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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

CONTAX ZEISS: HUGE DEMAND?! SELLING OUT?!

Recently shot some bits and piece for a BBC education doc for kids and got some great use out of my 50 1.4 and my 135 f2.8. In fact, the 135mm is one of my fave lenses and I get way too excited when it's time to use it. This was on both Scarlet and a Canon C300.
 
I snagged a second 50mm. I had the 1.4, and then I saw a 1.7 pop up on Keh in great condition for only $199. I did a very brief test between the 1.4 (Japanese) and the 1.7 (German), and didn't notice a difference. I need to get a bit more scientific about it.

The footage I snagged on the 1.7 was delightful, though. I threw a 7mm extension tube on for a shot and got this great falloff of sharpness before and after the focal plane.
 
Ben Scott said:
Recently shot some bits and piece for a BBC education doc for kids and got some great use out of my 50 1.4 and my 135 f2.8. In fact, the 135mm is one of my fave lenses and I get way too excited when it's time to use it. This was on both Scarlet and a Canon C300.
Click to expand...

Haha. I love the 135 2.8 too. Great lens. I get that same feeling. Every time we throw it on...it's just like WOW. I have an AE version that does wonders to woman's faces...

Nick Pasquariello said:
I snagged a second 50mm. I had the 1.4, and then I saw a 1.7 pop up on Keh in great condition for only $199. I did a very brief test between the 1.4 (Japanese) and the 1.7 (German), and didn't notice a difference. I need to get a bit more scientific about it.

The footage I snagged on the 1.7 was delightful, though. I threw a 7mm extension tube on for a shot and got this great falloff of sharpness before and after the focal plane.
Click to expand...

WOW...A German 50mm 1.7? Almost never heard of that! The 1.7's are charming. Are supposed to be sharper than the 1.4's WO, believe it or not. The bokeh is also more fun, playful. The 1.4 is more classic. Both are great. For the price the 1.7 is hard to beat, though.
 
As far as I've read, green lettering on the aperture marks on the lens indicates Japan made, and all white lettering indicates German. The design is the same either way, but the coatings may be slightly different. But I've got some funky luck (or lack thereof) in my life; one of my lenses is in a serial range starting with a 1. As in a "10". Everything I've read says the lenses go from the serial number range of 5 to 8, and someone had something in the early 9's. Well, I've got something that starts with "105" and then has enough digits after it to confirm that it's a 10 and not a 1.

So far all I have is the 35 2.8, and both of the 50's. I really need something wider for a project I want to undertake, so I'll be digging around in the next week or so to see what I can unearth.
 
Nick Pasquariello said:
As far as I've read, green lettering on the aperture marks on the lens indicates Japan made, and all white lettering indicates German. The design is the same either way, but the coatings may be slightly different. But I've got some funky luck (or lack thereof) in my life; one of my lenses is in a serial range starting with a 1. As in a "10". Everything I've read says the lenses go from the serial number range of 5 to 8, and someone had something in the early 9's. Well, I've got something that starts with "105" and then has enough digits after it to confirm that it's a 10 and not a 1.

So far all I have is the 35 2.8, and both of the 50's. I really need something wider for a project I want to undertake, so I'll be digging around in the next week or so to see what I can unearth.
Click to expand...

I really need to make a CONTAX SURVIVAL guide to help everyone out.

A GREEN dot means it's MM. MM's can be made in Japan or Germany. Not having the green dot means it's an AE, which can also be made in Japan or Germany. The only difference between AE and MM is that the AE's almost ALL have the Ninja-star, and their coatings are older and are prone to more flaring.

If you have a serial number starting in 10, then that's pretty fucking awesome cuz I've never seen that. That is SO NEW you are already in the "millions" (ie 7 digits like ZE/ZF's, not 6 digits). That's a very modern Contax. Is that your 50 1.7? Never sell that.
 
Ahh. Both the 35 2.8 and the 50 1.4 that I have have the last number in the Aperture in green instead of white. The numbers are all white on the 50 1.7. I think the 1.4 is the one that is in the 10's. It's either that or the 35. Both other lenses I have are in the 6's. I'll check when I get home.

The 50 1.4 definitely Ninja Stars the bokeh, but not as pronounced as other Ninja Star shots I've seen; the edges are flat rather than pointed. I'll see if I can find a still when I get home to illustrate what I mean.

Here, I wasn't gonna show this, as it's really nothing special (I had an hour and had been surprised by someone giving me something for Christmas. Rather than get them something, I did a quick video of their gift and popped it up on Youtube. I used it as a chance to test out the 1.7 I had just received, as well as some stop motion techniques and my new extension tubes). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzgH1DRBzSk

Every shot in it is the 50mm 1.7. Most of it is at around f11. The last shot was just a test of my cycling through the apertures. So blown out in the sunlight though that there's not really a clear view if it Ninja Stars or not.
 
Seems I was lucky, grabbing a nice set of Contax Zeiss' during the last two months after this whole discussion started here. I gave up on the very pricey ones (like the 21mm or 35 1.4), but now I have the 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.7 (all MM), plus the 50/1.4, 85/1.4 and a 135/2.8 (all AE). I love them! Most are in pristine condition (yes, can still be found here in Germany on Ebay). Except the 135, it has some cleaning marks, but the seller was honest and I got it dirt cheap. Might not need it very often.

Did some pixel peeping on 50/58 lenses today, the weather was so bad ;-)

There were two wonderful Minolta Rokkors and two Zeiss C/Y. We tested charts only under controlled lighting and went from wide open to 4, on a GH2 in photo mode and on a Scarlet. These lenses are among the sharpest classical lenses you could find.
You may say uh, Minoltas? Yes, the MC/MD series can be adapted to Leica-M, and we all know that there is a Leica-M mount from RED! A friend and I were deep into collecting Minolta Rokkors over the last two years, most were still cheap before the word was spread on them and there are some true gems among them.
But here came Nick and re-fueled my serious LBA after I thought I was complete ;-)

The oldest was a MC Rokkor 58mm 1:1.2, a massive piece of glass and metal, looking seriously used externally, but mechanics and optics performing perfectly (we matched position for same scale).

The other Rokkor was a MC 50mm PG 1:1.4, looking like new.

The Zeiss Planar 50mm 1:1.4 is an AEJ and the Planar 1:1.7 a MMJ.

WO:
All of them had excellent center resolution even wide open, but the Zeiss have obviously the better coatings and showed better contrast, even if it was mentioned on this thread that C/Ys are more low-con than Leica. Remember: under low light you may have very high scene contrast too, so this kind of softness in the Rokkors can be used to your advantage sometimes. The corners of the faster ones were softer and showed a tad more CA in both Rokkor and Planar.

2.0:
All the faster lenses improved significantly, the Rokkors came closer in contrast to the Planars now and CA was reduced. The Planar 1.7 was a tad sharper in the corners at this stop.

2.8:
Further improvement and all four were so close now that we had to switch back and forth to see differences. The older Rokkor was still a tad less contrasty, that's all (apart from different color between the two families).

4.0:
Now the Planar 1.4 went a little bit in front against the 1.7, but all four were head to head and it might all be in the margins of sample variations. It was all very impressive, since apart from a tiny rest of CA or halo we might have been looking at scans and not photographs – distortion was absent too!

We can recommend any of these without hesitation. The Rokkor 58mm fetches the highest prices but also has the nicest bokeh and is adaptable to EOS mount with some effort. The Rokkor PG is still pretty cheap, but has slightly harsher bokeh in favor of resolution. It's difficult to get on EOS, but easy on Leica-M. The Planar 50mm 1.7 might be the best buy here, still reasonable price, very good resolution and pretty bokeh with the Zeiss 'pop'. The one third extra stop on the Planar 1.4 doesn't come cheap, but it has closer near focus too. Both can be adapted to EOS or cinemized. If I try to describe the difference in color rendering I'd say the Minoltas have more of a 'poor man's Leica' look (they had a long lasting relationship, after all), and the Zeiss – well, they are Zeiss ;-)

Hope this helps. For my part: I'm sold on Contax and hope I can stop before I'm broke…

BTW, I appreciate the recent discussion about the 28-70 Vario, even if it's not a real Zeiss, if the colors match I might go for one on a good price. I can't imagine to do a slow push-in or creep-out with a one touch without loosing focus. Does anybody know if it's parfocal?
 
I started purchasing Contax Zeiss lenses in October after being intrigued by some of the earlier threads about them here on REDUser. The idea of getting a look that was similar to that of Arri Zeiss Standards or Super Speeds for a budget price was very appealing. Like Uli, I decided to stay away from the more expensive high-speed models (for now) and concentrated on finding what I have been calling the Contax "standard speeds".


After reading everything I could find and asking a lot of questions, I decided to focus on the AE lenses, with the thought that being older with more flaring would give them more of a vintage feel than the more modern MM series. I already have a set of Nikkor primes, so I was looking for something different.


Even though they can be a bit challenging to find, I've managed to assemble a set of 8 AE lenses in 3 months. So far, I've gotten an 18/4, 25/2.8, 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/2.8, 135/2.8, 180/2.8. They are about evenly split between AEG (Germany) and AEJ (Japan) manufacture. The serial numbers range from 58***** to 68*****.


Most of them have come from eBay, with a few coming from KEH. I've found that if you are really determined and do your "legwork" every day (checking all the sites that have lenses available), it is still possible to find the lenses you want, and at a decent price. I've kicked myself a few times for not getting involved with these sooner (when bargains were easier to find), but I did finally manage to find everything I wanted at prices I could afford. Personally, I've had better luck finding bargains from private sellers rather than dealers, but that may be coincidence. I have been fairly picky about condition, but not obsessive (after all, they are 20+ years old and they are going to get used). I've had to return a couple of them that weren't as good in person as they seemed in photos, but both KEH and eBay have very good "buyer protection" for purchases. Those policies have kept me from getting burned on my "mistakes".


Even though it was an additional expense, I made the decision to have them all upgraded to Cine-Stills™ by my friend, Peter Sensor at RP Lens. Cine-upgraded lenses are so much nicer to shoot with than unmodified ones. My Nikkor prime set came from him and I've been extremely happy with them. The process and cost is similar to the Duclos mod, but I think Peter does at least as good a job (maybe better), is local to me and has very fast turnaround time. Once he has de-clicked and lubed the aperture ring, and added press-fit lens gears and an 80mm front, they are ready for serious shooting. I've been happy to discover that the Contax Zeiss typically have a very long focus throw for still lenses, especially at the longer lengths (although the wider lenses are still fairy short throw)…they are much longer throw than the comparable Nikkors.


I am going to be primarily using them on a R1MX with an Allstar A-mount and Allstar C/Y adapters. I've used the A-mount with the Nikkors and PL lenses for quite a while, and it is a fantastic system if you change lens types frequently. I'm also going to invest in a universal A-mount with Epic base so that I can use the Contax on friends' Epics and Scarlets. I've put the entire set of 8 lenses into a single Pelican 1510 for safe transport. I'm still waiting for the last couple lenses to come back from Peter, so I've only been able to do a few test shots with a few of them. The early results have been great, and I'm looking forward to diving into the whole set in more detail in the next couple weeks. I've also started to look for bargains on some of the faster lenses to add to my (rapidly) growing Contax collection...lens addiction is a terrible thing.
 
Tom Greenberg said:
I started purchasing Contax Zeiss lenses in October after being intrigued by some of the earlier threads about them here on REDUser. The idea of getting a look that was similar to that of Arri Zeiss Standards or Super Speeds for a budget price was very appealing. Like Uli, I decided to stay away from the more expensive high-speed models (for now) and concentrated on finding what I have been calling the Contax "standard speeds".


After reading everything I could find and asking a lot of questions, I decided to focus on the AE lenses, with the thought that being older with more flaring would give them more of a vintage feel than the more modern MM series. I already have a set of Nikkor primes, so I was looking for something different.


Even though they can be a bit challenging to find, I've managed to assemble a set of 8 AE lenses in 3 months. So far, I've gotten an 18/4, 25/2.8, 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/2.8, 135/2.8, 180/2.8. They are about evenly split between AEG (Germany) and AEJ (Japan) manufacture. The serial numbers range from 58***** to 68*****.


Most of them have come from eBay, with a few coming from KEH. I've found that if you are really determined and do your "legwork" every day (checking all the sites that have lenses available), it is still possible to find the lenses you want, and at a decent price. I've kicked myself a few times for not getting involved with these sooner (when bargains were easier to find), but I did finally manage to find everything I wanted at prices I could afford. Personally, I've had better luck finding bargains from private sellers rather than dealers, but that may be coincidence. I have been fairly picky about condition, but not obsessive (after all, they are 20+ years old and they are going to get used). I've had to return a couple of them that weren't as good in person as they seemed in photos, but both KEH and eBay have very good "buyer protection" for purchases. Those policies have kept me from getting burned on my "mistakes".


Even though it was an additional expense, I made the decision to have them all upgraded to Cine-Stills™ by my friend, Peter Sensor at RP Lens. Cine-upgraded lenses are so much nicer to shoot with than unmodified ones. My Nikkor prime set came from him and I've been extremely happy with them. The process and cost is similar to the Duclos mod, but I think Peter does at least as good a job (maybe better), is local to me and has very fast turnaround time. Once he has de-clicked and lubed the aperture ring, and added press-fit lens gears and an 80mm front, they are ready for serious shooting. I've been happy to discover that the Contax Zeiss typically have a very long focus throw for still lenses, especially at the longer lengths (although the wider lenses are still fairy short throw)…they are much longer throw than the comparable Nikkors.


I am going to be primarily using them on a R1MX with an Allstar A-mount and Allstar C/Y adapters. I've used the A-mount with the Nikkors and PL lenses for quite a while, and it is a fantastic system if you change lens types frequently. I'm also going to invest in a universal A-mount with Epic base so that I can use the Contax on friends' Epics and Scarlets. I've put the entire set of 8 lenses into a single Pelican 1510 for safe transport. I'm still waiting for the last couple lenses to come back from Peter, so I've only been able to do a few test shots with a few of them. The early results have been great, and I'm looking forward to diving into the whole set in more detail in the next couple weeks. I've also started to look for bargains on some of the faster lenses to add to my (rapidly) growing Contax collection...lens addiction is a terrible thing.
Click to expand...

Tom, you have become a Contax brother in arms. Welcome.

And yes, lens addiction is a terrible thing. I hear you! I'm hooked!

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays my friend.

PS - I am following you down the RP Lens/All-Star Mount rabbit hole. Head first!
 
Nick Morrison said:
Tom, you have become a Contax brother in arms. Welcome.

And yes, lens addiction is a terrible thing. I hear you! I'm hooked!

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays my friend.

PS - I am following you down the RP Lens/All-Star Mount rabbit hole. Head first!
Click to expand...
Thanks, Nick! I feel like Marlon Brando just welcomed me to the "Family"..."I made him an offer he could not refuse", lol.

I know you will love your RP/Allstar-ized lenses! Happy Holidays to you as well...here's to a healthy, happy and prosperous (gotta be able to afford all those lenses) New Year for all of us!
 
Nick,
have you ever seen a 50mm 1.4 AEG?
(made in germany)
Every 50 AE I came across was an AEJ (japan)...
I'm starting to think the 50 1.4 were all built by cosina?!?!
 
Tommaso Alvisi said:
Nick,
have you ever seen a 50mm 1.4 AEG?
(made in germany)
Every 50 AE I came across was an AEJ (japan)...
I'm starting to think the 50 1.4 were all built by cosina?!?!
Click to expand...

I believe I've heard of a 50 1.4 AEG, but have never seen one myself...

Most 50 1.4's are made in Japan. There should be no discrimination between made in Japan and made in Germany. The Japan ones are just as good. The high and mighty Contax 21 2.8 was ONLY MADE IN JAPAN. That's how good the quality control was there. Buy a 50 1.4 AEJ with confidence. I have one, and love it.

Yashica was Zeiss's production partner in Contax Zeiss. That's why the mount is called C/Y. For Contax/Yashica. Yashica's electronics were MUCH BETTER than Zeiss's, and that's why Zeiss teamed up with them. Porsche designed the bodies, because Zeiss was terrible at making good looking cameras too. All they were good at was designing/making lenses.
 
I planned to complete my set but I'd need an Epic more than another set of lenses... ;)
I already sold the uber rare 35 1.4 MMG, I might have a 135 f2 AEG and a 28 f2 AEG plus a 50 1.4 AEJ, all in very good conditions and all with super speeds coatings (59xxxxx).
I think the 135 and the 28 are optically the same as the zeiss standards...
the 135 and the 28 also have the original box.
let me know if you guys are interested! ;)
I'll wait a while before posting in the sale section so you aficionados have priority ;)
 
Hey Tommaso, I may be interested, PM me your asking price. I'm planning on cine-modding them myself, but this glass is superb, and I've been drooling over the test footage we've shot.

I'm still in the stages of deciding on what I'd like, but.. I know I am interested.

PM me a price!

Thanks!
 
I want the 135!!!!
 
LLiam,
at least what I paid for them! I'm giving up hope for building a set...also I'd need an Epic body more right now...I've access to tons of glass anyway... ;)
They were bought in a official Contax dealer with 6mths of wty.
They come with box. I paid 1100eur for the 135 and 800eur for the 28.
 
Uli Plank said:
Seems I was lucky, grabbing a nice set of Contax Zeiss' during the last two months after this whole discussion started here. I gave up on the very pricey ones (like the 21mm or 35 1.4), but now I have the 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.7 (all MM), plus the 50/1.4, 85/1.4 and a 135/2.8 (all AE). I love them! Most are in pristine condition (yes, can still be found here in Germany on Ebay). Except the 135, it has some cleaning marks, but the seller was honest and I got it dirt cheap. Might not need it very often.

Did some pixel peeping on 50/58 lenses today, the weather was so bad ;-)

There were two wonderful Minolta Rokkors and two Zeiss C/Y. We tested charts only under controlled lighting and went from wide open to 4, on a GH2 in photo mode and on a Scarlet. These lenses are among the sharpest classical lenses you could find.
You may say uh, Minoltas? Yes, the MC/MD series can be adapted to Leica-M, and we all know that there is a Leica-M mount from RED! A friend and I were deep into collecting Minolta Rokkors over the last two years, most were still cheap before the word was spread on them and there are some true gems among them.
But here came Nick and re-fueled my serious LBA after I thought I was complete ;-)

The oldest was a MC Rokkor 58mm 1:1.2, a massive piece of glass and metal, looking seriously used externally, but mechanics and optics performing perfectly (we matched position for same scale).

The other Rokkor was a MC 50mm PG 1:1.4, looking like new.

The Zeiss Planar 50mm 1:1.4 is an AEJ and the Planar 1:1.7 a MMJ.

WO:
All of them had excellent center resolution even wide open, but the Zeiss have obviously the better coatings and showed better contrast, even if it was mentioned on this thread that C/Ys are more low-con than Leica. Remember: under low light you may have very high scene contrast too, so this kind of softness in the Rokkors can be used to your advantage sometimes. The corners of the faster ones were softer and showed a tad more CA in both Rokkor and Planar.

2.0:
All the faster lenses improved significantly, the Rokkors came closer in contrast to the Planars now and CA was reduced. The Planar 1.7 was a tad sharper in the corners at this stop.

2.8:
Further improvement and all four were so close now that we had to switch back and forth to see differences. The older Rokkor was still a tad less contrasty, that's all (apart from different color between the two families).

4.0:
Now the Planar 1.4 went a little bit in front against the 1.7, but all four were head to head and it might all be in the margins of sample variations. It was all very impressive, since apart from a tiny rest of CA or halo we might have been looking at scans and not photographs – distortion was absent too!

We can recommend any of these without hesitation. The Rokkor 58mm fetches the highest prices but also has the nicest bokeh and is adaptable to EOS mount with some effort. The Rokkor PG is still pretty cheap, but has slightly harsher bokeh in favor of resolution. It's difficult to get on EOS, but easy on Leica-M. The Planar 50mm 1.7 might be the best buy here, still reasonable price, very good resolution and pretty bokeh with the Zeiss 'pop'. The one third extra stop on the Planar 1.4 doesn't come cheap, but it has closer near focus too. Both can be adapted to EOS or cinemized. If I try to describe the difference in color rendering I'd say the Minoltas have more of a 'poor man's Leica' look (they had a long lasting relationship, after all), and the Zeiss – well, they are Zeiss ;-)

Hope this helps. For my part: I'm sold on Contax and hope I can stop before I'm broke…

BTW, I appreciate the recent discussion about the 28-70 Vario, even if it's not a real Zeiss, if the colors match I might go for one on a good price. I can't imagine to do a slow push-in or creep-out with a one touch without loosing focus. Does anybody know if it's parfocal?
Click to expand...

Holy shit Uli, I never saw this right up! NICE!!! Yeah that Rokkor 58 1.2 is a DOOZY.
 
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