Dedicated EOS Mount for MS PELENG 3.5/8A

Dedicated EOS Mount fitted to a MS PELENG 3.5/8A fisheye lens.
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After acquiring the MS PELENG 3.5/8A fisheye lens a few weeks ago I went in search of a dedicated EOS mount for one. The ‘B’ variant of the lens comes with them, but at almost $100 more than the ‘A’ variant (which typically just comes with an M42 to EOS adapter) I didn’t think they were worth it. Still, I wanted to try the dedicated mount. After sending $30 off via PayPal to a seller in Canada, one was en route to me.

Remember my complaining about the set screw which wasn’t threaded along the whole body? It’s not a set screw, but a stop, which is part of the EOS mount. So, in attempting to screw it in and damaging it I actually damaged the mounting bits of the adapter. Whoops. I realized this when the dedicated mount had a similar screw, and then I looked at my 24-78 f/2.8L (photo gallery retired) and saw a similar one on there. Ah well.

Second, as you can see above, the dedicated EOS mount is the same size as the focus ring. With the M42 mount and adapter the focus ring stands out from the lens body and is easy to find by feel. When the dedicated EOS mount is used it no longer stands out and I found myself inadvertantly attempting to turn the body of the lens to change the focus. That said, because I normally set the focus without the camera to my eye, this isn’t a problem. And with the differing textures of the dedicated mount and focus ring, I don’t see this actually being a problem.

So, I’d say that if you have a MS PELENG 3.5/8A with the M42 to EOS adapter, just stick with that. It’s not really worth picking up the dedicated EOS mount. It’s not a bad addition, and it makes the lens look a bit more tailored to the camera, but it’s definitely not really needed.