Zenit Lenses

Dingleberry88 · 9 Nov 2008 at 20:58

I was digging around in the loft earlier and found a 200mm f3.5 lens for a Zenit camera. Apparently there's a 400mm somewhere too, but I couldn't find it...

Are these lenses generally any good? My Dad said they cost £20 when he bought them a looong time ago.

What's the best adapter to get so I can fit them to my 450D? They just screw onto Zenits. I've Googled around and found an M42 adapter ring - is this all I need?

robertgilbert86 · 9 Nov 2008 at 21:33

Yep, I have a ZENIT with some lenses and the mount is M42 so it should work.

BUFF · 9 Nov 2008 at 23:07

Dingleberry88 said:
Are these lenses generally any good? My Dad said they cost £20 when he bought them a looong time ago.

depends upon what make/model they are exactly.
there are shedloads of M42 mount lenses & just like in the modern lens market some are superb & some are trash.

Dingleberry88 · 9 Nov 2008 at 23:17

Reading round the inside of the 200mm it says:

Greens London Automatic 1:3.5 f=200mm 62o No.710090

I think I've found what I need, but what's best: Aluminium or brass?

I was thinking brass...

balls · 10 Nov 2008 at 08:10

Brass looks shiney

Honestly doubt there is much more difference than that

riddlermarc · 10 Nov 2008 at 09:16

Did/does your Dad have a Zenit body too?

I used to have a Zenit:

Excellent cameras, had loads of fun cutting my photographic teeth on it

I wish I hadn't sold it now, had loads of lenses with it too..

Dingleberry88 · 10 Nov 2008 at 09:51

Yeah he had a Zenit-E and a Zenit-SomethingElse. M maybe? The E's not in very good condition though.

My sister uses an E quite a lot that I got from eBay for about £20 - fun little camera.

Edit: Went for the brass.

EYEREX · 10 Nov 2008 at 10:41

I have a Zenit TTL with a few lens which i'm going to take out for the day to get some photos to see if it still works

ShakenNstirred · 12 Nov 2008 at 05:01

EYEREX said:
I have a Zenit TTL with a few lens which i'm going to take out for the day to get some photos to see if it still works

used to have one of those, it was my first 35mm cam
boy do they make a noise when the shutter goes off lol

BusError · 12 Nov 2008 at 08:17

200mm f3.5 is it a 'preset' lens ? check the number of blades of the iris; you might be in luck

Thats my Pentax Takumar 200mm f3.5 from the 60s:

Works great, plenty sharp, and great, GREAT bokeh.

EYEREX · 12 Nov 2008 at 10:58

ShakenNstirred said:
used to have one of those, it was my first 35mm cam
boy do they make a noise when the shutter goes off lol

Same here it was my first camera which my dad gave me when i was about 10, it was like carrying a breeze block around at that age as it weighs a ton

Dingleberry88 · 12 Nov 2008 at 12:09

BusError said:
200mm f3.5 is it a 'preset' lens ? check the number of blades of the iris; you might be in luck

Preset lens?

domthecondom · 12 Nov 2008 at 13:10

i have a zenit at home my grandad used to do "photography" with its says MADE IN THE USSR :|

ShakenNstirred · 13 Nov 2008 at 08:21

domthecondom said:
i have a zenit at home my grandad used to do "photography" with its says MADE IN THE USSR :|

yeah, that because they were
i got mine new in 1980

Dingleberry88 · 23 Nov 2008 at 15:06

Well the adapter arrived in the week, but I haven't had chance to give it a go until today.

Ignore the EXIF - because of the adapter, the lens is picked up by the camera as a 50mm f2.0

Obviously autofocus doesn't work, but the camera does the little beep confirmation when it's in focus - seems slightly out though, it looks more in focus when I do it completely manually.

Anyway, a few quick snaps I took outside, all with a 450D:

1.

2.

3.

4.

And the lens itself:

It seems fairly sharp, but has a bit of purple and green fringing in shots 1 and 2. This could just be down to my shoddy camera skillz though...

Let me know if anyone wants to see a 100% crop of anything in particular.

Overall I'm pretty pleased with it, considering it only cost me the price of the adapter.

Now I just need to dig out the 400mm.