REVIEW: Yeenon Short Flange M42 to E-Mount Adapter

You may be wondering, what the heck is a short flange adapter and what good is it for. A normal M42 to E-Mount adapter would allow the mounted M42 lens to focus to infinity; a short flange M42 to E-Mount adapter is made as thin as possible with only one purpose: to be used with another adapter, usually a focusing helicoid that has an M42 mount. Definitely not usual and is a bit hard to find. I was very happy to have found one.

Yeenon adapters are usually more expensive than other makes from China, because their stuff is better made with good precision and this particular one came with a nice box, and a rear cap. The adapter cost $15 plus $8 shipping.

Before buying this adapter, I was using a modified C-Mount to E-Mount adapter that has an inner 42mm thread, but this kind of adapters are now hard to find.  Most C-Mount adapters sold now do not have inner threads.

This adapter fits the Yeenon helicoid like a glove.  It also is very precisely made and mates to the Sony A7 with a snuggle fit and no play at all. The fit and finish is first rate. Very happy with it.

Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6 Projection Lens

This lens, and the Visionar 109mm f1.6, are special. They came all the way from Cuba and was a gift from friend Ramon. These two lenses are very large and heavy, especially the 109mm f1.6, mostly due to the very large maximum aperture of f1.6. After so many years, they are still in pristine condition. I was able to quickly mount the lens to my Yeenon focus helicoid and they fit well together.

Visionar 92mm f1.6 on NEX-6. Note the large size, and how clean it is. Click for larger.

On Monday I shot some pictures in the afternoon, but it was sunny and very bright, and the lens has a fixed aperture of f1.6, thus most of the pictures were over exposed. No, I didn't have any ND filters. Yesterday, it rained, and was dark, perfect condition to use this lens. So I spent an hour in the rain, under the umbrella, and enjoyed myself with this beautiful lens.

Like most projection lenses, this one is very sharp at the working aperture of f1.6. Unfortunately, quite strong color fringing/CA is visible with contrasty/back lit scenes, as most projection lens exhibit this trait. Not as bad as others, though. So far, I haven't found any projection lens that produces very pleasing  bokeh. It was simply not a design criteria for a projection lens. This one, I would say is average. Not ugly or unpleasant, but not as nice as many dedicated picture taking lenses.

The hardest part of using this lens is finding critical focus. The extremely thin depth of field makes focusing really difficult. Nonetheless, I had a great time taking pictures with this wonderful optic.

Daffodil  - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Bokeh - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Braving the rain - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6. Click for larger.

Walking in the rain - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 92mm f1.6. 

Using a Focusing Helicoid as a Lens Adapter

One of the most annoying problems with old manual focus lenses, is that over time, some of them would fail to attain infinity focus, due to wear or misalignment. The Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX lens I looked that the other day was an example. The normal course of action is to get it repaired/adjusted, but this could get expensive. Worse, sometimes after a lens repair, it would have other issues like de-centering or other problems. The solution is to use a focusing helicoid in place of a lens adapter.

Helicoid as an adapter on NEX-5N. Click for larger.

My focusing helicoids were originally purchased to be used with odd ball lenses that don't have focusing mechanisms of their own, like enlarging and projection lenses, but they are equally good, and often better, when used as a lens adapter, because a focusing helicoid would make the lens focus closer than its minimum focus distance, but at the same time allows the lens to focus past infinity. The 18-35mm Yeenon helicoid is just slightly thinner than a dedicated NEX to M42 adapter when not extended. This means all M42 lenses mounted on it will focus pass infinity. This solves the problem for lenses that can not focus to infinity by itself.

Allen Garden - NEX-6 & Vivitar 24mm f2.8 TX & Yeenon Helicoid. Click for larger.

Currently, I can only use M42 lenses on the Yeenon Helicoid, as the helicoid has an M42 mount when fitted with a 52mm to 42mm step-down ring. In actual use, there is almost no different than using just a lens adapter, except you focus with the focusing helicoid or the focusing mechanism on the lens. When using the lens for close-ups, you can rack out the focusing on both the helicoid and the lens to simulate the effect of  an extension tube to achieve macro magnification.

So yes, the helicoid is a very flexible tool.

True Love Cafe - NEX-6 & Isco-Gottingen Westagon 50mm f2 & Yeenon Helicoid.

Grange Park in B&W with Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens

Grange Park is one of my favourite places to take pictures on my lunch hour walks. I visit the park at least once a week and often more frequently.  It's also a park where people like to stroll, or sit on its many park benches. Even in the winter, many people spend their lunch hour here, to temporarily get away from the busy office routine.

This set of pictures was shot with the Sony NEX-6 and the Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV lens.  This lens lacks a focusing mechanism and I have it mated to the Yeenon 18-33mm focusing helicoid, which I reviewed here.  It's a good combination and they look very nice and balance well together.  So far, the Yeenon helicoid has held up well, though I have not used it as vigorously as I did with the previous, cheaper ones.

Romancing in the park - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Silhouette - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Urban forest - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Trespassers - NEX-6 & Taylor-Hobson 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

New Life on an Old Lens

The Taylor-Hobson Ortal 3 Inch (75mm) f2 TV lens was a nice find for me, but it has a very short lens to sensor distance and I couldn't make it work on DSLRs.  Having no focusing mechanism, the only way to make it work is through a focusing helicoid.  I first got it to work on the original generic focusing helicoid on the NEX-5, but helicoid and the lens don't jive well together.  This lens is extremely heavy for it's focal length and aperture, and the focusing helicoid is kind of flimsy made.  After some use, the helicoid developed more and more play and eventually starting to wriggle. So, it hasn't been used for a little while.

The Yeenon helicoid came to the rescue.  The Yeenon helicoid is nearly identical to the diameter of the Ortal 75mm f2 lens so they actually look really nice together, and they work wonderfully together as well.  The only problem I have, is that the aperture ring is very large/wide, and it sits ahead of the focusing ring.  Even after some use, I invariably turned the aperture ring when I really meant the focusing ring.  Small niggle, but annoys me.

I am really liking this lens.  Very sharp at f2 and with wonderfully saturated colours.  Really looking forward to shooting with it more.

Brunch Talk - Sony NEX-5N & Taylor Hobson Ortal 75mm f2 TV Lens. Click for larger.

Review: Yeenon 18-33mm Focusing Helicoid

If you read my blog for any length of time, you would know that I am a big fan of DIY lenses.  Projection lenses, enlarging lenses, odd ball lenses are my past time favourites, and all these lenses need a focusing helicoid, as the lenses themselves do not have a focus mechanism.  My first focusing helicoid was a converted Vivitar 2X Focusing macro teleconverter, which I wrote about it here. But, this home made helicoid is too thick (long) for wider angle lenses, so a thinner helicoid is needed.  I ordered two generic ones from eBay: a 12-17mm and a 17-32mm, which I covered here.  These two are widely available on eBay from many sellers, but they are essentially identical.  Typically they are selling for about $40 each, much cheaper than the time I bought mine. Sadly, they are very badly made.  Even when new, they have some play between the focusing and the mount. After only a few months of use, they have become wobbly, and pretty much unusable.  I did get a lot of use out of them, so it's not a total write-off.  I began searching for a better replacement, but couldn't force myself to forking out more than $100 for a different one.

There are basically four different makes of helicoids readily available on eBay.  They are: the generic ones that I bought and bad quality; one from Hawk Factory in Taiwan, which has good reviews, but at about $130; one sold by Fotodiox at $120, and the other, which I bought and I am reviewing, is a Yeenon 18-33mm, at $57 (free shipping if you offer to pay the asking price on eBay).  I chose the M42/52mm version, so that I can use it on NEX, Micro 4/3, and Canon EOS through the M42 adapter.

The Yeenon helicoid took exactly one month to arrive from China.  It came with a (relatively) nice box, and even a guarantee.  I could feel the difference in built quality as soon as I held it in my hand.  Much better than the generic ones I bought.  The Yeenon is slightly larger in diameter.  This has a negative effect on the NEX-5N, as the focusing ring touches my middle finger that grips the camera, while focusing. Also, there is still a very slight play between the focusing and the mount, just enough to feel it.  It's not a big deal, but nevertheless lessens the joy of using it. The focusing is relatively smooth, but a bit too much resistance.  I am sure with use, it will loosen up.

So far I have only used it for a week, but I enjoy it much more than the ones I had before.  It's not as good as the Vivitar 2X focusing helicoid, but very close.  I just hope that the build quality will hold up and last more than a few months.

The Yeenon 18-33mm helicoid. Click for larger

Face Off - Left Yeenon 18-33mm; right generic 12-17mm. Click for larger

Side by side. Click for larger

Intense colours - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S 80mm f4. Click for larger.

Symphony of colours - NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componon-S 80mm f4 @ f5.6