Zenitar 16mm/2.8 on the G1

[petermcwerner]

All pictures developed in Raw Therapee, resized with Gimp
Lens covers full sensor : Yes
Vignetting: No
Smearing: No

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Lancia Astura coupé PininFarina, ca. 1938, parked today in our village square


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My Lancia K coupé, archive photo, just for comparison



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In the background, the Swiss Alps


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Old Wine Press
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[Jonas]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the Zenitar 16FE samples (and all the other samples you have posted).

I used the Zenitar 16mm fish-eye a lot when I had a Pentax DS (a 1.5 crop camera). It gave a really wide view of the world and worked as a semi semi fisheye as the crop never allowed those 180 degrees diagonally as the lens is made for on FF.

I have tried it on the E-510 but never bothered with it on the G1 (same sensor size) as I found the kit lens to be wider at 14mm. Most Zenitars aren't sharp until stopped down. I recall the consensus at a Pentax forum to be "stop it down to f/5.6, it is soft wide open".

Do you see any real use for the lens on the G1? kindest, /Jonas

 

[petermcwerner]

Do you see any real use for the lens on the G1?

Thank you for your comments, Jonas. At least mine is quite sharp fully open. Add some software sharpening in postprocessing and it will shine. QC was and is not the strong point of Russian (in this case Ukrainian) industry, there might be relevant differences from one lens to another.

I like the lens a lot on the G1. With the kit lens it is not easy to set the plane of sharpness where you want it. With a manual lens such as the Zenitar you can focus on what you want to be sharp and have the background or foreground out of focus ("bokeh") by playing with the aperture. See for instance the fourth and fifth picture of my series.

While bigger than a c-mount lens of the same focal length, it is not very heavy and easily portable; it covers the full sensor area without vignetting or smearing.

On the G1 the outer region with the typical fish-eye effect does not reach the sensor and it behaves very much like a normal wide angle; the barrel distortion that would be distracting on FF 35mm is seldom disturbing on 4/3rd.

Kind regards
Peter

 

[petermcwerner]

Some more Zenitar examples, Lake Geneva with the Swiss Alps in the background. On the last picture you can see some barrel distortion in the window frame.

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[Michiel Schierbeek]

Hello Peter,
I am sort of new on this forum. I was (am) interested in this lens and it is good to see it does behave like a regular wide angle. Thanks for the examples.
I have two russian lenses a Volna-3 Pentacon mount lens (it is short and big)and a Industar 61 50 mm 2.8.
The Volna is in the old Pentacon mount, I have to order an adaspter at Arax and the Industar is still with a friend in Hungary. :angry: So I'll have to be patient.
The Industar seems to be good for macro too and has star shaped aperture blades for special bokeh.
You probably know all this with your great interest in legacy lenses. :lecture:
Kind regards, Michiel

 

[petermcwerner]

Hello Peter,
I am sort of new on this forum. I was (am) interested in this lens and it is good to see it does behave like a regular wide angle. Thanks for the examples.
I have two russian lenses a Volna-3 Pentacon mount lens (it is short and big)and a Industar 61 50 mm 2.8.
The Volna is in the old Pentacon mount, I have to order an adaspter at Arax and the Industar is still with a friend in Hungary. :angry: So I'll have to be patient.
The Industar seems to be good for macro too and has star shaped aperture blades for special bokeh.
You probably know all this with your great interest in legacy lenses. :lecture:

Michiel,

I did not know at all the Volna 3, I saw it is a medium format lens. The Industar is probably better on the G1 than on a Leica (or did you use it on a Fed or Zorki)?

Kind regards,
Peter

 

[Michiel Schierbeek]

Peter,

Yes the volna-3 is a 85 mm lens and will grtow rather big with all the adapters on the G1.
It will fit better on the E-3 and I am goiing to test it for portraits. I red good things about it. It only costed € 30.
I just bought the industar on a Hungarian auction site and my Hungarian friend is goiing to take it to me when she comes back. I can't read Hungarian.
It has a M42 mount for Zenit cameras, I think.

Kind regards, Michiel