I just got my Fisheye lens today. I got it from another place. My lens, interestingly enough, came in a rather large Priority Mail box with Priority Mail tape all over it... sent via UPS. Hmmmm.... Anyway, it's a rather well built lens. It seems to be made out of a high grade plastic to me. The focus is smooth, and the aperture ring is not tight like yours, it feels a lot more like the one on my SMC-A 50mm F1.4 lens. The aperture ring, btw, turns about a 1/2 click past F22, but when I do this the lens does not stop down anymore. The optics look nice, but upon closer inspection, there appears to be a few very small air bubbles in an element or two. I don't think they will affect the pictures any though. Mine came with a translated into English manual, along with the Russian version. The English one had more stuff in it, including a diagram of the optical formula! I can scan it if interested. The filters came in a plastic box, which is far too large to hold them all so they bang together and make lots of noise. So I got an unused filter holder I had for a UV filter, and they fit rather snug in it and don't rattle. I don't know if I will be using them much, as installing and removing the filters on this lens is somewhat of a pain. Mounting the lens on the camera I discovered a couple of things. First, the aperture ring is in the wrong place for the optical readout in the viewfinder for my Ricoh camera - I can only see the tops of the numbers. Secondly the lens cap can only be put on in a certain way, and this results in the Zenitar logo on the cap being sideways! Oh well. I really like the field of view. From just pointing the lens at stuff I have found that I can either make the fisheye affect really strong, or hide it depending on the framing and positioning of the objects. I'll have to take some pictures with this lens, so I can get an idea about it's optical qualities. Todd At 11:09 PM 3/25/01 +0100, you wrote: >Last Thursday my new lens arrived, bought it in a Dutch auction at eBay >($129.99 + $10.- for shipping), arrived direct from Moscow, the seller is in >the USA. The custom forms, filled out in by the sender, noted it was a gift. >I didn't have to pay import duties, perhaps because it was a gift? The >packaging was simple though sufficient, and perhaps supporting the idea of a >gift. > >It included a Russian manual, very good to improve your language skills. I >need to improve my Russian badly, only the pictures are understandable. Also >a soft pouch, and a plastic box with three individually wrapped filters, >red, yellow and green. I discovered a transparent one on the lens (the >filters all go on the rear of the lens), so I took it out to minimise the >amount of glass. Furthermore it has a lens cap on the front and the back. > >It is a K mount, manual focus, no A setting on the aperture. The aperture >ring snaps rather tight, that might become easier over time? Very solidly >build. A major piece of glass at the front, very nice. The lens is relative >compact, might be normal for a fish eye, I don't know. > >I noticed there was a big problem focussing and getting focus confirmation >on my PZ-1. Stopping down allowed me to take pictures, but wide open I can't >focus at infinity, only close by:-( > >To make sure, I replaced the transparent filter (that is screwed into the >rear of the lens, not very easy to do) and guess what? I can focus properly >now. I did look at the filter before mounting it, and it is no lens, no >magnification. I don't understand why, but it works. Also the focus >confirmation works now. > >I have made a few pictures with it today, I'll keep you posted about the >results. > >Frits > - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
