Should I rehouse my Contax Zeiss super speed lenses?

[Ryan Bergeron]

Does anyone have an interest in shooting these bad larry's?

I currently have the 15, 21, 35, 50, 85, 135

 

[RobMNeilson]

They are nice lenses, but for the price of rehousing it might make more sense to buy some more modern PL glass and sell this set.

 

[M Harvey]

If you're asking if it's worth it for purpose of renting to other DPs, I'd guess chances of making your money back aren't great. They have a great look, but in my area it's not hard to rent other vintage Zeiss lenses at a reasonable cost. (New York City, and $200-700/day, ranging from partial set of Zeiss Standards to full set of Zeiss Super Speeds.) I might rent them from you-- but only if they're cheaper than "the real thing."

If it's for your own personal use on jobs or otherwise, that's a tougher call, comes down to taste and budget. I think they'd probably make a great all-around "daily driver" set, but depends what your market is-- could be that Rokinon or Sigma or Zeiss CP3 are a better way to spend the money if it's just about having a reliable set of lenses with proper mechanics for jobs where they don't budget separately for lens rentals.

I guess the middle way is just to cine-mod them-- hard mount to your desired form (e.g. EF), add focus gear, if desired declick aperture and add standard front rings for matte box. Much cheaper than a rehouse, but with a significant amount of the functionality.