Rolleiflex 6008: Apo-Symmar 150mm not focusing to infinity

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

I bought an Apo-Symmar 150mm macro lens and mounted it on my Rolleiflex 6008, along with a 67mm extension ring (the et-67), which is the recommended thing to do for non-macro usage AFAIK.

This setup is only focusing from 1 meter to about 3 meters, not closer, not farther.

Is it normal?

ic-racer · Oct 3, 2022

Try removing the extension ring.

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

ic-racer said:
Try removing the extension ring.

But how do you mount it then? The back of the lens touches the mirror, it protrudes far behind

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

Pieter12 · Oct 3, 2022

The Apo-Symmar 150mm macro lens is for close-up work only. It needs to be used either with a bellows or an extension tube.

ic-racer · Oct 3, 2022

Oh yes, that is the bellows lens. I have never seen one in person, they are not that common.

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

I am starting to think that I need more than one extension tube…

Pieter12 · Oct 3, 2022

From the same source (available for download at Rolleiflex.us), the Rollei Close-up Manual:

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

Pieter12 said:
From the same source (available for download at Rolleiflex.us), the Rollei Close-up Manual:

View attachment 317951 View attachment 317953

Thanks Pieter,

So it appears that the 67 mm extension will only focus within a range that excludes infinity.

What combination of extension tubes would let me have infinity ?

MattKing · Oct 3, 2022

hankchinaski said:
Thanks Pieter,

Unfortunately I don’t understand this mumbo jumbo. I would like my lens to behave as a regular, non-macro lens.

What combination of extension tubes is that?

You won't be able to use your lens, on your camera, for non-macro work.

Pieter12 · Oct 3, 2022

For use at infinity and most non-close-up situations, it looks like the extension tube 4 would work for you.It looks like either the bellows (which would be pretty unwieldy for most non-close-up work) or the zoom extension tube would cover the entire range this lens is capable of. I would be wary of using this lens for everyday purposes, most macro lenses are designed to perform best at close distance. You might want to sell it and buy a regular 150mm lens. They seem to be readily available and not too expensive for a Zeiss/Rollei lens.

hankchinaski · Oct 3, 2022

Pieter12 said:
For use at infinity and most non-close-up situations, it looks like the extension tube 4 would work for you.It looks like either the bellows (which would be pretty unwieldy for most non-close-up work) or the zoom extension tube would cover the entire range this lens is capable of. I would be wary of using this lens for everyday purposes, most macro lenses are designed to perform best at close distance. You might want to sell it and buy a regular 150mm lens. They seem to be readily available and not too expensive for a Zeiss/Rollei lens.

Thanks, it sounds like the reasonable thing to do. I’ll run a roll through it just to see what happens.

MattKing · Oct 3, 2022

Pieter12 said:
For use at infinity and most non-close-up situations, it looks like the extension tube 4 would work for you.It looks like either the bellows (which would be pretty unwieldy for most non-close-up work) or the zoom extension tube would cover the entire range this lens is capable of. I would be wary of using this lens for everyday purposes, most macro lenses are designed to perform best at close distance. You might want to sell it and buy a regular 150mm lens. They seem to be readily available and not too expensive for a Zeiss/Rollei lens.

Ah, now I see what I was misunderstanding.
I took the OP's original posts wrongly - that the extension tube he had was the minimum length tube that allowed the mirror to clear the back of the lens. Sorry for the confusion.

Rolleiflex 6008: Apo-Symmar 150mm not focusing to infinity

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