Can't focus on far away objects with adapted lense.

[gummyrabbit]

I just got a Nikon lens adapter for my GF1 from Rainbow on eBay. I put a Nikkor 50mm AF F/1.8 lens on it and it seems to work fine until I try to focus on something (e.g. a building across a street) that's far away. I turn the focusing ring right to the limit and the building is still out of focus. Is this normal because of the adapter?

 

[deirdre]

My guess is it's the adapter. Most of them focus past infinity. Back it off a little bit and you should be able to focus.

 

[pdh]

try backing the focus off a bit from infinity and see if that improves things ... many of the adapters seem to be like this ...

 

[PeterB666]

I have 2 different types of adapter for different types of lens. Neither of them focus correctly at infinity so very small apertures and lots of sharpening are used when trying to focus beyond infinity. It prooved pretty frustrating when trying to do stuff like focus on the moon with an Olympus OM 200mm f/4 lens.

 

[Brianetta]

My Pentax adapter is shorter than it needs to be, guaranteeing infinity focus by allowing the lens to focus past it. I lose a whole two centimetres at the near end for that. It's not like we're adapting like for like in terms of flange distance, so there's really no excuse for no infinity focus on any type of 135 format lens.

 

[Dunkeld]

As indicated.

As indicated by others here you just need to learn not to rely on infinity being sharp. I have the same problem with my Canon EF 50 F 1/8. I just manually focus by eye until it is sharp. As the guy said, just back of a tad.

Dave T.

 

[gummyrabbit]

Thanks. Backing it off helped get it back into focus.

 

[brnmatsumoto]

adapter

This is an interesting thread in that I often wondered if the expensive adapters made by Voigtlander and Novoflex were made to higher tolerances and justified their higher price. I ran a test with a Nikon 105 mm Nikon and at infinity with the Voigtlander, the "infinity" image of a neighbors roof was in focus. But with my old Nikon F adapter, purchased from eBay, a year ago, setting the lens to the infinity mark did not work. As several people wrote, you have to focus just short of the infinity mark with the less expensive adapter.

As an aside, I had used the eBay adapter with my G1 and GH1 and it seemed fine. But now with my G2, it seems somewhat finicky. It will occasionally cause the camera to give rise to the message that the lens not securely mounted or it gives a black screen. With a little jiggling, it gives an image and is workable. An annoying "feature". I wonder if my G2 is just a little bit more touchy about adapters than my G1. Anyone else observe this?

Brian

 

[gummyrabbit]

As an aside, I had used the eBay adapter with my G1 and GH1 and it seemed fine. But now with my G2, it seems somewhat finicky. It will occasionally cause the camera to give rise to the message that the lens not securely mounted or it gives a black screen. With a little jiggling, it gives an image and is workable. An annoying "feature". I wonder if my G2 is just a little bit more touchy about adapters than my G1. Anyone else observe this?

Brian

It sounds like the adapter is touching the electrical contacts for the lens when there should be no contact at all.

 

[brnmatsumoto]

You could very well be correct. In any case, the Nikon F adapter is not being used--the Voigtlander adapter has taken its place. Its just as well, I want to try some astronomical shots of the Milky Way and being able to set infinity focus by using the stop will simplify this task.

I have to wait for the spring though. LA does not have clear enough skies to justify a long time exposure

Brian