Topic
Topic author: ChrisS
Posted on: 20120218143208
Hello,
About a year ago I bought a very early alloy Mir-1 (1:2.8, F=3.7cm) in ZM39, s/n 000267, without the 1958 Brussels Grand Prix engraving of course. Mir-1 s/n 003628 has a passport dated Feb 1957, so I guess mine is probably 1956. It was described as having various problems and not working correctly but was very cheap and being so early I thought it worth buying. Optically it is really quite good, external condition is not too bad at all with some external light scuffs but all engravings are OK with no missing fill, HOWEVER there the good bits end!
It has obviously been dismantled at some time and re-assembled incorrectly. The focussing is way out from the scale and appears to have no stop (focussing ring turns more than 360ºbut does eventually come to a rather mushy stop at either end), it also goes out-of-focus either side of infinity - presumably assembled in the wrong helix (it is actually usable if you disregard the scale). The aperture and stop-down rings work after a fashion, but are way off the index mark.
How is the little asymetric shade by the rear element supposed to be aligned? I have looked at a number of illustrations of these lenses and they all seem to have this shade aligned differently.
I would like to get the lens re-assembled properly, but have never tackled anything like this before. I feel sure this lens can be put right and is well worth salvaging - but at the moment it remains with the rest of my early Zenit collection as an interesting early Zenit lens.
Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.
ATB & thanks in advance, Chris.
About a year ago I bought a very early alloy Mir-1 (1:2.8, F=3.7cm) in ZM39, s/n 000267, without the 1958 Brussels Grand Prix engraving of course. Mir-1 s/n 003628 has a passport dated Feb 1957, so I guess mine is probably 1956. It was described as having various problems and not working correctly but was very cheap and being so early I thought it worth buying. Optically it is really quite good, external condition is not too bad at all with some external light scuffs but all engravings are OK with no missing fill, HOWEVER there the good bits end!
It has obviously been dismantled at some time and re-assembled incorrectly. The focussing is way out from the scale and appears to have no stop (focussing ring turns more than 360ºbut does eventually come to a rather mushy stop at either end), it also goes out-of-focus either side of infinity - presumably assembled in the wrong helix (it is actually usable if you disregard the scale). The aperture and stop-down rings work after a fashion, but are way off the index mark.
How is the little asymetric shade by the rear element supposed to be aligned? I have looked at a number of illustrations of these lenses and they all seem to have this shade aligned differently.
I would like to get the lens re-assembled properly, but have never tackled anything like this before. I feel sure this lens can be put right and is well worth salvaging - but at the moment it remains with the rest of my early Zenit collection as an interesting early Zenit lens.
Any help or guidance would be much appreciated.
ATB & thanks in advance, Chris.
