bummer today

LostLensCap · Feb 20, 2015

I found a 35mm f2.8 Vivitar/Minolta on Ebay for $15.00. So I bid on it and it came in today. I'm was planning on using it with my Sony A6000 and a Fodox adapter. The da&n thing is too big for the adapter by just a hair. It will fit my old SRT 100 but it won't fit the Fodox adapter, and this lens looks like it has never been used. I'm tempted to take a file to it, well maybe not. What a bummer.

MOREGONE · Feb 20, 2015

Don't understand how the lens is too big for the adapter, never played around with that stuff, but it is a bummer when things don't come together as planned.

Good thing you aren't out too much.

LostLensCap · Feb 20, 2015

MOREGONE said:
Don't understand how the lens is too big for the adapter, never played around with that stuff, but it is a bummer when things don't come together as planned.

Good thing you aren't out too much.

The bayonet blades fit int the slots but it won't seat into the mount. My Minolta lenses work fine with the adapter and the Vivitar lens works fine with a Minolta film camera but, the Vivitar lens won't work with the adapter.

Derrel · Feb 20, 2015

Huh...that seems kind of weird. Is the mount on the lens actually a Minolta mount? Will a Minolta rear lens cap fit on, and fit perfectly? I'm not knowledgeable about the Minolta lens mount and any variants it might or might not have...I know there were some variants of the Minolta mount based on how the light metering was done, but am not sure if there's any mount differences.

A second possibility is that the adapter itself is a bit out of specification: as an example, I bought a carton of inexpensive Nikon F to Canon adapters a few years ago, from an eBay vendor. Eleven of them worked, but the 12th adapter in the batch is just a tiny bit "off", and it will not accept any F-mount lenses. Visually it looks close, but it is totally no cigar as far as fitting an F-mount lens into the front of the lens adapter...

LostLensCap · Feb 20, 2015

Derrel said:
Huh...that seems kind of weird. Is the mount on the lens actually a Minolta mount? Will a Minolta rear lens cap fit on, and fit perfectly? I'm not knowledgeable about the Minolta lens mount and any variants it might or might not have...I know there were some variants of the Minolta mount based on how the light metering was done, but am not sure if there's any mount differences.

A second possibility is that the adapter itself is a bit out of specification: as an example, I bought a carton of inexpensive Nikon F to Canon adapters a few years ago, from an eBay vendor. Eleven of them worked, but the 12th adapter in the batch is just a tiny bit "off", and it will not accept any F-mount lenses. Visually it looks close, but it is totally no cigar as far as fitting an F-mount lens into the front of the lens adapter...

It say MIN on the lens mount and is a visual match to my other Minolta lenses but, the ears of the Minolta lens mounts look just a bit thinner. Since the Lens will fit a Minolta body I'm thinking the adapter is a little on the small side of the specs and the Viv mount is on the large side of the mount specs. I'm out $15 bucks + shipping so it's no biggy but it sucks.

Derrel · Feb 20, 2015

WOndering if thre might be some help on this page? I dunno...

Peter Blaise - Minolta Manual Focus Cameras Lenses and Accessories

Another, different adapter might work. As I found with my one dud adapter, it doesn't take much to make it a no-go. Wondering about setting the lens to minimum aperture before mounting it to the adapter; wondering about these doggone "tabs" too. The article seems to suggest that the bayonet is the SAME on ALL of the manual focus Minolta mount lenses. I suppose there could be some tolerance issues too, with either the adapter, or the lens. My gut feeling is that the adapter's manufacturer was working off of incomplete or inaccurate specifications, which is not unheard of with new made in CHina accessories; I bought a Chinese-made speedring for Bowens light mount (almost a generic light mounting system if there is anything close to generic!) that I spent about an hour hand-filing because the danged thing had the WRONG spacing on all three locking lugs....the damned things were not spaced right! A lot of these products are made by small companies, and I think they do their best, but that's not always good enough.

LostLensCap · Feb 20, 2015

I'm thinking it is the adapter. I'll just get a 35mm Minolta lens as I know that those mounts work with this adapter. A bargain isn't always a bargain.

LostLensCap · Feb 20, 2015

Believe it or not it is the lens mount and not the adapter. I took the mount ring off of the adapter and laid it on the Minolta lens, it is a perfect match. I laid the mounting ring onto the Vivitar lens and it was slightly off, just enough to keep it from working. I then pulled the mount ring off the old SRT 100. It has just enough slop to mount the Vivitar. When the weather warms up I might pull the mount ring off the adapter and grind it a little to make it fit. If it ever warms up again.

Ron Evers · Feb 21, 2015

Nice that you resolved the issue.

Maybe the mantra of the enviro-mentalists of thirty years ago was correct - we are entering another ice age. :76:

LostLensCap · Feb 21, 2015

Ron Evers said:
Nice that you resolved the issue.

Maybe the mantra of the enviro-mentalists of thirty years ago was correct - we are entering another ice age.

feels like it right now, it is snowing heavily again.