A Day with the Flektogon Aus Jena 4/20 Zebra
The Zeiss company was divided between East and West Germany after WWII. The East German plant, located in Jena, could not sell lenses in Western Europe or the U.S. under the Zeiss name, since it was trademarked by the West German division of the company. The Flektogon lenses, like this early 20mm f4, were first manufactured in East Germany, and then copied by Zeiss and others in the west. The lens in this video apparently dates to the mid to late '60's. The front element was badly clouded with fungus. As seen in this video, it is easily removed and cleaned. This lens is a bit soft, and has an angle of view equal to a 40mm lens on a micro four thirds camera, like the E-PL1 seen here. An m42 mount version, like the one pictured here, can also be adapted to Canon EOS cameras, since their flange to focal plane distance is shorter than cameras using the m42 mount. Despite its obvious limitations on a m4/3 camera, it's fun to use, and can be coaxed to produce some nice images. It is not a great video lens. The short clip included at the end of the video was shot in very low light, with a wide aperture (well, wide for this lens -- f5.6), and consequently had a narrow depth of field. Enjoy Bucky Pizzarelli and Frank Vignola and a few images from the area around Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, Mn.
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This lens, the Aus Jena 4/20, can be found on ebay for a reasonable price (often about $80 - $120 US). The lenses manufactured in the old West German Zeiss plant seem to sell for more. This lens is of OK quality - it's good, but not great. Keep in mind that it has a field of view equal to a 40mm lens, and is not a "wide angle" lens on a m4/3 camera. For some subjects the image quality from this lens is fantastic. Most pictures in this video had very little editing. All were shot in RAW.
The flektogon 20mm is an excellent lens and is known to have zero distortion, which is exceptionnal for such a wide angle. However, nowadays, you hardly find it on ebay under $300...
so you would recommend us this one in term of price or quality! because i think Carl Zeiss lenses are not really cheap at all! but this one is cheap on Ebay so i'm kinda confusing. Pictures in this video are good but idk if those have not been edited or been edited
The stills look amazing! Why is the video so foggy though?!
@guit156
9 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the note. This not a very fast lens, and when coupled with an older Micro 4/3rd's camera (in this case an E-PL1), the video is pretty grainy. It works in low light for stills, but I was using a tripod for the evening shots. The video would look better if show with a Panasonic GH2, for example, especially in daylight. The night I shot that little bit of video is was very dark. In general, however, I only use this lens for stills, on both Olympus and Panasonic cameras.
Hi there, thanks for posting this. I currently got two Aus Jena 4/50 and 2.8/180 and was just wondering if for now before I get a Pentacon Six TL I could have a go with on my micro-thirds Panasonic GH1? Can I use them with the m42 mount as you did with the E-PL1? Many thanks!
@guit156
10 жыл бұрын
Hello brunopaps. Absolutely, use them on an E-PL1. All of the pictures in that video were shot with an EPL-1. I have a large collection of adapters for micro four thirds, for canon, nikon, pentax (both screw and bayonet mount) lenses. I tend to prefer many of the old Pentax screw mounts because of the glass, and use them on a variety of four thirds cameras. The GH1 can produce great images (and videos) with screw mounts.
@brunopapas
10 жыл бұрын
MinnJohn Hi MinnJohn, thanks for your reply :) ...just to confirm, is the m42 one of those old pentax screw mounts you referring to?
@guit156
10 жыл бұрын
Yes, absolutely. I regularly use Pentax m42 mount lenses with micro four thirds cameras. The old Pentax lenses are excellent. The still and video images in my "Lake Effect" video were almost all collected with m42 lenses. The clips of the fox in that video were taken with a great Pentax Asahi 135mm prime on an Olympus. The same video can be seen on Vimeo here: vimeo.com/79461896. (Vimeo doesn't disrupt video encoding with embedded advertising.) All you need is an m42-m4/3 adapter.
@brunopapas
10 жыл бұрын
MinnJohn excellent!! thank you so much for your help on this! ...will let you know when I post stuff online :) cheers!!!
@guit156
10 жыл бұрын
One note on adapters. The screw mount adapters come in two types. Some have a flange that will engage the plunger on the lens and make the aperture operation manual, some do not have this flange. If the screw mount lens you will use does not have a "manual" setting, you will probably find the adapter with the flange to be more useful, and indeed it may be required to properly operate the lens. Try here: www.rainbowimaging.biz/shop/product.php?id_product=609
hi there, please tell me what kind of mount have this lens? it is m42 ?
@guit156
10 жыл бұрын
Yes. This lens has an m42 screw mount, and is being used on an m42 to micro four thirds adapter from Rainbow Imaging. The m42 mount was used by Pentax, among others. Good luck. If you find one of these lenses, give it a try.
@drunkensteine
10 жыл бұрын
thank you very much John