How to fit a 56mm wideangle lens into my 37mm small cam? Help!
 

Hi!

I got a 56mm wideangle lens and just CAN´T find an adapter ring for my 37mm Optura. I searched also 46mm-56mm and 49mm-56mm adapters, but there´s nothing out there! How can I attach it to my cam? Is there any alternative way?

56mm is an odd-sized thread. 55mm and 58mm are common ones in that range. Try
http://www.bhphotovideo.com
They have a good selection of adaptor rings. I had no trouble finding step-up rings for 37mm lenses. I use a 37mm to 46mm together with a 46mm to 58mm, to adapt a 58mm wideangle lens to a 37mm camera.

You might consider buying another wideangle lens that is smaller, if you can't find a step-ring that fits. I've held add-on lenses on a camera by mounting metal hooks in them and using rubber tubing, but that is not an acceptable method to most people.

Steve McDonald

Hey Steve, 56mm step-up is just impossible to find. How is this stuff you made with hooks and rubber tube?

Thanks!

Gustavo, if the back of the large wideangle lens can fit snugly over or against the camera lens, without harming the glass, you might hold it on with my
technique.

I drill two tiny holes, on opposite sides of the front rim of the add-on lens. These holes are used to attach two split rings. The split rings are the type used with fishing gear. Then, I tie loops of rubber surgical tubing through them and pull them around parts of the camera, to fasten the add-on down. I put some stretch on the tubing to hold it tight.
If you drilled larger holes in the lens rim and put the tubing directly through them, it would become worn and broken by the edges of the holes.

Some cameras may not have the right kind of places to hook the loops. I've done it successfully with a couple of mismatched telextenders on my VX2100.
They stay on solidly and I use two rubber loops on each side for added safety.

Some of you may groan in dismay at such a method, but it works for me. By doing this to attach a 55mm telextender to the 58mm VX2100 lens, it fits closer to the main lens and reduces the vignetting a lot. When I use a 58mm to 55mm step-down adaptor ring for this same telextender, it is positioned farther out and it vignettes in about 30% more of the zoom range. Wideangle lenses don't usually have as much of a vignetting problem as telextenders.

I use tape, tubing, screws, wire, glue and fiberglass as need be, to cobble all sorts of odd pieces together with my video gear. The same sort of tricks my old man used to keep a car running during the Depression years.

Steve McDonald