The Toothpick Trick

For a while now, we wanted to explain in detail what the toothpick trick is, what it does, and why it's important, finally, we'll try to make it as clear as possible, by explaining how to do it and why you should know about this.

I recently got an email from a client asking us why his used lens, which he bought from us didn't work, basically he couldn't adjust his aperture, he went as far as taking it in to a local repair shop to see if they could figure out why his lens wasn't working, and they told him, it would be too expensive to fix, and that it would be better if he got a new one. Well as we all know, Canon FD Lenses aren't in production anymore, so getting a new one, is actually a rare experience. Either way for the benefit of everyone, in our small community of independent filmakers, experienced and beginners, here's the solution using the so often called the "toothpick trick".


Basically, Old Canon FD Lenses, have this aperture lever which when it is not engaged, the aperture will not work. Originally, while mounting the lenses on the SLR cameras, the body had a stopper that would engage the lever, and while your lens was mounted, then it would allow your aperture ring to function. Well since the Jag35 adapters don't have this stopper, the lever never gets triggered, so simply mounting your lens alone will not work, which is where the toothpick trick comes in.


If you basically take a toothpick and cut it to right size, you'll need to push the aperture lever to try and measure it to be approximately the right size, it doesn't have to be exact but the closer you get it, the better, as you do need to have the lever pushed all the way for it to work correctly. Once you have the toothpick cut to the right size, you'll basically have to pull the aperture lever back, and jam the toothpick inside the track where the lever moves, to stop the lever from moving returning. On most lenses the lever spring is pretty strong, so simply pulling the lever and dropping the toothpick in and releasing the lever, it usually has enough pressure to hold the toothpick in place and keepin' the lever engaged. Keep in mind that your aperture is still not gonna work after this, you'll still need to mount your lens on the Jag35 Adapter, then you'll be able to see the aperture manually adjust as you turn your aperture ring.


If you plan to use this lens exclusively with the Jag35 Adapter, we sometimes put a couple of drops of hot glue to ensure the toothpick stays in place, and usually that eliminates the chances of the toothpick slipping out while your doing a shoot or while adjusting your aperture in between shots.