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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

Nick Morrison said:
For quick doc work, these are work great. And the bokeh on the 80-200 is lovely, don't ya think?
Click to expand...

The 80-200 indeed looks really nice. I won an auction for one on eBay, for 111€, in a REALLY good condition. Not need to tell you that I had the feeling I was robbing the guy ;)
I find the lens a bit hard to focus at infinity (I used it mostly for landscape photos for now), and of course, it's really big compared to all my other Zeiss lenses. I didn't even try any portrait with it, I guess I'm a bit too spoiled by the primes ;)

And I still hope to find a 100-300, I need a bit more reach (anybody wanna help a poor desperate french man to improve his Zeiss set ? :-P )
 
Francois, I have a 21 and a 100-300 both boxed, mint / new old stock,
I was planning to hold on to these since very unique in this condition
but I currently need MiniMags more so if you want to trade or buy these let me know ;)
 
Ahhh Tommaso, now you are talking to my heart ! Mint condition means that they must be expensive though, can you give me some details / photos ? (for the 100-300mm please, I'm drooling on the 21, but it's definitely too expensive for my needs). I don't think I have anything to trade with you unfortunately (even if... my 80-200... I won't keep both zooms, but I was kinda planning to compare them).

You are in Italy right ? It would be great, taxes are a killer for purchases on eBay.
 
Adam Pavelka said:
Hi Guys, just wondering if its ok to buy ebay lens from Japan. There is lot of Contaxes with superb price and mint condition, but not sure if its not whack. Let me know
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Sure. We got at least 50% of our primes and zooms from ebay sellers in Japan. Only the ones with thousands of sales, and near 100% approval ratings though.
 
Nick Morrison said:
Sure. We got at least 50% of our primes and zooms from ebay sellers in Japan. Only the ones with thousands of sales, and near 100% approval ratings though.
Click to expand...

I've tried to always buy from 100% sellers but have had some bad luck. 35 had oil on the blades, 28f2 that had a super stiff barrel, 28f2 that had a scratch on the front element. None of that was covered in their descriptions. One time they even shipped the wrong lens. I would def say yes to buying more from japan but I look very closely at the pictures and I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes it's the only way to put together a set but I def prefer buying in the us from individual owners. I've also bought from keh as well but they're not super good about checking everything. Maybe I'm just crazy when it comes to making sure they're clean. The good news is, you can return anything from ebay and keh at no cost if its not as they described. I don't like to do it but at least you know you're not going to lose your money.
 
Ted Parkes said:
This might seem like a simple question and something I could search out myself but I thought I would check here. I recently tried the Metabones Speed booster Ultra with my Leitax converted Contax and the aperture tab hits the electronics of the Speed booster holding the lens wide open. Is there a Metabones Speed booster that doesn't do this? Is the only option the straight mount adapter I have been using?
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This is only the case with the newer speedboosters. I have the original EF-E Metabones Speedbooster and there are no mounting issues.
 
Jason Kattides said:
This is only the case with the newer speedboosters. I have the original EF-E Metabones Speedbooster and there are no mounting issues.
Click to expand...

I have the newer bmpcc metabones ef speedbooster and I had to file all my contax tabs down other wise they scrape the speedbooster. They also catch on your canon dslr mirror as well.
 
After shooting a few photos hand held on an APS-C body, I really find the 80-200mm difficult to focus at very long distance (which probably doesn't affect most of you much !). At close range, it's fine, the focus throw is great. But it gets really sensitive at longer distances ! If anybody has used both the 80-200 and 100-300 enough, could you tell me if the 100-300 is the same ?

Still a very fine lens for the price. I would really need a tripod or optical stab to get better photos on a small sensor (300mm after all !). But I still managed to get decent shots from this little combo. The bokeh is really quite nice for this price ! A little bit of work with CA, but it's really easy to process those photos.

33507943742_a3e71e5ae4_k_d.jpg


https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/albums/72157678547173503
 
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I'm currently assembling a set of Contax lenses - thank you so much Nick for the valuable input - and got the Hollywood, the 50 1.4 and the 85 1.4 so far.

Looking towards a 135mm, I'm wondering if there are 135mm 2.8 AEG ones out there as all within the lower serial numbers I'm looking for (59XX XXX to 61XX XXX) seem to be made in Japan. Only German f/2 ones out there. I only seem to find Japanese 135mm 2.8. Could it be like the 50mm 1.4 that it was only built in Japan?

By the way, if anybody wants to sell Contax lenses, I'm looking forward to expand my set!
 
Francois T. said:
After shooting a few photos hand held on an APS-C body, I really find the 80-200mm difficult to focus at very long distance (which probably doesn't affect most of you much !). At close range, it's fine, the focus throw is great. But it gets really sensitive at longer distances ! If anybody has used both the 80-200 and 100-300 enough, could you tell me if the 100-300 is the same ?

Still a very fine lens for the price. I would really need a tripod or optical stab to get better photos on a small sensor (300mm after all !). But I still managed to get decent shots from this little combo. The bokeh is really quite nice for this price ! A little bit of work with CA, but it's really easy to process those photos.

33507943742_a3e71e5ae4_k_d.jpg


https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/albums/72157678547173503
Click to expand...

Looks amazing!
 
Andreas Eymannsberger said:
I'm currently assembling a set of Contax lenses - thank you so much Nick for the valuable input - and got the Hollywood, the 50 1.4 and the 85 1.4 so far.

Looking towards a 135mm, I'm wondering if there are 135mm 2.8 AEG ones out there as all within the lower serial numbers I'm looking for (59XX XXX to 61XX XXX) seem to be made in Japan. Only German f/2 ones out there. I only seem to find Japanese 135mm 2.8. Could it be like the 50mm 1.4 that it was only built in Japan?

By the way, if anybody wants to sell Contax lenses, I'm looking forward to expand my set!
Click to expand...

I think all the 135 2.8's were made in Japan, yup.
 
Anyone see the making of PLANET EARTH 2?

Looked they were rocking RED EPIC DRAGONs, Ronin's, and CONTAX PRIMES!

I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw the lenses!

So cool!
 
Has anyone tried the C/Y to E-Mount speedbooster? Would be great to know if that works as I'm thinking about trading in my Loxias (which I looooove) for a Contax set (so I can also use them on my Red Epic-W).
 
The 18mm doesn't fit, the 25 does. I can't comment on the 21.
The optical quality is quite nice, I have the second generation, called "Ultra".
 
Just received my 100-300mm from Tommaso, in a really mint condition. Can't wait to try it and compare with my 80-200mm. But it looks so new that I'm hesitating to simply unbox it ;)

The package was terrific, it was a pleasure to deal with him. If you want to purchase anything from him, don't hesitate folks ! Worry free transaction !
 
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