Part 2: Homemade alluminum FD lens mount
 

Ok, my mini35 (I've dubbed it the Octagon 35) is coming very close to completion, and one of the things I whipped up in the past day was an FD lens mount I made from scratch... two, actually.

Why? One mounts the main lens to a Mamiya bellows, giving me an easily adjustable flange focal distance and an infinate choice of lenses for the mini35 (if I make the appropriate mount, of course).

The other is for the all important relay lens. The mini35 (the first of two), which I hope to have producing images within the next couple weeks, will be mounting to an XL2... for a relay lens I'm using a wide angle FD lens (will commend on focal length in a future post) mounted directly to the XL2 (with the XL lens mount I made months ago) positioned with enough space between the FD lens and the XL CCDs that it will resolve a 35mm frame at the distance my GG wound up being from the XL2 (after going through flipper mirrors).

ANYWAY, I thought I'd share pics of the FD-to-bellows lens mount and FD-to-XL adapter (for relay configuration) I made from scrap metal.

Ooh, I'm so excited to have the mini35 so close to finish. This first one has taken forever to design/build, but I learned enough in its construction that the next one I make should take all but a week to put together.

Pics!...

Taking shape:
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010035.jpg
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010039.jpg

Working mount:
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010043.jpg

And another -- this one's made to fit into the bellows. (I'm withholding pics of the rest of the adapter until it's working, haha)
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010044.jpg

The FD/XL combination:
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010047.jpg
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010048.jpg

And an XL2 ready for its new mini35:
http://www.particleproducing.com/images/p1010052.jpg

By the way, I'll probably never make these things again -- I'm just going to glue some lens caps together for the next ones ;)