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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 Survival Guide

Ben Scott said:
Completed the first 4 days of my short feature shoot. First time I've used the 4K WS aspect and I must say I loved it. The only hired glass was a Zeiss 15mm CP2 and it seems to cut well with the Contax footage. Biggest surprise of the shoot was how much we relied on my 25mm f2.8. I've tried to offload it on numerous occasions in order to get a 21mm but it really shined for us. The close focusing abilities combined with the relatively wide FOV meant it was the go-to lens for much of the production.
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I did my whole summer with the superbe 60 and tended to negligate a bit the others lenses.
Last week I went to a temporary street artists exibition (in an empty tower who will be demolish soonish) with an Epic and one only lense the 25AEG.
The quality build is as good as the 60AE 2.8 and I really enjoyed my whole afternoon with this lens.
Certainly not the sharpest lens of the AE gang but what a lovely render.

25AEG
tete.jpg



25AEG
tetesbusy.jpg



25AEG
tetegp.jpg

Cheers all
B.
 
Thanks Ben,
I'm beeing a long time graf shooter since 1986 maybe.
I have never see such a concentration of talented street artists in one whole bulding.
More than 80 street artists from all over the world did occupied the place in secret for months before opening it to the public.
You are right to insist about the 25mm Ben. ;-)

I really like the way it sucks the light, it is so organic.
To me Epic+Contax is a great combo, thanks again Dr Morison.


25AEG@F2.8
psg.jpg



Cheers
B
 
I just wanted to thank Nick Morrison for his Contax Zeiss Survival Guide and all the other contributors to this thread. This is by far the best information on Contax Zeiss lenses on the internet. I’m not a filmmaker, but I’m an active photographer who mainly shoots with a Canon 6D . Presently, I have two Contax Zeiss lenses, the 28mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.7, both are MM. The 28mm is amazing at f8, and the 50mm is great to shoot at f2 as well as stopped down. I am planning on picking up an 85mm 2.8 MM in the near future, and after that, the 35-70mm zoom is a possibility. I think the lenses in the Contax line are the best bargain available today, especially when you compare the prices to the current Zeiss ZE lenses, and the Contax 2.8 lenses are the biggest bargain of all. It was also great to read the positive comments on this thread regarding the Leitax mount. Due to these endorsements, I plan to Leitax my Contax lenses in the near future. Anyway, thanks again for this great thread. It’s answered a number of my questions regarding Contax Zeiss lenses.
 
Brice Ansel said:
Certainly not the sharpest lens of the AE gang but what a lovely render.
B.
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Haha. What a great quote. Stopped down though, even by F4, this lens starts to scream. I LOVE, LOVE this lens.

Brice Ansel said:
I really like the way it sucks the light, it is so organic.
To me Epic+Contax is a great combo, thanks again Dr Morison.
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Right back at you Captain Brice! You make this thread so fun!!!

Bill Walter said:
I just wanted to thank Nick Morrison for his Contax Zeiss Survival Guide and all the other contributors to this thread. This is by far the best information on Contax Zeiss lenses on the internet. I’m not a filmmaker, but I’m an active photographer who mainly shoots with a Canon 6D . Presently, I have two Contax Zeiss lenses, the 28mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.7, both are MM. The 28mm is amazing at f8, and the 50mm is great to shoot at f2 as well as stopped down. I am planning on picking up an 85mm 2.8 MM in the near future, and after that, the 35-70mm zoom is a possibility. I think the lenses in the Contax line are the best bargain available today, especially when you compare the prices to the current Zeiss ZE lenses, and the Contax 2.8 lenses are the biggest bargain of all. It was also great to read the positive comments on this thread regarding the Leitax mount. Due to these endorsements, I plan to Leitax my Contax lenses in the near future. Anyway, thanks again for this great thread. It’s answered a number of my questions regarding Contax Zeiss lenses.
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Bill, glad this thread was so much help! Always great to see new fans of Contax glass! This thread keeps growing with new and fantastic finds...kind of love watching all its twists and turns.

And yes...the Leitax mounts are AMAZING. And the 85 2.8 is GREAT. One of my faves. Good luck!!
 
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Hello Nick
I have a 25 2.8, a 50 1.4 and a 135 2.8 all in MM versions. All of them show some colored fringing wide open in the out of focus areas (to be expected as I understand). Do you find this can be different between copies of the the same lens or are most Contax models consistent between copies overall?

Rick
 
Bill Walter said:
I just wanted to thank Nick Morrison for his Contax Zeiss Survival Guide and all the other contributors to this thread. This is by far the best information on Contax Zeiss lenses on the internet. I’m not a filmmaker, but I’m an active photographer who mainly shoots with a Canon 6D . Presently, I have two Contax Zeiss lenses, the 28mm 2.8 and the 50mm 1.7, both are MM. The 28mm is amazing at f8, and the 50mm is great to shoot at f2 as well as stopped down. I am planning on picking up an 85mm 2.8 MM in the near future, and after that, the 35-70mm zoom is a possibility. I think the lenses in the Contax line are the best bargain available today, especially when you compare the prices to the current Zeiss ZE lenses, and the Contax 2.8 lenses are the biggest bargain of all. It was also great to read the positive comments on this thread regarding the Leitax mount. Due to these endorsements, I plan to Leitax my Contax lenses in the near future. Anyway, thanks again for this great thread. It’s answered a number of my questions regarding Contax Zeiss lenses.
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Yey, another 6D and Contax user :) I just recently got my first Leitax and can't believe I've wasted time and money on first the cheap adapters and then the $60 ones.
 
Samir Patel said:
My MMJ was a #722xxxx for reference. My AEG is great and is a #600xxxx. Maybe it was an issue with the #722xxxx batch.
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Can anyone chime in on their 85mm 1.4 serial numbers that they are happy with? Also I prefer to hear about MM (Japanese) versions. :)

Seems like there are 6's and 7's, Sounds like 722's can be splashy from my experience, but I am open to opinions.

Thanks!
 
My 85mm f1.4 is #8412689

at f1.4 it blooms ever so slightly and looks gorgeous without being over the top. TOtally usable. At f2 it's completely sharp with none of the bloom at all. I love it to pieces.
 
Richard Luke said:
Hello Nick
I have a 25 2.8, a 50 1.4 and a 135 2.8 all in MM versions. All of them show some colored fringing wide open in the out of focus areas (to be expected as I understand). Do you find this can be different between copies of the the same lens or are most Contax models consistent between copies overall?

Rick
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Hey Richard, the only Contax I've owned exact duplicates of is the 50 1.4 MM, and both appeared to be very equivalent in performance. As these are pretty high performance designs (in their day, they were amongst the best on the market), I don't expect extreme variations. But there are some "known" variances. Some lenses improved from AE to MM (25 2.8, 28 2.8, 135 2.8, 180 2.8). However with the 25, the MM is considered by some a step "back" - the AE often gets rave reviews for it's rendering, whereas the MM often gets maligned for it's wide open peformance.

Hope this helps, at least a bit....
 
Hello all, I've been doing quite a lot of research for a "vintage" set of lenses, and this Topic convinced me to get a set of Contax (since I love the 80s-90s Zeiss "look") but I wanted to start with a Zoom lens, and I've set my mind on either the 35-70 or the 28-85, but I'm worried about color fringing on these lenses (which seems to be common) and I can't seem to tell which is best to start with... I mean, is the 35-70 range in the 28-85 lens as good as the 35-70 lens itself?

Thanks, cheers.
 
I've never used the 35-70 but I can hand on heart say the 28-85 is the single best value lens I have ever owned and since buying it I have ended up using it on every single production I have worked on, from corporates to music promos and features. It's a genuine workhorse lens to have as a mainstay which you can then flesh out with a few faster and/or wider/longer lenses for key shots.
 
Ben Scott said:
I've never used the 35-70 but I can hand on heart say the 28-85 is the single best value lens I have ever owned and since buying it I have ended up using it on every single production I have worked on, from corporates to music promos and features. It's a genuine workhorse lens to have as a mainstay which you can then flesh out with a few faster and/or wider/longer lenses for key shots.
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Agreed. I have quite a few Contax Zooms, and the 28-85 is the one we use the most. It's FANSTASTIC
 
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