Soligor 70-210 Macro

Hi,

I have just bought an ist DL and have the above lens. It doesn't fit. There is a part on the lens by the mount that sticks out too far to let it couple with the body..



(This is for illustration purposes only (taken with my P&S) and not intended to showcase my photographic prowess, although at least the door's in focus)

It's a lovely little lens, and the macro is excellent on 35mm, so I'd like to find a way to utilise it. I'd like to know if there's a workaround that you may know of.. a spacer or something??

Cheers

Liam

If it doesn't fit, don't try to force anything or you might damage your camera.

You could try a thin extension tube, but then you would indeed be limited to macro work with this lens.

If it's a K mount lens, it should fit, so if there is a problem I would retire it and use a more appropriate optic. Perhaps you could continue to use your Soligor on other bodies?

Hi John,

yep, it's K mount.. I used it almost constantly with my old ME. The space between the chassis and the lens mount is greater on the ME, which I don't use any more. Perhaps I can get a more modern lens and sell this one on ebay or something, to offset the cost.

Or I may get the bellows and use it exclusively for macro work. As I said, the optics are fantastic, so I may just do that.

I've never used them before but I've found..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pentax-auto-bellows-K_W0QQitemZ7575701721QQcategoryZ43479Q...

I've already spent too much for this month but is that a decent peice of kit, and the right value. I guess with postage and import tax it'll come out around £60.

Cheers

Liam

I would use an extension tube myself. The bellows will produce a massive amount of extension, and the lens is probably not that well corrected for ultra-close shots.

The bellows you gave the link for are Pentax, which is nice, but be prepared to be caught for VAT and import duty. The VAT will be on the total price, including the shipping charge...

Hi again,

thanks for that. I had a quick look on ebay and found a 25mm extension tube (K mount) for £3. My wallet says that's better than £60.

That means I can keep the lens and use it for closeup work after all. Re: the import duty, I bought the camera from digirev in Hong Kong, and got charged £40 import duty, which was about half what I expected to pay, so I know about that. It's amazing the amount of people that leave negative feedback for that firm, almost entirely people complaining about the duty they had to pay.

I don't understand some people, they spend anything between £250 and £1500 odd quid on expensive camera equipment but can't be bothered to read the equivalent of one A4 page (the bidding page, so it's not exactly hidden!!) where it clearly states that they'll have to pay it : :

Oh well, enough of that.. have a good evening. I'm taking the camera out to our Social Club's party for it's first run out tonight, so if I take anything worth posting, I'll do so in the morning.

Cheers

Liam