The Zeiss finally got some play!

limr · Sep 7, 2014

A few months ago, I got my hands on a Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm f2.8 lens to use on my Spotmatic. When the lens arrived, I realized that the lens extended about this much >< too far into the body and the mirror couldn't clear the back of the lens, so I couldn't use it with the Pentax. I'm still hunting for a nice Praktica FX so the lens can have a real home, but in the meantime, I bought myself some extension tubes, put the shortest one on the Spotmatic, and mounted the lens.

I finally got around to playing with it. Here's the Zeiss Jena debut with Tri-X:

Black-eyed Susan by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Bee on flower crop by limrodrigues, on Flickr

timor · Sep 7, 2014

Nice shots.
Just wonder why this lens cannot be used on Spotmatic ? It is M42 lens, right ? They are all made for 45.46 mm flange distance. Unless mirror in your Spotmatic dropped somehow from the cradle.

shock

Fred Berg · Sep 7, 2014

I have no problem using a Tessar on my Spotmatic, strange that your lens doesn't fit. Nice tones to the pics.

limr · Sep 7, 2014

I was sure it would fit, too, but though the mirror can flip up, it can't quite clear the lens on the way down. Half a turn of the lens, and it clears. So it really is just a hair too long. Not sure why. The Spotmatic came to me one day when I was at my sister's house and talking about photography with her husband. He suddenly got up and returned a few minutes later with a camera bag. "Here, you want it?"

Inside was the Spotmatic - still with film in it - three lenses, a bunch of filters and hoods, and a roll of Kodachrome. The foam in the bag was disintegrating. That's how long the bag and equipment had been sitting around. I finished shooting the roll of film and the images that came out placed them in the mid-80s or so. Could something have happened to the mirror in that time? I suppose but I'm not sure how. Knowing my brother-in-law, the bag was probably moved once, maybe twice, in the 25-ish years between when he stopped shooting mid-roll and when he handed me the bag.

He supposedly has a Nikon kit somewhere in the house, too, but it'll probably be another 5-10 years before he randomly comes across it and remembers to give it to me :er:

limr · Sep 7, 2014

I've posted these before at some point somewhere, but if anyone is curious, these are two that I took on the roll that was in the Spotmatic.

Day 132 - Rooster by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Day 132 - Dog by limrodrigues, on Flickr

Not bad for 25-year-old Tri-X that had been sitting IN the camera in god-knows what conditions, and was shot essentially blind because I had no way of knowing what film was actually in the camera (and my brother-in-law certainly couldn't remember.)

timor · Sep 7, 2014

limr said:
I was sure it would fit, too, but though the mirror can flip up, it can't quite clear the lens on the way down. Half a turn of the lens, and it clears.

Just checked my SPII. There is no possibility for the mirror to drop down from the cradle like in Yashica. Strange. Maybe it is fault of the Tessar going hair too much into the body.