Pen F lens adapters

[Bob L]

Several months back I got a beautiful Pen FT that has been a joy to shoot. The one issue I have with the system is the availability of lenses. Maybe it is what it is, but I came across this site that showed a wide array of adapters that were available for the Pen:
http://www.f22.org.uk/Galleries/Pen_Collection/slr_pen.html

I would kill to be able to adapt my Minolta glass on the Pen, but finding one seems like searching for your car keys in a desert. Anyone know of where to look other that auction site, or has anyone actually seen this adapter in the wild? Thanks in advance.

 

[dynachrome]

Adapting Minolta manual focus lenses to Olympus Pen should not be that difficult. I have a home made adapter for attaching Nikon lenses and I don't have a Pen yet. The film to flange distance on the Pen is very short. These adapters are not going to give you auto diaphragm operation but infinity focus should not be a problem. A starting point would be a Pen body cap, a Minolta extension tube, a short length of plastic pipe and some adhesive/glue.

 

[Bob L]

Ah! I guess I never considered the MacGuyver method. How can you determine the appropriate length, isn't it rather precise? Not sure I trust myself with such a project.

 

[Bronson Dugnutt]

The flange distance of the Pen F is 28.95 mm. Nikon F is 46.50 mm. You would need (46.5 - 28.95 = 17.55) mm of additional extension for the Nikon F lens to focus at infinity on the Pen's film plane. Once you have infinity the closer focusing distances are handled by the helicoid in the lens. The same calculation using the Minolta flange distance will give you the required extension in that case.

Edit: Although unorthodox, you could consider using a 'free-lensing' technique with that combo. The larger image circle from 35mm lenses would be a benefit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freelensing

 

[dynachrome]

Years ago there was a very good article about the Pen system in Shutterbug by Bob Shell. It must be in my garage somewhere.