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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

ZF Lenses Moded by Duclos

Are there any options to put PL mounts on the lenses as well?
 
No, no PL versions of the ZF lenses last I looked and heard. But I suppose there might be an adapter? Or is that impossible due to the deep style of PL mounting?
 
I would assume there would be a flange depth issue forcing an issue with focusing to infinity. Probably fine for macro work.
 
The ones that were listed on our Lens page were not ZF lenses.
Those were real Zeiss B-Speeds with a hard PL mount.
These are our Zeiss ZF lenses..
3201004220_4551ea91dd.jpg
 
Shane Kelly said:
Matt,
Any chance of you selling the gears for the ZF's on their own?
Shane.
Click to expand...

We are VERY hesitant to sell the gears alone. We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that our gears are a perfect fit so that there is no chance of slipping. To obtain the best performance, we custom cut each individual gear to each lens. Many other after-market lens gears are split in half and are tightened via one or two screws.. This causes uneven distribution of pressure and will likely cause binding and/or high spots. Our gears are made from one solid piece of black delrin with no seams or irregularities. Hence, the fit must be absolutely perfect. I'll be sending out another newsletter with all the details on out ZF lenses. Follow the link in my signature and sign up to be included in the next e-mail.
 
Matthew Duclos said:
We are VERY hesitant to sell the gears alone. We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that our gears are a perfect fit so that there is no chance of slipping. To obtain the best performance, we custom cut each individual gear to each lens. Many other after-market lens gears are split in half and are tightened via one or two screws.. This causes uneven distribution of pressure and will likely cause binding and/or high spots. Our gears are made from one solid piece of black delrin with no seams or irregularities. Hence, the fit must be absolutely perfect. I'll be sending out another newsletter with all the details on out ZF lenses. Follow the link in my signature and sign up to be included in the next e-mail.
Click to expand...

Do you sell the lenses?
 
Matthew Duclos said:
We are VERY hesitant to sell the gears alone. We put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that our gears are a perfect fit so that there is no chance of slipping. To obtain the best performance, we custom cut each individual gear to each lens.
Click to expand...

while i have a high level of respect for your work matthew, the lenses coming out of the factory are machined on a production line, and will have exacting engineering uniformity. To suggest that you don't make a standard gear for each one of the eight zf lenses that currently exist is a little out there. I'm sure you don't carve a gear from scratch every time you get the same 50mm lens in. But I get the point. You want to make money mod'ing lenses. Consider that people are trying to save money if they are buying zf lenses in the first place. Sending them to you for a further 350 bucks a lens is a hit for alot of us. I'm not saying that the work you do isn't precision craftsmanship, indeed everyone who has sent glass to you has reported excellent results on this forum.

I get the sense that you will sell alot of gears to alot of folks. Making gears is difficult, but it's not anywhere near impossible. When I have to fork out $1750 bucks to declick an aperture ring, screw in an 80mm front, and screw in a gear to mod 5 lenses, I am forced to look for alternatives. There are alot of machinists out there looking for work. I hope you reconsider your position.
 
Evolve said:
while i have a high level of respect for your work matthew, the lenses coming out of the factory are machined on a production line, and will have exacting engineering uniformity. To suggest that you don't make a standard gear for each one of the eight zf lenses that currently exist is a little out there. I'm sure you don't carve a gear from scratch every time you get the same 50mm lens in. But I get the point. You want to make money mod'ing lenses. Consider that people are trying to save money if they are buying zf lenses in the first place. Sending them to you for a further 350 bucks a lens is a hit for alot of us. I'm not saying that the work you do isn't precision craftsmanship, indeed everyone who has sent glass to you has reported excellent results on this forum.

I get the sense that you will sell alot of gears to alot of folks. Making gears is difficult, but it's not anywhere near impossible. When I have to fork out $1750 bucks to declick an aperture ring, screw in an 80mm front, and screw in a gear to mod 5 lenses, I am forced to look for alternatives. There are alot of machinists out there looking for work. I hope you reconsider your position.
Click to expand...

Its $250 per lens not $350.
 
oh sorry. my mistake. i honestly thought it was 350 a lens. That does change things somewhat. thanks for the correction.
having said that, i still think that Matthew would have a good business selling gears as well as moding the lenses.
C'mon Matt, sell them gears!
 
Evolve said:
oh sorry. my mistake. i honestly thought it was 350 a lens. That does change things somewhat. thanks for the correction.
having said that, i still think that Matthew would have a good business selling gears as well as moding the lenses.
C'mon Matt, sell them gears!
Click to expand...

They do a lot more than just installing gears. That $250 pays for the gears, the de-clicking, the 80mm fronts and a complete check on the lens. When I say complete check I mean that they put it on their projector and check quality of the lens and accuracy in the focus marks. I would have never known that my 85mm is just a little off in the focus marks. But Paul tested it out when I was there and made sure that my lens would still be able to get to infinite. He also said that he could fix it but I figured I could live with it for now. There might be some other things that they do to the lenses that I'm not aware of.
 
So, they don't add a PL mount as an option? Anyone know of a company that does this? Is it not very cost effective to do something like this?
 
SF Geek said:
So, they don't add a PL mount as an option? Anyone know of a company that does this? Is it not very cost effective to do something like this?
Click to expand...

You would be better off re-housing the lenses if you wanted them in PL mount.
 
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