- Produced VOMZ, Vologda, Russia (June 2000)
- Mount Pentax K
- Focal length 20mm rectilinear
- Aperture range f2.5-22
- Focal range .3m to infinity
- Filter thread 27mm rear mounted
- Elements 10 in 9 groups
- Aperture blades 6
- Weight 450g
- multicoated
Overview
Now, I don’t know exactly what made me think I really really needed a super wide angle rectilinear lens. I talked myself out of a fisheye on the grounds that I’d use this type of lens more often. I was right, but I’m not sure that it’s saying much! Aw, what am I saying, I’m glad I have it in my arsenal. I picked it over the sexier KMZ made Mir-20M on the basis of two factors: the extra stop that I thought I would probably need, and the excellent sample pictures I found at at long-gone Japanese camera site. Still curious though about the performance differences. Say, maybe a Mir-20M in M42 mount would fit right into my collection… No, bad kitty!
My instruction sheet for this lens is in Russian, so it’s of little help with the specs. BUT this I do know: these lenses are in current production (as of 2004) at the VOMZ plant along with the Jupiter-21M, MK Mir-1V, peepholes, night vision scopes, sewing machines…
How is it you ask? Fun! I like the funky effects you can get with it when using it close up, and of course you get great depth of field with a lens this wide. Color rendition is good, I need to use it more before I can proclaim it to be wonderfully sharp.
Special Notes
The K-mount russian lenses were made for K-mount russian cameras (eg Zenit) and are slightly off the original Pentax spec. To wit: with a rear filter mounted, on my Pentax SLRs the mirror hangs up at near focus. This is not the case with my Sears-Ricoh SLRs, with which the Mir works fine. I understand that the same issue exists with the “Nikon” mount Mir, that it works well on the Kiev 19 (Nikon compatible) but not that well on the Nikon, at least with filters installed.
Related Links
- Oh yes, the VOMZ plant is still in business as of this writing
- I bought it new with filters and case from russianplaza.com. Nice people!
