Is it a Stretch? Measuring the Effectiveness of the DLX Stretch

January 31, 2025

Vintage lenses unlock a whole world of possibilities. There's history behind these classic designs. Many lenses have earned their flowers, beloved by the masses. Despite being well into a very digital age, we've encountered plenty of creators who reminisced about workhorse lenses they used for decades while film photography (both commercially or as a hobby) was in its prime. Likewise, we've talked to creators that grew up learning photography and video on digital cameras that seek out vintage lenses to achieve unique looks.

At Fotodiox, many people know us as the Adapter Company. Fair enough; we do offer over 1000 different adapters and do our best to support as many other camera and lens systems as possible. What we've learned over the years is that every customer's need is different: some only need a basic adapter, and some desire an adapter with more potential. Our specialty adapters are just that. These adapters help us go beyond just standard adapting. They introduce features that can bring your shooting to the next level.

The DLX Stretch adapters are an excellent choice for macro. It has an integrated helicoid ring, which allows users to adjust the lens distance from the sensor. Keeping the adapter fully contracted lets the adapter function as any standard adapter: the lens is set at a distance that allows the lens to focus to infinity. Using the ring to put more distance from the sensor removes infinity focus, but allows us to focus closer to our subject. The helicoid ring also isn't prone to any sort of lenscreep, so getting a top-down view is possible without the adapter adjusting itself.

In this post, we'd like to answer one question many customers have: how much of a difference does a DLX Stretch adapter make?

If there's anyone who likes to test the limits of products, it's Alex, one of our support technicians. To start, let's set a baseline of what to expect. We set a 50mm lens to its closest focus distance and measured the distance between the front of the lens and the subject to get our working distance. For this setup, the subject is 343mm away (not bad).

Now let's put the DLX Stretch to the test and work its magic. To get test the adapter at its extremes, we'll fully extend it (adding 9.99mm), and we're able to get the lens 157mm away from the subject. It may be only about 10mm of extension, but it does make a decent impact on the lens' performance. We can get 186mm closer than before cutting, the working distance down by 54%.

If we overlay the images over each other (to scale), that showcases the difference even more.

Recently, we released some DLX Stretch adapters for the Nikon F and Canon EF mount. Because of this, we're able to stack another DLX Stretch on top of our Nikon G to FX DLX Stretch, to see if we can get even closer. For this second test, we used a 55mm Mamiya 645 lens with our Mamiya 645 to Nikon F DLX Stretch adapter. It's a similar focal length to our Nikon 50mm, making for a good comparison. With both DLX stretch adapters fully contracted, our working distance is 343mm (coincidentally the same as the Nikon 50mm lens).

When we fully extended just the M645 DLX stretch (adding 4.67mm of extension), we're able to bring that working distance down to 226mm.

Fully extending both DLX Stretch adapters lets us focus as close as 139mm. The images below show the in-camera results, followed by an overlay of the different images to scale.

No Extension

M645 to Nikon F Extension Only

Both Adapters Full Extension

Results will vary depending on what lenses you're using, but hopefully this blog posts gives you an idea of what sort of results can be achieved just with a simple turn of the DLX Stretch focusing ring. For those interested in macro work, the DLX Stretch adapters are great for giving your lenses extra flexibility. Getting closer means a shorter working distance and a larger reproduction ratio. To increase your macro capabilities even more, you could certainly add other macro tools like bellows or extension tubes. But the best part about DLX Stretch is that you can increase your macro reach while retaining infinity focus, which a macro extension tube won't allow for.

Click here to find the perfect DLX Stretch adapter for you. And readers can also get 20% off all DLX Stretch adapters with code DLXS20 (code expires on 2/13 at 11:59pm ).