Normal view

Auxiliary adapter set

Wide Angle Adapter view

Tele-Adapter Mounted

Wide Adapter Mounted

SuperWide .42x Mutar

.42x Mutar Mounted

(Go to Fisheye Adapter Page - Go to Telephoto Converter Page)

Many medium format users have just the original normal lens for their camera, being unable to afford more costly wide angle lenses or telephotos for their medium format cameras. Others are waiting to find and buy such lenses on the used marketplace (hint: see Bronica Buy/Sell Ads).

Many users would like an interim option for taking telephoto and wide angle lens photographs with their systems. To meet these needs, a variety of wide angle and telephoto adapters have been produced. Most users are presumed to have the normal lens as a minimum. So these adapters usually provide this desired wide angle and telephoto effect in conjunction with the normal camera lens. These adapters are optimized for use with the normal lens. But many adapters will work with a range of lenses, so try them out!

Typically, these auxiliary lens sets have a filter ring or series filter ring mounting threads (e.g., series VIII or 67mm filters in the Telesar set shown here). You can also use adapter rings to convert the series VIII or 67mm thread to mount on series VII or a specific filter thread (e.g., 52mm). Again, the front of these adapters do not have filter ring mounts.

One obvious benefit of the 67mm Bronica (and Kowa 6) filter threads on the normal lens is that you may be able to mount these adapters directly, without using a series VIII (67mm) filter adapter ring.

The lens adapters do indeed give you a moderate telephoto and wide angle effect, one which can inject a bit of variety and fun into your photography efforts. The two normal and wide-angle views shown in the header photos are taken from the same position. The wide angle adapter was just held up in front of the Apple color camera. As you can see, a lot more of the sides and table top show up when the wide angle adapter is in place.

The wide angle .75x adapter is less wide than the Bronica 50mm wide angle lens. Since there isn't any lens between the 75mm and 50 mm lenses in the Bronica mount, this is a pretty handy intermediate step. The wide angle adapter is rated as a .75x, meaning it reduces the normal lens from 80mm, say, to an equivalent of .75x80mm or 60mm. This value corresponds well to what you see through the lens/adapter combination. A focusing table around the lens (for non-SLR camera use) indicates that when the normal lnes is set at 6 feet, the distance to the object can be reduced to 4 feet and still be in focus. Similarly, with the tele-adapter on the normal lens, a camera lens setting of 3.5 feet corresponds to an object distance of 5 feet, 20 feet corresponds to 30 feet, and so on. Since a number of lenses exist in the 100mm range corresponding to this tele-adapter, it isn't as unique a tool as the moderate wide angle adapter.

You may also find a Series VII mount wide angle .6x adapter. Such adapters measure circa 65mm in length, with a lens front diameter of about 80mm. On a 75mm normal lens, the 0.6x adapter yields roughly 48mm. As with other front-of-the-lens wide angle adapters, it shouldn't change the required aperture or shutter speed of your exposure. Unlike the 0.42x adapter, there is no vignetting of the corners. But unlike a true 50mm wide angle lens, the adapter will have lots more distortion at the edges and less contrast. Since there is little demand for such adapters, they are often cheap when found.

Personally, I keep these adapters more because they are handy on my other fixed lens medium format cameras, thanks to using various adapters. Should I ever have my Bronica nikkors stolen, I can use these lenses with an extra 75mm lens and backup camera body. And there are some distortion effects I can't get with the Nikkors that these adapters make easy - especially the 0.42x!

Want a longer telephoto, but don't want to pay an arm and a leg for one? Do you want it to be compact too? Look into monoculars. Monoculars are essentially half of a set of binocular optics. You can use them as a spotting scope. Some spotting scopes are also easy to adapt for use as a Bronica telephoto too. You can often find these monocular lenses setup with either a T-mount camera mounting or an afocal (eyepiece projection) setup for use with a standard camera normal lens. The afocal system is the most easily used on Bronica, since you just need a filter thread adapter from the usual series VII size to the series VIII (67mm) of the Bronica normal 75mm f2.8 lens mount.

These monocular lens mounts make it easy to get a high degree of magnification with a modest expense. Better yet, you can use this afocal telephoto adapter on both your 35mm and 6x6cm cameras. A monocular equivalent to a 7x50 binocular is a 7 power optic with a 50mm diameter lens. Take 7 x 75mm and you get 525mm focal length. The aperture will be the 50mm diameter lens divided by 525, or 50/525, or 1/10.5 or f/10.5. Got that? A 10x50 monocular is a 10x optic, yielding a 10x75mm or 750mm focal length and a 50mm/750mm or 1/15 or f/15 optic. For a binocular sized front-of-the-lens adapter, that's a pretty handy addition to your camera bag! Afocal monoculars are also relatively inexpensive, and easily adapted to 35mm use with the right filter thread adapter to mount it.

Spiratone offered a 350mm f/11 monocular attachment only 4 1/2 inches long, weighing 12 ounces, and using a Series VI mounting. It could focus from 8 feet to infinity, included a tripod socket (!) and coated and color corrected optics, yet cost only $19.95 in 1972. They even claimed it used special rare-earth glasses! A haze filter and optional lens hoods complimented the carrying case. Often sold used for under $50 US today, this front-of-the-lens filter thread mounting monocular provides a low cost way to get some telephoto effects.

With the right setup, you can do similar afocal projection photography using a variety of spotting scopes and small telescopes (and microscopes). The major drawback is that the images are usually round or vignetting the corners, just as you would see in a telescope or microscope, depending on your setup. This effect can be removed by cropping in the darkroom or copying the slide on a zoom slide duplicator or stage setup. On the other hand, a zoom spotting scope becomes a zoom monocular and may give you a 150mm-750mm or longer lens (albeit of very slow apertures!).

Probably the most interesting of the adapters shown here is the .42x mutar by Sakar. A closeup view of the .42x mutar shows its distinctive round inner lens element shape. The surface of the lens is actually relatively flat. For 35mm camera use, a built-in very short lens hood pops up to reveal some filter ring grooves. But this short 3/16ths inch high lens hood only protects about a sixty degree swath of the top and bottom of the lens when put into position. A filter would likely vignette the image severely, let alone a projecting lens hood extending into the long axis of a 35mm camera photo. So about a 120 degree segment is removed from each side of the pop-up lens hood ring to prevent vignetting the long axis of a 35mm camera image. On square 6x6 formats, you would leave the lens hood in the down position to prevent vignetting.

In theory, your 75mm normal lens on 6x6 becomes the equivalent of a 32mm super-wide angle lens on 6x6 format (or 21mm equivalent on 50mm normal lens of 35mm camera). The mutar mounts in a series VII filter. You will need a series VII to VIII ring to match the Bronica normal lens 67mm (or series VIII) filter mount.

This is not a rectilinear wide angle lens, so expect to see considerable fisheye distortion effects. The edges of the 6x6 format are cut off in the corners, but only slightly (circa 3/8ths of an inch). The fisheye barrel-distortion effect is very pronounced at the center. The horizon curves easily if you move out of level alignment either up or down. On the other hand, this is a pretty wide angle lens on the 6x6 format, well beyond the 50mm wide angle usually found.

The fisheye distortion effect is less than when using a Kenko Fisheye Adapter on your Bronica. The math suggests this adapter should produce wider coverage than a 40mm lens. You should expect less sharpness and contrast and greater tendency towards flare from any adapter. But for circa $50US for a used .42x Mutar adapter, you can't go too badly wrong. Ability to use the same adapter on many medium format and 35mm cameras, simply by getting series VII to lens filter thread size adapter rings, is an attractive feature.

These moderate wide and tele adapters have much less effect on lens equivalent aperture than other optics such as the fisheye adapter or teleconverters. For example, a 2x teleconverter typically extracts a two stop light loss penalty, converting a 200mm f/4 into a 400mm f/8 equivalent lens. The exposure seems to be roughly the same with or without the adapters, but this might vary with adapter size. My guess is that these series VIII adapters are a very good match for the Bronica's 67mm filter mount (which corresponds exactly to series VIII).

If you do a lot of available light work, you might take another look at these moderate wide angle and telephoto adapters just for this reason alone. The normal lens is usually the fastest lens most users own. You may be missing out on some available light opportunities if you aren't using these adapters.

These adapters produce images that are rather soft. This can be a pleasing effect for short telephoto adapter portraits taken with the otherwise ultra-sharp Nikkor normal lens.

The biggest caution in use is to watch for and avoid lens flare from side lighting, which is a common flaw with these auxiliary adapters. Another point is that these inexpensive lens adapters aren't meant to compete with the original manufacturer's more expensive wide and telephoto lenses in their degree of sharpness and contrast. But then the adapters cost is very much less than the same lenses (e.g., $15US to $50US for such adapters in the used marketplace). As you would expect, stopping down at least a few stops from wide open improves the adapter performance noticeably.

One set of adapters can be used with multiple camera systems, simply by matching the adapter to the filter threads of the desired camera lens. Another point is that these auxiliary lens adapters work with a wide variety of lenses. By multiplying by a mathematical factor (such as .75x for the wide angle or 1.4x for the telephoto adapter), you can get an equivalent wide angle effect. An 80mm medium format normal lens would become a 60mm equivalent lens with the .75x wide angle adapter, or a 115mm equivalent lens with the 1.4 telephoto lens adapter. A .42x superwide Sakar mutar drops your medium format normal lens down into the superwide range below 40mm equivalence.

Everything has its limits, especially with lens optics. Don't expect to be able to use a .42x Sakar mutar wide angle lens adapter with your already wide angle 50mm f2.8 Nikkor lens. You just can't use the combo as a super wide 21mm equivalent medium format fisheye lens. Sorry, but there is a maximum angle of coverage. But you might find that the same .42x mutar on your normal lens takes in more than your 50mm wide angle. Granted that distortion and sharpness are less, especially at the edges, but the same effect with a 40mm prime lens is going to really cost you!

This option makes it possible to take photographs of room interiors and other photographs that simply won't fit in the typical medium format wide lens capability (e.g., 50mm). Similarly, the softening effect from the less sharp telephoto adapter may have a pleasing effect in your portraits taken with this lens adapter. So these adapter may still find uses even after you have purchased a moderately wide angle or telephoto lens for your medium format system.

Another plus for adapters is the ready availability of adapters in the used marketplace. As a result, you can usually get some telephoto or wide angle adapters and common filter thread rings whenever desired. Cost is quite low, so you can start taking photographs right away. In the meantime, you can be saving for that desired wide angle or telephoto lens for your classic Bronica camera system.

From an EBAY ad (3/12/98):

QuantaRay Quasi-FishEye Lens Fits Any Camera

This is an Extreme Wide Angle - Nearly "Fish-Eye" - Accessory Lens Which Can Fit Any Camera. Simply by Screwing it Onto Your "Normal" Lens, The Quantaray Quasi - FishEye 0.42X Multicoated Auxilliary Lens Will Convert Your "Normal" lens into a 21mm Extreme Wide Angle Lens. Attach it to Your Usual Wide Angle Lens and it Goes "Fish-Eye"! This is a Really Incredible Accessory Lens. Works With Your 35mm Camera or Medium Format camera. The Quantaray Quasi - FishEye 0.42X Multicoated Auxilliary Lens Attaches to Any Cameras' Lens Simply by Using Standard Series 7 Adapter Rings (not included). A Huge Piece of "Glass" & Pretty Impressive. Includes a Built-In Collapsible Cut-Way Sun Shade. Works Perfectly and Appears New condition.

[Ed. note: the Rollei Mutars are high regarded, but very expensive ($700 US etc!) Tele and Wide angle adapters...]

Date: Sun, 28 Feb 1999
From: todd todd_belcher@bc.sympatico.ca
Subject: Re: [Rollei] Mutar Question

Regarding Mutar lens quality. From an article by Dr. Hans Sauer of Zeiss:

"....Owners of twin lens cameras, however, are not only interested in the increase or decrease of the focal length of the taking lens of the new Rollei Mutars, but also the image quality which deteremines the suitability of the negatives for enlargement. It is important to know that these new lens systems no longer require smallest lens stops in order to obtain good definition and thereby negatives which can be greatly enlarged. As proven on the field, the Rollei Mutars produce a remarkably good image quality even at the largest aperture of f/4. Comparative pictures taken with the Tele and Wide angle Rolleiflex revealed that Rollei Mutars have to be set only at about one stop higher

than the tele and wide angle lenses used in these special cameras in order to acheive the same image quality. ......."

The Tele and Wide are both F4 optics, hence the F 5.6 "limit" on the quality. I have found that both Mutars are quite good, and as the article states, compares favourably with the Tele and Wide.

The Mutars do need about a half stop increase in exposure to compensate for light loss .... not critical in negative material, but of course more so in the case of transparency stock. If you have an F series camera and a working meter, this can be set on the filter compensation dial.

The fronts of the Mutars take a regular 67 mm filter, Rollei actually made a series of these filters wich can be readily identified as such as they have the word "Mutar" engraved on them.

Todd

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