worth a play if its cheap.

On another post is an image on std 8 film using a Bolex camera with D mount. I found the image circle surprisingly large considering the frame size. The centre of the image circle is in the middle of the woman's chest.

http://forum.mflenses.com/image-circle-on-d-mount-lenses-t68127,highlight,%2Bimage+%2Bcircle.html

Jvg · Joined: 07 Nov 2012 Posts: 205 Location: New York City

Thanks again Phil. I enjoy learning so much from you.

BTW, while we at it, is there a cine lens - i should keep a look out for? Obviously, to be used on Nex.

philslizzy · Joined: 07 Aug 2012 Posts: 4744 Location: Cheshire, England

There are lots of threads on this forum with cine lenses, check out the cine lenses threads http://forum.mflenses.com/manual-focus-lenses-f31.html

Not really my bag but I read the posts anyway. I used to use cine back in the 70's and 80's and had a nice pair of Bolex back then. Wink