Zeiss Otus 55 ZF.2 mod to ZE?

[niels123]

The Otus 55 is offered for a good price second hand in my country and I'm tempting to purchase it. However, it has the Nikon mount and I shoot Canon :

Novoflex has an adapter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grB9ET2D2jk), but as far as I can see, the lever on the adapter is then the only possible way to adjust aperture + viewfinder gets dark(er) + no exif-info in raw files on aperture and lens used.

Would it be possible to ship the lens to Zeiss to have it modified to a ZE mount? Are there people here who have experience with this type of modification?

 

[Deleted member 91053]

Possible solution? Aperture control and cheap!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adapter-Ring-For-Nikon-G-AF-S-AI-F-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Mount-DSLR-Camera-DC640-/301698874947?hash=item463ea77e43

 

[niels123]

Possible solution? Aperture control and cheap!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Adapter-Ring-For-Nikon-G-AF-S-AI-F-Lens-to-Canon-EOS-EF-Mount-DSLR-Camera-DC640-/301698874947?hash=item463ea77e43

I contacted Zeiss and modification is practically impossible and much too expensive.

However, I'm seriously considering to purchase the lens and use a (high quality) adapter to mount the Nikon mount to my Canon body.

There is one thing that concerns me: proper focus is of course, especially wide open, very important. On the internet, there is mentioned the focus confirmation chip which is in the lens and causes the green dot to light up when focus is achieved. I just tried to mount a Helios 44-2 with M42 to canon adapter to my 5D3, put the camera on tripod, focued using live view, closed live view, looked through viewfinder and half-pressed shutter button: no green dot!

If I attach the Zeiss Otus 55 ZF.2 for Nikon with an adapter on my Canon 5D III do I still get the green dot in the viewfinder when subject is in focus?

UPDATE:
I discovered that this is not the case with the novoflex adapter, but Fotodiox is producing an adapter which does work with focus confirmation. Novoflex says that they don't include it in their adapter because they believe it can be unreliable under certain lighting conditions.

What do you think about using an adapter with focus confirmation and its reliability compared to the Otus 55 with Canon mount?

 

[Deleted member 91053]

Not really a similar lens, but I used to use a Contax-Zeiss 25 F2.8 on my Canon bodies with an adapter that had an AF confirm chip. After using it a couple of times the chip simply fell off! I found the setup MUCH better without it!
You should note that I was using this lens for static subjects so whether it took me a millisecond or 10 seconds to focus didn't matter.
Realistically if focus speed is an issue I would suggest getting an AF lens or a focus screen for your camera. If not then just use Live View at 5 or 10 x magnification - beautifully accurate!

 

[niels123]

Not really a similar lens, but I used to use a Contax-Zeiss 25 F2.8 on my Canon bodies with an adapter that had an AF confirm chip. After using it a couple of times the chip simply fell off! I found the setup MUCH better without it!
You should note that I was using this lens for static subjects so whether it took me a millisecond or 10 seconds to focus didn't matter.
Realistically if focus speed is an issue I would suggest getting an AF lens or a focus screen for your camera. If not then just use Live View at 5 or 10 x magnification - beautifully accurate!

I already have the Zeiss Apo Sonnar 135 f/2 ZE and whenever possible I use live view. A focus screen for my 5D 3 is not available , but I find the Eg-S in my 7D2 quite nice to use. I wish I could use a focusing screen in my 5D3, but I have been told that third party screens for that camera mess with the autofocus and light metering...

 

[NWPhil]

Why not consider buying an used Nikon FF DSLR or even a film camera?

used Otus 85 are hard to come - and seems that ZE even more for whatever reason.
There was a small surge on EBay a while ago, but all got sold.

I used the Nikon 85mm f1.4 D IF, and focusing was fine, but a bit of a pain having to set the aperture and then remember to turn the aperture ring on the adapter to get the chosen aperture - you can compose and focus wide open and even get the af confirm.

 

[niels123]

Today I have purchased my Otus 55 ZF.2. Interestingly, the seller admitted he had only used the lens on a sony mirrorless body and never tried to fit the novoflex adapter that he sold together with the lens.

To our surprise, the novoflex adapter did not fit on the Zeiss ZF.2. It matches the lens bayonet, but when turning the adapter to click it in place it stops at about 20 to 30 % of the amount of rotation needed to click it in place.

It is the original Novoflex adapter and mechanically, everything looks fine. The seller gave me additional discount because of this, so I took the 'risk'. Any suggestions / ideas?

Edit: I do realize that Nikon bayonet turns the "wrong" way compared to Canon, so that is not the cause

Update: for some reason, when the aperture ring on the lens is set to f/16, it clicks in place smoothly ;D
Why does it matter?