Wadinginwater
New member
Hi all, I'm new to the forum, but have been researching my predicament for quite some time now, through every link Google will take me to.
My predicament will follow this extensive amount of history I'm about to give you.
I have some history in photography, primarily film, and have two Minolta MD mount lenses. They are both prime, one is a 50mm and the other is a 28mm. Since those are fairly decent lenses and the only two I own, I felt instead of going the "smart route", and just buying a Canon 50mm lens, along with easy-to-Ebay knockoff Canon extension tubes, that I would just use Minolta's and purchase Minolta knockoff extension tubes.
After much research I located a site called "Lightinthebox.com", and ordered my Minolta Extension tubes.
Prior to ordering the extension tubes, I used the wonderful D-O-F-OMATIC on Jetsetmodels.info to assemble my future adapter. I went ahead and ordered from numerous sites the necessary parts, including the GG holder, motor, switch, etc...
About one week later, I had just about received most of my parts from the various sites, and along came my extension tubes, straight from China. I tried to mount my Minolta MD lenses to the tubes, and to my disappointment and surprise, they didn't fit. So, I took a gander at the box they came in I noticed two letters: PK. I had my suspicions, but decided to have a professional confirm. After holding my lens in one hand, the tube in the other, the shop owner looked down at the box on the counter, then looked at me and said, "Hold on a second." He went to the back store room and arrived with a plethora of lenses. After trying on about 2 or 3, the 4th snapped into place. The shop owner exclaimed, "Ha! This is for a Pentax K-Mount lens!" He had confirmed my suspicion behind the meaning of the "PK" letters
So I contacted lightinthebox.com, and explained, and sent photos of the box and its tubes, and they told me to keep the tubes and that they would replace my order with the correct ones. Two weeks later the replacement tubes arrived, and low and behold, they are the same tubes. So I quickly determined that they just manufacture "universal" tubes and try and pass them off as "whichever mount is called upon tubes."
So I get a refund, and I'm back to square one, along with the second set of tubes that they did not want returned.
I quickly did a search on Ebay, where I was surprised to find... nothing...except for expensive Vivitar AT5 Extension tubes, which I quickly snatched up due to impatience, because I have everything I need except for extension tubes. They arrived quickly as well, and...they are made out of metal, which is fine, because I can drill through metal, but a step up/step down ring can't thread onto it because there are no threads. Yay!!! Another fat disappointment. So what the hell should I do? Should I just nub the bullet, since all the other bullets I have bitten have broken all my teeth, and left me with nothing but gums, and buy a Canon lens, tubes, proper size step up/down rings, and a new GG Holder that will fit the diameter of the Canon tubes, or should I...(fill in the space._)
You are sincerely thanked for any feedback, ridicule, jokes, or superglue you may throw my direction. I'm sorry about my excessive use of the word "tubes". Oh yeah, I have the Panasonic DVX100b.
...still wadinginwater...
My predicament will follow this extensive amount of history I'm about to give you.
I have some history in photography, primarily film, and have two Minolta MD mount lenses. They are both prime, one is a 50mm and the other is a 28mm. Since those are fairly decent lenses and the only two I own, I felt instead of going the "smart route", and just buying a Canon 50mm lens, along with easy-to-Ebay knockoff Canon extension tubes, that I would just use Minolta's and purchase Minolta knockoff extension tubes.
After much research I located a site called "Lightinthebox.com", and ordered my Minolta Extension tubes.
Prior to ordering the extension tubes, I used the wonderful D-O-F-OMATIC on Jetsetmodels.info to assemble my future adapter. I went ahead and ordered from numerous sites the necessary parts, including the GG holder, motor, switch, etc...
About one week later, I had just about received most of my parts from the various sites, and along came my extension tubes, straight from China. I tried to mount my Minolta MD lenses to the tubes, and to my disappointment and surprise, they didn't fit. So, I took a gander at the box they came in I noticed two letters: PK. I had my suspicions, but decided to have a professional confirm. After holding my lens in one hand, the tube in the other, the shop owner looked down at the box on the counter, then looked at me and said, "Hold on a second." He went to the back store room and arrived with a plethora of lenses. After trying on about 2 or 3, the 4th snapped into place. The shop owner exclaimed, "Ha! This is for a Pentax K-Mount lens!" He had confirmed my suspicion behind the meaning of the "PK" letters
So I contacted lightinthebox.com, and explained, and sent photos of the box and its tubes, and they told me to keep the tubes and that they would replace my order with the correct ones. Two weeks later the replacement tubes arrived, and low and behold, they are the same tubes. So I quickly determined that they just manufacture "universal" tubes and try and pass them off as "whichever mount is called upon tubes."
So I get a refund, and I'm back to square one, along with the second set of tubes that they did not want returned.
I quickly did a search on Ebay, where I was surprised to find... nothing...except for expensive Vivitar AT5 Extension tubes, which I quickly snatched up due to impatience, because I have everything I need except for extension tubes. They arrived quickly as well, and...they are made out of metal, which is fine, because I can drill through metal, but a step up/step down ring can't thread onto it because there are no threads. Yay!!! Another fat disappointment. So what the hell should I do? Should I just nub the bullet, since all the other bullets I have bitten have broken all my teeth, and left me with nothing but gums, and buy a Canon lens, tubes, proper size step up/down rings, and a new GG Holder that will fit the diameter of the Canon tubes, or should I...(fill in the space._)
You are sincerely thanked for any feedback, ridicule, jokes, or superglue you may throw my direction. I'm sorry about my excessive use of the word "tubes". Oh yeah, I have the Panasonic DVX100b.
...still wadinginwater...