In order to connect our Lens to our Camera, we had to build an adapter that would correctly fit the two together.  The adapter must do two things, separate the lens and the camera by the correct distance, and keep the lens and the camera perfectly parallel, so that the lens focuses the light correctly across the detector in the camera.

Our adapter was built back in late 2007 by John Fellestein at Vanderbilt.  Here is a picture of it with both the lens and camera attached.

The front of the adapter is displayed here...

When the adapter was first built, we made very sure that it provided the correct distance between the lens and the CCD, called the "flange focus distance", enabling us to adjust the lens to focus on infinity.

During the first part of 2008, we sent the camera back to Apogee twice to replace the cooling unit on the back (for two upgrades, not for malfunctions).  The first time, the camera was returned enclosed in slightly different type of housing, for which the front dimensions were not compatible with the adapter made for the first housing, which meant that we had to re-machine the adapter.  We forgot to check that the flage focal distance was still correct, and upon first deployment of KELT in Sutherland, we found that it was not; we were off by about 5mm.

We therefore had to get an additional piece made in a hurry.  Fortunately, the mechanical help at Sutherland was on top of it, and we got a new ring made that fit perfectly into the front of the adapter, giving us back the additional distance we needed between the lend and the camera.  Here is the adapter with the new ring inserted.  It is the silver part sandwiched between the black parts.