Archive 2017 · Adapter shimming tutorial

Aztatlan
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Adapter shimming tutorial

With great reluctance I have decided to give shimming a go since it seems unlikely I'm going to get good adapted wide angle performance without doing so.

I recall seeing an excellent tutorial at one stage on how to shim an adapter (I believe it was a Metabones but I assume the theory will hold for other brands too) but now I can't find it for the life of me. Anyone happen to have a link?

Also, any recommendations on the best type of shim foils to use?

Thanks

Feb 24, 2017 at 06:24 PM

mcbroomf
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Adapter shimming tutorial

This?
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1415739/2#13444891

Mike

Feb 25, 2017 at 06:36 AM

Aztatlan
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Adapter shimming tutorial

mcbroomf wrote:
This?
https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1415739/2#13444891

Mike

Thanks for the link. That actually wasn't the one I was thinking of (the one in my head was a more detailed process) but that is useful nonetheless.

Feb 25, 2017 at 11:21 PM

Matt Grum
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Adapter shimming tutorial

I don't know of any tutorials but I have a word of caution from when I tried to shim my Metabones adapter - get a proper JIS screwdriver, I tried to use a Phillips screwdriver and rounded the head on one of the screws, and that was the end of my attempt to shim it.

Feb 26, 2017 at 06:20 AM

TakenWild
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Adapter shimming tutorial

I've done shimming multiple times, but have you tried the Sigma mc-11? I have two shimmed Metabones 3 adapters each individually shimmed one for a 17TSE and one for a 24TSE. I later bought a sigma mc-11 and the difference are very little compared to shimmed adapters. The shimmed adapters have a slight corner performance advantage over the Sigma, but very slight. But both the shimmed Metabones and the Sigma are wildly better than testing two unshimmed Metabones 3 and one unshimmed Metabones 4.

I decided to keep the shimmed adapters because the Metabones can lock in depth of field preview and that can be seen zoomed in the viewfinder (This can't be done with native emount or the Sigma adapter annoying). The other reasons are: I had already done it, I was getting a slight corner advantage and I like the L brackets on the Metabones (less mount stress).

But having said that I'd just use the Sigma instead if I had my time over again. It A LOT of hard work. I don't regret it, but can very painstaking to perfect it.

Feb 27, 2017 at 05:48 PM

Aztatlan
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Adapter shimming tutorial

Matt Grum wrote:
I don't know of any tutorials but I have a word of caution from when I tried to shim my Metabones adapter - get a proper JIS screwdriver, I tried to use a Phillips screwdriver and rounded the head on one of the screws, and that was the end of my attempt to shim it.

Thanks for the tip. I do have some JIS screwdrivers so will be sure to use them

---------------------------------------------

TakenWild wrote:
I've done shimming multiple times, but have you tried the Sigma mc-11? I have two shimmed Metabones 3 adapters each individually shimmed one for a 17TSE and one for a 24TSE. I later bought a sigma mc-11 and the difference are very little compared to shimmed adapters. The shimmed adapters have a slight corner performance advantage over the Sigma, but very slight. But both the shimmed Metabones and the Sigma are wildly better than testing two unshimmed Metabones 3 and one unshimmed Metabones 4.

I decided to keep the shimmed adapters because the Metabones can lock in depth of field preview...Show more →

I actually ordered an MC-11 yesterday for an exceptional price ($287AU) and I plan on testing it with both the 16-35 F4 IS and the 16-35 2.8 III. I have heard mixed reports about how the 16-35 f4 performs with the MC-11 however so if necessary I could shim a Metabones or even the Sigma itself I guess.

Good to see your experience with it was good though. If the MC-11 does not lock in DoF does this mean our are forced to focus wide open or is it possible to focus at your shooting aperture?

Feb 27, 2017 at 09:04 PM

TakenWild
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Adapter shimming tutorial

I actually ordered an MC-11 yesterday for an exceptional price ($287AU) and I plan on testing it with both the 16-35 F4 IS and the 16-35 2.8 III. I have heard mixed reports about how the 16-35 f4 performs with the MC-11 however so if necessary I could shim a Metabones or even the Sigma itself I guess.

Good to see your experience with it was good though. If the MC-11 does not lock in DoF does this mean our are forced to focus wide open or is it possible to focus at your shooting aperture?

It works in the same way as native lenses or Metabones in green mode. What I do as a work around with the Sigma on my 16-35 is I have manual Kipon (flocked) adapter and I lock down the the fstop before. You can lock down the fstop by assigning a custom button to depth of field preview and than taking off the lens while holding down the button. Then swap adapters. The Kipon is as good as the Sigma MC11 on the 16-35 f4, but oddly worse than the Sigma with Canon shift tilts.

The only reason I need to quickly change the fstop is if I want to include a high fstop sun star. Or for very low light shots and low light blending, in those cases I'm not going to lock down the fstop anyway, so I don't use this method.

Feb 28, 2017 at 02:19 AM

Aztatlan
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Adapter shimming tutorial

It works in the same way as native lenses or Metabones in green mode. What I do as a work around with the Sigma on my 16-35 is I have manual Kipon (flocked) adapter and I lock down the the fstop before. You can lock down the fstop by assigning a custom button to depth of field preview and than taking off the lens while holding down the button. Then swap adapters. The Kipon is as good as the Sigma MC11 on the 16-35 f4, but oddly worse than the Sigma with Canon shift tilts.

The only reason I need to quickly...Show more →

You'll have to forgive my ignorance but as my current kit is comprised purely of dumb adapted glass (Nikon-F and C/Y) aside from a Loxia 21 I am not quite following you.

What is the benefit to you of locking down the f-stop with the Kipon as oppose to not doing so?

My typical method of focusing would be to do it at shooting aperture. As I shoot landscape, this will typically be around f8. If light is very low I will open up the aperture to focus. Typically I memorise the point on the focus barrel at which I will achieve the balance of across-the-frame sharpness I am looking for and usually don't need to bother looking through the EVF/LV anyway.

Using the MC-11 with a Canon UWA, without needing to switch adapters to lock f-stop, am I unable to focus at shooting aperture using magnified view in the LCD/EVF?

Feb 28, 2017 at 02:42 AM


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