The Russian-Made Zenitar 16 2.8

A few months ago, I was looking for a fisheye that was not only cheap, but also would fit into the existing port for my camera housing. There really are not that many fisheyes out there to pick from. Looking at lenses based only on whether they were small enough for my needs, I cam across the Russian made Zenitar 16mm 2.8 Fisheye. I was a little hesitant to buy a completely manual (manual focus, manual aperture adjustment) little-know lens built by a Russian company I had never heard of, but it’s dimensions told me it was smaller than other fisheyes, and it was cheap. I scored a used one for under $100, and I’m glad I went with the Zenitar.

First Impressions

Like I said, I bought this lens used. When it arrived, I opened the package to find a surprisingly heavily built lens. Does this think look modern? No. It looks like a lens that I should have been using back in high school when I stole my parents’ Nikromat to take pictures. Apparently these lenses usually come with a M-Mount and an EOS adapter, but this one has an EOS adapter installed. The lens has no electronics and therefore no electrical contacts. Rare for modern lenses, the Zenitar features and easy to use and read dof scale. All in all, the thing feels like I could throw it at a brick wall. For all I know, it was designed to be thrown at capitalists when the Soviet photographers found themselves without any other defense. It even says “MADE IN RUSSIA”. Cool.

Performance

OK, so this is definitely not a high tech lens. I doubt it has fancy coatings and UD glass, and it probably could never stand up to someone who does the whole pixel-peeping thing. However, once you learn how to use this thing, I think it’s great.

On a 1.6x body (which is what I use), a fisheye looses a lot of its fishiness. A fisheye has most of its distortion around the edges of the frame, and we only see the middle on a cropped body. In fact, unless you get a straight line near the edge of your frame (like a horizon or part of a building), it’s hard to see the distortion compared to a rectilinear lens. Basically, what you get on a 1.6x body is a manual focus wide somewhat fast lens with distortion around the edges. Oh yea, and you have to set the aperture manually. If this is what you are after, sweet, you found it.

So why would I use this lens when I could use something else? Well, fist of all, other primes this wide are expensive and big. Zooms that go this wide are really big and really expensive. Also, remember that I had a size requirement – I was trying to cram this lens into a housing port that was made for a Canon 24 2.8, and this lens was my only option for a wide lens without having to get another port (expensive).

Using this lens, I set my camera in aperture priority (the only mode that will make use of any metering) and usually just set the Zenitar to 5.6. Then I adjust the focus to the hyperfocal distance for 5.6 using the dof chart. If you don’t know how to do this, you simply line up the infinity symbol to the 5.6 mark on the scale. Now everything from about 2.5 feet out to infinity will be in focus. Who needs autofocus on a fisheye anyway? In a housing, this method works great. The camera never looses focus and 5.6 is just enough to keep the shutter speed high as long as the sun is out.

Samples

Here are a few samples taken with this lens, all in a housing using the technique above. Would the pictures look any better if I had dropped over $500 on a brand name fisheye and another port? Maybe, but I think the Russian Zenitar works just fine.

Wakeboarding/Wakeskating on Mission Bay in San Diego:

The picture above is the current cover of the Mission Bay Aquatic Center's Brochure.

Kiteboarding in Hood River:

Kiteboarding in Rufus, Oregon on the Columbia River: