No real sharpness tests, pixel counting or other technical mumbo jumbo, just everyday pictures with the intention of showing the view angle, color pattern and character, and my thoughts of this lens.
The Zenitar 16mm f2.8 MC Fish Eye PK mount – Made in USSR – older version : black lens with green/yellow/white engraving
I bought this lens a few years ago on Ebay from Russia for about € 150. She has a Pentax PK mount and was intended to be used on my Pentax K3 and K5 – never used it much.
For my Fujifilm cameras I have put together an Olympus lens kit, this lens kit starts from 21mm, and I realy would have liked an Olympus 16mm or 12mm, but these are exceptionally expensive, € 700 to € 800 and more are not an exception, and I find that a lot for an old manual lens. So at first I had my eyes on the Samyang 16mm f2.0, but besides that it also costs between € 300 and € 400, it is actually a DSLR lens with built-in lens adapter – hence the fairly long length on a Fujifilm + it weighs about 620grs.
So why not try the Zenitar ?
I find the lens quite soft en rather unsharp at f2.8 and f4, I would recommend putting it at least at f5.6 or f8, and if possible, best set to f11 or f16. The colors are rather flat, the lens misses punch, better set the camera to velvia or develop from Raw with RawTherapee, use film simulations to improve the colors. Its a solid lens, the focusing is smooth and the aperture clicks very distinctively (and loud).
I rarely use a lens cap on my lenses, only to put the camera away – and on the go I almost always use a metal lens hood, which protects the lens from damage and so they are always ready to use. The lens cap of the Zenitar is crap, difficult to put on and easy to lose. The build in lenshood is much to short and thus useless, and no lens filters are possible, so be aware of damaging your lens when you bump into anything. The lens with the PK adapter is about 8cm, which is about 4cm shorter than the Samyang, and it weighs half – about 290grs.
Camera used : Fujifilm X-E1 and Fujifilm X-T20
Adapter : Fusnid – PK/FX
The camera settings are usually as follows:
ISO auto 200-800
The X-T20 is always set to electronic shutter
Focus Peaking X-E1 high white, X-T20 high red
Film simulation standard
Noise reduction set to -2
Sharpen set to +1
Picture format 16: 9
Raw + Jpeg S
All pictures here are out of camera jpeg’s standard
This is a work in progress, and will be further supplemented, updated and improved as time goes on.
Open Source Photography 