[Tas]

Here's a few hand held shots I quickly took when the light was fading with the Leitax converted Zeiss ZF 21mm lens on my K1. Because of lack of full electronic communication between the lens and the camera I have no way of knowing what the aperture was on any of these photos.

Kudos on a job well done mate, I hope there'll be more Pentaxians prepared to try the Zeiss glass again now that the Leitax adaptor is available and working fine.

I'm looking at adapting the 2/135 so I'll be interested in seeing how that goes once you finally get to that one.

Good luck with the 28 and don't forget to post some pics as you get each lens modified.

Tas

[Fenwoodian]

Here's two images from the same photo. The first is full sized. The second a 100% crop. Again, hand held quick grab, but it shows to me that the Leitax adapter clearly allows for good detail at infinity.

[Fenwoodian]

I just discovered that I don't have to shoot manual (M) mode with "Green Button" when using a Leitax modified Zeiss ZF lens on a Pentax K1 camera!

While I was fooling around today with the Zeiss ZF 21mm f/2.8 Distagon lens that I modified yesterday on my Pentax K1 camera I discovered another way to shoot this lens.

First, put the K1 in the "Av" capture mode. The front and rear "e-dials" will have no impact on the exposure. However, if you manually move the aperture ring, the shutter speed will automatically adjust to the proper shutter speed! ALSO, set the "function wheel" of your K1 to "+/-". Now you can use the "setting dial" to adjust the exposure! I believe that in the future I'll likely shoot with this method over the M capture mode + Green Button method.

[Tas]

I just discovered that I don't have to shoot manual (M) mode with "Green Button" when using a Leitax modified Zeiss ZF lens on a Pentax K1 camera!

While I was fooling around today with the Zeiss ZF 21mm f/2.8 Distagon lens that I modified yesterday on my Pentax K1 camera I discovered another way to shoot this lens.

First, put the K1 in the "Av" capture mode. The front and rear "e-dials" will have no impact on the exposure. However, if you manually move the aperture ring, the shutter speed will automatically adjust to the proper shutter speed! ALSO, set the "function wheel" of your K1 to "+/-". Now you can use the "setting dial" to adjust the exposure! I believe that in the future I'll likely shoot with this method over the M capture mode + Green Button method.

That's sounds a lot more flexible that the Manual approach with green button. I recall using my M28 in AV mode but it's been years since I had that lens that the details of how it worked on my K10D escape me.

Still, there was no third dial and I think that will speed the process as you described for EV adjustments. These adapted lenses are looking a better option already.

Tas

[Fenwoodian]

Shot my ZF 21mm lens on the full frame K1 today.

Wanted to see how a polarizing filter did on a super wide angle lens on a full frame camera.

Years ago I remember reading a blog article written by a photography expert in Norway. He said that he never uses a polarizing filter on a full frame camera with a wide angle lens that is wider than 28mm.

Tonight's test resulted in the polarizer only darkening a portion of the sky. The effect looked very ugly to me. I did not care for the polarizing effect on only a portion of the frame. Therefore, I don't believe that I will use a polarizing filter on my 21mm lens on my full frame K1 in the future.

Next week I'll have my Zeiss ZF 28mm f/2 lens converted. I will try a polarizer on it and see how I like it.

[Fenwoodian]

Here's another tip...

I tried 4 or 5 different grades of sandpaper for sanding down the Zeiss ZF aperture rings. The sandpaper that worked the best was "fine-150 grit".

[Fenwoodian]

Just finished my second conversion.

This one was a Zeiss ZF 28mm f/2. It's the old version without the electronic communications to the camera, therefore I did not have an "aperture lock" to remove AND it did not have the 3 tiny washers under the Zeiss mount that the newer ZF 21mm f/2.8 lens had.

To my surprise this one was completed in only about an hour, if I was not so slow/careful/clean I bet I could have done it in about 40 minutes.

I sanded this one down .23mm. I'm getting better at sanding down exactly how much I want to take off now.

Just like the Zeiss ZF 21mm f/2.8, when I mounted this lens on my K1 it fit PERFECTLY and NICE AND SNUG. Love those Leitax mounts - certainly premium quality!!

Just shot a few test photos outside, and they turned out great, even at infinity.

I have no further plans to convert any other Zeiss ZF lenses. I do hope that the experiences that I've shared here will help you to do your Leitax conversion. Just take your time, and I fully expect that you'll achieve the same great results that I did.

Dave in Wisconsin USA

P.S. I did NOT loose the aperture bearing this time.

[Rich M]

Zeiss 21mm f/2.8 ZK Distagon T*

[Tas]

So now I know of two others shooting the 21 on Pentax, hopefully there's a few more floating around too.

Some nice images from you there Rich, and I look forward to seeing some more adapted ZF images soon. Glad to hear you didn't lose the ball bearing on the second attempt BTW.

A 6 second exposure at dusk with the 21.

[NZ_Ross]

A 6 second exposure at dusk with the 21.

Very nice image Tas, thanks for sharing it

[Fenwoodian]

Taz and Rich M, great images! You guys really have mastered the 21mm field of view. This is the widest lens I've had and I'll need lots of experience with it before I'm able to create artistic compositions like you guys.

By the way, I just received an email from David at Leitax in Spain. He said that from now on, he will be including an "extra aperture ball bearing" with every Zeiss ZF to Pentax K Leitax adapter that they sell.

This is good news.

I have been so impressed with Leitax. Not only with their high quality and well designed adapters, but also because they respond to their customer emails promptly. I wish that all photo equipment vendors were as customer focused as Leitax is!

From my experience, Zeiss USA, Pentax USA, and Precision Camera could learn much from Leitax as far as customer service goes.

[Tas]

Taz and Rich M, great images! You guys really have mastered the 21mm field of view. This is the widest lens I've had and I'll need lots of experience with it before I'm able to create artistic compositions like you guys.

By the way, I just received an email from David at Leitax in Spain. He said that from now on, he will be including an "extra aperture ball bearing" with every Zeiss ZF to Pentax K Leitax adapter that they sell.

This is good news.

I have been so impressed with Leitax. Not only with their high quality and well designed adapters, but also because they respond to their customer emails promptly. I wish that all photo equipment vendors were as customer focused as Leitax is!

From my experience, Zeiss USA and Precision Camera could learn much from Leitax as far as customer service goes. I have usually been disappointed from my contacts with Zeiss USA and Precision Camera customer service personel!

Cheers for the positive feedback.

I find that wide angles are very easy to do compositions for. There has to be strong foreground or a subject matter that really draws the eye if you're talking an infinity subject. And I say easy as when you get home to a big screen with the expansive view suddenly it is all too obvious if the composition isn't strong enough. This is why I try to get as close to my foreground subject as possible and get the the framing of the background in to support that subject. For example, I shot a heap of variations of this image and finally settled on the below as the foreground seemed the most balanced of all the options I captured.



Well that's just my experience with wide angles anyway, and you've got a great lens to work with now and I look forward to seeing what you capture with it too.

A nod must go to you for the role you played in helping Leitax with the ZF to ZK bracket option and I hope that we can get a few more Zeiss fans into the mix for their work and the customer focus they've demonstrated to you.

Now must save some money for the 2/135 and adapter.

Tas

[Fenwoodian]

Cheers for the positive feedback.

I find that wide angles are very easy to do compositions for. There has to be strong foreground or a subject matter that really draws the eye if you're talking an infinity subject. And I say easy as when you get home to a big screen with the expansive view suddenly it is all too obvious if the composition isn't strong enough. This is why I try to get as close to my foreground subject as possible and get the the framing of the background in to support that subject. For example, I shot a heap of variations of this image and finally settled on the below as the foreground seemed the most balanced of all the options I captured.



Well that's just my experience with wide angles anyway, and you've got a great lens to work with now and I look forward to seeing what you capture with it too.

A nod must go to you for the role you played in helping Leitax with the ZF to ZK bracket option and I hope that we can get a few more Zeiss fans into the mix for their work and the customer focus they've demonstrated to you.

Now must save some money for the 2/135 and adapter.

Tas

Tas, thanks so much for the great lesson on how to shoot ultra-wides. Can't wait to try it out.

I too lust after the Zeiss 135mm. The cheapest I've seen used Zeiss ZF 135mm lenses is around $1600 USD. That's a bit too pricey for this guy. So, I'm instead considering a Zeiss ZF 100mm. It is rated well (see - LenScore ) and costs only about 2/3rds what the 135mm would cost.

[mwilky55]

Feeling pretty good to have converted a Contax Zeiss 50 mm to K-mount today.

I have no idea if I did it correctly - at the end, I had some parts left from the original mount - but it works fine....aperture works, focus works, green button metering works....and the image quality is very good.

I was thinking of trying a 135, but I think I'll save my nerves and a couple hundred dollars and get a K135 instead

[HopelessTogger]

Feeling pretty good to have converted a Contax Zeiss 50 mm to K-mount today.

I have no idea if I did it correctly - at the end, I had some parts left from the original mount - but it works fine....aperture works, focus works, green button metering works....and the image quality is very good.

I was thinking of trying a 135, but I think I'll save my nerves and a couple hundred dollars and get a K135 instead

You can always get a lens/camera engineer to do the conversion for you, which would be my choice.

---------- Post added 07-09-16 at 07:09 PM ----------

**ZK ALERT**

Check PF Marketplace. There's a chap selling his Distagon 2/35 ZK, Planar 1.4/85 ZK and . . . rare as hens teeth . . . Macro-Planar 2/50 ZK!!!

If the £ wasn't totally down the bog I'd be up for the Macro-Planar.