"Fishy" Question - for Zenitar owners

[thepepperman]

I recently recieved a 16mm Zenitar fisheye, and separately, an M42 -> EOS adapter. They fit together just fine, and the camera is working, but the adapter doesn't press against the aperature push-pin on the lens, meaning it is always wide open no matter the aperature setting. For anyone with a Zenitar that added their own M42 adapter, was this an issue with your adapter? And if so, how did you get around it?

I also picked up a 58mm Helios, which is working great on the same adapter, because the aperature is stopped down directly with the aperature ring on the lens exterior. So obviously this push-pin isn't common to all M42 lenses (these are my first lenses of this type).

Any help is appreciated!

[Jamey S.]

Actually most M42 lenses have a push pin for Aperture control. But many have an A/M switch. A being auto and M being manual. There are also 2 kinds of adapter, 1 which doesn't push the pins in and one that does. The one that does is called a Jolos I believe. There are a few ways you can use the pin controlled lenses with the non-Jolos adapter. You can tape the pin in to allow aperture control on the lens ring or you can disassemble the lens and permanently rig the pin to stay in. I am not a fan of either and am currently looking myself for a different way as I don't feel like buying another adapter (I don't have the Jolos either).

[thepepperman]

Figured that might be the case. I don't really want to open up the lens but I'm afraid tape won't hold up. Ah well.

[thepepperman]

I just finished removing the pushpin from my lens. Decided to see what it looked like before making a decision, but it came out so easy......... The pin actually just prevents the aperature from being stopped down when you move the aperature ring, so removing the pin allows the aperature to move freely with the ring. Works perfectly now!

I will post some pictures of it later as a how-to.