Contact Zeiss Lenses

[Michael Frymus]

I currently own only one 85mm f/2.8 Contax Zeiss lens.
Its a great lens, and I would love to get a whole kit of them.

I am just wondering, if I have a 19mm studio setup and have a mattebox & followfocus, will I be possible to focus with these lenses?
They are very small, so Im not sure if having a follow focus in there wont be too small and too difficult to pull focus with.

Also. The 85mm that I have rotations a lot. It rotates way more than 180, but not quite a full 360. Not sure exactly how much.
Are all the other lenses like this too, or are some of them shortened down like photo lenses?

 

[Nick Morrison]

I currently own only one 85mm f/2.8 Contax Zeiss lens.
Its a great lens, and I would love to get a whole kit of them.

I am just wondering, if I have a 19mm studio setup and have a mattebox & followfocus, will I be possible to focus with these lenses?
They are very small, so Im not sure if having a follow focus in there wont be too small and too difficult to pull focus with.

Also. The 85mm that I have rotations a lot. It rotates way more than 180, but not quite a full 360. Not sure exactly how much.
Are all the other lenses like this too, or are some of them shortened down like photo lenses?

Michael the Contax 85 2.8 IS very small indeed (and yes, an AWESOME lens!). A number of Contax lenses ARE this small (the 28 2.8, 35 2.8, all the 50's). But barring these, most of the lineup of lenses are LARGER (so no worries). The 85 1.4 is easily twice as big. All of these lenses have at least 180mm barrel rotation, and many...much more...as you've already noticed...

 

[Michael Frymus]

Michael the Contax 85 2.8 IS very small indeed (and yes, an AWESOME lens!). A number of Contax lenses ARE this small (the 28 2.8, 35 2.8, all the 50's). But barring these, most of the lineup of lenses are LARGER (so no worries). The 85 1.4 is easily twice as big. All of these lenses have at least 180mm barrel rotation, and many...much more...as you've already noticed...

Hmm.. would those small lenses you mentioned be an issue with follow focuses though?

 

[Nick Morrison]

Hmm.. would those small lenses you mentioned be an issue with follow focuses though?

No issue at all with follow focus. Stills lenses get cinemodded all the time. Nikons, ZF's, Leica R's, Contaxes. Half the people on these boards probably own at least one cinemodded stills lens. Look at Duclos or RP Lense's work and decide for yourself. We use cinemodded Contaxes for interviews and doc work and they are AWESOME. However if I was shooting a feature and doing a ton of complicated focus pulls...my biggest concern wouldn't be the barrel rotation, but the lack of focus marks.

These are stills lenses often worth 1/10 of what cine lens cost, so you can't expect cine-perfection. There is a compromise in everything. On the other hand, you do get a larger image circle...so you're covered for Dragon and beyond!

 

[Michael Frymus]

No issue at all with follow focus. Stills lenses get cinemodded all the time. Nikons, ZF's, Leica R's, Contaxes. Half the people on these boards probably own at least one cinemodded stills lens. Look at Duclos or RP Lense's work and decide for yourself. We use cinemodded Contaxes for interviews and doc work and they are AWESOME. However if I was shooting a feature and doing a ton of complicated focus pulls...my biggest concern wouldn't be the barrel rotation, but the lack of focus marks.

These are stills lenses often worth 1/10 of what cine lens cost, so you can't expect cine-perfection. There is a compromise in everything. On the other hand, you do get a larger image circle...so you're covered for Dragon and beyond!

My concern was whether the follow focus and mattebox would fit.

 

[Nick Morrison]

My concern was whether the follow focus and mattebox would fit.

We've used the 50mm 1.4 with Follow Focus and Matte Box and it fits fine. Same size as your 85.

 

[Matthew B]

The 85mm that I have rotations a lot. It rotates way more than 180, but not quite a full 360. Not sure exactly how much.
Are all the other lenses like this too, or are some of them shortened down like photo lenses?

Hi Michael -

If I remember correctly off the top of my head, My contax zeiss 35 1.4 only rotates about 180 - might be a little short of a full 180 - 150 or so.

EDIT -

Actually the 35 1.4 is less than 180 - about 130 degree rotation.

My Lecia 50 on the other hand is 270.

 

[eric schneider]

We've used the 50mm 1.4 with Follow Focus and Matte Box and it fits fine. Same size as your 85.

Some of this depends on the FF and Mattebox you are using. If you are not going the cinemod route, you can use focus gears from Redrock or similar which have a larger outer diameter and, thus, can reach your FF. Chroziel Matteboxes have a donut hole (I believe they call it a stepup or stepdown ring) which, in essence is a donut hole that is rubber and takes lenses with a diameter of approx 49mm up. So those work great. Hard to say, exactly, without knowing your FF and Mattebox, but I would test out some different shooting/rig configurations, and speak to the manufacturers..am sure they can point you to a solution. cheers!