Originally posted by serothis I got the Milvus 1,4/50. It's been living on my Nikon FE2 while I wait for the leitax kit. I haven't yet developed any of the film I shot with it but it's just incredibly satisfying to use. I'm having second thoughts about converting it.
I can sure relate to what you are saying about the Milvus 50/1.4 lens being "satisfying". Lately I've been buying Leica lenses and converting them for use on my Pentax K1's. Been considering buying the Leica 50/1.4 Summilux, but have yet to pull the trigger on purchasing one as I'm so very happy with my Zeiss Milvus 50/1.4.
Leitax conversions of Zeiss ZF lenses are really easy to re-convert back to their original Nikon mount. I've done such flip flopping on 3 or 4 lenses I'd Leitaxed and they work great after I've put their original Nikon mounts back on.
The Zeiss ZF 25/2 lens I mentioned reconverting in the above post, this lens was the .2 version with the electronic contacts in the mount. After I Leitaxed this lens to fit on my Pentax K1 I had lost all electronic connection between the lens and the camera. I could only change the aperture by turning the aperture ring on the lens. After I put the original Nikon .2 mount back on, I again had full electronic communication between the lens and my Nikon camera. In fact, I would lock the aperture ring on the lens to the smallest aperture, and then I'd change the aperture setting using the little adjustment wheel on the back of the Nikon camera.
I just had an idea! I wonder how hard it would be to take the electronic connection off of a Zeiss ZF .2 mount that you were Leitax converting, and attach that electrical contact piece to the Leitax mount so you could have full electrical connection between the converted Zeiss lens and the Pentax camera? Then it would pretty much have the same functionality as a Zeiss ZK lens. Maybe worth looking into more? Paging Dr Frankenstein...
Of course if you some day intend to sell any converted/reconverted Zeiss lens, you'll take a big hit in the selling price if you try to sell it to Nikon users (they don't like and/or believe that the partially ground down aperture ring does not in any way adversely affect the lens' performance when used on a Nikon camera). I did see on ebay the other day that a seller in Italy is selling new Zeiss aperture rings for about $80. I suppose that one could always buy a new aperture ring and toss the old ground down one if you intended to sell your lens back to a Nikon photographer.
Last edited by Fenwoodian; 02-13-2018 at 05:00 PM.