3D-printed Kiev 10/15 Lens To Sony E Adapter

The Kiev 10 was the first Soviet-built 35mm SLR with automatic exposure. It did this using an internal linkage for the body to control the lens aperture -- there is no aperture control ring on the lens. The same lens mount was used by the Kiev 15 TEE, but nothing else, and the internal aperture linkage makes adapting to another mount problematic.

In an Instructables a few years ago, I showed a way to hack an adapter to provide a mount with an aperture control ring for Kiev 10/15 lenses, but it was awkward. Instead, the adapter shown here (Thingiverse Thing 1464062 ) allows Kiev 10/15 lenses to mount and focus to infinity on a Sony E-mount body while still providing aperture control using a less-than-20-degree twist of the lens in its mount -- much like my earlier Thing 137540. Sony has two "flavors" of E-mount, the second of which is tighter, making adapters designed for the first not necessarily fit; this E-mount flange is designed to fit the later version, as used by the A7II series cameras, and also fits the earlier version (with minor play). Here it is:

Kiev 10/15 mount Mir 20 lens on my Sony A7 E-mount body

The STL is freely available (Creative Commons - Attribution license).  Enjoy!

PS: Why red? Well, it is an adapter for Russian lenses....  

Hey prof thanks a lot for the adapter design..question is there an optical difference between the mir 1 or jupiter 9 kiev automat versions vs their M42 or M39 counterparts that you know of..thanks..looking to maybe grab a mir 1 while i'm at it ..i had one in m42 but sold it as i didn't get a chance to use it properly..now i got a flek so dunno but the kiev versions are cheap enough to give em a shot.

ProfHankD wrote:

The Kiev 10 was the first Soviet-built 35mm SLR with automatic exposure. It did this using an internal linkage for the body to control the lens aperture -- there is no aperture control ring on the lens. The same lens mount was used by the Kiev 15 TEE, but nothing else, and the internal aperture linkage makes adapting to another mount problematic.

In an Instructables a few years ago, I showed a way to hack an adapter to provide a mount with an aperture control ring for Kiev 10/15 lenses, but it was awkward. Instead, the adapter shown here (Thingiverse Thing 1464062 ) allows Kiev 10/15 lenses to mount and focus to infinity on a Sony E-mount body while still providing aperture control using a less-than-20-degree twist of the lens in its mount -- much like my earlier Thing 137540. Sony has two "flavors" of E-mount, the second of which is tighter, making adapters designed for the first not necessarily fit; this E-mount flange is designed to fit the later version, as used by the A7II series cameras, and also fits the earlier version (with minor play). Here it is:

Kiev 10/15 mount Mir 20 lens on my Sony A7 E-mount body

The STL is freely available (Creative Commons - Attribution license). Enjoy!

PS: Why red? Well, it is an adapter for Russian lenses....

Oh also any 3d printing services you can recommend..i think i read you said it should cost somewhere around 25 cents ?

G River wrote:

Oh also any 3d printing services you can recommend..i think i read you said it should cost somewhere around 25 cents ?

It might use $0.25 worth of PLA, but expect to pay more like $10-$30 to have a service print one. Best is probably to find a friendly local makerspace and do it there.

G River wrote:

Hey prof thanks a lot for the adapter design..question is there an optical difference between the mir 1 or jupiter 9 kiev automat versions vs their M42 or M39 counterparts that you know of..thanks..looking to maybe grab a mir 1 while i'm at it ..i had one in m42 but sold it as i didn't get a chance to use it properly..now i got a flek so dunno but the kiev versions are cheap enough to give em a shot.

The optics are packaged very differently, but it seems to be the same design. Really quite a small lens in Kiev 10/15 mount.

Thank you found a place online  excited....:-D

I realize this is an old thread but with any luck maybe the OP is around and can answer my question. I have a Helios 65 Automat that I'm working on, I'm not getting any luck searching for the Kiev 10 flange distance. Closest answer I've got is "around 44mm" which clearly isn't adequate as I would need to know the exact length.

Janer_2 wrote:

I realize this is an old thread but with any luck maybe the OP is around and can answer my question. I have a Helios 65 Automat that I'm working on, I'm not getting any luck searching for the Kiev 10 flange distance. Closest answer I've got is "around 44mm" which clearly isn't adequate as I would need to know the exact length.

Well, measuring off one of my adapters, it's about 25.6mm thick sitting on an 18mm E flange, so that would be 43.6mm. My code actually says it should be 43.75mm.

Thank you for taking the time, that's really helpful! I'll go about checking whether I'll make it work on my Nikon, this is giving me a starting point.