Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • 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 Survival Guide

As mentioned before, the 50mm F1.7 is no slouch... and it sure isn't! Quite remarkable sharpness at F2.8 for such a small and cheap lens. Micro contrast and color reproduction is fantastic as well. Only correction I did to this photograph was to increase RAW color temperature, that's it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51913995/marley28.jpg
 
Last edited:
For those not wanting to go the 'pro' Cine-Mod route, you can do it yourself with decent results. I managed to get a bunch of black C/Y adapters, step up rings, and some lens gears from eBay and decently cobbled together a set.

IMG_9014.jpg
 
Last edited:
Shervin Mandgaryan said:
As mentioned before, the 50mm F1.7 is no slouch... and it sure isn't! Quite remarkable sharpness at F2.8 for such a small and cheap lens. Micro contrast and color reproduction is fantastic as well. Only correction I did to this photograph was to increase RAW color temperature, that's it.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51913995/marley28.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, the 50 1.7 wide open is much sharper then the 1.4. It's an amazing lens. The 1.4 is deemed to have a more "classic" bokeh. Whereas the 1.7 can be bussier. But other than that...yeah...the 1.7 is kind of amazing.
 
Shervin Mandgaryan said:
For those not wanting to go the 'pro' Cine-Mod route, you can do it yourself with decent results. I managed to get a bunch of black C/Y adapters, step up rings, and some lens gears from eBay and decently cobbled together a set.

IMG_9014.jpg
Click to expand...

WOW. NIce set! Wacha got there? Looks like a 25/28, 35 1.4, 50, 100, 135 and 180. Am I right? You're all MM right?
 
Nick Morrison said:
WOW. NIce set! Wacha got there? Looks like a 25/28, 35 1.4, 50, 100, 135 and 180. Am I right? You're all MM right?
Click to expand...

21 2.8, 28 2.8, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 100 2 and 135 2.8. Missing is the 85 1.4 and the 35-70 3.4

I've got a bunch more on the way, and ALL MM. Can't get enough of these guys while they're cheap to buy.
 
Shervin Mandgaryan said:
21 2.8, 28 2.8, 35 1.4, 50 1.4, 100 2 and 135 2.8. Missing is the 85 1.4 and the 35-70 3.4

I've got a bunch more on the way, and ALL MM. Can't get enough of these guys while they're cheap to buy.
Click to expand...

Nice, haha I know the feeling. Any Macros on the way? Love those...

A real gem is the 100 3.5 sonnar. Not fast, but INSANELY SHARP. It's the 1.7 of the Contax telephotos. Its MTF score at 10lpm is about a 96 I believe...maybe inching higher (and remember, that's MEASURED, not computer ESTIMATED like most brands publish).

Even wide open it screams. And it's tiny. By the MTF charts anyway (and by general word of mouth) its one of the sharpest Contax's of them all. And for a budget price to boot!
 
Sharpness shouldn't be the main factor in swaying your opinion to go for Contax. It's all about the look for most if not all the people who buy older glass. If sharpness is your concern then I'd stick with Canon (Though perhaps maybe the Contax are sharper... I don't have much experience with Canon L primes).
 
If I had Canon L glass here I'd do a test for you, but I don't.

Someone else probably does and perhaps they could test it for you, but it wouldn't be too much of something to look at, as I mentioned before, the look (Color and contrast) is the biggest difference between Contax glass and mostly all other glass out there. That alone swayed me to go Contax... the sharpness that came along with them was a nice bonus.
 
Shervin Mandgaryan said:
Sharpness shouldn't be the main factor in swaying your opinion to go for Contax. It's all about the look for most if not all the people who buy older glass. If sharpness is your concern then I'd stick with Canon (Though perhaps maybe the Contax are sharper... I don't have much experience with Canon L primes).
Click to expand...

This is a tough one. Because in my opinion "sharpness" in optics hasn't really improved that much over the decades.

On the stills boards, many guys routinely say that Contax glass outperforms Canon optics. But they are talking about more than just sharpness, they also mean character, micro contrast, 3D feel, etc.

As Shervin suggests, sometimes we have to go beyond the numbers, and look at the aesthetics.

But bear in mind Contax were some of the best stills lenses in the world only 10-15 years ago. In optics, that ain't that long ago. Many of these lenses are off the charts superb.

What modern lens designs have improved upon (in my opinion), are obviously autofocusing, a bit of distortion, high quality zoom lense designs, and wide open lenses are losing some of that vintage softness.

But general sharpness and muscularity of image has been around for a while. Especially over the past couple of decades.

There's a reason lots of people love Contax glass. Not just because of how they look, but because they are technically excellent. Especially stopped down.
 
Last edited:
Nick has pretty much nailed it, and he's had experience with a lot of glass.

I'm just a sucker for how nice the pictures come back from using these lenses on my Scarlet and on my 5D Mk II. Here's a shot from the 100mm F2 wide open. Quite a bit of CA in the bright areas but color rendering is natural and pleasing. Decently sharp too.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51913995/IMG_9019.jpg

It's these small imperfections (my opnion) that makes this glass have so much character, and give it so much more visual appeal than newer glass that's way more sterile and clinical. If you guys appreciate that older look and don't own Contax glass yet, pick up something cheap and have it amaze you. If you get the addiction bug like many of us have, and got the funds to feed such addiction, picking up a set would definitely be in your best interests.
 
Last edited:
Shervin Mandgaryan said:
Nick has pretty much nailed it, and he's had experience with a lot of glass.

I'm just a sucker for how nice the pictures come back from using this lens on my Scarlet and on my 5D Mk II. Here's a shot from the 100mm F2 wide open. Quite a bit of CA in the bright areas but color rendering is natural and pleasing. Decently sharp too.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51913995/IMG_9019.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah the 100 f2 is the bomb.
 
If you want to gain a deeper understanding of how humans perceive sharpness, have a look at Otto Schade's research ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_H._Schade ). He has proven that it's not the max. MTF (which is easy to measure), but the integral below the MTF curve that has most influence on our subjective impression of sharpness. That's why micro-cotrast is so important and why Zeiss has always excelled in this (they obviously went after such findings). There used to be a great video presentation at Panavision's website, but I can't find it any more.
 
Well thanks Nick. I ordered a Contax Zeiss 50mm 1.7 used from Adorama. Will find out if I got an AE or MM when it arrives. I just hope I didn't start up a new addiction. Anything I should be looking for in the images from this particular lens? I didn't much like the one example of the ninja star bokeh on a youtube video. Also I got the 1.7 because I tried going after a 1.4 a few times and never could get one. (that and I don't trust much of the sellers on ebay)
 
The 1.7's only drawbacks is that it's got a plastic housing and the minimal focus distance is only 60cm (The 1.4 is 45cm... big difference), otherwise its a lot sharper than the 1.4 at all apertures. Bokeh is a bit busier and not as creamy but if you like the pictures it produces it'll be a gateway drug, just make sure your wallet has enough funds to feed the addiction. Don't say we didn't warn you.
 
BTW, not sure if there have already been any pics that I missed but I just uploaded these as an example of Ninja Star bokeh for an interested potential buyer and I thought it might be handy for people to see what precisely the 'ninja star' refers to. Contax 50mm f1.4 AE. Shot late at night on a Canon C300.

Ninja Star Bokeh

ContaxZeiss50mmbokeh1NinjaStar_zps8cac86b8.jpg


Same street, same lens and same minute probably. Just a click of the iris dial and Regular Bokeh

ContaxZeiss50mmbokeh2_zpsf81d67ee.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top