Zenitar 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye: A Few Thoughts

June 13, 2009

Example of dramatic use of wide angle lenses for everyday activities.

Originally I picked up the Russian made Zenitar 16mm lens for my Pentax K100D as a way to get a very wide angle lens without shelling out a great deal of money.   The K100D has a 1.5 crop factor which gets you an approximate 24mm lens.  As I refuse to buy digital only lenses my only other options were the Sigma 20mm which is a dissapointing 30mm with the crop factor or pick up Sigma’s 15mm Fisheye.  The Zenitar is available for $175 through Kiev USA while the Sigma fisheye is $750 through B&H.  There was no question which one I was going to pick up.

After reading a number of reviews I decided that the distortion would be minimized by the crop factor on the lens when used with a digital camera. I also read about a number of quality control issues which lead me to a decision not to purchase a lens through a Russian dealer.  This proved to be an excellent choice on my part as the well known infinity focus problem is not the only issue that can arise from these lenses.   A day after I placed my order a gentleman from Kiev USA called to let me know that the lens would be a few days late in arriving.  They had inspected the lens and discovered that it was missing an element which they needed to pull off another lens.   Without that element the camera would never focus.   That alone was worth the $50 price differential between ordering the lens from the US dealer.

The use of a 24mm lens are fairly straightforward.  Architecture.  Landscapes. Group portraiture.  Environmental portraiture (when you’re planning on a large print so the subject isn’t lost in the details).  Please note that I said environmental and group portraiture as wide angle lenses, rectalinear or not, are extremely unflattering to one’s subject.   Portraits with the Zentiar are at best good for a giggle as the lens will make it look like the subject is bulging out from the center of the frame.  The only setting I’ve seen this used in an acceptable way is with rock and hip hop band portraits.   The Zenitar settles rather easily into the “acceptable” uses but it should be emphasized that it is not a rectralinear lens and there is visible distortion even with the crop factor. The distortion can be minimized through compositional choices as seen below.

Elk View, West Virginia

Here using a portrait format and placing the subject in the outside 1/3rd of the frame minimized the distortion.   Experimentation showed that horizontal lines just above and below the center axis showed the most distortion.   Creating a line that runs the length of the frame and is parallel to the frame’s edge will emphasize the curvature of the lens.  By avoiding straight lines you can usually ignore the fisheye effect.  As the usual use of a wide angle lens, namely landscapes, often involve straight lines this may be unavoidable at times.   If you’re disturbed by this then you should have shelled the bread out for the rectalinear lens and not mucked around with cheap former soviet block optics.   On the other side, if one uses a little care the curvature can  used to emphasize distance or height as with the trees arching upwards in the below photo.

Property Line, West Virginia

I have since sold my Pentax K100D and now only possess a Pentax Super ME which is a little gem of a walking around camera.  As this is a traditional 35mm camera there is no crop factor and the majesty of the fisheye effects comes into blossom.   No  amount of twisting the camera, kneeling in front of your subjects, or pushing an element to the edge of the frame will get around the curvature.  You will need to learn how to roll with it.

Chinatown Parking

There’s really no advice that one can give for how to work with a fisheye lens.  Cropping can remove the worst of the distortion as you mimic the crop factor of the digital sensor but that’s about it.   When using the lens on a full frame sensor or on a film body there are a few little points that one should be aware of.  The main one is fingers.  If you grip the lens around the hood there’s a good chance that your fingers will end up in the frame.  So one should be careful and grip the lens will behind the shade.   The lens is so wide that even wide open at f/2.8 anything further than a meter or two will be in focus.  There’s really no need to focus, just set it at infinity, set the f-stop to a comfortable f/8 and click away.   The lens is not the sharpest on the planet and shooting wide open will be relatively soft.  I have a tendency to develop my film in Rodinal which obscures fine detail through increased grain so I can’t speak to the absolute resolving power of the lens.  Just assume it sucks and don’t worry about it.   If you’re worried about the resolution of fine details you should not be shopping for cheap, novelty lenses.  Go get an 8×10 and stop bothering us.  Demanding performance out of a sub-$300 35mm lens is a waste of everyone’s time.

To wrap up this review, the Zentiar is a fine way for people using a camera with a significant crop factor as in the bottom tier of DSLR’s to get a taste for wide angle photography.   Its a taste and only a taste.   If you want to get serious about landscapes or architectural photography I’d strongly suggest saving money and investing in more expensive equipment.  Landscapes are not a subject for the faint hearted or those on a tight budget.   I will strongly encourage anyone interested in the lens to purchase their lens from a vendor in their country with a return policy.  The quality control on these products is lacking so getting a maladjusted lens is a strong possibility.

Its a fun addition to your lens collection.  Its up to you to decide how much fun is worth.

Posted in Product Review, Technique