Of course I am trying hard to defeat Gear Acquisition Syndrome but there are a few items that have slipped past the GAS barriers this year.

One of these is a Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.4 lens. This is an M42 fit lens; the aim of my purchase was to get one lens which I could leave permanently attached to my Praktica MTL3. However my Praktica needs new light seals so until I get round to sorting out the seals I have used the lens with a Canon EF-M42 adaptor on my Canon EOS300.

When used on the Canon, I am limited to Aperture Priority or manual mode, which isn’t too much of a hardship. I also have to use stop-down metering and remember to have the Auto-Manual switch on the lens set to manual.

I took this combo out on a walk in the Simonside Hills in Northumberland and then a walk up Hart Crag, which is to the west of Kirkstone Pass in the Lake District, loaded with Ilford FP4+ which I developed in Kodak HC110 developer.

Simonside Hills, Northumberland

Hart Crag, Lake District

It’s too early to tell whether the Flektogon will stay as a long-term part of my camera kit; on the Hart Crag walk it was a very hot day with lots of atmospheric haze. Under those conditions it’s hard to tell the difference between a good lens and a bad lens.

I was quite happy just having the 35mm lens available and I’m looking forward to giving it a more thorough trial with my Praktica once the lens seals have been seen to.

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