ZM-2 lens (Second version)

———————- (ZM2 sample photo —– fake  stage up)

There wasn’t so much complaint to ZM lens —– still, give a thought or two = even though I said most peculiar, the reality was not peculiar enough, just another mediocre lens. 

Before, while experimenting with the lens, I noticed that this lens can produce much more aberration when it was reverse mounted.  =  So, why not. = I further modified the lens optics made reversed.

The result was, some may say, a lens impossible to use.  (Somewhat comparable  to the Helicoid-B lens which got strong astigmat aberration ) Yet still, this might be what I needed.  (What’s wrong ? )   😀    (as you can see from the photos, DOF is extremely shallow, and showing very heavy coma aberration.   This lens was about 45mm F2 equivalent, fully open, still if well focused, image looks quite sharp.) —– now I need to find the suitable subject.  (I hope the subject wouldn’t be frightened and runaway )    😀

Is it peculiar enough ? (just a bit off focus)

And this is well focused (so far).   😀

.

Lucky in life = Fate

Somebody asked me, like the time when I modified Leiz Elmarit P lens or ZM lens kind, while using 58mm helicoid ring, how I could manage to find the necessary rings etc in such efficient way ?    My answer was, There was no such good luck to find the component.   It was just work hard to try fix.   Not a good luck or magic finger, just came to a good result thanks to all those effort.  (No wonder)

Yet still, the start was a chance discovery of the 58mm reverse adapter for Nikon-Z mount.   If I need to attach something to a camera, there are two choices,  one is find a cheap adapter ring such as M42 to EOS, M42 to Nikon Ai kind, otherwise use a body cap.   To make something for Nikon-Z, their body cap was hefty £6.   Then I found a 58mm adapter for Nikon-Z about £3 or so.  —– If you may say I was lucky, yes, it was lucky.   Still, I’m puzzled why this adapter was made in the first place, especially for what in mind ?    I’m not sure whether many redundant lens which got 58mm filter size, waiting to be experimented on the newly arrived Nikon-Z camera ? ? ?

What ever, the first piece of jig-saw was placed.   For this 58mm ring, I got an idea to use a 58mm mount helicoid ring.   Then, to mount a lens, I need to find something to join from lens to 58mm helicoid.    Here, there is no inspiration kind but just try next by next among the mountain of rings I got.  (Even the same 52 to 55mm step-up ring, inside diameter of 52 mm screw is not the same = need to test)  To mount the Elmarit lens, it got to be a 49mm filter ring = 49 to 52, 52 to 55, 55 to 58 then to the helicoid.   (Instead to use cheaper 42mm, why 58mm helicoid was, since the Nikon-Z image sensor was too close to the mount, 42mm ring will cut the image corner.)  Those step-up rings adding 3mm each for the distance between lens to the body,  I still needed to put the lens further away from the camera, I used an old Nikon extension ring K-5.    

But, when I did the same to ZM lens, I needed to have less distance to mount the lens. = instead to use 58 to 55, 55 to 52, 52 to 49, 49 to 46mm, I ordered 58 to 46mm ring and waited a mail from China long time.    So, the work rely on the simple but rudimental try. — and waiting game.   No ingenious solution, neither Devine help. (You see, I’m a very good worker = good work and its mind pulls good Karma.)   😀 

The original meaning of the Karma is the rational, natural consequence (such as, the heat makes the water boil) not a paranoid delusion (typically so-called  consequence of previous life (= Hindu idea) — there is no previous life, since no perpetual soul could exist)  = its mean, straight positive effort causes positive consequence (and evil act / idea repercussions) = those rational makes your Fate !   Fate is not a kind of supernatural phenomena.   Heaven is too busy to twist every individual’s life.  Everything occurs just as a simple own cause and a consequence.   Too much thinking tend to make you a hero of victimization though a matter of fact, the world is not bothering you as such you are imagining.  They got their own business.

So, anybody can make a lens.  = You can try.    (But first, you have to find a lens to play with !) 

.

Leiz Elmarit P Lens on Nikon Z7

While checking a corner of the shelf, I found a Leiz Elmarit projection lens I got from odds and ends box of a camera shop years ago —– in fact it was the same time when I found the Zeiss Taron lens in the same box for £1 each.  To make Taron lens for ordinary camera use I did quite a lot of work —– and to make a helicoid for this Leiz lens, even more work was anticipated.   Then, when I got a 58mm reverse adapter ring for  Nikon Z, I got other idea to modify this Leiz lens easily.

Since its rivers adapter got 58mm screw, I found it could be used to mount a helicoid extension ring  M58 to M58 mount, 24mm ~ 55mm extension, together with some joint rings to connect to Leiz lens.

Nik Z-58mm, Helicoid ring, 58mm-52mm, K4 and K5 from old Nikon K-ring (having 52mm screw), 52mm-49mm, then put the Elmarit P lens on it. = no cutting or glue work, just put together.  So, here is the Leiz Elmarit P 50mm F2.8 for shooting on Nikon Z7 use.  (Note, helicoid ring was mounted riverse direction and the infinity focus was made while helicoid was slightly rotated position.)

Projection lens may be designed for close range use = may not have the best result on far subject.  And the test picture showed rather funny off-focus bokeh on the fore-ground.

Still not too bad result for closest distance (23cm) and its out of focus bokeh was very smooth and soft here —– any way, Leiz Elmarit lens 50 mm F2.8  costed £1 + some odd rings. 

I like a subtlety created by the clean image as well.  Leiz is good in cool image. Unlike Sony, Nikon Z doesn’t exaggerates the tone.

.

Fuji-Fun lens

In the 80s, before this country got money from the North sea oil.  And it was long before the  digital revolution, in fact even before the Walkman not mention any digital sound, the Disposable / One-time use camera was very popular.   Simply the people haven’t got the money to buy proper camera.  Anyway, even with an expensive camera, the use of the camera / film was as such, in one film, it started with Xmas and finished with next Xmas kind.  So that, to buy Disposable camera on each occasion was not such bad idea. 

And local chemist taking care of all those photographic business = sending the film to a lab and giving back the printed pictures to the customer.   Shop people take a film out of those disposable camera and send only the film to the lab = its mean, the left over carcase of those disposable camera filling their bin.   So, I got those discarded camera from their bin, while thinking “One day, I’ll use those plastic lens in somewhere else.” 

The lens to film (sensor) has to be 30 mm, Nikon Z’s frangeback is 16 mm, leaving 14 mm to maneuver.  In order to manage this  14 mm, I used a helicoid extension ring 12~17 mm and M42 to NEX adaptor both from China.  With this helicoid, the lens can give a focus from infinity to 0.3 m close-up.  (Since the lens itself has NEX mount, it can be used on Sony A7R as well.)

The most of lens of those disposable camera is just one plastic disc.   Optically they are very well designed aspherical lens and together with its built-in small iris, the camera can give a omnifocus effect.  (In any distance, the picture would be reasonably good on 3×5 print = Basically, this lens can produce pretty good image with its designated small F-aperture.  But to use this lens in such a way has no point for me = If so, why not use the camera as it was intended = as in an original form )

But I’m using this lens without its small iris therefore the out of focus blurred image, together with its halation is masking the decent image.  And instead of having deep depth of field by its small F-aperture, I used a helicoid focus.  On the end, the lens produces rather funny image = they are not sharp but not necessary soft image like an old Zeiss lens or Kodak Vest Pocket Lens.   So, I’m not sure what is the advantage of this lens. —– and I got, yet another 12 more of them !   I’m having rather absurd life.   😀

.