NX to Nikon F shift adapter ... it can be done!

Last week, I successfully cobbled together one using an old-style Kipon Fuji X to Nikon F shift adapter as the donor adapter and it works ... well, sort of, anyway.

It is shown above with a Leica 28/f2.8 PC lens converted to a Nikon F-mount via a Leitax adapter, because this is the longest F-mount lens I own, so it was the easiest one to use to determine whether the length of the adapter was allowing the lens to focus at infinity or not.

Because this was a first prototype, the rotation mechanism is disabled, because I'll need to do some additional work to make it function properly.

I ultimately planned to use this adapter with my Contax / Yashica lenses, which are small, light, and generally very good to excellent performers, but after working with this prototype adapter over four outings now, I have decided to put this project on hold.

That's because while it does actually work, it's a PITA to use, especially with my arthritic fingers having to twirl the adjustment knob seemingly forever and back for each photo. This was especially annoying when I was using it handheld, which is how I had hoped to use it most of the time, since my photography has a strong emphasis on architecture.

A better donor would have have been Kipon's Canon EF to Mamiya 645 shift adapter, as it's only 19.3 mm thick, so I would have to add .7 mm for it to work with the C / Y lenses I prefer, instead of removing 7.8 mm as was the case with the adapter I used. Needless to say, making an adapter longer is considerably easier than making one shorter! But new ones are $218 from Adorama, which is beyond my budget for this project, and I couldn't find a used one for sale anywhere, so that was that...

That said, I do have an idea for an alternative approach and if I do decide to continue to use my NX500 as my everyday camera -- I really do miss my RX1 and a friend is sending his old one on a long-term loan, so I may very well end up switching back to that camera instead -- I'll cobble together something and see if it works any better than this one.

Anyway, the point of this post is simply to confirm that where there's a will, there's a way, and if some photographer determines they really do need to have rise/fall/shift movements available with their NX-series cameras, then any competent machinist will be able to accommodate them without having to fabricate the complete shift adapter from scratch.