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B4 cage is the missing piece connecting new DSLR cameras to old ENG lenses
My friend Tony has been fanatically devoted to the idea of connecting the large zoom lenses of used ENG cameras to the bodies of DSLRs. He’s tinkered with this idea for years now, and developed a solution which I think is quite elegant. I don’t have any financial interest in his operation but I think this is a genuinely well-thought-out niche product you should see:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efCi-KtK1PY
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3 Replies
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He looks like he did really great work there… very finished, polished, and professional.
I’ll make one “Good Lord he’s being picky” point about terminology, which might make a difference to someone considering this…
Both Mark in his original post and Tony in his video referred to using these big lenses on DSLR cameras… and late in the video he says his cage “isn’t camera specific,” and can be used with any DSLR. Here’s my picky point, the Panasonic Lumix he is using is NOT a DSLR. It is a mirrorless camera (and Tony mentions that it is for mirrorless cameras, but he also uses the term DSLR). Remember, DSLR is Digital Single Lens Reflex… i.e., “reflex” meaning it has a mirror and a prism.
Why is this important? Because most DSLRs these days have a bigass 35mm sensor. Many or most of the mirrorless still cameras have a somewhat smaller sensor and can use a MFT lens adapter which will allow use of the B4 (and similar) lenses. These older ENG lenses would likely NOT cover the sensor area of a 35mm or full-frame sized sensor, as the lens was designed for the much smaller sensor (I’m assuming a 2/3″ sensor) of an ENG camera.
I’m just being picky about that because I wouldn’t want someone to think “Hey I’m gonna scrounge up an ENG lens for my 5D.” It likely won’t work, as the lens will probably not cover the sensor. Some DSLRs might fit/work (those with smaller sensors), but the all-the-rage-today “full frame” sensor cameras probably wouldn’t with the average ENG lens.
But other than that pickiness, it looks like a pretty elegant piece of gear.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Tony’s blog goes into much greater depth regarding sensor size/coverage as he developed his ideas for marrying these ENG lenses to other cameras. You should have seen his early frankenstein lash-ups. 🙂
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I love his engineering and dedication to this project. Unfortunately without the optics to adjust for the fact these ENG lenses were designed for CCD cameras with a prism, I do not see the benefit of using these lenses with a CMOS camera. The image quality won’t be worth it.
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