"Retro Film" - lens adaptor arrives

 Mini project "retro fashion analogue film". The "C-Mount to D-Mount" lens adapter I bought on eBay has arrived. 

Round up time for classic C-Mount lenses. Focal lengths range from 16mm to 75mm. The standard focal length for Standard-8mm is 12mm. We therefore expect these to work as telephoto lenses.

Som Berthiot Paris f=25mm from a Pathe 16mm Camera.

Yvar f=75mm from a Bolex 16mm Camera.

And for comparison, the Meopta original D-Mount "standard" lens with f=12.5mm.

I was especially interested in this Dallmeyer lens with f=16mm as an alternative standard lens. The max aperture of f/1.5 is an improvement over the Meopta original of f/2.8. But it was not to be because the lens structure extends back into the camera behind the C-Mount, and the D-Mount hole is not wide enough to take it.

This raises a question. The C-Mount adapter opens the way to using modern security camera lenses. But do they have this structure? Yes they do for very wide angle lenses which is what we expect. Such is the physics of wide angle lens design that they need to have this.
However the f=8mm that I am most interested in looks promising going by the catalogue diagrams.

Source is the ZLKC Official Store on AliExpress.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005007224185734.html

f=4mm - has an 18mm diameter section extending behind the C-Mount. 

In the photo of the lens, it appears as the black section at the bottom.

f=8mm. This looks promising as an everyday wide angle for Standard-8 cameras, and possibly as a very wide angle for 16mm cameras. 

TODO test! In the meantime here is some similar experimentation by "Shaun" at Fotodiox.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7WSOPUOLKI

"Retro Film" - Meopta Admira 8E camera

A little project on the go here at IAFilm "retro fashion analogue film". I've bought this Meopta Admira 8E 8mm movie camera made in about 1949. It was seized up with frozen controls and the motor not running. Just on the "off chance" I sprayed the control openings with "WD40" lubricant. I did not expect this to work and I really thought I would need to try to dismantle Admira. But super pleasant surprise! Admira came to life and was all go in only a minute. 

The big attraction of the Admira is its interchangeable D-Mount lens. I have ordered a conversion adapter to the more common C-Mount which opens the way to using a big range of classic lenses as well as modern security camera lenses. 

Removable lens also makes the spray lubricant fix possible. Many 8mm and nearly all Super-8mm cameras have built in lenses with elements deep inside the body so spray lubricant is not a good idea. With the Admira I can get the lens away before the spray.