DxO PureRAW 3 review: Give Adobe's apps a much-needed boost with modern AI algorithms, The best cameras for family and friends photos in 2022, Best affordable cameras for sports and action in 2022, May 2023 Part 1 This Month Through Your Adapted Lens. My 21mm CP.2 is probably my favourite lens that I own, lovely, lovely piece of glass. Wide open it's one of the sharpest F2.0 wide angle lenses available and it has very little distortion. At this point the price argument was adding a lot of weight. Still on the DIY train, a friend and I had just bought a 3d-printer, so I started making my own focus gears. Also, Super Speeds are a 1.2/1.4 at 18mm and 25mm. I still dont know when to use them, though! Sonnar originally meant "Sunny", because historically these used to be the bright, fast designs when they first came out. (Nick hope you don't mind my piggy-back!). See the photo below! If thats your deal, then you will love Leica Rs. Plus, fitting these is never a one-slip move. Also because Soviet glass was super cheap. So far, I had no previous love for Contax and a little bit of prejudice against Zeiss for making lenses too clean. In my experience, ALL AEs have the Ninja-Star. I got all my standard 80mm fronts from him, as well as slip-on lens caps. send me payment method & how many days it will take? You can see, Ryan de Franco called my bluff recently, and he let me sit in on his informal test looking into how similar Contax in FACT areto Standards and Super Speeds. They cover full frame, are super easy to adapt to many other mounts and never lose their value. To check if I did it, just follow me on Instagram as I post all my lens experiments there! freelance filmmaker and an anamorphic lens freak TitoFerradans,is exposing us to hisContax Zeiss CineTune-Up Guide. 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. To me, Contax are a GREAT way to affordably get a very real cinematic look from a golden age in Zeiss optics. Contax / Zeiss 100mm f3.5 Sonnar c/y need info | FujiX-Forum Sony Information & communications technology Technology . 1. Fairly "affordable" as well. It doesnt really ever pop up on my 25 2.8, 28 f2, 50 1.4, or 135 2.8. I needed a proper case! I prefer the C/Ys but since I already own 3 FDs (cheap ones: 28 2.8, 50 1.8 and 135 2.8), I'm leaning towards the latter, although still undecided. After I got the five Contax I went to look for more info and found Nick Morrison's Contax Zeiss Survival Guide at REDUser. The price was pretty good and Im the type of person that can buy something just because the price is good. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide - REDUSER.net You have to keep wiggling them slowly, side by side, until they are in place. My MM 18 f4, 21 2.8, 35 2.8, 50 1.4, 50 1.7, 85 1.4, 135 2.8, 180 2.8, and 300 F4 are all W/OUT the Ninja-star. We've been putting it through its paces. They dilate quite a bit and fit much more easily. As a reference, my main set of lenses at this time was a Soviet kit that I put together because of their imperfections and organic look. The data provided and the newsletter opening statistics will be stored on a personal data basis until you unsubscribe. These are creative tools, use them as such. Super Speeds and Standards for cinema. As many of you knowI have been a strong proponent of Contax Glass on REDUSER for a while now. The two specialty lenses the 15/3.5 super wide and 60/2.8 macro go on the smaller 904 case. I repeated the technique for the rear caps, this time with only the focal length written on them. You have a wide range of lenses to pick from and equally different price tags. You can skip ahead and read that HERE. Every time I had to pick a lens I went for the 35mm f/2.8 instead. Badass thread, been looking around for a guide like this. I started using these lenses casually. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Slowly I fell in love with them. After aperture was made smooth and clickless I still had my 3d printer hanging around, so I printed aperture gears as well. I also feel that the ninja-star may funkify the bokeh a bitgive it a touch of painterly magicbut that may just be meand this wild opinion is something I may need to test out a bit more! What IS the Ninja-Star? Posts; Latest Activity; Photos . They also look more modern and clean. Have a look at Kipon for something decent or Novoflex for first class a Zeiss deserves it. The 35-70 doesn't move when the camera tilts. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide - REDUSER.net Next up was the 35mm, two stops faster at f/1.4. 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. I like to add 0.3mm to the measurement to give me a little wiggle room after printing. 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!). reduser.net. This will ensure a constant outside diameter, which means you dont have to adjust your follow focus every time you change lenses. The first one is AE and the second one is MM. Next came the 60mm f/2.8 Macro. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide : r/SonyAlpha - Reddit I know I stopped mentioning how sharp these lenses are, but the 60mm is worth highlighting. I'm not too sure where they got their findings, but apparently this was a series of tests possibly published on Zeiss's website. For example, the 200 3.5 Tessar was "updated" with a Sonnar 180 2.8. 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. I thought I knew a bit but I just learned so much! $2 each. For that reason I had to make a super tall focus gear that would not slip off when travelling from infinity to minimum focus. I took this question to Instagram again and got really good arguments for both sides. http://www.ebay.com/itm/EX-Modified-item3a8193c812, If this is your first visit, be sure to But if you want SPECIFIC tailored performance, than RPPs, Cookes, or Ultraprimes are probably a better choice (for many times the budget). VLFV family also gets 10% off any order you make with this companies, just add a promo code VLFV (SimmodLens) or VINTAGE (FollowFocusGears.com) on checkout. For declicking, I read a lot of posts from people saying its a super easy process on Contax Zeiss lenses, but I didnt have the guts for it. Damn Nick! Zeisss quality control was extremely demanding. There is a bit of breathing when rack-focusing. Its awesome Western Zeiss glass. This means that not all MM lenses are made in Japan. Look for an MM with serials in the 8's. B&Hs 9 rating is mint and superb, as is EX+ at Adorama. Above $2500 cameras tend to become increasingly specialized, making it difficult to select a 'best' option. The two rivals would go to war over the name Zeiss until the end of the Cold War (it was the longest court case in the history of East Germany). Contax Zeiss should be on your radar for a couple of reasons. Yes, it's one step slower than the its siblings, but it definitely crushes them with razor sharp focus and a beautiful transition into bokeh. Contax 100mm f/2 vs ZE/ZF - FM Forums For that reason I had to make a super tall focus gear that would not slip off when travelling from infinity to minimum focus. To summarize, yeahthey look remarkably similar. Under enormous pressure from the West, Eastern Zeiss eventually relinquished the naming rights to CONTAX to Western Zeiss. 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. I shipped all of them to SIMMOD for declicking and a quick checkup. To fit the barrel of the lens, use a caliper and be precise about it. I paid around $250.00 for my 35-70/3.4 and around $800.00 for my 21/2.8 both in mint condition! Eastern Zeiss instead consolidated all their smaller name brands into PENTACON. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. The 135 mm 2.8 MD lens can keep up with the big boys, some say it is one of the best tele lens of all time. are considered to be the best removable adapters ($90). https://www.reduser.net/forum/shooting-red/lens-tests/94346-contax-zeiss-survival-guide. Are usually 3.5 and F4. First I measured the slip-on caps I got from SIMMOD and created a Photoshop template with that size. But it's a lens meant for stills and cheap as hell compared to cine glass. By the 1960s, competition from the Japanese led to the eventual shuttering of both subsidiaries - even as the larger Zeisss stayed in business. It had five lenses: 28/2.8, 35/2.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.4 and 135/2.8. It's definitely not lens breathing. As mentioned before, the 50mm F1.7 is no slouch and it sure isn't! Used it today on my 5D to keep things lightweight. So all you do is get a Cine Ring with the rear thread of your lens and thats gonna make it standard! I know I stopped mentioning how sharp these lenses are, but the 60mm is worth highlighting. For a while I didnt understand the need for 80mm fronts, so Ill share what I learned so others wont live too long unknowing like me! AE lenses also show ninja-star bokeh when stopped down, which is a major turnoff for some folks. 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. Lastly, just for curiositys sake, Carl Zeiss has a specific nomenclature for his lens designs and you can see some of them written on the ID ring of these Contax Zeiss lenses. So I figured I would write up a little CONTAX SURVIVAL GUIDE that tries to answer them all at once Contax Zeiss should be on your radar for a couple of reasons. It provides basically the same information on the AE lenses as the 'current' Zeiss data sheets do for the MM lenses. 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! Leica has announced a mono-only version of its M11 60MP manual focus rangefinder. They rack focus beautifully. The screws on the back of the lenses are tiny, and if you strip them, you cant get the new mount into place. The 135mm f/2.8 was a great lens. As always very much appreciated. Contax/Yashica Lenses - Which are the best? - FM Forums You have to admit they look sexy. B) They share very similar designs as the ZF/ZE/CP2 lenses, but for or the price. Regards. The Soviets were good enough for my own projects, but I needed something more reliable on this one. The Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* (C/Y) 35-70mm f3.4 was a standard zoom lens designed for the Yashica and Contax series of film SLR cameras. Tito Ferradans spent the last six years researching, writing and making videos about the anamorphic format and how to achieve it without breaking the bank on low-budget productions. My copy has some fungus in it and other copies might be better. check out the. Be patient, use heat and sandpaper, and youll get there. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide: Adapted Lens Talk Forum: Digital Contax Zeiss Survival Guide - REDUSER.net This page was generated at 05:50 PM. In fact, at 5.6 Contax, Supers and Standards looked IDENTICAL. Though I have to say, until you put in a lens review on each lens, I think you will continue to be fairly regularly PM'd :)) Though I'm sure that info is pretty well covered actually if you read through your post history :), Phil Holland - Cinematographer - Los Angeles. 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 . Like ZF/ZEs, they have fantastic barrel rotations (often 180 degrees or more). 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. check out the. 80mm is the outside diameter of the rings, and that number is so specific because its a standard size for clip-on matteboxes. Copyright 2007-2022. 77mm front. was migrated to Stuttgart under the watchful eye of American troops. 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. These babies were bleeding me dry. I won't bore you with the history lesson, but Pentax worked with Zeiss when the Contax series was developed and they came out with a suspiciously similar multi-coated lens at the same time. I find it charming, its a lot like the Cooke 8-blade star you see in the back of every True Blood Merlots shot, so I dig it. ONLY "RTS". You can unsubscribe at any time via an unsubscribe link included in every newsletter. The last thing I did was add step rings to normalize all their fronts at 58mm, to make my life easier when swapping NDs and other filters or anamorphic adapters in my case. The 60/2.8 AE can do 1:1 magnification, while the MM can only reach 1:2. It all started when I stumbled upon a post on Craigslist from a guy selling his Contax Zeiss set. The Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/28 T* enjoys a very good reputation and it is a bit more expensive at around 250. The price-performance ratio of the Minolta lenses is the best in the camera world. Whenever I started thinking the Soviet lenses were sharp, Id pop one of the Contax on the camera and stare in awe. There are DOZENS of lenses to choose from, that cover all focal lengths from 15mm to 500mm. If you are not great at DIY, make sure to check out our sponsors SimmodLens and FollowFocusGears.com for pretty much all the mods mentioned in the article above. If you want something ready to use from the get-go, Id say this is not for you. Building this set was a great experience throughout. Contax is more low-con, and more organic, to my eye. Slowly I fell in love with them. Im still weighing if I need it or not. Heavy, but sharp. 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Old against New: Zeiss 2.8/28 vs Sony FE 2/28 vs Minolta MC 2/28 Impressive performance and also the fastest 35mm I ever owned. Yes, its one step slower than the its siblings, but it definitely crushes them with razor sharp focus and a beautiful transition into bokeh. If I have a motor on the iris, itll have to be adjusted every time the lens is swapped. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide. Anyone who says a lens made in Germany is better than the same lens made in Japan is full of shit. Zeiss made the jump to MM's in order to enable camera control of the aperture. The f/2.8 never really impressed me, even though its regarded as one of the best budget 28mm out there. When designing your focus gears, keep the number of teeth constant for all the lenses. That said, many still photographers (and DPs) have gotten magic out of these lenses at an F2 or faster. See the photo below! KOMODO + Canon FD or Contax Zeiss + Focal Reducer Then I sent that to be printed at StickerYou in vinyl stickers. Optically, Ive read numerous reports that show BOTH lines are very sharp, but frequently the Contax equivalent is deemed a tad sharper (stopped down). That information was usually written in the lens case, and the focal length was on a sticker attached to the lens cap. And. Distagon, Planar, Sonnar, Tessar, Biogon and Hologon. All times are GMT-8. But then work started picking up and I saw that as the perfect opportunity to upgrade. This is a sticky topic. In this buying guide weve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing around $2000 and recommended the best. I say that because Ive encountered many people who get confused and think Contax is weird Japanese junk. The main difference being that a normal human can afford Contax Zeiss but not Leicas. 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. From the Contax Survival Guide: 100 3.5 - Like the 85 Sonnar, but slower and possibly even sharper. However, I wont argue that having a lens that says Made In West Germany is wicked cool. Still on the DIY train, a friend and I had just bought a 3d-printer, so I started making my own focus gears. You can use the code CINE at check out for a nifty discount! The 21/2.8 was a must. Shervin, thank you so much for posting those R3ds. This is another trick to make lens swaps faster, since you wont need to adjust your follow focus back and forth on the rig. Mar 18, 2014 at 04:52 PM Then I sent that to be printed at StickerYou in vinyl stickers. If you want something ready to use from the get-go, Id say this is not for you. Heres the full line of glass. After that, B&H and ADORAMA are great choices. Sharp wide open and has a floating element. Its a gradual process, guys. Thank you to Tito for a captivating read. The 85 is ridiculously fast with combo. ----------------------------------------------------------, 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. Contax Zeiss lenses are the gems for sharp yet vintage glass. I remember someone doing a test a when the epic first came with stills lenses and noticed it too. AE lenses also show ninja-star bokeh when stopped down, which is a major turnoff for some folks. Canon FD's are the predecessors to Canon L glass, and have a superb pedigree. ZEISS lenses for mFT? - Digital Photography Review I own (or have owned) an AE 25 2.8, 28 f2, 28 2.8, 35 1.4, 45 2.8, 50 1.4, 50 1.7, 60 2.8, 85 1.4, 85 2.8, 135 f2, 135 2.8, and 200 3.5and ALL OF THEM have the Ninja-Star. That meant getting a few more lenses and upgrading various aspects I had neglected so far. Having them separate also gives me versatility on pricing, since the main set can still go out without them for a more accessible price. Building this set was a great experience throughout. Because Contax is actually one of the most storied names in photography. It looked neat, but from my experiences as 2nd Assistant Camera, I was constantly being asked how fast so-and-so lens was, or whats its minimum focus. I then redesigned and printed new focus gears for these and ordered more Leitax mounts and that was good for another five months. 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. 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. My C/Y Zeiss lenses have been a WAY better investment than money in the bank (or the stock market). Things can still look beautiful, but Zeisss philosophy is not to make things pretty, but to be true. Want regular CineD updates about news, reviews, how-tos and more?Sign up to our newsletter and we will give you just that. 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. For me the 35mm F/1.4 has become a go to lens while working as a DP. Thats where my obsession started. You can either build a $1500 set or a $10000 set and youll always impress with the results. For declicking, I read a lot of posts from people saying its a super easy process on Contax Zeiss lenses, but I didnt have the guts for it. All Time Today Last Week Last Month. (I read the Contax Survival Guide, thank you Nick . Check it out: Copyright 2007-2022. 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. On the 918 I keep the main six lenses of the set plus variable NDs and other filters. We've combed through the options and selected our two favorite cameras in this class. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide - REDUSER.net Evin Grant's comprehensive lens database Login or Sign Up Logging in. Now Im gonna move into streamlining it for shooting and making it the best possible lenses to handle on set. Live with it. How can i get those lenses from you? 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Another major advantage to the Contaxs is the sheer SIZE of the lineup. Ron also offers the full mod service for great prices, including focus gears and lens mounts. You know, like a cine lens! Th 85 1.4 at an F2 for portraitsis KILLER. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. Micro contrast and color reproduction is fantastic as well. These I ordered from MOO, because they offered me more variety at a much lower price. Heres a very interesting article that summarizes tech papers published on these designs and their differences, pros and cons. 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. We look into whether it offers more than your smartphone. All times are GMT-8. For a while I didnt understand the need for 80mm fronts, so Ill share what I learned so others wont live too long unknowing like me! Great post about contax! All times are GMT-8. They are made in Spain, cost about 60 euros each and you install them on the back of the lenses using the provided screws. Germany vs Japan? 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. 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 Even the 21 is only a 2.8. Also ZF/ZE's tend to. Filter. It was not a problem as a starter set. You have to keep wiggling them slowly, side by side, until they are in place. Next up was the 35mm, two stops faster at f/1.4. Every time I had to pick a lens I went for the 35mm f/2.8 instead. I almost went for the wrong one with my MM obsession, but I was warned by my followers on Instagram about the edge the AE had over the MM. The Contax 25mm 2.8 is good, but you may want to consider the 28mm 2.8 which is cheaper, and "technically" better.