No comparison. Great help. While this site is targeted to adapting Zeiss Contax lenses for video, it also seems to be the go-to guide for the rest of us with respect to these lenses. cinema5D GmbH, Kranzgasse 22/9-10, A-1150 Vienna, Austria. Im a big fan of these lenses and have been building my own set for the last few years, but Im nowhere close to creating a buyers guide, so Im very happy that a good friend of VLFV, Tito Ferradans has written the amazing guide below, which doesnt just introduce and explain various aspects of ContaxZeisslenses but will also show you how to tune them up for video use! I got all my standard 80mm fronts from him, as well as slip-on lens caps. Contax I. After WW2, Zeiss was split asunder in TWO. It was not a problem as a starter set. LensFinder | NEW way to buy & sell OLD lenses. In mint condition, comes with lens hood. The Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/28 T* enjoys a very good reputation and it is a bit more expensive at around 250. Also ZF/ZE's tend to. The Contax Zeiss version fetches $800 on eBay but there's a $60 wolf in sheep's clothing called the Pentax PK 28mm F2.0 which has a fascinating story behind . They are made in Spain, cost about 60 euros each and you install them on the back of the lenses using the provided screws. You have to admit they look sexy. Remember me Log in Forgot password or user name? remained behind in the ruins of the city of Jena, trapped behind the Iron Curtain. It was intended to be a cheaper alternative. I'm not too sure where they got their findings, but apparently this was a series of tests possibly published on Zeiss's website. However, the optical quality of the Contaxs is certainly very close to ZF/ZEs and many of the designs appear to have only subtly changed over the years, in particular the 21 2.8, 34 1.4, 50 1.4, and 85 1.4. Otherwise, you should notice no optical or mechanical difference between the two lines. He's obsessed with the technical aspects of his projects and how each piece of glass in front of the sensor will affect the final look. I remember someone doing a test a when the epic first came with stills lenses and noticed it too. You can either build a $1500 set or a $10000 set and youll always impress with the results. smc super takumar lenses are often more available and significantly cheaper than the Contax. In terms of a look, weve shot with both and there is a clear difference to me. I'm sure its just due to copy variation and the years its weathered but pretty disappointing. The screws on the back of the lenses are tiny, and if you strip them, you cant get the new mount into place. The bokeh behaves differently than with Sonnars and Planars and I find these can give the image an interesting look. It was a time when I didnt shoot much, but I went on long bike rides. It offers the advantage of one of the most sophisticated fully automatic through-the-lens exposure control available during the late seventies. I was not impressed, so I decided to make my own. What's the best camera for shooting sports and action? The Contax I was Zeiss' answer to Leica's offerings in the 35mm market, one . Landmine Media, LLC. You can use the code CINE at check out for a nifty discount! In my experience, ALL AEs have the Ninja-Star. Eventually will spring for 135/2.8. check out the. I paid around $250.00 for my 35-70/3.4 and around $800.00 for my 21/2.8 both in mint condition! Leica Rs are much prettier. All I ever had so far was a Canon backpack and that is not a safe way to transport this grade of gear everywhere. If you dont have a 3d-printer, Im selling all the gears I made for my set on eBay! There are MMG lenses out there I was weary of that for quite a while, since its not mentioned clearly anywhere. On almost all shoots weve done with Contax lenses, where we have used other glass, be it Leica Rs or Canon EOS, every time the DP has noticed that the waveforms jump. Or do what I did and find an affordable Standard Prime 16mm T2. Because Contax is actually one of the most storied names in photography. To fit the barrel of the lens, use a caliper and be precise about it. So far, I had no previous love for Contax and a little bit of prejudice against Zeiss for making lenses too clean. Its also quite similar to the modern 15/2.8 ZF/ZE offered by Zeiss, just a 2/3 stops slower. I always took the 135 with me and some of my favorite photos come from that time. Only thing I can add to those going the Contax Zeiss route, is that it is important to understand that because of the age of this lenses, despite their . Your 50/1.7 is an AE lens, based on it's serial number and lack of green last numbersince made in Japan, it is an AEJ. Time. Plus, fitting these is never a one-slip move. Conveniently for me as I was finishing the set, SIMMOD Lens came into the picture, with very competitive prices, impressive customer service and super high-quality products. As they were designed for photography, they have clicked stops, which has to be dealt with, but they all feature non-rotating front elements, which is a very valuable feature these days with vari NDs. I have no idea why this is so and why they continue to sell this dog which takes until at least 2.8 to get reasonably sharp. Contax Zeiss should be on your radar for a couple of reasons. These babies were bleeding me dry. But dont expect them to have the even performance of a set of Ultraprimes or Masterprimes (where many of the primes are not only similar in size and weight, but also perform similarly at matching T stops!). Mar 18, 2014 at 04:52 PM I also added the f-stop for each lens and its minimum focus in meters and feet. I needed a proper case! You can skip ahead and read that HERE. . ALL of my MMs do NOT have the Ninja-Star, so Im going to say this is a Maxim. If you want something ready to use from the get-go, Id say this is not for you. The only thing I could maybe do later is update the markings on each lens with fluorescent paint like what you see here, by Moritz Schierenbeck on VLFVs facebook group. But if you want SPECIFIC tailored performance, than RPPs, Cookes, or Ultraprimes are probably a better choice (for many times the budget). MM's from 1984 to 2005. It provides basically the same information on the AE lenses as the 'current' Zeiss data sheets do for the MM lenses. They have more saturated colors, deeper blacks. Or buy Supers. The 'Contax craze' is 15 years old and dates back to the introduction of the Canon 5D which was the first affordable full frame sensor. On my set some were MMJ, others AEG. After that, B&H and ADORAMA are great choices. I reached out to David at Hardcases.ca and got both a Nanuk 918 with padded dividers and a Nanuk 904 with foam to fit these babies. Thats where my obsession started. You can also tell their place of manufacture based on whats written on the lens! After I read stellar reviews about the 28mm f/2.0 Hollywood, I went looking for one. I started with the 28mm. This was a game changer. The main difference being that a normal human can afford Contax Zeiss but not Leicas. The Standards were w/out a doubt the sharpest wide open. To me, Contax are a GREAT way to affordably get a very real cinematic look from a golden age in Zeiss optics. Does not come with any adapter. Fairly "affordable" as well. The original CONTAX RTS was introduced in ,highly advanced electronic SLR system camera developed by mutual cooperation of Carl Zeiss, West Germany, and Yashica, Japan. Conveniently for me as I was finishing the set, SIMMOD Lens came into the picture, with very competitive prices, impressive customer service and super high-quality products. One thing that the push-pull nature of the zooms helps with, is snap-zooms. Things can still look beautiful, but Zeisss philosophy is not to make things pretty, but to be true. These lenses thread the fine line between organic and sharp, a line as thin as depth of field on an 85/1.2 wide open, only second to Leica. Just to be clear (think you left that part out, haha). They cover full frame, are super easy to adapt to many other mounts and never lose their value. We're Noct messing around with this review. Because the wides are slow, you will almost certainly need to compliment your kit with a Tokina/Duclos 11-16 2.8. What's the word on that lens? It had five lenses: 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.4 and 135/2.8. So I kept using an adapter on that one (the best adapter I had). The 135mm f/2.8 was a great lens. Theyre fully manual focus and aperture -, have solid metal construction, long focus throw, and a great feel overall. I needed the one extra stop of light though, for consistent f/2 or faster through the main set. If I know Im not gonna need either the 15 and the 60, I just dont take their case with me. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide In reply to Giovanni_1968 9 months ago While this site is targeted to adapting Zeiss Contax lenses for video, it also seems to be the go-to guide for the rest of us with respect to these lenses. All times are GMT-8. This one was only made in Japan and it doesnt exist in AE, just MM. (Heres where I beleive the Leica Rs have a clear advantage, their 19mm is a 2.8which is pretty amazing). That would be asking a lot of these budget lenses. On the 918 I keep the main six lenses of the set plus variable NDs and other filters. I was just ahead of the game, so it wasnt necessary on my case. These are creative tools, use them as such. Also the low-con coating does give you more latitude. What an amazing amount of learningand research condensed and shared. Nick, awesome thread. The Super Nettel was based on the Contax I, with the same kind of shutter but a folding body, a fixed lens, and a short-based rangefinder. The 180 is cleaner, sharper and technically better. E) They are very easy to cinemod. Are usually 2.8. Contax also made very impressive Zooms. Only 4 lenses were "officially" improved during the jump to MM: the 25 2.8, 28 2.8, 135 2.8, and 135 f2. I like to add 0.3mm to the measurement to give me a little wiggle room after printing. It doesnt really ever pop up on my 25 2.8, 28 f2, 50 1.4, or 135 2.8. We've selected a group of cameras that are easy to keep with you, and that can adapt to take photos wherever and whenever something memorable happens. It was released in 1932. Those ocasional shots where you need to SNAP from one extreme focal length to another. @Yean: I'm 99 % sure it's the adapter then. length (call Peter at RP lens, he can help), but if you can get them on your RED, they are also fantastic budget options. Standard lens, cant really make a set without a 35mm in it, right? The 15/3.5 took the cake though. We noticed this specifically on a shoot where we mixed Leica Rs and Contaxs, and the Contaxs def gave us about a stop extra in latitude. It's taken me a few years to build this set, and I absolutely love the look I get from them The 21mm is still regarded as one of the best wide angle lenses you can buy, hence why it is one of . If thats your deal, then you will love Leica Rs. Would love to check out the Hollywood, but $$. Contax Zeiss lenses are the gems for sharp yet vintage glass. Landmine Media, LLC. Brilliant job Nick. It had five lenses: 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.4 and 135/2.8. Posts; Latest Activity; Photos . Thats when I learned of Leitax and their mount replacements. So far I had been using adapters on them, and they sucked. Sony Information & communications technology Technology . Its history criss-crosses wars, politics, and conjures up the never-ending battles between Leica and Zeiss. The AE's are no longer serviced by Zeiss, keep that in mind. If you wanna follow this path, theres no way to dodge reading the Survival Guide. My favorite lens switched to the 85/1.4 after that, though. Learn how your comment data is processed. You can spot an MM if the last number on your aperture ring is. Another major advantage to the Contaxs is the sheer SIZE of the lineup. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. Also, Super Speeds are a 1.2/1.4 at 18mm and 25mm. The issue that came up from was the stickers were having a hard time sticking to the material of the lens caps and were peeling off on their own. The 21/2.8 was a must. See the photo below! The wides are slow. Last point on the focus gears: the same way you always want to have a constant outside diameter, you want to place them on the lenses at the same distance from the mount. Each page with eight stickers cost me about $10. You can tell them apart because MM have their last aperture number painted green, and they have a small tab on the mount that doesnt exist on AEs. Be patient, use heat and sandpaper, and youll get there. All Time Today Last Week Last Month. Family moments are precious and sometimes you want to capture that time spent with loved ones or friends in better quality than your phone can manage. Really haven't tested it enough, but the color rendering of the 85mm f2.8 really seems to have some special magic. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. Its a very charming (or annoying, depending on your POV) design to the aperture blades that looks like a crooked ninja throwing star. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. (Nick hope you don't mind my piggy-back!). But Leica Rs are certainly more expensive, so take that into consideration if you are on a budget. The two specialty lenses the 15/3.5 super wide and 60/2.8 macro go on the smaller 904 case. Their disadvantages are that they don't have matching T stops (hey, theyre still lenses!). On digital, these things are a home run, like Standards and Super Speeds. The price was pretty good and Im the type of person that can buy something just because the price is good. I met amazing businesses with folks that really know how to deal with their customers, I did try out mindblowing glass and I was humbled by all the feedback I got when asking questions about what would be my best options in the middle of the process and posting updates of what I was working on. For a little over a year, this was enough. 80mm is the outside diameter of the rings, and that number is so specific because its a standard size for clip-on matteboxes. In this buying guide weve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing around $2000 and recommended the best. Well done mate. After I got the five Contax I went to look for more info and found Nick Morrison's Contax Zeiss Survival Guide at REDUser. All Time Today Last Week Last Month. They rack focus beautifully. But on CERTAIN LENSES (with wide barrels) you def see it prominently at your SECOND and THIRD F-stop position (counting wide open as your FIRST position), For example, I notice it by far the most on my 35 1.4 and 85 1.4. The most up-to-date guide to almost every Contax lens ever made. Show. I'm only saying that because the guys on the photography forums use these charts to compare numbers with other lenses they all refer to that page as the 'source'. C) They have the older Zeiss T* coating that we also find on Hasselblads, Super Speeds and Standardsand as such have a more organic rendering on digital than ZF/ZE/CP2s. Almost six months after I wrote this guide, I decided to update it with a quick survey of what lenses to consider - a general overview of the Contax lineup, if you will. Im still weighing if I need it or not. And. Stay current with regular CineD updates about news, reviews, how-tos and more. In Contax, that corresponds to all lenses 35mm and wider (down to 15mm). http://www.pebbleplace.com/Personal/Contax_db.html, QuineCore Question - how to solve your production woes, If this is your first visit, be sure to $2 each. Sharp wide open and has a floating element. 300 g Possibilities of combining Carl Zeiss lenses with Mutarconverters for use with the ContaxSLR camera system Carl Zeiss Photoobjektive D-73446 Oberkochen Telephone (07364) 20-6175 Fax (07364) 20-4045 eMail: photo@zeiss.de http://www.zeiss.de All times are GMT-8. If you wanna follow this path, theres no way to dodge reading the Survival Guide. My attempt to be as thorough as possible! Easy to see which one I loved the most back in 2015. I personally own the 35mm and the 50mm. If you want something ready to use from the get-go, Id say this is not for you. D) They are very easy to adapt to EOS mount. Filter. 18mm is way too close to 21mm, plus lots of reviews mention its not-impressive performance. Now Im gonna move into streamlining it for shooting and making it the best possible lenses to handle on set. In my experience, Japanese and German lenses are equally good. Quite remarkable sharpness at F2.8 for such a small and cheap lens. The data provided and the newsletter opening statistics will be stored on a personal data basis until you unsubscribe. Not saying the 135/2 isnt worth it the investment, its just much heavier and harder to carry as a walk-around lens. At T2 they beat out Supers and Contaxes. I reached out to David at Hardcases.ca and got both a Nanuk 918 with padded dividers and a Nanuk 904 with foam to fit these babies. So do you still wonder if Contax lenses are worth looking into? In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting sports and action, and recommended the best. Impressive performance and also the fastest 35mm I ever owned. THE CONTAX LENS GUIDE - 2015 EDITION The most up-to-date guide to almost every Contax lens ever made. Then Nick Morrison went on and on and on about the 35-70. That was rad :). Contax Zeiss lenses are the gems for sharp yet vintage glass. . I havent tested these much yet, and I ended up not doing standard outside diameters. Zeiss was making Hasselblad lenses for Medium Format. I prefer the FOV of a 25, but for the budget.the 28mm is amazing. The main difference being that a normal human can afford Contax Zeiss but not Leicas. The rubber grip on the focus ring of the lenses is awesome because it prevents the gears from sliding, but its also a pain because it makes the fitting a lot harder. Heres the answer to all of this, broken down. We case our eye over the options costing more than $2500 but less than $4000, to find the best all-rounder. Also almost twice as big and heavy as the previous one. The more opinions you have, the less you see. thanks Nick im building Contax set in soon :). This is another trick to make lens swaps faster, since you wont need to adjust your follow focus back and forth on the rig. Having them separate also gives me versatility on pricing, since the main set can still go out without them for a more accessible price. Enjoy! Theyre killer tools for video, but in order to achieve maximum performance, theres a number of steps and procedures to tackle. to use CONTAX RTS glass interchangeably alongside PL glass, such as Contaxs cinema cousins, Super Speeds and Standard Speeds. I took this question to Instagram again and got really good arguments for both sides. Zeiss AE lens information I found a link to this awesome Zeiss Contax lens brochure, dated October 1975 (12 MB). If you do have a printer, I made a tutorial on how to make focus gears! Wide open it's one of the sharpest F2.0 wide angle lenses available and it has very little distortion. That's what I'm thinking, though no official sources have been cited on the tests, it may have been pulled from articles or done independently, not sure. Contax have a bit less contrast, and flare more. You know, like a cine lens! When designing your focus gears, keep the number of teeth constant for all the lenses. Take or leave it. So I sand the inside down a bit and try again. And they all have a very wide focus throw compared to other still lenses. Im from Bangladesh. makes SPECTACULAR permanent mounts for $75 (Duclos uses these, nuff said). Collapse. Sometimes you have to go with what you can get your hands on. There are a lot of photo/video cameras that have found a role as B-cameras on professional film productions or even A-cameras for amateur and independent productions. As photography slowly shifted from rangefinder to SLR, Contax was. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide In reply to Giovanni_1968 Nov 30, 2021 While this site is targeted to adapting Zeiss Contax lenses for video, it also seems to be the go-to guide for the rest of us with respect to these lenses. As always very much appreciated. Its also a big change in size and weight, almost doubling its predecessor. Eastern Zeiss instead consolidated all their smaller name brands into PENTACON. So where Contax wins in coverage (they are FULL FRAME, and will cover Dragon and beyond), they lose out in speed (they are F4 at 18mm! This makes life easier when grabbing gear to go out and renting it as well. Give the AC a good follow focus and a . thanks for the info! Originally launched in 1932 as a rangefinder system to compete with - you guessed it. This will ensure a constant outside diameter, which means you dont have to adjust your follow focus every time you change lenses. Informative and equally hilarious in parts :) I'm sure it will prove a resource for many many people over the years. So far I had been using adapters on them, and they sucked. These have less elements (6?). To fix that I took the stickers off, added a thin layer of glue, put the stickers back in place and let it all dry overnight. It was the most expensive lens in the set and it shares a lot of the beautiful look of the 28/2 Hollywood. You can also tell their place of manufacture based on whats written on the lens! So all you do is get a Cine Ring with the rear thread of your lens and thats gonna make it standard! I was not impressed, so I decided to make my own. - Contax was created by Zeiss subsidiary Zeiss Ikon. Distagon, Planar, Sonnar, Tessar, Biogon and Hologon. By giving you that extra latitude in the blacks and highlights, they were letting photographers dial in how much black and contrast they wanted later in the dark roomwhen they were printing. The price was pretty good and Im the type of person that can buy something just because the price is good. I shipped all of them to SIMMOD for declicking and a quick checkup. See the photo below! This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. The first one is AE and the second one is MM. And needed a new line of lenses for 35mm still photography. X. X. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. The Sony FE 2/28 is brand new and the most expensive one at 450. i want contax set for ef mount how can i buy? Im sure that approach had similar benefits with cinema lenses and Hasselblads. are considered to be the best removable adapters ($90). Copyright 2023 Vintage Lenses For Video. I have used the Nikon 85 1.4, Sony Carl Zeiss 85 and 135, Mino 85, Sigma 85, Canon 85 1.2 for reference. The only differences are minor ones in the coating and aperture shape which I'll go into below. They focus the right way, have an aperture ring, and the focus rotation on many lenses reaches 180 degrees. One last note on their generations, MMs were mostly made in Japan, so theyre called MMJs, while AEs were made in Germany and named AEGs. May be one of the sharpest Contax primes ever made. Whats the best camera for around $2000? Some folks consider several of the Zeiss Contax Yashica lenses to be very similar to the real Super Speed. 15 3.5, 16 2.8 FISHEYE, 18 f4, 21 2.8, 25 2.8, 28 f2, 28 2.8, 35 1.4, 35 2.8, 45 2.8, 50 1.4, 50 1.7, 55 1.2, 60 2.8 Macro, 85 1.2, 85 1.4, 85 2.8, 100 f2, 100 2.8 Macro, 100 3.5, 135 f2, 135 2.8, 180 2.8, 200 f2, 200 3.5, 200 f4, 300 2.8, 300 f4, 500 5.6, 500 f8, 1000 f8, 28-85 3.3-f4, 35-70 3.3, 35-135 3.3-4.5, 80-200 f4, 100-300 4.5-5.6, 40-80 f4, 70-210 3.3. I would jump on it in a heart-beat. The questions get dizzying. I already talked about the mount replacements and focus gears, so Im left with standard fronts and de-clicking. Then I sent that to be printed at StickerYou in vinyl stickers. Like ZF/ZEs, they have fantastic barrel rotations (often 180 degrees or more). Distance between first and last lens vertex: 33.6 mm 51.8 mm Weight: approx. The issue that came up from was the stickers were having a hard time sticking to the material of the lens caps and were peeling off on their own. Its a gradual process, guys. Posts; Latest Activity; Photos . I thought I knew a bit but I just learned so much! AE lenses also show ninja-star bokeh when stopped down, which is a major turnoff for some folks. Zeiss made the jump to MM's in order to enable camera control of the aperture. :) Thanks buddy. As they were designed for photography, they have clicked stops, which has to be dealt with, but they all feature non-rotating front elements, which is a very valuable feature these days with vari NDs. Mirrorless Camera of the Year 2022 & Other Camera Candidates, Adobe Firefly for Video Announced Bringing Generative AI to Creative Cloud, CineD NAB 2023 Best of Show Awards go to DJI, frame.io, FUJIFILM, LumenArc and ZHIYUN, CineD at NAB 2023 - Visit our Booth, Win Prizes. Renting Komodo ST, Helium, Gemini, Alexa Mini, Phantom VEO4K, break down into purple splotches when they flare, http://www.ebay.de/itm/Contax-Carl-Z#ht_500wt_1156, dittok One Stop RAW Visual Production Service, If this is your first visit, be sure to The Minolta MC 2/28 is the oldest and fastest of the bunch, it was introduced in 1975. check out the. Or get a Duclos/Tokina 11-16. The mount is exactly the same, and barring a couple of exceptionsALL the lens designs are the same. Every time I had to pick a lens I went for the 35mm f/2.8 instead. Its also quite similar to the modern 15/2.8 ZF/ZE offered by Zeiss, just a 2/3 stops slower. http://slrlensreview.com/web/reviewszontalmenu-172, http://web.archive.org/web/200710120rode/TestZ.htm, If this is your first visit, be sure to It's more like the image jumps! ----------------------------------------------------------, Oh, just to add I was watching the BBC drama 'Ripper Street' last night when I noticed a couple of shots with fairly extreme ninja star bokeh No technical information on IMDB as to what it was shot on/with sadly but you never knwo.
California Dmv Hardship Registration, Articles C