Carl Zeiss 85mm f/1.4 ZF.2 Planar T* on FM3a?

[edmelvins]

I recently bought a CZ 85mm f/1.4 ZF.2 to be used on my FM3a. I know it's a silly kit if you're used to Leica M with tiny lenses. But I couldn't help myself after seeing one on a DSLR. It's pretty.

Back to the topic, I wonder if anyone had an experience with this kind of setup before? Zeiss said in their website, "Furthermore, the silver fork coupling is not available on the ZF.2 lenses. For this reason, you cannot use light metering on older cameras (F, F2, Nikkormat, etc.)"

So does this mean I won't have a light meter on my FM3a? Obviously I didn't read this before I bought it.

Any inputs will be appreciated. Thanks. 🙂

 

[ZeissFan]

This refers to pre-AI cameras and not AI cameras. The FM and the successor models is an AI camera, so you should be able to use this lens without any problems.

The metering fork on pre-AI and AI lenses connected to a pin on the pre-AI camera body's lens mount that was then spun forward and backward to set the minimum and maximum aperture.

 

[jonmanjiro]

It's a nice combo. I used the first version Planar 85/1.4 on my FM3a but sold it because the min. focus distance of 1m was a little limiting for me.

Only the really really old Nikon SLRs (pre 1977 or so) need the silver fork (or prong as its sometimes called). The FM3a was discontinued in 2006 so doesn't qualify as "really really old" 😉

 

[edmelvins]

This refers to pre-AI cameras and not AI cameras. The FM and the successor models is an AI camera, so you should be able to use this lens without any problems.

The metering fork on pre-AI and AI lenses connected to a pin on the pre-AI camera body's lens mount that was then spun forward and backward to set the minimum and maximum aperture.

Thanks a lot! I'm relieved. I was afraid that I had to buy a newer model camera for the lens. Thanks for the quick respond too. 🙂

It's a nice combo. I used the first version Planar 85/1.4 on my FM3a but sold it because the min. focus distance of 1m was a little limiting for me.

Only the really really old Nikon SLRs (pre 1977 or so) need the silver fork (or prong as its sometimes called). The FM3a was discontinued in 2006 so doesn't qualify as "really really old" 😉

Nice! I've been googling all over the place to find a picture of this lens on a FM. Yeah that's the only problem actually. I wonder why they didn't fix this on the new type. Do you have any sample photos? That'd be great. 🙂

 

[jonmanjiro]

Nice! I've been googling all over the place to find a picture of this lens on a FM. Yeah that's the only problem actually. I wonder why they didn't fix this on the new type. Do you have any sample photos? That'd be great. 🙂

Here's two I just dug up.

 

[mfogiel]

The lens works fine on FM3A. It is a great combo, but you should be aware, that this Planar has some focus shift evident if you shoot between f 2.0 and 4.0. If you need critical sharpness in this range, you should be focusing stopped down to f 2.8 at least. At f 5.6 and beyond, the DOF takes care of everything. Here are some examples:

this one wide open

some focus shift (backfocus) evident here

 

[edmelvins]

Wow, great examples guys! Thank you! 🙂

I didn't know about this focus shift problem, but I don't think I should worry too much. Even your example of the focus problem is still great! I heard that it's optimized for medium to long range and that the quality significantly drops at close range. Have you noticed how significant the drop is?