| Showing all 4 reviews by 5r82 | |
| Review of: Tamron Adaptall-2 (01B) 24mm F2.5 by 5r82 on Mon December 27, 2021 | Rating: 8 | View more reviews | |
Views: 100634
Reviews: 21
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This is a nice lens, although I probably overpaid it since I don't use it so much. I bought it to complement my Flektogon 20mm f2.8 since Tamron has better starburst, 10 rays instead of 6. It has very usable 24mm for everyday use and I like its colors. Lens is all metal with nice rubber focusing ring. This looks like a multicoated lens. My lens is in good condition visually as well as internally. Almost in mint condition. This lens has competition in my arsenal of vintage lenses as it has to beat Flektogon 20mm f2.8 and Pentax M 28mm f2.8, however it succeeds in that in following scenarios: when I am inside and need to photograph group of people - 20mm is too wide and creates some weird angles and 28mm isn't that wide, 24mm is perfect. Then, it wins as a landscape lens when I need to show starburst. You can't have it all I guess. This lens has some nice tones when photographing people faces.
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| Review of: KMZ Zenitar-M 50mm F1.7 by 5r82 on Sun December 26, 2021 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 92282
Reviews: 10
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Great lens although I think I overpaid it considering that I have several 50mm already including FA 50 f1.4 and SMC K 50 f1.2. What can this lens do differently than the above mentioned 50s from Pentax? Well, it is sharp, very sharp wide open at f1.7 and it has great colors. Bokeh seems great too. Build quality is the same as Helios 44m-4 series although Zenitar has narrower focusing ring which is worse than Helios because rings are stiff in both cases. It's not a problem unless fingers are frozen or wet. I'd say build quality is very good and my sample is in mint condition. This lens is Russian version of pre-WW2 Ultron design. This lens is equally sharp across the frame, not like Helios which is sharp in the middle wide open, hence it's easier to frame your subject off-center. Lens has some problems when shooting towards the sun and in such cases it will lose contrast. It is something which can be a problem. But knowing your lens is a recipe for good results.
       
Bokeh comparison between Pentax M 50mm f1.7 and Zenitar:
Pentax
Zenitar
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| Review of: Carl Zeiss Flektogon MC 35mm F2.4 by 5r82 on Sun December 26, 2021 | Rating: 9 | View more reviews | |
Views: 184421
Reviews: 18
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I would give it 10 if not for little bit stiff focusing ring which can easily unscrew it from M42 Pentax adapter. However, I sorted that by applying some gaffers tape at the lens mount. Colors are really nice and it's a sharp lens with juicy bokeh. Very close focusing of some 19cm. I plan to use it as a general purpose and flower lens. I am not a big fan of 35mm and this is my first 35mm. Bought it just because I wanted one in my collection. For my style of shooting the lens is not wide enough because I am a big fan of 20 and 24mm lenses for landscape and it's not that suitable for portraits. However, it's a nice walkaround lens that can do almost everything from macro, to landscape and portraits in one package. Regarding build quality, it's ok and more on the excellent side. It's rather small diameter lens of 49mm only but extends pretty long because of it's macro capability. Is it worth it's premium price? Well, there are some equally good 35mm lenses which are cheaper but this is Carl Zeiss in some way and it will hold value good. I missed buying 35mm f2 Pentax SMC A when I had a chance which was cheaper but I was not impressed how it performed wide open. This one seems better wide open, although we are comparing f2 and f2.4. Also, the close focusing is an additional benefit.
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| Review of: Carl Zeiss Flektogon MC 20mm F2.8 by 5r82 on Tue January 22, 2019 | Rating: 10 | View more reviews | |
Views: 69338
Reviews: 6
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I had actually been gifted this lens for 20$. I don't know what the reason was. It had fungus behind front glass and glass was not in pristine condition to say frankly. From the outside it was intact. Besides not having a hood and lens caps it was pretty ok. The wide focal length that I wanted for some time for K-1 but just could not find a suitable lens.
It is M42 and by using standard M42 to K-mount adapters you will not be able to fix it in a position on camera as it will always rotate a little bit while focusing. Some M42 lenses are totally fine as when they are screwed into the camera body they will firmly press onto the mount at the body and stay firm. I noticed issues with Pentacon lenses and this Carl Zeiss Jena is not much different. So, I had to drill a small hole at the mount of this lens to accommodate locking pin from the camera body when the lens is fully screwed in. No more wobbling if this is done precisely which I did. The lens becomes locked onto the body like any other Pentax K-mount lens. That works great now.
Initially lens had to be cleaned from fungus which now makes it fungus free, for how long I don't know. It was not that serious as the front glass element can be removed easily. Focus adjustment for this lens has to be done when front lens group is removed in which case you can't use live view to adjust focus. Using live view is possible on some Pentax lenses as the focus ring can be rotated to required position by removing couple of screws beneath front name plate while lens is on the camera and focusing to infinity objects. Mine is still not adjusted in a way I want, i.e. so that infinity mark on the lens corresponds to real infinity. This is extremely hard to get with this lens. So probably you will have to live with some other number as infinity on the infinity mark scale. Infinity can be identified during maximum magnification in live view.
The lens gives accurate colors. It is pretty sharp in the center when stopped down to f8 and gets sharper in the corners when stopped to f11 and f16. That is good for landscape applications. At f2.8 it is not usable wide open for objects further than a meter, from the lens but at f2.8 is very good for close-up things. It can get as close as 19 centimeters as per specification but I've see it's less than 10 centimeters. This is great for close-up shots of flowers and similar objects in which case it gives pretty good bokeh.
This lens is a real chromatic aberration magnet. From purple fringing to others even when stopped down. Especially it doesn't like shooting to the harsh sun. Terrible flares. But shooting sunsets is not a problems as the sun gets weaker. Someone shooting Pentax glass is easily spoiled and when trying another brand you see how good Pentax is when handling flares. I have to admit my crew in lens hood still did not arrive though.
Distortions exist, but they can be corrected with minimal loss of quality and pixels. There is Photoshop lens profile that works. Also, chromatic aberrations are successfully removed by one click in PS Camera Raw. So that is fine.
On eBay this lens reaches very high prices. Really I don't know why. Modern lenses are sharper and free of silly chromatic aberrations. Guess this is due to Zeiss name on it, it's small size, mechanical quality, buttery smooth focusing ring, beautify craftsmanship of the past, and due to the fact that wide lenses are rare to some extent compared to other focal lengths.
I would recommend this lens if you can get it for good price and are ready to modify it if you're on Pentax. You will have to drill a hole to lock it otherwise it will rotate. I'd suggest some modern glass in case you're ready to pay several hundred dollars for an old lens. The problem is that for full frame Pentax there is no modern wide angle primes. You're left with amazingly big 15-30mm f2.8 whereas slower zooms are not available except hard to find legacy Sigmas and Tamrons. Also, there are Pentax equivalents in 20mm who fetch similar or if not greater prices on eBay but could be better from this Zeiss as well. I guess buying these lenses directly on eBay is not the best option as the prices get inflated by reselling these items by people who actually not use the glass. So, some auctions elsewhere are preferred.
EDIT: After using this lens for one year already, I discovered that the rear elements are not pretty clear as there were some nudges from aperture blades oil. After opening this lens and cleaning the oil, I have also cleaned the elements on the rear from something that looked like fungus. Not all is clear. Since I have put the lens together and re-tightened everything, I found that amazing this lens became sharp at f2.8 without veil or softening. Also, it lost chromatic aberrations. I concluded that perhaps besides oily and fungus infected glass which caused soft images, chromatic aberrations must have been caused by elements not being put together tightly enough. So, in the end I must adjust the score again and award higher mark to this lens - 9!
EDIT No.2: After using this lens to take photos of flowers and insects, I must say that this lens is beautiful flower lens. It never disappoints in a nice day at f2.8. So I must change my mark of it to 10.
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