Zeiss film lens fit to Canon 5d HELP!

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lemonlegs

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Hey there,

I've just got my new 5d mark ii, at the moment i'm lensless and a friend tells me that Zeiss film lenses work beautifully with adaptor. Question is, which film lenses do you like (fashion portraiture) and what is the name of the adaptor I need?

Many thanks

xx
 
Zeiss made lenses for various mounts so you'll need to sort out the lens first and then get the appropriate adapter to suite.

Bob
 
Zeiss lenses from the yesteryears come in many flavours, but the one you will be interested in is the M42 mount. This is the mount that both praktica and pentax popularised, so you will find that there are a LOT of lenses that will be compatible with the adapter for this mount. I occasionally use a Jena 50mm with my 5DII with this same setup, and get some great results.

So you need an M42 to EF mount adapter, and any lenses to fit really! Besides the Zeiss lenses take a look at the Asahi Pentax Takumars, as they are rather good for relatively little amounts of cash, certainly low enough to play about with in any case!
 
I now spend more time with old manual focus lenses on my 5DII and 1DII than I do with auto focus L lenses.
Which mode do you shoot in now? You'll need to go to Tv or full manual which is not as scary as you might think. Oh yes, go to live view for clear focussing as well.
When you get your new lens examine how far backwards the rear element moves when you're winding it through its focal range: if it projects more than a little behind the mount it may actually touch the mirror in your body.
And you've found mflenses forum: good.

Just to whet your appetite these are with a Zeiss 135mm lens on my 5DII:

JS6O7807.jpg


JS6O7778.jpg
 
Get one of these for starters. It is M42 fit and will fit on your Canon using an M42-EOS adapter.

I bought this one for £8 including a camera from a charity shop, but there are plenty on eBay, just make sure the aperture blades are operating smoothly. The first one I bought off eBay had sticking blades and had to be returned, no problem, just hassle.


IMG_5779.jpg A S P by killwilly, on Flickr
 
Thank you so much your advice is greatly appreciated! I shoot on manual, am self taught so I know very little about the tech (but good on photoshop which has saved me somewhat). I notice such a difference between the digi new fangled lenses and the old and am determined to learn what i'm doing with manual lenses because I think the effects are so beautiful. I love the images - beautiful little girl, very broody now! : ) I just love the colours so much with the old lenses.

If anyone sees any ebay links they think are worth my investment, feel free to send my way! I never really trust my own judgement with buying equipment!
 
Today I bought a zeiss 2.8/50mm Jena! I'm really enjoying it, apart from my concern with the little pin at the back, does anyone have any advice about how to keep it in/down? I hope it hasn't damaged anything as I used it thinking it was firmly in place (not popping up). Here are my results:
 
The adapter should push the pin in anyway, on a Canon. If not, switch to the M (manual setting) which will keep the pin in (unless you have a zebra version without the switch).

The Carl Zeiss Jena 135/3.5 is an even better lens, as is the Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 50/1.8, but of course they are more expensive! The Tessar is a good place to start :)
 
The adaptor doesn't hide it unfortunately : ( and the man put it on manual when I bought it and said it should stay and it felt firmly in place but it's now popping up and down loosely. It doesn't seem to want to stick. I'd take a pic but my pics aren't uploading for some reason. It's a silver adaptor and the pin is within the ring/hole area.

Ooh thank you, i'll take a look at these also. How much are we looking at?

I put the images on flickr if anyone wants to take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/65668895@N03/
 
The pin shouldn't cause a problem. You could always glue it in if you are worried.

The 135/3.5 can be grabbed for about £50.00. It's a hell of a lens. The 50/1.8 is usually a bit more. Personally, I would rather spend a little bit more and get a Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50/1.7 for that money (although you would need a Contax/Yashica adapter for it and it looks like you've already forked out for an M42 adapter).
 
If you get an adapter with a flange, the pin will automatically depress when the lens and adapter are screwed together. No need to mess around with superglue etc.:)

PS. My latest addition, a Helios 44m-4 doesn't have a manual/auto switch, which means the pin is always spring loaded, but the flanged adapter still depresses the pin and it works fine.

Just doing comparison tests at the moment between the Zeiss and the Helios, the results should prove interesting.
 
Last edited:
killwilly said:
If you get an adapter with a flange, the pin will automatically depress when the lens and adapter are screwed together. No need to mess around with superglue etc.:)

PS. My latest addition, a Helios 44m-4 doesn't have a manual/auto switch, which means the pin is always spring loaded, but the flanged adapter still depresses the pin and it works fine.

Just doing comparison tests at the moment between the Zeiss and the Helios, the results should prove interesting.
Click to expand...

I have a Zeiss 135 3.5 Sonnar (the early "Zebra" type), and I can tell you that the pin does not depress when attached to the adaptor, because the pin is mounted on the screw bit of the lens, not the outer flange, which is in contact with the adaptor.
I have the Helios, and the pin is mounted on the outer flange.
 
Most "EOS" to M42 flanged adapters will depress the pin. The OP has an EOS camera and should therefore be OK. It is worth checking that the adapter/lens doesn't foul the mirror, which it does on some 5D cameras.:)
 
I have a pentax smc 50mm f1.7 sand its probably my sharpest lens. I also have a hoya 200mm f3.5 and its probably my softest lens. So although there are some great lens out there, there are also some duds.

Have fun with them as a lot are cheap as chips!
 
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