Originally posted by troyz Steve:
Very nice (especially the second image).
I just took delivery of a used Zenitar K; it's usably sharp in the center at f/4.0, not bad at the edges at f/5.6). I guess I should keep it!
My copy of the Zenitar also makes a noise when I rotate the focus ring. What did you find out about this?
Thanks for the compliments on the pics. The second shot was done at the top of a waterfall that I had photographed before. Unfortunately, the water was unseasonably high and I was unable to get some of the angles I was hoping for. I had several other similar shots that were taken with the kit lens. Both lenses were set at either f/8 or f/11 and I can tell you with no reservations...the Zenitar blew the kit away.
As an aside, I discovered a fine point of technique (not related to fisheye lenses) when doing those shots. If there is motion within the frame, you might want to turn the shake-reduction off. I guess I knew this, but did not think that it might apply to pictures with large areas of moving, splashing water. The shake reduction attempts to track the water and blurs the rocks instead!
Now, back to the Zenitar and the noise thing...
What I found about the noise is that it only did it when the lens was not mounted on the camera. So, I thought, what is different when the lens is mounted? Why, of course, the aperture lever is depressed to open the lens up! So I manually flipped the lever and rotated the focus and...ta da!...no noise.
Apparently there is some sort of spring-tensioned follower mechanism as part of the aperture coupler that makes noise if the aperture coupler is not in the full open position and the inner workings move back and forth to focus. I think what I was hearing was a small spring or a spring-loaded joint. What ever the actual cause, the noisemaker should probably not be an issue in normal use. Big sigh of relief. Now I can just simply take pictures and not worry about shipping another lens back to Moscow.
Steve