hubsand
Offline
Buy and Sell: On
Registered: Dec 17, 2004
Total Posts: 1649
Country: United Kingdom
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 Re: Pentax 645 on Mamiya 645?? | |
Sorry for being a slow on this one: sounds like your request might have been directed towards me . . . I did adapt several of my Pentax 645 lenses for the Mamiya, with varying degrees of success.
The 55mm SMC and 150mm f3.5 were both ideal candidates: I tried two methods, both of which worked. The P645 mounting fins are easily removed and with a little patience it's not hard to grind down a donor Mamiya mount to fit. Alternatively, I made some headway with an adaptor solution that combined parts from a Pentax extension tube and a Hasselblad-Mamiya adaptor. Again, with a little patience, a workable conversion can be made without too much trouble.
The dealbreaker for me was the FA35. Though, in my experience, all the Pentax lenses are better than their Mamiya equivalents, the FA35 is in a different class to the M645 unit. However, the rear element sits right out the back of the housing . . . you may recall that early Zörk adaptors actually grazed the element when shifted (ouch!). In order to acquire infinity focus, the FA35 has to be set back into the Mamiya body, close to the point where a minor mirror shave would be necessary. This of course is a much easier proposition with the AFD than the 5D!
I was experimenting with all this concurrently with my temporary ownership of a ZD back. When I returned the back I halted development of the conversion, too.
While all this was going on, I was also investigating the possibility of using a 35mm shift lens with a ZD-size sensor . . . in fact, the performance of the Zeiss PC-Distagon (and even the Olympus 35mm at certain apertures) is very close to the Pentax FA35, and the image circle is of similar size. So if ever I go MF digital (and the advent of the 1Ds III makes this unlikely), I would buy a Mamiya 645 body, shave the mirror, strip the shift mechanism from the Zuiko and use it as a prime.
None of this is rocket science: don't be afraid of having a go, or giving the lens and donor bits to a competent repair guy. Just for the record, Zörk investigated a Pentax-Mamiya adaptor but gave it up: they weren't confident about producing a stable adaptor with such a minor registration difference. Having tried it myself, I still say it could be done, but ideally you need to be prepared to modify the lens a little, too. Good luck!
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