ZeissOpton 35mm Prime, Canon FD primes (custom arri conversion), PL and lomo adapter

[Walter R]

Here are some more interesting and rare lenses and adapters. I'll do these in a series of posts in this thread to keep it somewhat organized.

First is a Zeiss Opton 85mm F2.0 prime. It shows a red T on the front which someone said relates to the coating (there was an older coating and then the newer T coatings they said), but I really know very little about this lens. It is definitely older and would give a more vintage look than the new razor sharp primes, but in my casual testing with this a few years ago it was as sharp and clear as my fast Ekran lenses and had a very similar and appealing rendition of portraits. It comes with an arri standard mount, but I have shown a PL mount adapter for reference so you can see how the adapter fits with the lens. Please be aware that with some older arri standard mounts like the one on this lens, the lens actually moves within the mount housing, so you need an adapter that works with these type of lenses. I have two of these mounts, but they do need a retaining ring (which I think most lens techs could provide), but are quiet rare. There are 12 curved aperture blades.

Like a lot of the older primes this is tiny compared to a modern Red Pro or Master Prime.

Lens with front and back caps is $500.

 

[Walter R]

Here are 3 Canon FD lenses that have had custom conversion to Arri standard mount so are easy to adapt to PL use. These lenses date to around the same time as the K-35 primes that many people rave about. The FD lenses have just that hint of a vintage look to them. When I bought them, I was told they were converted by one of the top lens techs in Japan and for their age they are still smooth and clear/clean. Like all older manual lenses there is a nice long focus rotation.

I bought these to add to a set of Lomo/Ekran lenses we were using, but to be honest we never really gave them much use. This was because of the one shortcoming we found which was that to convert these lenses, they had to remove most of the iris ring and it is now right up against the mount. If you are using a PL adapter, you basically have to push your fingernail up against the adapter to be able to move the iris ring. Once it is mounted in the camera it is pretty much impossible to adjust, unless maybe you used a little screwdriver or something, so you have to remove the lens from the camera to adjust iris. The iris works fine, but is just inconvenient to operate. This wouldn't have been a problem if we were doing stuff where we had time on set or didn't need to change iris constantly, but for the doc type work we do it wasn't viable. Loved the images they made, but just couldn't make them work with our style of shooting.

There are three lenses in the set - a 85mm f1.8, a 50mm macro f3.5 and a 35mm f2.0. Before I separate them, I'm going to offer them as a set for $1000. Or you can buy a lens individually for $500/lens.

The PL mount shown on one of the lenses is for reference only, but is available separately in the listing below.

 

[Walter R]

Here are the adapters.

One adapter I believe is for Oct-18 (Older type lomo lenses) - $105

2 Adapters are the Arri standard to Arri PL that include the small tab for lenses that rotate in the Arri standard mount. Theses are noted as CPT new york. As noted above, they need a retaining ring to hold in place. - $80/each Normally these things cost around $300 or more.

2 Cheap adapters that go on with set screws. I believe they are stainless, but they the tabs are too thick. It is hard to close the camera's mount and they also don't get the back focus right so your lens probably won't hit infinity focus. I used them just for testing lenses, for which they work fine. Or if you don't think you'll need infinity and want something for a quick adapter these will be fine as well. $50/each

1 universal PL mount. These are used to screw on to the back of some lenses - often used for converted telephotos and some other lenses where they want to be able to change mounts. $150

 

[Walter R]

Bump with substantial price reductions.

Arri Opton prime now $500
Canon FD custom primes now $1000 for the set or $500 per lens