Vivitar 2X TC in Pentax 6X7 medium format mount. (1 Viewer)

[Paul Corfield]

I picked up this behemoth of a TC on ebay this week for cheap money. It's for the medium format Pentax 6X7 cameras and as you can see in the photo it's huge compared to my 2X Teleplus Macro Focusing TC which itself is quite big.

Counting the reflections down through the lenses it appears to be a 7 element design. Photos are really nice, they are very sharp and contrast is very good.

I could only hand hold both the camera and TC behind the scope to take these test photos but initial results are very promising. There are 6X7 adapter for most cameras but a 6X7 to telescope adapter seems to be very expensive. That just leaves me the option to remove the TC and mount it in something else which is a shame. I might see if I can come up with something before I commit to taking it apart.

Here's a few photos and yes, the hover fly was taken using the hand holding method mentioned above.

Just holding the TC up to the camera body is giving in the region of 1.7X mag. There is around 1.5" from the back of the TC to the rear element. If the TC was removed from the housing and mounted closer to the camera then I guess the mag would be down around the 1.4 to 1.5X.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

Managed to strip the TC down and have it completely reversible so it can be returned to its original state in the future. The actual TC bit is quite short and I've mounted it into a macro tube just under 1.5" long.

A couple more images taken with the TC.

Paul.

 

[DanC.Licks]

That looks really good. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to strip it down. Could be because it was made for 6x7 and you are only using a tiny bit of the glass, the best part!

What brand/model/magnification is it?

 

[cango]

reg the hover fly - I'm sure a very drunk Paul would walk a straight line - veery straight and steady....

 

[Paul Corfield]

reg the hover fly - I'm sure a very drunk Paul would walk a straight line - veery straight and steady....

I chucked away about 10 blurred ones though. They sway about in the breeze and every few seconds they dart off to chase away any fly that comes into their air space. It's really just down to trying for long enough until you get a good one. It's a shame the background was so pale. With a darker background the wings show up much better.

Paul.

 

[Paul Corfield]

That looks really good. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to strip it down. Could be because it was made for 6x7 and you are only using a tiny bit of the glass, the best part!

What brand/model/magnification is it?

On the body of the TC it says 2X Vivitar Automatic Tele Converter for Asahi Pentax 6X7. I picked this up for just £16 which was a steal.

Other brands that I've seen for 6X7 are Komura and Kenko which users say are identical to the Vivitar, so much so they say they are all the same make. Pentax also made their own brand for 6X7. Their 1.4X is supposed to be very nice.

Paul.