[pentagor]

Hi guys!

I'm looking for some old wide angle manual lenses and I bumped into this one:

BEROLINA 12mm F/8 Fish-Eyelens:



Does any of you know something about it? It is a little slow but for outside photography it should be enough. Price: 280 US$ shipped.

[christinelandon]

Have a look here: The Strange Case of the 12mm Fisheye

There were a few other Google hits; one talking about repairing this lens, and one of a Montreal photog's pictures using his. Fire up that search engine!

[cmholm]

I recently eBayed a Spiratone-branded 12mm that was advertised as a Nikon mount, for which I was willing to pick up a Nikkormat body if need be. As it turned out, it's a screw mount, without any of the T-mount adaptors mentioned on "The Strange Case..." page. I already have a Bower M42-Minolta adapter, which the lens seems compatible with (ie. it doesn't cross thread as if I were attaching a T2 to an M42). Based on that, picked up an old Spotmatic... and the lens doesn't even begin to connect with the Pentax body's threads. It didn't cost much to get to this point, but I wonder: what next?

[cmholm]

Short answer: it is a T2. Since I want to take the Spotmatic for a spin, I ordered a T2/M42 adapter, $8 on the bay. It may turn out that the mirror doesn't clear the rear element of the lens, in which case I'll need to spring for a T2/Minolta adapter for my SRT 101, which has mirror lock up.

[cmholm]

With the T2/M42 adapter, there turns out to be enough clearance for the mirror on the Spotmatic. Looking through the viewfinder, there *seems* to be focus at infinity, but I'll have to run through a roll to be sure.