Zenith camera with macro lens

Frank Dean,  Blacksmith

A
Frank Dean, Blacksmith

  • 6
  • 3
  • 61
Woman wearing shades.

Woman wearing shades.

  • 0
  • 1
  • 68
Curved Wall

A
Curved Wall

  • 6
  • 0
  • 87
Crossing beams

A
Crossing beams

  • 9
  • 1
  • 109
Shadow 2

A
Shadow 2

  • 5
  • 1
  • 79

Recent Classifieds

Forum statistics

Threads
198,842
Messages
2,781,712
Members
99,725
Latest member
saint_otrott
Recent bookmarks
0

Danny35mm

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
6
Location
Western Australia
Format
35mm
I have a zenith camera and a lens I picked up cheap from a recycling centre. The thread on the lens is 45mm on camera 40.5mm is there a way to adapt camera so lens will fir
 

runswithsizzers

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
1,758
Location
SW Missouri, USA
Format
Multi Format
Is it a Zenit? Or a Zenith? Can you post a picture of it?

As for the lens, is it the same brand, or a different brand?

Are you measuring the threads - or are your numbers from published specifications?

According to this <Wikipedia entry> the most likely thread size for a Zenit camera are M39×1 or M42×1 - which are both common sizes used by multiple brands.

But that article also mentions three models which have "non-standard mounts" - so ...?
 
Last edited:

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
The thread on the lens is 45mm on camera 40.5mm.

You got your metering , or rather your assessment, wrong...
Zenits are only known to have 39mm and 42mm threads.

You measured the interior diameter of a (nominal) 42mm thread.

Never heard of a 45mm thread on a lens, maybe other members know. Basically a adapter would be possible to make. It would mean a further extention. But such is in macro mode typically less critical.
 
Last edited:

Nicholas Lindan

Advertiser
Advertiser
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
4,245
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Format
Multi Format
The thread on the camera is the standard 42mm Pentax thread. If you measure the inside diameter of the lens mount you can come up with a smaller number because you are measuring the 'minor diameter' of the thread rather than the thread diameter.

If the lens' thread is really 45mm outside diameter then it is probably a T-Mount lens for a Miranda with a 44mm thread diameter. If it is a T-Mount lens it will have a screw on adapter on the back. Don't try to remove the adapter and screw the lens into the body - although the T-Mount thread and the standard Pentax/Pentacon threads are both 42mm the camera thread is 1mm pitch and the T-Mount adapter thread is 0.75mm pitch. T-Mount adapters for the 42mm Pentax thread are easily had on Amazon.

If it is a Miranda or Orion branded lens with a 44mm thread mount then you can sell it on ebay as a collector's item.

It could also be a Soligor branded lens with a native 44mm thread. ebay is again the best disposal route.
 
Last edited:

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
If the lens' thread is really 45mm outside diameter then it is probably a T-Mount lens for a Miranda with a 44mm thread diameter.

Isn't the Miranda thread nominally 44mm, thus at the male (lens) side 44mm?
 

Nicholas Lindan

Advertiser
Advertiser
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
4,245
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Format
Multi Format
Isn't the Miranda thread nominally 44mm, thus at the male (lens) side 44mm?

Actually, I would expect the outside diameter of the Miranda male thread to be a few 0.1mm under 44mm as the thread is more than likely designed to be a little loose. If measured with a ruler then threads have a bit of +/- to them. The 'real' measurement comes from the pitch diameter and the class of the thread, but that's (usually) only of interest if you are cutting threads on a lathe. The ID and OD of the thread depend on the fit class, anywhere from loose and sloppy to inteference.

An inside diameter for a 42mm Pentax thread would, I'd guess, measure around 40.5mm.

None of these threads are normal sizes. Though I am sure there are DIN and JIS standards just for camera lens mounting threads I don't have copies.
 
OP
OP

Danny35mm

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
6
Location
Western Australia
Format
35mm
Is it a Zenit? Or a Zenith? Can you post a picture of it?

As for the lens, is it the same brand, or a different brand?

Are you measuring the threads - or are your numbers from published specifications?

According to this <Wikipedia entry> the most likely thread size for a Zenit camera are M39×1 or M42×1 - which are both common sizes used by multiple brands.

But that article also mentions three models which have "non-standard mounts" - so ...?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3298.JPG
    IMG_3298.JPG
    686.1 KB · Views: 96
  • IMG_3299.JPG
    IMG_3299.JPG
    723 KB · Views: 88
  • IMG_3300.JPG
    IMG_3300.JPG
    539.2 KB · Views: 79
  • IMG_3301.JPG
    IMG_3301.JPG
    639.2 KB · Views: 78

Nicholas Lindan

Advertiser
Advertiser
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
Messages
4,245
Location
Cleveland, Ohio
Format
Multi Format
The camera is a Zenit. That's the Russian word for Zenith on the camera, but when exported to the decadent capitalist West the camera's name was changed to Zenit - I guess it was a Rushlish translation or they wanted to avoid stepping on the many 'Zenith' trademarks in the West.

The lens isn't a lens you can mount on a camera. It is a lens you attach to the front of a camera lens to give you a fish-eye view; sort of an overgrown version of a peephole lens you would mount in a door. Well that clears up the mystery of the '45mm thread.' If you get a camera lens with a 46mm filter thread you can use it - or you can get a series VII adapter for your lens' filter thread.

You need to get an M42 lens for the camera. Macro lenses tend to be expensive so you may want to get a plain-ole 50mm f2.0 lens (Pentax are probably the best, but there really aren't any bad 50mm f2.0 lenses) and the 50/2 lenses do a good job when pressed into macro duty. Get a set of extension tubes for macro work. You will also need a tripod and a cable release if you want to make really *close* shots - you can't hand hold them though just resting the camera on something to steady it sometimes works.
 

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
The camera is a Zenit. That's the Russian word for Zenith on the camera, but when exported to the decadent capitalist West the camera's name was changed to Zenit - I guess it was a Rushlish translation or they wanted to avoid stepping on the many 'Zenith' trademarks in the West.
Zenith wth "th" exists only in English. In other languages it is Zenit without "th.

And as the big US market seems not to have been high on their listing, the non-English spelling does not seem a bad choice.
And their british importer even used the English spelling in advertizing.
 
Last edited:

runswithsizzers

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
1,758
Location
SW Missouri, USA
Format
Multi Format
After 20 years of selling bicycle parts to the public, I developed a healthy mistrust of the average citizen's ability to take accurate measurements with household tools. Which is why I asked for clarification about where the numbers came from.

"An inside diameter for a 42mm Pentax thread would, I'd guess, measure around 40.5mm..."
I was able to measure a Pentax brand bellows with screw mount, and I can confirm that female M42 threads, measured across the tops of the threads is about 40.8-40.9mm. On a good day, I used to trust this caliper to +/- 0.1mm, but both the caliper and my eyes have seen better days.

So, yes, asuming the OP's measurement of the camera's threads is in the ballpark, M42 is the most likely candidate.
 

ronnies

Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2014
Messages
206
Format
35mm
You need to get an M42 lens for the camera. Macro lenses tend to be expensive so you may want to get a plain-ole 50mm f2.0 lens (Pentax are probably the best, but there really aren't any bad 50mm f2.0 lenses) and the 50/2 lenses do a good job when pressed into macro duty.

Pentax are good but DO NOT put a Pentax Super Multi-Coated (or SMC) Takumar on this camera or you will have a real job on your hands getting it off again !!!

Don't ask how I know... :-(

Ronnie
 
OP
OP

Danny35mm

Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2021
Messages
6
Location
Western Australia
Format
35mm
Great info thanks. So I have a tokina lens on the camera and now wonder if I can put that macro on the end. The tokina has a thread I've looked but the two threads are different sizes on the tokina and macro. So are there adapters to step up and down if u see what I mean. Is that how I'd use macro.
 

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
It seems to me now you are talking about mounting a close-up lens to the front of a regular lens.

In your photos you showed a wide-angle/fish-eye attachment lens to be mounted at the front.

You are confusing me..
 

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
This thread is a farce. And a waste of time in favour of the OP.
 

John Koehrer

Subscriber
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
8,277
Location
Aurora, Il
Format
Multi Format
Certainly no farce, if it provides an answer which is is in reply #10 from Nicholas.
It doesn't fit on a body. It fits the FRONT of a lens with a Series 7 thread. With a proper adapter, most any size
filter thread example 52mm->Series 7, 49-Series 7and any of the older fractional to Series that were around.
 

AgX

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2007
Messages
29,973
Location
Germany
Format
Multi Format
Not at all. The OP to own saying got a SLR and lens he wants to connect to each other. All sizes he states are erroneous.
Then he shows a M42 SLR and and a wide angle attachment lens, which not even got the thread size he mentioned before, nor can such lens, if anyhow adapted, form an image.
Then he calls that attachment lens a macro lens.
 

runswithsizzers

Subscriber
Joined
Jan 19, 2019
Messages
1,758
Location
SW Missouri, USA
Format
Multi Format
Not at all. The OP to own saying got a SLR and lens he wants to connect to each other. All sizes he states are erroneous.
Then he shows a M42 SLR and and a wide angle attachment lens, which not even got the thread size he mentioned before, nor can such lens, if anyhow adapted, form an image.
Then he calls that attachment lens a macro lens.

While working in previous careers, I was sometimes expected to supervise the training of new employees. I soon learned that the most senior and experienced employees were often not the best ones to train new people. I think the problem was, most of the old-timers could not see the job from the perspective of the inexperienced. The old pros had a world view based on knowledge they learned so long ago, they could not remember a time when they did not know it. Too often, their assumption was, "Everybody knows that."

But we weren't all born knowing this stuff. As with any craft or science, the fundamental practices and the language of photography take some time to learn. And not everyone has a proper set of measuring tools and the training to use them.
 
Photrio.com contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links.
To read our full affiliate disclosure statement please click Here.

PHOTRIO PARTNERS EQUALLY FUNDING OUR COMMUNITY:



Ilford ADOX Freestyle Photographic Stearman Press Weldon Color Lab Blue Moon Camera & Machine
Top Bottom