Just wanted to update some of you, I've finally gotten all my Zeiss ZM wide angle lenses to work absolutely superb with my Sony A7Rii.
I realize the primary interest is performance on the Sony cameras... Could you comment on what, if any, improvements/changes you've seen in image quality on the M240?
I am planning to do some tests on this over Christmas break.
At the moment, I head to work when it's not very light yet, and get off work when it's dark (live in England) so don't have much opportunity to do tests just at the moment. However I have a day planned with the these modified Zeiss ZM lenses on both my Sony A7Rii, Leica M240 and a Leica M6 ( I want to test film also).
I will be testing overall sharpness, corner improvements, field curvature and bokeh. I'm really interested to see how this affects film, as I'll be using probably some Velvia 100 for testing. I will try to test flare also, but many days this time of year in England, one can not find where the sun is in the sky during the day due to overcast/ cloud conditions.
I will also take photos of the modified lenses, along with photos of where I removed the shins, so it's clear to everyone how to do this on there own ZM lenses if they wish.
I can't post photos directly on the forums yet, but will add them to my smugmug website in full resolution and provide a link for anyone to download and examine if they wish.
Apologies I'm unable to do this sooner due to work commitments and little children at home.😓
The link you provided of the Optisigma lens is the same one I'm using, in 50mm diameter. If you do order, make sure you get the multicoated version, there are multiple different coated version of this lens, some even uncoated.
My exact lens I ordered to mod the Zeiss 25mm ZM is:
SLB-50-1500PM
This is the multicoated version.
I can say it's a very good quality lens, and did not seem to induce any additional unwanted flare when mated to the Biogon.
Wow that's impressive. Looking forward to seeing if there is a price to pay at infinity or in the centre!
Were you focused in the centre for these images?
DavidBM wrote:
Wow that's impressive. Looking forward to seeing if there is a price to pay at infinity or in the centre!
Were you focused in the centre for these images?
I found an even weaker closeup lens in my collection (probably 2000mm) and got this result which is pretty impressive if you ask me: DSC09289 by Phillip Reeve Data, on Flickr
Still a very sloppy setup though.
The big issue is that even with my too thin adapter I can only focus up to 2m with the Minolta No 0 and 4m with the Tokina closeup lens and I don't feel comfortable messing with my CV 1.7/35's infinity calibration
The big issue is that even with my too thin adapter I can only focus up to 2m with the Minolta No 0 and 4m with the Tokina closeup lens and I don't feel comfortable messing with my CV 1.7/35's infinity calibration
Yep better to take an adapter to a machine shop and get it shortened a bit, or try it yourself with a cheap one. If it really works with no other costs then I'd think it worthwhile to get a decent adapter ground down and look for a weak closeup with great coatings to use this lens (this and the ZM distagon are both lenses I haven't thought worth getting for the price because of curvature issues on the A7 series, and funky mid to close distance bokeh on the distagon, wonderful though they both are in many ways)
DavidBM wrote:
Yep better to take an adapter to a machine shop and get it shortened a bit, or try it yourself with a cheap one. If it really works with no other costs then I'd think it worthwhile to get a decent adapter ground down and look for a weak closeup with great coatings to use this lens (this and the ZM distagon are both lenses I haven't thought worth getting for the price because of curvature issues on the A7 series, and funky mid to close distance bokeh on the distagon, wonderful though they both are in many ways)
Weak close up filters are rather rare birds as I had to find out.
But after I have seen Phillip's results I ordered a 49mm Minolta Close Up No.0 (~1m) and a Zeiss Ikon 67mm 2m, which I plan to test on the 35mm 1.4 ZM.
Alongside my VM-E close focus adapter I also have a shorter adapter, I will test on both what is possible.
BastianK wrote:
Weak close up filters are rather rare birds as I had to find out.
But after I have seen Phillip's results I ordered a 49mm Minolta Close Up No.0 (~1m) and a Zeiss Ikon 67mm 2m, which I plan to test on the 35mm 1.4 ZM.
Alongside my VM-E close focus adapter I also have a shorter adapter, I will test on both what is possible.
I also ordered a Minolta Close Up No.0 to test with the ZM 35 and my adapters. If it works at 2m, it should be big help.
Fred Miranda wrote:
I also ordered a Minolta Close Up No.0 to test with the ZM 35 and my adapters. If it works at 2m, it should be big help.
In case we see significant improvements we can start our hunt for the lousiest (= shortest) adapter
I also think 2m maximum focus distance might work for me.
No problem unscrewing the filter for work at infinity.
PS: I think we might see the Minolta Close Up No.0 prices skyrocket...
Would a tap do anything wit this? Maybe if you put it at mfd or halfway, rather than leaving it at infinite you could get focusing closer with the improved IQ?
The big issue is that even with my too thin adapter I can only focus up to 2m with the Minolta No 0 and 4m with the Tokina closeup lens and I don't feel comfortable messing with my CV 1.7/35's infinity calibration
I also found a rather cheap Leica close up lens which will than leave me with a choice of 0.5 / 0.75 / 0.94 diopter.
I hope they will all arrive by the weekend.
nehemiahphoto wrote:
Would a tap do anything wit this? Maybe if you put it at mfd or halfway, rather than leaving it at infinite you could get focusing closer with the improved IQ?
TAP at its shortest is normal infinity so it won't help. The adapter needs to be a touch shorter than that.
I have a Nikon n.0 close-up lens (0.7diopters=1.4mtr) that I bought specially for this purpose. As it didn't work very well with my A7II and a Biogon G28, I gave up and sold the Biogon. Therefore, the Nikon close-up is of no use to me now. Anybody who might be interested on it, please send me a PM for details.
This isn't a regular sale (I'm sending the item for free) so I hope that Fred won't put me on the black list for spamming.
artur5 wrote:
I have a Nikon n.0 close-up lens (0.7diopters=1.4mtr) that I bought specially for this purpose.
Thanks for pointing that one out to me!
Ordered one dirt cheap (probably cheaper than sending it from Andorra -> Germany) from eBay to add to my review staple.
Phillip also offered to send me his Tokina close up lens he used for the Ultron.
I did not yet manage to get the Minolta 72mm 0.43 dptr, on ebay it is only availabe in a set with the 100-500mm 8.0 lens for 400$ (which I am obviously not interested in) :-/
BastianK wrote:
Phillip also offered to send me his Tokina close up lens he used for the Ultron.
So now I expect shipment of:
Tokina 72mm / ?.?m / ?.? dptr
If it says "Tokina AT-X MC Close-up 72mm" then it is 0.4 dptr which translates to 2.5m.
This close-up lens was made for the Tokina AT-X 80-400/4,5-5,6 AF and is quite rare and sought after by people who film with anamorphic lenses.
Olaf G wrote:
If it says "Tokina AT-X MC Close-up 72mm" then it is 0.4 dptr which translates to 2.5m.
This close-up lens was made for the Tokina AT-X 80-400/4,5-5,6 AF
That is the one.
Btw, the Minolta Close-Up Lens for MD 100-500 F8 is 0.33 dptr.
Would be very interesting because it is even weaker than the others.
But unfortunately still not 400$ interesting.
I would also prefer the smaller lenses showing major improvements, as the ZM with a 49-72mm step up ring and a 72mm filter won't yield the greatest handling experience...
In order to test the modified ZM lenses before I adjusted them internally to reach infinite focus. I used a cheap Nex to Leica M adapter, and milled down the front surface approx 0.5mm
I had to bend out the internal spring reliefs a bit to compensate for the mill down, but it worked well enough to allow me to reach infinity on the ZM Biogons to test with.
As stated before by Haruhiko (and tested by me ) Contax G mount lenses are able to focus past infiinity by some margin. No need to modify them if you add a close-up or PC lens. For people unwilling to mess inside M mount lenses, the Biogon G21 and G28 are maybe a friendlier alternative.
