Home made adapter Sony Alpha body to Mini Speed Graphic

[Pete]

I took the mount off a broken Maxxum lens and made an adapter to attach my Sony DSLR body to my mini Speed Graphic. Using a 170mm Kodak Anastigmat lens, I was able to focus through my patio door to a dish of seed I put out for the birds. I shot wide open at F/3.5, ISO 400 at 1/125 second using a Slik 300DX tripod.  Here's the Flickr link to more photos. www.flickr.com/photos/120296402@N04/sets/72157642917598085/

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[philbirch]

Good work there! It reminds me of something I did once, I attached my Icarette to my NEX, a ten minute adapt. The first image is the camera attached to the Ica and the next is a photo taken with the combination.

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[Pete]

Hi Phil, nice idea. Easier set up then I had making that adapter. Took me awhile in my shop to figure out how to make it fit. I want to try it with different lenses. If I used the 101mm lens I cannot focus to infinity and it works like a macro lens. The 170mm lens will focus to infinity and works like a telephoto. I want to try setting it up with some of my enlarging lenses and see how they work as macro lenses.

[philbirch]

I'm not sure what you are wanting to achieve here, if its just using the lenses on your Sony then a bellows arrangement may be the best option rather than using the camera. I use an M42 bellow on my NEX. I made an M42 to NEX adapter using a flange from a broken Zenit glued and screwed onto a NEX reverse adapter. The bellows attaches directly to the camera rather than using a normal M42 adapter. You could make an adapter to connect the lens to the front of the bellows. Perhaps attach a lens board to an M42 T mount somehow.

My Icarette project came from a suggestion by someone that the plate adapter could be somehow used to attach my NEX. I simply cut a piece of 'PLASTICARD' the right shape, cut out a hole and glued an M39 adapter to it. I focus the camera in the normal way and the NEX acts as a digital back.

[Pete]

Hi Phil, My intent is to use a digital back on a view camera. I can remove the back on my mini Speed Graphic and attach it to my 4x5 Field camera. Then I have a digital back on a camera with real movements, Just a fun way to experiment very cheaply without investing in a digital back for large format. With the DSLR body attached to my 4x5 view camera I can play around with swings and tilts. Something you cannot do with a camera bellows attachment. I suspect the digital images can also serve as test shots to check exposure and composition. Similar to what a polaroid would have been used for when Polaroids were commonly available. Also helps pass the time when things are slow at work. I do sometimes use a camera bellows with my digital body but that is really only good for macro shots. With the view camera I can focus to infinity for telephoto shots or draw the bellows in for macro shots. Works either way. All depends on the focal length on the lens I attach and how much bellows draw I use.