VOIGTLANDER COLOR-ULTRON ( CARL ZEISS PLANAR) 1,8/50 M42 - APERTURE PIN BLOCK DIY - REVERSIBLE

It started some day that i wanted to make a comparison between Tamron 24-70 f/2.8 VC and my VOIGTLANDER COLOR-ULTRON ( CARL ZEISS PLANAR) 1,8/50 ...

regarding sharpness. 

So i realized i didnt block the aperture pin on that one, as i did to my other M42 not Auto lenses. 

So this is the reassembly process (i'm pretty good at dismantling ... things get trickier when putting them back together) .

Dismantling:

- remove the 4 screws;

- remove the mount ring;

- remove the outer aperture ring;

- remove the 3 screws ( there is a longer one, pay attention to it) ;

- remove the aperture pin ring ( watch for the click ball) ;

- remove the aperture control ring;

- remove the fixer ring;

Block the lever, which is moved by pushing the ring. Use the mantle of an electric cable. Take care so it is fully pressed and tensioned, or else it will not get you to f/16.

Do not unscrew lens from the focus barrel!

Assembling:

1. move lens past infinity, till it reaches the end of the focus barrel, it wont unscrew in that direction;

2. position the aperture mechanism to wide open;

3. position the aperture ring so it will match f/1.8 position;

4. tape aperture ring to focus barrel;

5. position the fixer ring;

6. position the aperture control ring so the position is keeping the lens lever just to wide open and 1.8 notation is over the aperture ring line;

7. keep them together and slowly move to f/16;

8. position pin ring with the 2 levers on the lens, one is bigger, one is smaller;

9. screw the short 2 screws, as pictured;

10. remove tape, move lens to 25 feet;

11. last screw goes in;

12. position the rest of the pieces as pictured;

13. screw the remaining 4 screws;

FUJI SLR CAMERA STX-2 - OWNER'S MANUAL - English Deutsch Francais Espanol

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

Ok, so i bought a package containing a Fuji SLR STX-2 and 3 lenses ( more of those later).

Having previosly owned a Minolta X-700 i noticed some things:

STX-2:

- functions without batteries;

- it doesnt have a lot of "bling", which is better for the batteries. It has only 3 leds in the viewfinder which shows right exposure, overexposure, underexposure;

- it does teach you how to shoot in shutter speed priority mode;

- the red line/point on the focus ring is for infrared photography (more in the manual);

- the body seems flimsier;

- the shutter speed dial is very annoying to work with, its very hard to manipulate when shooting.