Originally posted by edom31 Fujinon EBC 55/3.5 Macro on A35 (wide open)
Colors are promising, but that tab can prove to be too much for me to handle. I do not want to mutilate the lens.
Two issues:
1. M42 pin - it does not have an A/M switch so it is always engaged and the lens stays open unless a flanged adapter is used. I have no flanged adapter for any system I have.
2. Tab attached to aperture ring - It would not bother me that the lens does not flush with the adapter - the issue comes when with the lens adapted via an M42 to (pk or A mount or EOS - any), the tab makes friction and prevents the aperture ring to move - so one would have to unscrew the lens, change aperture, then screw it back in.
With the 1:1 tube - number 1 is still an issue, but it seems that one can jam something there to engage the pin, without touching the lens' mechanisms. number 2 is resolved as the extension tube was made for this lens, so it sits flushed as it has a small groove around the edge of the extension tube.
Only way to know if it will be a keeper is to first try it as portrait wide open; and to try to figure out how to engage the m42 pin so I can stop it down... Or last resource, only use the lens for 1:1 macro with the tube extension.
The M42 "auto" pin involves the addition of a piece of a cotton swab tube as a spacer to keep the pin "pushed in". You need to take the back of the lens off, which depending one's ability can range from "easy peasy" to "not that easy". It is a 100% reversible mod, and you will find several articles all over the internet, including video how-tos. You shouldn't need any special tools but a small screwdriver for the screws in the back of the body and a pair of tweezers to do the surgery. Oh! Ans some patience too. There is the non-reversible option of gluing it down when pushed in, but that's horrifying.
For the tab, perhaps you can get a 3D printed adapter that takes that flange into account. The other option is... more horrifying than gluing a pin...
I am used to adapt almost every lens I get, usually by 3D printing adapters or other pieces, but so far I only butchered (as in filed a slot in the body and filed off a flange, besides adding a small 3D printed bayonet adapter) one. It works fine but every time I see it I cringe. And I see it often as it is my daily driver
. It is the Vivitar 55mm F3.5 Macro (1:1) that I got with Minolta MD mount and I adapted to fit my Canon EF-S body.