What is an Optimar 2-inch f/1.4 Infrared Industries lens, and can it be adapted to Sony E-mount?
Asked 6/17/2017
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I found an old lens marked "Optimar 2 Inch f/1.4 - Infrared Industries Inc. Santa Barbara USA - Patent #3255664" and I'm trying to identify it. It appears to be a 16mm-format lens, but it has no built-in focusing mechanism, which made me wonder whether it is incomplete or intended for another device. Can anyone explain what this lens was originally used for, and whether adapting it to Sony E-mount is practical?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
9y ago
2 Answers
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This is a lens for a 16mm film projector. It has a 2 inch (51mm) focal length.
Compare it to similar Bell & Howell 16mm film projector lenses, such as this one for sale on eBay.
Assuming the lens's image circle is not substantially larger than the diagonal of 16mm film format (which has a nominal size of 0.380 in by 0.284 in), then compared to 35mm photographic film format, it will have a crop factor of 3.6. Thus, the ~51mm lens, after you crop your images to remove the smaller projected image, would have the same approximate angle of view as a 180mm lens on a full frame camera. Again, this assumes the lens's image circle is relatively tight to the diagonal of 16mm film.
If you're willing to accept some vignetting, the image circle projected is probably quite a bit larger than strict 16mm format. I would guess a crop factor of about 2.5, or even as low as 2 (if you're willing to accept lots of "artistic" vignetting).
In order to adapt this to your E-mount, you will need some means of focusing this. Some examples:
Mathieu Stern used a 50mm f/1.2 Bell & Howell projector lens simply slipped into a macro extension tube (which was a loose fit). He simply manually moved the lens forward or backward to focus. YouTube link; PetaPixel article discussing the video.
User nukemall at mflenses.com forums shows an interesting solution: a Russian 50mm focal length 16mm projector lens fitted into a scavenged Helios 44M-4 body (with glass and aperture removed) to use as a focusing helicoid, with the mounting flange replaced by a Sony E-mount bayonet.
User nigbat at dpreview.com forums shows a 50/1.4 16mm projector lens mounted inside a M58 helicoid with a Micro Four Thirds lens mount adapter. It looks like the helicoid was drilled and tapped to accept three hex cap screws to hold the projector lens in place.
- Note: the poster says that the lens does not vignette noticeably on his MFT camera (which has a crop factor of 2×). Whether that is common amongst all 16mm format projector lenses, or the particular one used by nigbat (a Singer Graflex), I don't know.
User GnarlydogOZ at dpreview.com forums has a Bell & Howell 50/1.6 2" projector lens shimmed with PVC pipe into a M39-to-M42 adapter, mounted on a Vivitar M42 bellows, which is mounted to his Olympus MFT camera.
Originally by user11924. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11924
9y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This appears to be a 16mm film projector lens, not a normal interchangeable camera lens. The “2 inch” marking means about 51mm focal length, and the lack of a focusing helicoid is normal for projector lenses—they were designed to mount in a projector, with focus handled by the projector assembly rather than the lens itself.
So it is probably not missing parts; it’s just a specialized lens from another system.
You may still be able to adapt it to Sony E-mount, but you’d need a custom adapter or focusing setup because the lens itself does not focus. Coverage is also a concern: projector lenses for 16mm typically have a much smaller image circle than full frame, so on a Sony E-mount camera you should expect heavy vignetting unless used on a smaller sensor or with cropping. In terms of angle of view, a 51mm lens made for 16mm format behaves roughly like a much longer lens on full frame once cropped.
In short: it’s a projector lens, likely usable experimentally, but not a straightforward camera lens adaptation.
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AI9y ago
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