Fisheye Fever Club -- Flaunt your fisheye photos!

[danielchtong]

Originally Posted by Quicksand

Just yesterday I received the Peleng 17mm f/2.8 I won on eBay for very little . . . like 1/2 a Zenitar . . .

I think it's going to be fun to have!

You remind me to bring out my Zenitar 16mm that has not been used for some time






He is pretty cooperative indeed



Daniel

[dumrox]

Just got mine a few days ago, so I'm still pretty far down the learning curve. Here's a couple first snaps:

[Mechan1k]

I pick my Zenitar up from the Post Office in the next day or 2.

[Quicksand]

It sounds like this thread has tickled a lot of latent LBA out there, myself included!

I'll post more from my Peleng 17mm once I have some decent shots. 'Til then, I can report that it's certainly an interesting lens, and I am getting good results from it so far. Nice and clear, and high-contrast fringing isn't too bad.

When it arrived it mounted strangely to my camera; when screwed in fully (M42 mount) the top of the lens was 45 degrees off to the left, so the built-in hood petals made an "X" shape at the corners (no big deal with the crop factor) and the focus/aperture markings were off to the side as well.

I was a little reluctant to mess with it, but eventually my OCD prevailed, and while adjusting some set-screws near the mount it appeared to me that it actually uses a T2-to-M42 mount, so I can probably replace that with a T2-to-K mount, which would be nice. We'll see how that works -- if it doesn't, no big deal. I did manage to get it straight at least!

Lots of great pictures in this thread -- at a level that I can only aspire to!

[troyz]

Originally Posted by Quicksand

I'll post more from my Peleng 17mm once I have some decent shots.

...

while adjusting some set-screws near the mount it appeared to me that it actually uses a T2-to-M42 mount, so I can probably replace that with a T2-to-K mount, which would be nice.

I did a bit of web "research" on this when I was considering the Peleng 8 (which should have a mount similar to your 17). . . just a sec. . .


According to this post, a standard T2 mount needs a bit of lathe work:

Mod T mount.jpg photo - Pete Ganzel photos at pbase.com

and according to this post, the T2 mount comes apart (!?)

Manual Focus Forum / Russian interchangeable mount lenses (T/A)

[Quicksand]

Thanks, troyz, for the info -- that's good stuff. I know nearly nothing about the T2 mount, or for that matter the "native" Peleng mount under the M42 piece.

But I do know that the T2 adapter does have two pieces. The inner piece is threaded to fit the T2 lens, and the concentric outer piece has three setscrews to grab the inner piece. With the setscrews loosened, the outer piece (which has the K-mount on it) can be rotated around to get the desired orientation on the lens, then tightened down again.

That second link seems to say that the outer piece of a T2 adapter might be usable with the inner piece that came with the lens. We'll see!

I'd love to have a machine shop in my garage, but alas I don't. So I'm going to try to make it function without metalwork.

I'll post on it, regardless of whether it succeeds or fails.

And since we have gone a few posts without pictures, I'll throw in another pic with the Peleng 17:



This is what I would call a "fortuitous overexposure" -- there's no significant PP here (basically just cropping and resizing). I was trying to get goofy fisheye giant-head pictures of my 7-month-old son, so I put on the external flash and fired away without adjusting anything. Oops!

[Mechan1k]

Woo hoo ... had a quick play with mine (as I picked it up from the post office today) ... it's a MC Zenitar - K2,8/16 ... so it's an actual K-mount version.

I have tested stop-down metering in M mode and it works perfectly ... I ca see the VF darken for a split second when I hit the Green button ... and the shutter speed changes accordingly to whatever Aperture I have selected. It comes back to bright again ... I take the shot and exposure looks pretty much spot-on. Woooo hoo. No modfication needed.

Now to play with this little lens. I won't have time now ... but will try and get to take it into work if i can tonight and take some weird shots.

[stevebrot]

I posted this on the new B&W thread, but decided to share it here as well.

Vista House, Historic Columbia River Highway

MC Zenitar 16/2.8

Steve

[Mechan1k]

A few quick and dirty shots I took in the office at my desk.
Zenitar 16mm. I was shooting wide open at first and found that it really is useless to do so unless you can really pick your focus perfect (this is close focussing on items though).

I decided to choose trusty old f/8 ... ISO 400 was already selected ... green button and away I go.

Just simple rotation and alittle cropping on some.

[Mechan1k]

Nailling focus in a dark office (it doesn't look dark in those images ... but these are hand-held at about 1/3 second.

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Nailling focus in a dark office (it doesn't look dark in those images ... but these are hand-held at about 1/3 second.

I take it that you are learning to "enjoy" the short focus throw on the Zenitar!? I have found it fairly difficult to accurately focus if the subject is relatively close (10 feet or less). I have used the lens on my 35mm SLR and found that the split-image helps a lot.

Steve

(Seriously considering a Katz-eye screen...)

[stevebrot]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Nailling focus in a dark office (it doesn't look dark in those images ... but these are hand-held at about 1/3 second.

BTW, your samples very nicely dispel the notion that wide angle and fish-eye lenses have infinite DOF and that focus should not be any issue. Your subjects are in focus, but background objects are appropriately out of focus as you would expect for the the image magnification and aperture used.

Steve

(Just one of my pet peeves...)

[Mechan1k]

I'd like to get a Katz-eye screen as well.

I had a play in the carpark shootign a mates Black raised Jeep Wrangler.
And I can tell you ... ceiling mounted flouro lights play havoc with green bars ... I'd say it is just the construction of the lens and how it flares/ghosts I'd say.

Let me upload some images and you will see what i mean.

It's a fun lens ... but it will take a bit of getting used to to master it.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by stevebrot

BTW, your samples very nicely dispel the notion that wide angle and fish-eye lenses have infinite DOF and that focus should not be any issue. Your subjects are in focus, but background objects are appropriately out of focus as you would expect for the the image magnification and aperture used.

Steve

(Just one of my pet peeves...)

I took a few shots at around f/2.8 and found it was hard to get the main item in focus ... all the way through .... so i thought what the hell ... I'll really stop it down and up the ISO a bit ... just to try and get appropriate DOF ... I can say even f/8 is fairly narrow-ish ... so for close objects ... you really do have to stop it down (ample light is needed though).

Lots to learn ... more playing needed.

[troyz]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

I'd like to get a Katz-eye screen as well.

I had a play in the carpark shootign a mates Black raised Jeep Wrangler.
And I can tell you ... ceiling mounted flouro lights play havoc with green bars ... I'd say it is just the construction of the lens and how it flares/ghosts I'd say.

Let me upload some images and you will see what i mean.

It's a fun lens ... but it will take a bit of getting used to to master it.

Ghosting, huh? If the light sources are out of the (APS-C-cropped) frame but still within the field of view of the lens, a lens hood should help.

Here's the homemade hood I use with the K20D (ignore the ME super in the photograph):



It's made from a 2 inch flexible PVC pipe cap; the cutout is 52mm x 34mm.