Wide angle lens adapter ?

[v30]

Hi folks,
I have an old sea&sea MMII ex system with all the fix'ins that to be honest just pains me to chuck out as it cost me an arm and a leg when I purchased it..... and I didn't really use it very much as I was away from diving for a few years shortly after purchasing it. I am currently using an olympus stylus 600 (6mp) in a olympus pt-029 housing and using the the old sea&sea ys50 strobe with a Heinrich adapter. This setup works well enough for my purposes. Anyway, I have a newer point and shoot camera and ordered a fantasea housing with a 46mm thread (that I will also be using the old ys-50 strobe with) and was wondering if anyone knows of an adapter so that I can use my sea&sea 16mm (sea&sea mount - bayonet) lens with the new fantasea housing which has a 46mm thread?

Thanks for your help!

 

[hammerhead man]

Hi v30, I don't think there is anything that will convert a bayonet mount to a threaded mount. Interestingly, they do offer just the opposite. That is a bayonet adapter that you can screw on a lens. I just bought one to adapt a Fix UWL-04 fisheye lens to my Sea&Sea DX-1G camera. To get a definite answer to your question, I would post in the Sea&Sea manufacturers sub-forum (link is here: Sea&Sea - ScubaBoard).

Regards,

Bill

 

[slowhands]

I've not seen an adapter. I've got this lens too. I wonder if you take the camera apart and use the bayonet mount on the old lens, plus a step ring. I don't think I'll be shooting Kodachrome any more....

 

[v30]

I've not seen an adapter. I've got this lens too. I wonder if you take the camera apart and use the bayonet mount on the old lens, plus a step ring. I don't think I'll be shooting Kodachrome any more....

Yeah I thought about that.....or chopping up a lens caddy and using that as the mount (glue it to a step up ring or something).....also, I assume the nikon version of the 16mm lens is exactly the same, with the exception of the mount which just screws off anyway. I wonder if it could be swapped if you could find a dud 16mm in nikon mount?

I know this is old gear but I paid about $500 for the lens (about $3000 for the package) when I bought it and barely used it. Maybe I'm becomming a cheap %@$%& as I get older but man it pains me to chuck it out or sell it for next to nothing on ebay. Would love to be able to use it with my digital stuff.

 

[slowhands]

Yeah I thought about that.....or chopping up a lens caddy and using that as the mount (glue it to a step up ring or something).....
I know this is old gear but I paid about $500 for the lens....Maybe I'm becoming a cheap %@$%& as I get older but man it pains me to chuck it out or sell it for next to nothing on ebay. Would love to be able to use it with my digital stuff.

Film cameras had reached the peak, and designs were more long lived. The pace of innovation has increased in the era of digital cameras. The latest new camera will be obsolete in 2-3 years. Just the new reality.

In this case it's a waste, since the laws of optics have not changed at all. If you could mount it, you'd have a great add-on. Here is what I might do:

The mount is attached to the lens with 6-8 small screws. The easiest conversion of this lens is to mount a different mount there, with 67mm theads, and use step ring to get to 46mm. This lens was actually made with a 67mm thread in one version. So it can be done. I suspect that unless you own a machine shop, it would not be cost effective. Let us know how it comes out.

 

[marzum01]

It will be interesting indeed because even if you could find a way to mount it, the MMIIEX wide angle lens is designed for full-frame 35mm cameras with short flange-to-film distance.

Whereas your application of such a lens would most likely be as a wet mount on a digital compact camera with a sensor size many times smaller than that of 35mm format.

I have the 16mm wide angle lens for the MMIIEX, and also have a DX-2G and its wide angle lens on their way here. Probably will arrive in a week's time. It'll be interesting to compare the two wide angle lenses for how similar they are in terms of optical construction, size, weight etc. And if the wide angle conversion could WORK in the first place...

 

[slowhands]

...
I have the 16mm wide angle lens for the MMIIEX, and also have a DX-2G and its wide angle lens on their way here. Probably will arrive in a week's time. It'll be interesting to compare the two wide angle lenses for how similar they are in terms of optical construction, size, weight etc. And if the wide angle conversion could WORK in the first place...

I noticed a guy on wetpixel changed the mount on several Sea & Sea wide conversion lenses with great success. See:

Canon S90 / WP-DC35 Lens test - Wetpixel :: Underwater Photography Forums

 

[slowhands]

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