Zenitar 16mm Russian Lens

I recently purchased a Zenitar 16mm lens that was advertised on eBay as being

an MD/MC lens for Minolta cameras.

 

I received the lens from Moscow yesterday and discovered that it is lacking the

small tab on the outside of the aperture ring that mechanically couples the

lens aperture ring to the camera body of my Minolta X-570. There is no way

for the lens to communicate its aperture setting to the metering system of the

camera body.

 

Did I get rooked? I thought that all MD/MC mounts were meant to mechanically

couple with the camera body as described above. Did the seller misrepresent

the produce when he advertised it as an MD/MC mount lens for Minolta?

Does the lens actually mount directly to the camera, or is it a screw-mount lens with Minolta adaptor?

.

 

Yeah, they misrepresented the lens, technically, but what else are they gonna call it that would make you happy? Technically it's for the Minolta SR lens mount, apparently, but do you even know what that is? It is the basic mount for Minolta SR/MC/MD/X-600 lenses, Do you know what th4 X-600 tab is? Anyway ...

 

It's apparently a stop-down metering lens and THAT'S what they should have told you. It will meter fine TTL Through The lens and you can be happy at having a stellar (reputation) lens at a good price. Do this:

 

1 - Frame and focus your desired composition

 

2 - Stop Down, meter

 

3 - Take the picture

 

4 - Open up, frame the next picture

 

Read everything at http://www.geocities.com/peterblaise/minoltamf on the lens tab features of SR/MC/MD/X-600 which ALL fit the Minolta SR mount.

 

Let us know how it goes and share some pictures!

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

A friend of mine recently purchased an M42 version of this same lens for use with a Pentax body of his. He absolutely loves the lens and although he finds the mechanics somewhat stiff, he commented that the optical quality was superb.

 

Seems like a good deal, and I doubt that you're going to be wanting to use this lens point and shoot anyway, so you should be fine with stopping the lens down, provided that you can do it with your body.

Thanks for the responses.

 

I believe I understand what stop-down metering is. Usually the Minolta X-570 an X-370 that I have will keep the aperture wide open so that the viewfinder shows the brightest possible image. The levers in a MC lens will then stop down to the selected f-stop just before the shutter opens.

 

Okay...so you are saying that with this lens I need to stop down first, i.e. the aperture closes. The meter reading then tells me the correct shutter speed for that f-stop. I guess I have to manually set the shutter speed to what the meter says and snap the shot keeping the aperture at said f-stop.

 

What I don't understand is why the meter does change in anyway when I rotate the aperture ring on the lens. I am in manual mode on the shutter speed.

 

If I take the lens off of the camera body and rotate the aperture ring I see no change in aperture when I look through the lens.

 

Seems to me the aperture isn't changing. Am I wrong?

Michael, do you mean the tab thats on the MD lenses and not on the MC lenses? If you do, as I recall, all the tab does is to let the camera know what the minimum aperture is when you shoot in 'Program' mode. You can still shoot in Manual, Aperture, and Shutter-Priority mode without problem.

"If I take the lens off of the camera body and rotate the aperture ring I see no change in aperture when I look through the lens."

 

"Seems to me the aperture isn't changing. Am I wrong?"

 

Michael,

 

I bought an M42 version of this lens a while ago. I had exactly the same

behaviour, because my M42 -> EOS adapter didn't press the little pin

that closes the diaphragm...so I took off the plate at the rear side

of the lens and disassembled the mechanic thats behind the pin, and

screwd the plate without the mechanic back to the lens.

 

Now it does close/open the diaphragm as soon as you change the f-stop-setting.

 

Rainer

 

PS: btw ... the lens comes with 4 little rear-mount filters ...

always use the clear rear-filter (if you don't use one of the colored ones) ... If you don't, you cannot focus to infinity.

Rainer T,

 

Thanks for your reply. I might try that but I hesitate to dismantle the lens until the seller tells me he won't take it back.

 

I might take it to a camera repair shop. Maybe the seller will pay for the work.

I received a lens from Zentar (very much on time)and I knew that I would have to remove the pin that 'snaps' to the f-stop that I wanted to use on my camera. I removed it, now I have a manual lens that has been a complete joy. If you had acessed PHOTO.NET, you would know this. What do you want for the price?

Like all Russian lenses you are playing roulette. The quality control isn�t the best so if you get a good one that�s great but if you get a bad one it is just wasted money.

Thank you for the replies.

 

Several folks have mentioned that I need to open up the lens and disable some pin.

 

Is this obvious once I remove the back plate? Can anyone give me the details? It has been suggested that the Photo.net forums have a thread regarding this. Does anyone have a link?

 

Please look at the attached photo. There is no pin visible at all that needs to be disabled. Is there something behind the back plate that I need to alter?

 

I also wonder, is there anything in particular with regards to this Zenitar Lens I need to know with respect to my Minolta X-570 lens. It�s been mentioned that there is a pin to disable for use with and M42 EOP adapter. Would I have the same issue with my Minolta X-570 body? Again I can see no pin at all.

 

I just want to get this lens to stop down the aperture when I turn the aperture ring.

Right now it doesn�t and it�s frustrating.

 

 

PS: I must confess. I know that an M42 is a screw mount lens but I do not know much about the Canon EOS electro-optical system auto-focus lenses. My system is rather old and is very basic. The X-370 and X-570 Minolta camera bodies that I have are aperture priority auto-shutter only and I usually use them in manual mode.

Michael,

 

I opened the three screws on my Zenitar for you ... check that the spring on the lower leftside is in place in your Zenitar.

 

Rainer

Thank you Rainer T !!!!

 

That was exactly the problem. I found the tiny spring rolling around loose inside the camera. With some micro-surgery and small tweezers I was able to reconnect the two pins with the spring. I hope it stays put. I could be hard to replace that spring.

 

I could not have done it without your photo. Thanks so much !

 

Regards,

Mike Rodgers