Originally posted by mikem @nanok I checked out your samples. Nature is very forgiving with distortion! You could have fooled me with the un-defished shot and I wouldn't have guessed it came from a fisheye.
it fooled me too. that's what i mean when i say you will not always need to defish. usually a horizon, trees, etc in the frame will mean you need to defish
Quote: I've read some bad things about the sharpness of the zenitar (Ken Rockwell). In other places some users mentioned disassembling the focus ring to adjust the focus which greatly improved sharpness at larger apertures. What's your experience been?
ken rockwell: honestly, and with no disrespect to the man: who cares?
i have read about focus adjusting too, i have not had this issue. some people say this is just a qc issue (and it is a simple operation to do), it is also said to be rare lately. the issue mentioned is usually related to infinity focus. also worth noting is that some people seem to forget that the clear rear filter is part of the optical design somehow, the lens will behave strange with no filter.
Quote: Will the K10D meter with the zenitar? Do you have to shoot in manual or can you shoot in Av and just set the camera and lens to the same aperture?
yes, pentax cameras will meter with anything actually (including no lens
), as they should. the metering is not accurate though, just as with any smc-m (stopped down metering, has been discussed here)
av is possible, but only if removing the aperture lever (very simple to do), it will mean the lens is stopped down all the time, which i do not like much. it is basically an smc-m (or pentax-k) compatible lens, so "non-A"
Quote: @ryno Oooh that sounds very cool. Fisheye zoom with filter option could let me have my cake and eat it too.
This sub - $200 zenitar is sounding very tempting. It would leave me with a lot less guilt =]. The manual operation wouldn't be so bad; I wouldn't be using it for anything that's moving. I know I'm somewhat dissatisified with my 50mm f/1.7 A since b/c of the focusing issue. But that lens has razor thin dof and I'm trying to shoot people.
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shooting people with the zenitar is not so hard really (however i almost never do, i am not too much into portraits, let alone wideangle ones
).
btw, if that nifty fifty makes you unhappy, no need to torment yourself, swing it over my way
seriously, the zenitar is tempting, but it's good to understand the pitfalls too before going for it. i love the little russian, but i understand it is surely not for everybody. a good thing about it, otoh, is that being so cheap it tends to keep it's price quite well.
ps: the zenitar has "MADE IN RUSSIA" boldly written on it. how cool is that :-D