Kaleinar 5H 100mm f2.8 for Nikon AI

[Ghost2501]

Hello there,

I'm new on the forum and forgive me if I use bad english (not my mother tongue).

I've recently bought a Kaleinar 5H 100m f2.8 AI to use with my Nikon D7000.
I own Nikkor AF-S 35mm f1.8G, Nikkor AF-S 16-85mm f3.5-5.6, Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f3.5-5.6 and only one manual lense : Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AI. It's strange but I prefer the manual one. I like the challenge to shoot with that type of lense, like in the old days.

The Kaleinar I bought was not in very good condition but I've dissasembled it and cleaned the 4 glass elements with 95° alcohol.
Now, lense is quite as new but I've little problem with the aperture ring : when I turn it, I can't feel any stop. I haven't seen any mecanism in it in order to block the aperture step by step.
For exemple, when I choose f8, the ring dooesn't stay in place and back automatically to f2.8.

As any of you expericenced that ?

Regards.

[JohnBee]

[Ghost2501]

Hi JohnBee.

I didn't lost anything but I saw that the 3 screws that hold the mount were very used, due surely to many previous disassembles.
The problem is that I don't know what the "click" system look like.

[Ghost2501]

Seller told me that there's normally a bearing to tighten the aperture ring. He said that he knew that the ring didn't stay in place (ahah) and he'll send me one to fix the problem.

Problem solved.

[Ghost2501]

Yet another small problem with my Kaleinar : it won't focus ton infinity.
When I point objects from above 100m, it's impossible to focus even when the focus ring is at its end.

[Ghost2501]

I've found a tutorial on how to fix the infinity focus problem : http://k10dpentax.blogspot.com/2008/05/fixing-infinite-focus-on-super-takumar.html

My question : if it's normal that this lens won't focus to infiny, then I won't risk to mess with the focus ring. Thus, is there Kaleinar 5H 100mm owners here to confirm or not that lens won't focus to infinity ?

Many thanx

[Ghost2501]

A little test (not an art one ), windy condition, f2.8-1/800-ISO125



Crop 100%



Only the contrast was corrected in post-processing

[woodrim]

I think it should be sharper than what I see in those pictures. Mine does focus to infinity with either mount, M42 or Nikon. It may be possible to lose infinity when putting the lens back together all was not lined up as before disassembly.

[Ghost2501]

Like I said, fast test in windy conditions



Don't like background shadow and reflects in the hairs due to build-in flash but here, it think it's sharp.
If the problem was misalignement, I don't think I will get those kind of result.

I tried loosen the 3 little screws on the focus barrel but It won't help. It seems that the back lense don't come close enough in my D7000 body.

[woodrim]

There it is, nice and sharp.

[Attila]

[Ghost2501]

I tought I almost broke the lens yesterday. I was trying to fix the focus infinity problem and I totally unscrewed the focus ring by mistake.
I finally disassembled the whole lens mecanism (grease all over my fingers) and it took me 2 hours to figure out how to reassemble it correctly. Sadly, there still is no focus infinity.

For now, it works like before and I'm waiting for 2 bearings to fix the aperture ring.

[Attila]

Kaleinar had different mounts by factory, M42 , Nikon and may something else. With proper Nikon mount must support infinity, if need expert help let me know my repair man Charles can fix it.

[Ghost2501]

[Attila]

Excellent series as well! I think you have right your lens was disassembled and not properly assembled again.

[woodrim]

Good examples. You've been nailing the focus.

[Gerris2]

Is the girl your daughter, she is very cute, thank you for sharing her in your photos. I agree, I am in awe of the sharp focus on your photos.

[Ghost2501]

Thank you all

Gerris2, yes, she's my little Emma (9.5 years old). I also have a son who is not as patient as she when I play with the LiveView of my camera in order to have perfect focus (stay still, don't move, you moved! ).

[Ghost2501]

I think I've found where the problem sits.
There's a king of spacer (conical cylinder) between the first 2 lenses. In my opinion, the right scheme is this :



But, I tried the other way.



This have the effect too push back the first lens closer to the sensor and thus, focus to infinity works but I'm not comfident with this scheme. Worth, I sense I can breack the second glass if I tighten the screw too much (haven't this feeling in scheme 1).

So, I think I can solve this using scheme 1 and adding additional spacer ring (joint) just after the first lense.

[izvar]

I like so much your samples. Good lens and good skills.

[Ghost2501]

Thank you izvar

I'm not enough skilled yet to perfectly focus with the view finder. Focus meter is a good help but the magnifier mode in liveview gives better results. 100mm in APS-C = 150mm in FF and without stabilisation, it's even more easy to failed the shoot.

Otherwise, my focus problems are solved, hurray (rubber joint helped me to fix that).

[Ghost2501]

I like this lens very much :

[Billou]

Your pictures are so nice , they make me want to go to ebay right now and see what I can find

[Ghost2501]

Thanks billou

You have a quite nice MF lenses collection by the way.

Russians have my preference