1 roll of Ilford Delta Pro 100 with Flektogon 4/20 MC black

[Esox lucius]

Digital pixel-peepers, look away

It's now cleaned, re-lubed and adjusted - my Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20mm f/4. This is the first roll I ran through the Bessaflex just to test everything was allright, and sure it was- it was serviced by a very reliable Zeiss enthusiast. Perfect landscape lens for my Bessaflex, and now in perfect working condition with modern grease.

I am very satisfied with the results and particularly the almost complete absence of barrel distortion so typical of this focal length. If I am too harsh and compare this lens to modern lenses of the same focal length I find myself less satisfied with the corners, as stopping down to f8-f/11 doesn't make them good (satisfactory at the most). This is no way to be interpreted as discredit the Flek, it costs a fraction of what the Nikkor 14-24/2.8G or 17-35/2.8D do and it's a much older design.

All in all, I find this prime enjoyable on the Bessaflex, and well worth its price. Colors are a little on the cooler side, very suitable for what I intend to use it for: b&w and Velvia landscapes on my Bessaflex.

On digital: I only tested the Nikon side (D3). With a mechanical adapter (no infinity) it shows, unsurprisingly, barrel distortion at close focus. I don't mind, as I really do not consider close-focus performance a reason to buy wide-angles. The near minimum focusing limit barrel distortion is all gone at medium to long distance. I agree this lens is suitable even for architecture as long as you don't confuse perspective distortion (useful) and lens distortion (bad).

With a glass adapter results were quite unsatisfactory, in fact this is the only lens that I have found suffers too much from the use of a glass (infinity) adapter on Nikon. I suspect the light hitting the sensor at steep angle combined with a magnifying glass in between makes for poor to medium corners no matter how good the lens is.

Pics?

Sorry, forgot

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mureena/sets/72157617311097582/

[Orio]

I'm happy that my lens has found a new loving owner, Vilhelm.
That copy which you own now, has given me some great images, that still make me very happy:

http://www.oriofoto.net/temp/piacenza_natale_2006/slides/01-400D_pc-flek4-20_061223_01.html
http://www.oriofoto.net/temp/piacenza_natale_2006/slides/03-400D_pc-flek4-20_061223_03.html
http://www.oriofoto.net/temp/piacenza_natale_2006/slides/05-400D_pc-flek4-20_061223_05.html
http://www.oriofoto.net/temp/piacenza_natale_2006/slides/26-400D_pc-flek4-20_061224_01.html

and it's good to see that in a completely different environment, it keeps rendering great images

I wonder how much and how long these old lenses have traveled and changed hands... oh if lenses could only speak!

[Esox lucius]

Yes, Orio, it's intriguing - what stories we cannot listen to

Thanks for a great lens! That roll of Delta 100 was taken on April 11th, since then Spring has decided to arrive and now it is +17C on my window. Time to load a roll of Velvia