[serothis]

On impulse I put in a bid on a Milvus 1.4/50. I lost the initial auction but something happened with the winner and I got a message from ebay about a second chance purchase at my final bid ($600). Since the auction end I've kind of cooled to the potential purchase but this kind of caught me off guard.

@fenwoodian How much more difficult is converting the milvus line to a k mount compared to the classic? I've already converted a 2.8/21 and the 2/135. I found both simple enough to convert. And of course it was much quicker the second time around.

Anyone have any thoughts or opinions? I have until tomorrow at 11am to decide.

EDIT: I pulled the trigger. I figure worst case scenario, I can turn around and sell it.

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Last edited by serothis; 01-22-2018 at 12:46 PM.

[ranchy]

Zeiss 28/2.

Been awhile i have time for photography.

[les3547]

Strange evening light in the vineyard. K-1/ Zeiss 21mm lens:

[Fenwoodian]

.
I envy the nice warm weather you guys in California, and lands down under are experiencing this time of time of year. Seems like the only times I make it outside these days in northern Wisconsin is to shovel snow off of my driveway or roof.


Anyway, I've got a Zeiss ZF 25mm f/2 Distagon lens that I converted a while back for use on my full frame Pentax K1 camera. It worked well on my K1, but these days I'm not shooting anything wider than 35mm.


So, I reconverted the lens back to Nikon mount and tried it out today on my APS-C crop-frame, dedicated-infrared Fuji S3 Pro camera. Below is a representative photo that it produced. While I know this is a Pentax forum, I thought I'd post this Fuji IR image just to show you that this Zeiss lens at f/11 is very sharp and has no IR hotspots when shot at f/11 (I also shot a few at f/13, f/16, and f/22 and also found no hot spots at all at these apertures either).




If you are into IR and like the 25mm focal length, you don't have to buy Lloyd Chamber's Zeiss ZF 25/2.8 IR lens that he's currently selling on his website for $3,500. Another option for you to consider might be getting the much less expensive Zeiss ZF 25/2 Distagon lens and converting it to K mount with a Leitax adapter!

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Last edited by Fenwoodian; 02-10-2018 at 10:46 PM.

[Tas]

I envy the nice warm weather you guys in California, and lands down under are experiencing this time of time of year. Seems like the only times I make it outside these days in northern Wisconsin is to shovel snow off of my driveway or roof.

I hear you Dave, though since yesterday where I live has been in a heatwave. Today and tomorrow are forecast to be 97F. About twenty minutes west of my place is expecting around 102F, though we're comparatively luck as it will hit close to 115F in central QLD. In weather like this I tend to stay where it's cooler, so in a way we have the same problem; the weather's not playing for us.

I followed your Flickr link to check out your image as there's none in your post. This is a brilliant lens and the capture shows just how good that lens is. I know it's better in many ways than my 25/2.8 which tends to produce a completely different look. I don't think I'd get the level of detail you've captured here either. Maybe one day I can pick one up too.

Tas

[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.

[Fenwoodian]

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.

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Last edited by Fenwoodian; 02-13-2018 at 05:00 PM.

[Gedeon]

zeiss zk 18mm f3.5 :

[Fenwoodian]

zeiss zk 18mm f3.5 :

The lovely green color of the foreground plants is echoed in the cats' eyes. Nice!

[Gedeon]

Thanks you Dave

....with the same 18mm, f8 :
Cezanne hills, somewhere in Provence

[Tas]

Good to see some new posts here, and I must say I'm liking that 18mm FoV. The portrait in nature over the water feature looks really cool.

I recently posted two images to Flickr taken of the same activity, one image using the Pentax HD D-FA* 70-200mm f2.8 and the Zeiss Makro Planar 2/50. Both were shot wide open, the image from the zoom was captured at 200mm. It's interesting to compare the two as I think the 70-200 is probably the best zoom made by Pentax, and as anyone who knows Zeiss will be aware that the Makro Planar is a very good lens. It is however interesting to see how the Zeiss compares in colour, bokeh and how the shorter focal length creates more of a 3D pop at f2 compared to the longer lens. If you want to check for yourself click on the image below, then press 'L' then F11 to get you the larger image on the black full screen view. The image captured with the zoom is the previous image to this one. I don't think either lens has performed poorly, just different but I'd appreciate some feedback on which style of rendering you prefer.



Oh, I forgot to mention that PP was done in On1 and basically matched between the two images. There's a push of vibrance in both, to '8', with WB set to 'Daylight' setting (5500k, Tint +10 to magenta). Other than that I set the black/white points, raised the shadows a little brought down the highlights. PP was finished with a masked curve to ensure the subjects were lighter than the horrible background and the same light sharpening applied to the subjects only.

Tas

[skyer]

...as anyone who knows Zeiss will be aware that the Makro Planar is a very good lens...

To me, it's not just a very good lens)) It's one of the best 35mm lenses ever made!

[Root--]

Some examples of photos made with K-3 and Carl Zeiss Macro-Planar 50 f2 from my last trip to Zacatlan, Mexico

[Tas]

Good to see a few more images captured with the Makro Planar 2/50, hope to see more soon.

I've not been out much of late, so this is from about 5 years ago, it's captured with the K5 and the Makro Planar 2/100.



Tas

[Fenwoodian]

.
Tas, a real 3d depth to your fisherman photo. Nice!