Introduction
I will keep this review short and sweet as I am no expert when it comes to he finer points of lens construction and discussing their performance beyond the obvious!
Woo Hoo! I now have a third fisheye lens. Unlike my previous two, this is for use on medium format cameras as opposed to my two for Micro Four Thirds format cameras. The lens in question is a Zodiak (Russian: “Зодиак”) 30mm/f3.5 made at the Arsenal factory in the Kiev, Ukraine. It is for use with a Pentacon Six mount camera. As my Pentacon Six was away for repair in Athens, it was as well that my Kiev 60 has the same mount!
General Observations
I won’t bore everyone with too many details but to give an idea of why it appealed to me, it is the widest lens available for full-frame 2¼” square (6×6) cameras. (This is approximately equivalent to a 16mm lens on a 35mm camera) The diagonal angle of view of 180 degrees. It doesn’t quite get your feet in the shot!
I am not ultra confident with using fisheye lenses but I took it out for a test to Old Peritheia, a pretty much abandoned village in Corfu, and it pleasantly surprised me.
I have read a few warnings! In particular, the need to take extra care with composition. Verticals near the edges of the frame become exceedingly ‘bent’ but by keeping one’s distance and thereby forcing vertical structures more away from the edges, it minimises this effect.
I have taken the shot that everyone does in Old Peritheia of the old schoolhouse/mansion house through an archway from close to the arch. This shot shows the fisheye effect quite well. However by simply stepping through the arch to take a shot, the old school looks (almost) normal if not a little distant. Like most fisheye lenses, it is almost impossible to take an out of focus image. Bokeh is non-existent!
A Word of Warning!
In the event that you are tempted to obtain this lens, it is essential that you ensure that it comes with a) the lens caps and b) the set of three coloured filters (orange, green and blue) as well as the UV one. The coloured filters are nice to have but the UV one is essential. When new, the lens was supplied in a fitted hard case and the coloured filters were attached under a panel inside the lid of the case. The UV filter came attached to the rear element of the lens and it is ESSENTIAL that one filter must always be mounted on the lens.
Sample Images
All images shot in Old Peritheia with a Kiev 60, Zodiak 30mm/f3.5 lens, Kentmere 400 film developed in Rodinal (1:25). Epson V600 Scan.
Using the Zodiak On A Full-frame Camera
I have tried this lens adapted to my Canon 5D MkII (Digital) where it behaves more like an ultrawide angle lens. It seems to lose some of it’s charm in my humble opinion but I concede that the ultrawide perspective does have its uses!
Conclusion
The Zodiak 30mm/f3.5 fisheye lens is fun to use for the artistic effects that it can produce. I found it very good for use when shooting landscapes where there are no close vertical structures. There is little fisheye effect when adapted to a full-frame digital camera but many will find it useful for the ultrawide effect that it produces.
I haven’t used it extensively but feel that I am more likely to use this fisheye lens than the extreme ones that I have for my micro four thirds systems. It is no lightweight but I guess that those of us that are used to humping around some of the heavier medium format gear won’t complain!