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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

So, I tried to adapt an Aputure lensregain DEC speedbooster m4/3-EF, to C/Y Contax Zeiss zoom (28-85 and 80-200).
Some people discoraged me because of flange focal distance of only 1,5mm... can't work.

Instead I buyed a cheap C/Y-EF of Pixco and... it works perfectly: perfect focus from near to infinity!
So I don't have to buy another very costly Metabones speedbooster m4/3-C/Y! :)
 
I saw a few pages back that while most 18mm owners were lamenting the lack of filter threads, others claimed to have them. Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but wanted to note that when i saw an 18mm on ebay that came with an adapter ring that provided 86mm filter threads, I bought it immediately. It fits snugly over the front.

llqLYmP.jpg


rdYVj73.jpg
 
Yup, we have this same adapter. Only issue is most of our filters are 77mm, so we had to attach step-downs, which vignetted at 4K MX.

Once we got to Dragon, we opted for a new solution - RP lens made us a delrin 80OD ring that attached to our 18's front, and that's clampable with our Schneider 77mm hoods.

We use our 21mm so often the 18 gets almost no play, but yes - there are several ways todo this!

Congrats on this adapter - the are very hard to find.

Zak Forsman said:
I saw a few pages back that while most 18mm owners were lamenting the lack of filter threads, others claimed to have them. Forgive me if this is common knowledge, but wanted to note that when i saw an 18mm on ebay that came with an adapter ring that provided 86mm filter threads, I bought it immediately. It fits snugly over the front.

llqLYmP.jpg


rdYVj73.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I still need to cinemod my lenses so for science, I'm going to order all 3 caps to try them out. Send a few lenses to Duclos to snag their caps, send the rest to Peter at RP Lens to test out the Arriflex, and then order 1 cap from Cordvision to see how it compares.

Once I get I back my modded lenses, I'll report back.
 
Nick Morrison said:
I'm looking for a replacement for Peter's caps too. Not a huge fan of the Kaisers, not "tight" enough for my tastes.

Maybe I'll try Cordvisions new cap...
Click to expand...

This is going to sound like a joke, but the Kaiser caps respond like "Shrinky-Dinks" when you put them in a 300° oven for a few minutes. If they're a little loose, they shrink in diameter by a millimeter or two, or three. Just baked a 90mm cap last night, in fact, to fit my 18mm.
 
Zak Forsman said:
This is going to sound like a joke, but the Kaiser caps respond like "Shrinky-Dinks" when you put them in a 300° oven for a few minutes. If they're a little loose, they shrink in diameter by a millimeter or two, or three. Just baked a 90mm cap last night, in fact, to fit my 18mm.
Click to expand...

Wow! Does that really work? They are much cheaper than everything else suggested ... even with oven cost! :))
 
I was researching the 60mm makro and apparently there are four versions of the lens?
4gfwy.jpg


I found it from an old fredmiranda forum post: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1461311/0#13809925

So I know I want the 60mm Makro that does 1:1 magnification (and not the C-version), but is there any difference between the ones labeled S-Planar and just Makro-Planar?
For example on eBay there's the Makro Planar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Contax-Carl...328693?hash=item212a57f6f5:g:0oQAAOSwnK9ZP3qV

And then there's the S-Planar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Contax-60mm...750193?hash=item569d360371:g:LPQAAOSwjRpZXm41
 
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It's surely not the most accurate test in the history of tests, since I used one sample of each lens, and one shot per aperture only (lazy me...). But here is the comparison of the 100mm F2, 80-200mm F4 and 100-300mm F4.5-5.6 :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/collections/72157686594528216/

Those are 100% crops from a Sony A7R2, with default settings in Darktable (so there is a bit of sharpening). I have the same gallery to upload for 135mm (adding the 135mm F2.8 instead of the 100mm) and 200mm if you guys find that of any interest ! And I plan to do the same for 35mm (with the F1.4 and F2.8 Contax, the new F1.4 e-mount, the Canon FDn and Voigtlanger Nokton F1.4), and probably 50mm and 85mm for a few lenses, old Contax & shinny new autofocus ones.

The short version for 100mm : the 80-200 is a bit soft wide open, and needs to be closed down to F11 to be really good everywhere (I'm talking about pixel peeping on a 42MP image though). The 100mm F2 is already quite good wide open, better than the 80-200mm, and is really getting fantastic by closing a bit. Rock solid from F4. The 100-300mm is not a fast lens, but boys it delivers ! Really good wide open already, but really impressive for a zoom as soon as you close it a bit. At F8-F11, it's really a stunning lens, as good as the 100mm F2, everywhere. Its reputation is well deserved !
 
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I have tried just one sample, so indeed, mine could be softer. And my photos were at a quite long distance. It could be better at shorter distances. Plus I'm cropping from 42MP photos, so it's definitely making differences much bigger than they are in most cases !

Which aperture were you using if you remember ? Great shots by the way, especially as I find those zooms difficult to focus !

Some "real life" photos from my 80-200, without tripod and on an APS-C sensor :

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/33507943742/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/33280909020/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/33507958612/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smooth-bokeh/33507962012/

They look quite fine indeed, even if less sharp than yours I think.
 
Hi guys. What is the best grease to get for dampening the aperture ring? I'll be doing the mod myself.

I've already modded my lenses with Leitax EF mounts and Cordvision gears.
My set is:
21 f2.8 MMJ
28 f2 MMG
50 f1.4 MMJ
60 f2.8
85 f1.4 MMJ
35-70 zoom

Thank you.
 
Hey fellow contaxians. I managed to find a guy in my country that is willing to de-click and grease the lenses for me. I got him on the phone and he said that it should be no problem, however, he wondered how 'firm' I wanted the aperture ring. To be honest, I didn't know what to say... And it got me thinking, how 'firm' are your de-clicked lenses?
 
Matthew Benjamin Canada said:
Hi guys. What is the best grease to get for dampening the aperture ring? I'll be doing the mod myself.

I've already modded my lenses with Leitax EF mounts and Cordvision gears.
My set is:
21 f2.8 MMJ
28 f2 MMG
50 f1.4 MMJ
60 f2.8
85 f1.4 MMJ
35-70 zoom

Thank you.
Click to expand...

How much did you snag that 28mm f/2 MMG for? I've been searching all over for an MM, and only found 1 on eBay that's going for $1600 (almost double the price of an AE). Also is your 28mm a late serial number? The one MM I saw was still in the 61XXXXXX
 
Tony Yang said:
How much did you snag that 28mm f/2 MMG for? I've been searching all over for an MM, and only found 1 on eBay that's going for $1600 (almost double the price of an AE). Also is your 28mm a late serial number? The one MM I saw was still in the 61XXXXXX
Click to expand...

I picked it up for $1300 on ebay in 2016. MMG and it definitely does NOT have the ninja star at any aperture. serial 6157xxx.
Beautiful lens. Has some glow at f2 however which I hear is common for this lens?
 
Matthew Benjamin Canada said:
I picked it up for $1300 on ebay in 2016. MMG and it definitely does NOT have the ninja star at any aperture. serial 6157xxx.
Beautiful lens. Has some glow at f2 however which I hear is common for this lens?
Click to expand...

Man, the 28mm f/2 has by far the biggest price differential between the AE and MM versions. I'm also inclined to believe that late serial numbers in the 8XXXXXX of the lens don't exist, or all the owners will never put them up for sale.

After reading through a lot of the forum, I do believe the glow is quite common for most of the fast Contax lenses when wide open. I believe it's just a characteristic of these older lenses.
 
Just for a heads up: there is a 100-300mm up on German Ebay right now, seems in pristine condition: 192254417629

Starting price 890,- €, no bids yet.

BTW, I suppose some loss of contrast is quite normal for fast vintage lenses WO, coatings have been further improved since then.
Film was never as reflective as sensors are…

But, actually, in most cases it's rather a feature than a problem for me, given the sensitivity of current cameras and the freedom we have in grading.
 
Tony Yang said:
I was researching the 60mm makro and apparently there are four versions of the lens?
4gfwy.jpg


I found it from an old fredmiranda forum post: http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1461311/0#13809925

So I know I want the 60mm Makro that does 1:1 magnification (and not the C-version), but is there any difference between the ones labeled S-Planar and just Makro-Planar?
For example on eBay there's the Makro Planar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Contax-Carl...328693?hash=item212a57f6f5:g:0oQAAOSwnK9ZP3qV

And then there's the S-Planar: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Contax-60mm...750193?hash=item569d360371:g:LPQAAOSwjRpZXm41
Click to expand...

Interesting, I'd never realized there was an "early" version of the 60mm 2.8 1:1, that was 55mm.

Nevertheless, for mass consumption, there appears to be essentially two versions: the 1:1, or the 2:1.

I love the 60mm macro, btw.
 
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