Vivitar - Canon Adapter

[AntiThesis]

Hiya knowledgeable ones,

Anyone know where in South Africa I can find a Vivitar to Canon adapter? I've heard that it can be done using an MD-EOS adapter but I can't seem to find any in SA.

Clues?

Also... Merry Christmas!

edit: damnit. Feel free to move to photography forum.

 

[arf9999]

Vivitar doesn't have their own mount AFAIK. They are third party manufacturers for other brands. What camera was the lens used on before? With that info it may be possible to find an adaptor to use it on your EOS, but often certain functions will not work - e.g. auto aperture, correct camera info on lens settings etc. You may have to use the lens and camera completely manually, i.e. no program modes at all.

 

[AntiThesis]

Hmm, that's interesting. Chatting to another bloke, he reckons that the Minolta adapter should work. Will have to see if I can get my hands on it to try - not spending close on R500 just to see

edit: Aah, someone has connected a 400D with my exact lens (Vivitar 400mm) so that should work as well. It is the MD-EOS adapter so now I just need to find one in SA.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Well it all depends on what mount the Vivitar lens was made with...

It should say somewhere on the lens what type of mount it is.

 

[arf9999]

edit: Aah, someone has connected a 400D with my exact lens (Vivitar 400mm) so that should work as well. It is the MD-EOS adapter so now I just need to find one in SA.

Yup, but Vivitar [-]make[/-] made the same lens with multiple mounts.(OM, MD, FD, F, TX etc.) You'll need to double check that it is, in fact, a Minolta (MD) mount and not another version. If you know what camera the lens was used on previously it makes life simpler

Well it all depends on what mount the Vivitar lens was made with...

It should say somewhere on the lens what type of mount it is.

+1

More info on mounting manual lenses to EOS mount here:
http://www.bobatkins.com/photography/eosfaq/manual_focus_EOS.html

 

[AntiThesis]

Well, all it says on the lens is:

Auto Vivitar Telephoto 400mm No. 3704904

But I have some shots of it here:

Lens Top

Lens Side

Perhaps that will help to identify. I'll stick it up some other places as well

 

[arf9999]

GIYF:

From here: http://members.tripod.com/rick_oleson/index-99.html

Interchangeable Lens Mounts:

There are some lenses that don't mount directly to any camera, but have a removable mount that allows one lens to be used on more than one brand of camera. <snip>...
This is the rear end of a T4 mount lens. The later TX mount is nearly identical in appearance, but is marked "TX" on the back surface.
These were made by Vivitar and Soligor in the 1970s. They are very similar, except that the TX mount has the additional linkage to permit open-aperture metering; as I recall, you can use a T4 mount on a TX lens, but not the other way round..

Edit: Just from my initial checks, it seems unlikely that the lens will work with that MD adaptor out of the box. Most of the adaptors work with a separate camera mount (Nikon AI, Canon FD, Olympus OM etc..). Looking at the Bob Atkins site, the most suitable mounts are the following because they are mechanical adapters with no optics and probably maintain infinity focus.

Contarex
Contax RTS
Leica R
Nikon
Olympus OM
Pentax K
Pentax Screw (M42)
Petri Bayonet
Ricoh Bayonet
T2 mount
Yashica FR, FX

So I'd look for a T4 mount adaptor for one of these mounts (I'd suggest Pentax K and Nikon - they're pretty popular mounts) and then find the mount adaptor for that to EOS. 2 pieces of equipment required.

I'll try some googling for you...