[scottyhoffo]

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Hi there,
For anyone who shoots with the venerable auto 110... I have a few questions:
1. What are you using for a case? Mine is in pretty rough shape. I'd like to see if anyone has had something custom made.
2. What accessories do you have for yours?
3. What film do you typically shoot?
4. If you shoot your own re-loaded films, what do you typically use?
5. Here's a big one... do you know of any lens adapters that were ever made to convert the auto 110's proprietary mount to something like Nikon or Canon mount?
Reason I ask is...
6. Has anyone successfully used their auto 110 for astrophotography? I'd like to connect mine to my telescope directly instead of just jury-rigging a lens to the thing.

Thanks for your time and any help you can provide.

Cordially,
Scott

[UncleVanya]

It is common to find lens adapters to allow use of the Pentax Auto 110 lenses on other mounts. It is however virtually unheard of to adapt other lenses to the Auto 110 body which is what you need. This site attempts to show all the accessories made in the past for the system: Accesories - Pentax Auto 110 Variations

My best guess is that you would need to approach this in these ways:

1) Design and 3D print a custom adapter from the Auto 110 Mount to T-Mount. *

2) Dismantle a Pentax 110 lens or the Soligor 1.7x TC and create a custom adapter to t-Mount connected to the part. *

3) Find the rare as hens’ teeth Auto 110 microscope adapter and connect to the eyepiece rather The directly to the focuser on the scope. (Filmscoping)

4) get on eBay and look at the many many digiscoping adapters and find one you think might work. This for example looks promising: Viking universal Digiscoping Digiscope Digital Camera Adaptor #2089 (UK Stock) | eBay

* aperture is part of the camera body, I’m not sure how exactly this behaves without a lens attached.

Idea 4 is my best guess on quick and simple. Item 1 is more of what you asked for however.

[MossyRocks]

I have an auto 110
I like dorking around with it and found a little leather shave kit bag which will hold the camera, 4 extra lenses (I'm only missing the 18mm pan focus) flash, and 2 extra rolls of film.
As far as adapters go I think you can get adapters to mount the lenses on m43 cameras and possibly the Q series. I would love to get a K->110 adapter because in my mind I would love to hang that camera off of some of my big glass for S&Gs. I mean why not hang it off the back of the SMC A* 400mm f/2.8 ED [IF] if there was an adapter to mount K-mount glass to it. Alas it doesn't appear that there is an adapter to mount other lenses on the little things.

I don't think it would work all that well for astrophotography as it would just default to 1 second shots with it's auto program line and max exposure time of 1 second. Going back to film that would mean that the longest lens you could use would be 500mm (rule of 500)

Film wise I use the Lomography Orca so the 100 speed B&W film. I do want to try out the metropolis but that would require me actually having free time.

[UncleVanya]

As far as adapters go I think you can get adapters to mount the lenses on m43 cameras and possibly the Q series. I would love to get a K->110 adapter because in my mind I would love to hang that camera off of some of my big glass for S&Gs. I mean why not hang it off the back of the SMC A* 400mm f/2.8 ED [IF] if there was an adapter to mount K-mount glass to it. Alas it doesn't appear that there is an adapter to mount other lenses on the little things.

For that you can probably make one - using the ideas I gave for making an adapter out of an old lens or TC you should be able to hack together something. It does not have to look good.

This might be a nice bag for it: Think Tank Photo Mirrorless Mover 5 Camera Bag (Pewter) 710648

I wouldn't necessarily buy new - just look for used bags and see what's out there. I have a bunch of bags of various sizes. I use an old caselogic bag for one of my m43 kits.

[leekil]

I don't think it's a great idea to use the Auto 110 for astrophotography; with the size of the film grain relative to the frame, I'm not sure you would necessarily be able to really distinguish stars from grain.

In my Auto 110, I use my own reloaded films, Ektar, E100, and Cinestill 50, to get the smallest grain.

It won't rival a 35mm lens adapter, but a Soligor 1.7x teleconverter was made for the Auto 110.

[Baard-Einar]

Check out this site: Pentax Auto 110 Variations

[UncleVanya]

Check out this site: Pentax Auto 110 Variations

I linked that same site myself - it is amazing how much was created for this system!

[Procrastinator]

The 110 variations link gets me all nostalgic. I sold off my 110 collection years ago. I never had the attache case. I used a small pelican case for mine. The foam insert can be picked apart to make for a mostly custom fit and you can't beat it for protection.

[scottyhoffo]

Hi, sorry for the delay in my response. Great to hear from all of you!
Thanks for the scoop - had the link to the submin page but hadn't been there in a while. Didn't realize there was a microscope adapter! Seems like that would be the way to go without having to re-create something, although if it's as rare as it seems, might be an option. Forgot about the 1sec shutter... maybe for lunar photography that would be OK but... so dropping too much $$$ might not be in the cards to have something custom made doesn't sound like the ticket right now, considering the limits of shutter speed and film grain.

I am currently using an REI bag and some tiny Nalgene containers to hold the lenses. What about the camera case itself? Do any of you have custom ones for that? Mine is practically falling apart and I was considering having a custom leather one made.

I do have the 70mm tele lens and 1.7x Soligor teleconverter - thought I had some pictures of the moon but can't find them at the moment... didn't realize there were as many accessories I didn't have - now I'm on another quest haha

On the subject of re-loading film... what all do you need to get started loading your own? I'm curious to try it but don't have much room for too many darkroom supplies.

[MossyRocks]

Forgot about the 1sec shutter... maybe for lunar photography that would be OK but

Actually 1 second exposure on the moon is going to be way over exposed. The general rule for shooting the moon is the loony 11 rule: ISO 100, 1/100s. f/11 or any combination that gives that same amount of exposure. Even adding in another 1-2 stops of exposure and you would still be no where near 1s of exposure time. Because the moon is a very bright object against a very black background automatic exposure rarely works unless you really are filling the frame with the moon, otherwise the auto exposure system just gets confused and decides that the best thing to do is blow out the moon giving you a black background with a white disk.

I find that when shooting the moon I start at loony 11 and then typically end up adding 1 to 2 stops of exposure to compensate for the atmosphere (dust, pollution, haze, moisture, etc) and maximize the signal I capture but avoid clipping the highlights. A typical setup I've used with my 400mm is f/3.5, ISO 100,and 1/200s or 1/400s all off of a tripod with a 2s mirror up delay. So depending on how much moon you can stuff into the frame the auto 110 may actually do a reasonable job of photographing it with its program line as there is enough light coming in..

[UncleVanya]

My role of thumb is looney f8. Same otherwise. But I tend to chimp these days.

[MossyRocks]

My role of thumb is looney f8. Same otherwise. But I tend to chimp these days.

I usually end up close to that by exposing to not clip the highlights. Which is why I start at looney 11 which would be the minimum and add exposure until it stars getting close. For any astro shooting I always chimp until I get the settings right for the object/night, I am usually in the right general ballpark now but maximizing what gets captured with each frame really helps. Once I have the best settings I will just blast away until I get too tired, cold or sick of shooting that object (this happens most with the moon).