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Contax Zeiss Survival Guide

Craig J Marshall said:
Metabones have always had a C/Y to E-Mount 'Speed Booster' available so you could use that. It would restore your Contax original FF field of view to the Fs7, improve your MTF and gain you an additional stop of light in the process.
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Wow I completely overlooked that while browsing the Metabones site? and why is it only $99 compared to the average of 300-400? I am now curious to know, is it better to just Leitax or use adapters. What do you all recommend for use of ZC's on multiple camera systems?
 
liam howlett said:
Wow I completely overlooked that while browsing the Metabones site? and why is it only $99 compared to the average of 300-400? I am now curious to know, is it better to just Leitax or use adapters. What do you all recommend for use of ZC's on multiple camera systems?
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I personally like EOS because it's so universal. E-mount is mirrorless and not as flexible if you ever need to shoot on mirror-spaced mounts (Nikon, Canon, etc).

And Leitax is the strongest stills mount Ive ever seen.
 
So to Leitax then. Any recommendations of where I can get them adapted on the East coast?
 
liam howlett said:
Wow I completely overlooked that while browsing the Metabones site? and why is it only $99 compared to the average of 300-400? I am now curious to know, is it better to just Leitax or use adapters. What do you all recommend for use of ZC's on multiple camera systems?
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I think you are confusing the two devices. The Metabones 'Speed Booster' includes an optical element which performs the FoV and MTF compensation I mentioned before so it is priced accordingly, whilst the $99 adapter is simply a 'dumb' adapter.

BTW, what mount does a ZC lens use? Native C/Y?
 
Yes, there are both a dumb adapter and the Speedboster optical version for Contax C/Y. The dumb adapter is quite a bit more expensive than cheap Chinese stuff, but the precision is much better too.

I own the Metabones Speedbooster adapter from Contax to E-Mount and it works perfectly fine for me (I don't have the 21mm, though).

@Craig: What do jo mean by ZC lens? Carl Zeiss Jena, maybe? They come in M42 thread mount and Pentagon bayonet.
 
Some more contax grabs!

Some more contax grabs!

Been off this thread for a while...sorry about that. Here are some more straight from camera contax grabs for you guys from a recent Feature I DP'd. Used the 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses used. All on the MoVI M10. Enjoy!




























 
As always, Chris's material looks stunning. Here's something at the other end of the spectrum: over the past two weeks, I cut and uploaded a suite of short 'cameos' to help promote a series of rail enthusiast tours I'm guiding to Taiwan and Japan. The entire series of clips were shot on Contax, mated to S-35 via a Speed Booster to restore the lens' original Field of View.

We travelled to Taiwan during one week of dreadful weather last October, where I took only the 21mm, 28-85mm and 80-200mm. It was my first real shoot on those three lenses and as you can imagine, the 21mm has become my new best friend! 'Taipingshan' was entirely shot on the 21, (in the rain & mist at 5000') whilst 'Alishan Shay #31' we all on the remarkable 28-85 and I managed some glorious extreme telephoto scenes with the 80-200 in 'Fenchihu Station')

Take a look: (it will help if you are a 'railfan') https://www.youtube.com/user/ozsteam

There's always room for improvement, but given our 'run-n-gun' situation and Youtube's dreadful compression, they don't look too bad streamed at 1080P to our Sony X9005B 4K 55" 'client' monitor.
 
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worked great! was really easy to do.

the 25mm isn't as good as the 21 or 28 2.8 wide open. it's still sharp, just not as sharp as those two. wide open, the 25 has a quality that's similar to the 1.4's wide open.
 
Antoine Dixon-Bellot said:
Nick, this guide is amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up.
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My pleasure!

To be honest, the collective brain trust on this thread has been my favorite outcome of the guide, and what I'm most moved by. We've all built this together, and the communal spirit on this thread is a testament not just to the collaborative nature of filmmaking, but the collaborative nature of filmmakers themselves.

Can't wait to see what 2016 holds!
 
Well said Nick. But it was you who started this thread and you who posted all that incredible insight on the Contax Zeiss lenses. I refer to it often. Thank you and thanks to everyone that contribute to this thread. Lets keep it going.
 
Here are a few frames I shot just before the holidays. Just a slight grade for the dailies but no sharpening. Lab frames 85mm f2.8 4 split. , other frame 25mm f 2.8
 

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Fantastic shots Chris!

Been off here a while as well. Picked up an 80-200 f/4 (wow, that close focus distance is crazy) in great condition recently and will probably get the 60mm S-Macro very soon as well. Question to all the seasoned Contax veterans though. I'm looking to finalize my cine-mod. I have 10 Leitax mounts and 10 Cordvision rings lying around in a box at home. Been waiting to get the Op/Tech weather-sealed rear lenscaps at the same time as front 80mm lens caps. I know a lot of you have been recommending Adorama's own 80mm front lens caps as being some of the best but also the cheapest out there.

The problem is they don't make them anymore. They've sporadically had them in stock once since they stopped making them, but it was impossible to order more than 6 or something. I also take a huge issue with Adorama only offering one shipping policy overseas which is waaay more than the lens caps themselves.

So, my question is this. Can anyone recommend any other 80mm front lens caps that are high quality, fit snug on the Cordvision Cine-rings, and aren't too expensive (I'd love to get real Arriflex lens caps but I'm not paying the price of another lens for 10 lens caps)? I know someone recommended binocular lens caps earlier in the thread, but I can't find it now and reduser's search function has never really agreed with me :(
 
Oscar Stegland said:
Fantastic shots Chris!

Been off here a while as well. Picked up an 80-200 f/4 (wow, that close focus distance is crazy) in great condition recently and will probably get the 60mm S-Macro very soon as well. Question to all the seasoned Contax veterans though. I'm looking to finalize my cine-mod. I have 10 Leitax mounts and 10 Cordvision rings lying around in a box at home. Been waiting to get the Op/Tech weather-sealed rear lenscaps at the same time as front 80mm lens caps. I know a lot of you have been recommending Adorama's own 80mm front lens caps as being some of the best but also the cheapest out there.

The problem is they don't make them anymore. They've sporadically had them in stock once since they stopped making them, but it was impossible to order more than 6 or something. I also take a huge issue with Adorama only offering one shipping policy overseas which is waaay more than the lens caps themselves.

So, my question is this. Can anyone recommend any other 80mm front lens caps that are high quality, fit snug on the Cordvision Cine-rings, and aren't too expensive (I'd love to get real Arriflex lens caps but I'm not paying the price of another lens for 10 lens caps)? I know someone recommended binocular lens caps earlier in the thread, but I can't find it now and reduser's search function has never really agreed with me :(
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Cordvision also makes lens caps in two versions. One is fairly snug, the other very snug. I have one on the way along with an 80mm front ring. I have officially taken the bait and jumped into the Contax waters, first up is a 50mm F1.4. Probably going to end up building this set slowly but hoping to get a 35 and 85 soonish.
 
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