I have this lens on my 1st flim camera tucked away in my old camera bag for years. In one spontaneous weekend, I took it out for workout with my previous dSLR with Pentax K100D.
I thought I would never use this lens as the focusing ring is very slippery and the focus throw is quite short. But the short and slippery focusing ring actually comes in handy for those seagulls moving in fast speed as I have little time to get it accurate, I just shoot best efforts in focusing and hope for a few to come out okay. Overall, I am very surprised with this M42 lens. I find the focal range in 28-70 working out more useful than my kit's lens for candid and walk around purposes. I make quite a number of mistakes in fast movements, shaky shots not with sharp focus. In Av mode, I find underexposure by a full stop to +1.7 Ev compensation. In the shooting, I used stop-down metering with adjustment for shutter speed for 1/3 of a stop.
Impressions & Notes
- This is a rare M42 lens that work with Praktica camera. The Praktica cameras share the same M42 mount before evolving into Praktica Bayonet mount
- Praktica cameras were made in the past from East Germany but this lens may have been manufactured in Japan
- The lens focus throw, though short about 1/4 turn, is very loose and I find it great for fast focusing. I used this lens successfully in shooting birds in fly with seagulls. The smooth and loose focusing ring help in the fast focusing needed to track the birds in manual focus.
- The lens is in petite size, smaller than the Pentax DA 18-55 kit's lens
- Macro is believed to be in 1:4 in the 70mm end ratio though I have not test macro on this M42 lens
- Filter size is 52mm
- This M42 is in a 2 touch zoom design with separate zoom and focusing rings.
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2 comments:
Hello, I like Your article, and the lens. Nice pics also!! I Wonder if this Praktica lens would be the same as the more famous branded Carl Zeiss, there is an auktion on the bay right now:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rare-Carl-Zeiss-28-70mm-Zoom-Lens-M42-for-Digital-SLR-Camera-/350731013482?pt=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item51a9328d6a
Also I have stored a copy of the Picture in the aution on my site:
http://www.sjurelv.com/data/uploads/zeiss-praktica.jpg
http://www.sjurelv.com/data/uploads/zeiss-praktica2.jpg
It surely looks identical to my Prakitca zoom lens. I no longer have this lens; otherwise, I will examine it further. From the look on the ebay, your pictures and that of mine, I briefly go over each and help you with second pair of eyes. They look identical. But I have no idea that Zeiss will share the same zoom and perhaps outsourced to someone else to produce. I can't tell as I don't have the know-how knowledge about the origin of this rare zoom lens. For a second, I thought I should jump in and bid it with you on the zoom as I love that zoom. I caught up my eyes on the Shipping price instead of the Bidding price. LBA (lens buying addiction) is in my DNA .....
And it was one of my mistakes to let it go to trim my gear list. But when I finally see the current bidding price, I don't think it is worth this much if it is branded Praktica. I certainly regrettably sold mine for under $50. One problem (or great feature) on my Praktica zoom is the very loose focusing ring and it may not be to everyone's liking. I will caution not to bid it up over $200 if that is your intention. What I recall is the great color, sharpness and the quickness in street shooting with the loose focusing ring .... And the size is wonderfully small. I don't think the build, though close, is not up to the normal standard of Zeiss lens as I do see better build lens in Zeiss Jena.
For < $100, there is lot more great and reliable zooms such as the Tamron SP 35-80mm f/2.8-3.8 adaptall-2 (01A)
Thank you for your visti and I wish you luck.
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