The main difference being that a normal human can afford Contax Zeiss but not Leicas. . Learned a ton. Great post about contax! So all you do is get a Cine Ring with the rear thread of your lens and thats gonna make it standard! Many have much more. And needed a new line of lenses for 35mm still photography. If you are like me and are interested in building up a large, varied kit of lenses that can fit every jobthen Contax are a great choice. Above $2500 cameras tend to become increasingly specialized, making it difficult to select a 'best' option. For example, the 200 3.5 Tessar was "updated" with a Sonnar 180 2.8. Since the filter threads across the set are wildly different (from 55 to 72mm), standardizing the filter threads to 77mm allows you to own one single set of filters which can quickly switch lenses without the need for tons of step rings. Anyone who says a lens made in Germany is better than the same lens made in Japan is full of shit. 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. 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. All I ever had so far was a Canon backpack and that is not a safe way to transport this grade of gear everywhere. I know organic is a hackneyed term, but it fits. (I read the Contax Survival Guide, thank you Nick . The mount is exactly the same, and barring a couple of exceptionsALL the lens designs are the same. The 15/3.5 took the cake though. Contax Zeiss 60mm f/2.8 Macro AEG: Infinity focus on the left, minimum focus on the right. You can also tell their place of manufacture based on whats written on the lens! We look into whether it offers more than your smartphone. 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. This means that not all MM lenses are made in Japan. Even the 21 is only a 2.8. If I have a motor on the iris, itll have to be adjusted every time the lens is swapped. The Contax I is a high-end 35mm rangefinder camera made by Zeiss Ikon to compete with Leica models. X. X. Leica has announced a mono-only version of its M11 60MP manual focus rangefinder. These last two are challenging to adapt to EOS because of their. 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!). Im gonna stop saying these lenses are sharp, because at this point its just standard! Great help. I know I stopped mentioning how sharp these lenses are, but the 60mm is worth highlighting. Things can still look beautiful, but Zeisss philosophy is not to make things pretty, but to be true. I then redesigned and printed new focus gears for these and ordered more Leitax mounts and that was good for another five months. The 18mm is almost one fourth of the price and half the weight of the 15mm, plus it fits along with the other MMJs in the set. I also added the f-stop for each lens and its minimum focus in meters and feet. The 60/2.8 AE can do 1:1 magnification, while the MM can only reach 1:2. If you are referring to breathing, there is some, but less than in many other still lenses. An instant hit, it became synonymous with innovation. The screws on the back of the lenses are tiny, and if you strip them, you cant get the new mount into place. I shipped all of them to SIMMOD for declicking and a quick checkup. That said, many still photographers (and DPs) have gotten magic out of these lenses at an F2 or faster. Really haven't tested it enough, but the color rendering of the 85mm f2.8 really seems to have some special magic. The 6-lens set in a Nanuk 918 Case and the two specialty lenses. Contax Zeiss lenses are the gems for sharp yet vintage glass. The main difference being that a normal . What an amazing amount of learningand research condensed and shared. Nick, awesome thread. Zeiss was making Hasselblad lenses for Medium Format. Heres a very interesting article that summarizes tech papers published on these designs and their differences, pros and cons. They are made in Spain, cost about 60 euros each and you install them on the back of the lenses using the provided screws. The process turned out alright and the gears worked great, but later on I learned some useful tricks. 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. Thats when I learned of Leitax and their mount replacements. If thats your deal, then you will love Leica Rs. I returned to the guide and started eBay hunting. Because Contax is actually one of the most storied names in photography. On digital, these things are a home run, like Standards and Super Speeds. So far I had been using adapters on them, and they sucked. That meant getting a few more lenses and upgrading various aspects I had neglected so far. makes SPECTACULAR permanent mounts for $75 (Duclos uses these, nuff said). 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! I plugged in the focal length in white so theyre easy to read in dark sets. All times are GMT-8. I prefer the FOV of a 25, but for the budget.the 28mm is amazing. You can spot an MM if the last number on your aperture ring is. Back then, not all C/Y Zeiss lenses could be adapted for EOS cameras . some lenses required minor surgery to make them useable. The Contax Zeiss Survival Guide: 1) WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT CONTAX GLASS? I would jump on it in a heart-beat. B) They share very similar designs as the ZF/ZE/CP2 lenses, but for or the price. The main difference being that a normal human can afford Contax Zeiss but not Leicas. Have a look at Kipon for something decent or Novoflex for first class a Zeiss deserves it. Theyre killer tools for video, but in order to achieve maximum performance, theres a number of steps and procedures to tackle. You have to keep wiggling them slowly, side by side, until they are in place. . The price was pretty good and Im the type of person that can buy something just because the price is good. Whenever I started thinking the Soviet lenses were sharp, Id pop one of the Contax on the camera and stare in awe. To fit the barrel of the lens, use a caliper and be precise about it. B&Hs 9 rating is mint and superb, as is EX+ at Adorama. I needed a proper case! I repeated the technique for the rear caps, this time with only the focal length written on them. 2023 All rights reserved. Then I sent that to be printed at StickerYou in vinyl stickers. You can either build a $1500 set or a $10000 set and youll always impress with the results. It provides basically the same information on the AE lenses as the 'current' Zeiss data sheets do for the MM lenses. 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. After I read stellar reviews about the 28mm f/2.0 Hollywood, I went looking for one. Brilliant job Nick. This makes life easier when grabbing gear to go out and renting it as well. Since the filter threads across the set are wildly different (from 55 to 72mm), standardizing the filter threads to 77mm allows you to own one single set of filters which can quickly switch lenses without the need for tons of step rings. 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. They rack focus beautifully. Not too sure but it seems likely. The Soviets were good enough for my own projects, but I needed something more reliable on this one. I've noticed these designs are more likely to create punchy, contrasty images, too. Or do what I did and find an affordable Standard Prime 16mm T2. They are made in Spain, cost about 60 euros each and you install them on the back of the lenses using the provided screws. I needed the one extra stop of light though, for consistent f/2 or faster through the main set. Standard lens, cant really make a set without a 35mm in it, right? 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 downside of such magnification is that the focus ring travels a lot, pretty much doubling the physical length of the lens. Just the slight gain in speed/compactness? In my experience, the gears never fit on the first try. It was not a problem as a starter set. 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. Be patient, use heat and sandpaper, and youll get there. That was rad :). The Contax dont look vintage to me, but they also dont look modern. 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. was migrated to Stuttgart under the watchful eye of American troops. Im selling all the gears I made for my set on eBay, I made a tutorial on how to make focus gears, the same formula for the 21mm f/2.8 ZF/ZE primes, I was warned by my followers on Instagram about the edge the AE had over the MM, he can provide caps with stickers already on them, see here, by Moritz Schierenbeck on VLFVs facebook group. Slowly I fell in love with them. 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. Eventually will spring for 135/2.8. 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. First I measured the slip-on caps I got from SIMMOD and created a Photoshop template with that size. If I have a motor on the iris, itll have to be adjusted every time the lens is swapped. 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. Yes, its one step slower than the its siblings, but it definitely crushes them with razor sharp focus and a beautiful transition into bokeh. Copyright 2007-2022. Wake the fuck up. (Heres where I beleive the Leica Rs have a clear advantage, their 19mm is a 2.8which is pretty amazing). I paid around $250.00 for my 35-70/3.4 and around $800.00 for my 21/2.8 both in mint condition! In my previous buyers guide Ive shown you how to build a Zeiss Jena Mini-Cine set for $1000, but if you have a bit more money to spend then ContaxZeiss is the way togo! One thing that the push-pull nature of the zooms helps with, is snap-zooms. check out the. Contax are by no means the only cool, vintage kids on the block. The Canon EOS R10 is compact, mid-level 24MP APS-C mirrorless camera built around Canon's RF mount. The 60/2.8 AE can do 1:1 magnification, while the MM can only reach 1:2. ----------------------------------------------------------, 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. The 135mm f/2.8 was a great lens. Caps & gears cool. I know I stopped mentioning how sharp these lenses are, but the 60mm is worth highlighting. The 15/3.5 took the cake though. Proof of this is that arguably their most famous lensthe 21was ONLY made in Japan. In fact, they MOD better than ZF/ZEs believe it or not. The focusing ring on my 85mm AE is much smoother than my 85mm f1.4. Collapse. Otherwise, you should notice no optical or mechanical difference between the two lines. I will leave you with a few beautiful videos that will definitely help you make up your mind! I managed to get a bunch of black C/Y adapters, step up rings, and some lens gears from eBay and decently cobbled together a set. 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. 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. remained behind in the ruins of the city of Jena, trapped behind the Iron Curtain. It is smoother one direction than it is the other too which is peculiuar. These I ordered from MOO, because they offered me more variety at a much lower price. 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. Im still weighing if I need it or not. 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. You can see our informal results. I took this question to Instagram again and got really good arguments for both sides. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting sports and action, and recommended the best. This is an endeavor Ive been working on and off for the last two years and now I can see the finish line. Heres the answer to all of this, broken down. The optics in these Zeiss are very similar, if not the same as the current Zeiss still lenses, a different coating on the glass is the main difference. Its the one I always took with me and it gave me gorgeous shots. I have used the Nikon 85 1.4, Sony Carl Zeiss 85 and 135, Mino 85, Sigma 85, Canon 85 1.2 for reference. Because they focus the right way (ZFs do not, they are Nikon-oriented and focus backwards) and have an aperture ring (ZEs dont have one, as they are EOS-designed and have a digital iris controlled by the camera). Plus, fitting these is never a one-slip move. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide. I repeated the technique for the rear caps, this time with only the focal length written on them. Anyone have/had one? 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. Super Speeds and Standards for cinema. I havent tested these much yet, and I ended up not doing standard outside diameters. or Sign Up Log in with Search in titles onlySearch in Lens Tests only Search Advanced Search Forums Groups New Posts Today's Posts Member List Forum Shooting RED check out the. That information was usually written in the lens case, and the focal length was on a sticker attached to the lens cap. AE lenses also show ninja-star bokeh when stopped down, which is a major turnoff for some folks. Happy Memorial day all. Wide open these are more likely to deliver a strong image that is consistent up and down the aperture. This gave me a great set of lenses ready for action, all I missed was a way of getting them to said action. Zeiss AE lens information brochure, "The Finest Optics by Zeiss", This was a game changer. Want regular CineD updates about news, reviews, how-tos and more?Sign up to our newsletter and we will give you just that. . I always took the 135 with me and some of my favorite photos come from that time. 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. Also almost twice as big and heavy as the previous one. At this point the price argument was adding a lot of weight. But at F2 and 2.8you def notice it if you have a very busy frame with lots of bokeh. comments sorted by Best Top New Controversial Q&A Add a Comment . Thats where my obsession started. By the 1960s, competition from the Japanese led to the eventual shuttering of both subsidiaries - even as the larger Zeisss stayed in business. There are MMG lenses out there I was weary of that for quite a while, since its not mentioned clearly anywhere. Finally found the old MTF charts for each of the Zeiss Contax lenses. Speaking of good prices, many links in this post will take you directly to eBay searches of each specific lens! But if you guys love circular bokeh and find this bit of personality too intrusive, then do yourself a favor and skip it and get the MMs. 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. They dont have it. 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. Thank you! From the Contax Survival Guide: 100 3.5 - Like the 85 Sonnar, but slower and possibly even sharper. Contax Zeiss should be on your radar for a couple of reasons. cinema5D GmbH, Kranzgasse 22/9-10, A-1150 Vienna, Austria. This is another trick to make lens swaps faster, since you wont need to adjust your follow focus back and forth on the rig. Note: My hunch on the latitude/low con deal is as follows. Luckily for me, out of the five lenses I only messed up really bad on one (the 85mm, which was also the first one I tried). I thought I knew a bit but I just learned so much! 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. The planar 35mm F/1.4, 50mm T1.4 and 85mm F/1.4, are among some of them. The f/2.8 never really impressed me, even though its regarded as one of the best budget 28mm out there. This wraps the first step in building a set of lenses: getting the glass. Posts; Latest Activity; Photos . If you like vintage flaring, the AEs are great. All I ever had so far was a Canon backpack and that is not a safe way to transport this grade of gear everywhere. So I sand the inside down a bit and try again. Distagon, Planar, Sonnar, Tessar, Biogon and Hologon. Sharp wide open and has a floating element. Are usually 3.5 and F4. When the MM's flare, they control it much better (you have to force it more), but when they do, and the coating is overwhelmed by a direct source, the coating will break out into more distinct, tight Zeiss purple flare marks. The 15mm is a gorgeous rectilinear super wide angle, it shares the same optical formula as the Leica Super-Elmar 15mm f/3.5, with different coatings. 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. I needed the one extra stop of light though, for consistent f/2 or faster through the main set. The 18mm is almost one fourth of the price and half the weight of the 15mm, plus it fits along with the other MMJs in the set. The questions get dizzying. Now Im gonna move into streamlining it for shooting and making it the best possible lenses to handle on set. ----------------------------------------------------------. Its been there for quite a while and I have checked up on it countless times to help me make decisions. Thats where my obsession started. See the photo below! The most up-to-date guide to almost every Contax lens ever made. ZF/ZEs only go as far as 135mm. I still dont know when to use them, though! Would love to check out the Hollywood, but $$. Pm for pics. Thats when I learned of Leitax and their mount replacements. Contax Zeiss. It all started when I stumbled upon a post on Craigslist from a guy selling his Contax Zeiss set. These capable cameras should be solid and well-built, have both speed and focus for capturing fast action and offer professional-level image quality. My attempt to be as thorough as possible! Zeiss and Yashica lenses are all in all rumored to be better, but are much more expensive. http://web.archive.org/web/200710120rode/TestZ.htm, https://dl.dropbox.com/u/51913995/marley28.jpg, If this is your first visit, be sure to http://slrlensreview.com/web/reviewszontalmenu-172, http://web.archive.org/web/200710120rode/TestZ.htm, If this is your first visit, be sure to Just to be clear (think you left that part out, haha). 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 went for the fastest lenses and snuffed out the AEGs I had, in favor of the prettier bokeh of the MMJs. The one main difference I can see isas stated aboveI think the Contaxes cinemod slightly BETTER than ZF/ZEs (because they ALL focus the right way, and ALL have an aperture ring), and also ALL they have that wonderful older T* coating that I believe looks better on digital than the newer T* coating (renders more organically). You NEVER SEE it wide open, because the blades arent engaged. If you wanna follow this path, theres no way to dodge reading the Survival Guide. The first one is AE and the second one is MM. Nothing is free. There is a lot of good information about which lenses were improved optically between the earlier AE and later MM versions, as well as lots of user comments. golf courses off the taconic parkway, opening prayer for singing contest, university health partners of hawaii aiea,

Velveting Chicken James Martin, Mascho Funeral Home Obituaries, Essex Police Obituaries, Articles C