Yay! A Contax IIA is coming! Now what?

I'm not much of a 135 guy, but the 135/4 Sonnar is a nice lens & relatively cheap & easy to find (same goes for the 135/3.5 Nikkor-Q in both Nikon RF & Contax mount).

I've always wanted to try the original 1936 180/2.8 Olympia Sonnar in Contax RF mount, but I can remember seeing only 1 on eBay in the past 6 years & it was way out of any mere mortal's price range. The 180/6.3 Tele-Tessar is more readily found (& affordable), but is too slow for anything other than bright daylight conditions.

darkkavenger said:
I bought my 135/4 Sonnar by luck and I don't regret it at all. It is a lens that I look forward to use often.

I have a fondess for the 180/2.8 Sonnar, but it is way more bulkier with the Pentacon Six than a 135/4 Sonnar with a Contax IIIa.
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Indeed I meant the 180/2.8 Sonnar that was made for the Pentacon Six Medium Format SLR, which is the heir of the fabled '36 Olympia Sonnar. I cannot even imagine that I'll be approaching one of those legends any soon. I wonder how easy it'd be to focus such a "monstrous" wide with a rangefinder, even if we have a large Rf base... the flektoscop certainly helps 😉
 
Hand holding the 180 Sonnar can be a real problem. This is a large and heavy lens, and puts a lot of strain on the camera lens mount, as well. Best used on a tripod, with some kind of weight-averaging plate. Other option is to just use it with a Kiev(Arax) 645, like I use for mine. Large camera acts as a solid base, and is easily usable for short periods of time. Incidentally, this is a beautiful lens, and still a very fine picture taker, considering a 70 year old design.

Harry
 
the IIa might not be for everyones taste and i will admit that when i got mine there were several things that with 50 years of hindsight i thought even i could have designed better, but the more i use it the more i have grown to love this system. as mentioned above the fondle factor is off the charts as are the lenses. even its little quirks have grown on me. when out with one of my rangefinders i am sometimes asked " does that camera take better pictures" my reply is "no it just makes me take different pictures" and i love the pictures the Contax makes me take.
enjoy the camera and the experiance and may it serve you for another 50 years
 
darkkavenger said:
I must be the lucky owner of a Contax IIIa that has a spot-on lightmeter and no particular problems. Let's pray it'll hold well until Henry gets a hand on it. 🙂
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Max,

Will you pay $350-$700 for an overhaul by Henry?

Raid
 
The arrival!

The arrival!

Well, my IIa arrived and is a little beauty with a mint Sonnar 50 f/1.5. As far as I can ascertain everything funtions perfectly, although I won't have the first roll developed before the end of the week.
The only thing that troubles me (and of which I was warned) is the viewfinder/rangefinder. I find it very small and dark compared to the other rangefinders I have used. I think I am able to use the rangefinder adequately, although the first pictures will better tell the tale of success or failure. One thing that has crossed my (admittedly feeble) mind is to pick up a 50mm accessory viewfinder (are you listening, Stephen) such as the Voigtlander to help me better visualize and compose my shots after using the Contax rangefinder for focus. A little bit cumbersome, but it works for the Bessa T.
Has anyone tried this, or anything like it? How do other IIa users cope with the viewfinder? Perhaps it is something that one just gets used to. I appreciate any and all comments.
LJS
 
Congrats, LJS! You can get used to the viewfinder, and you can also use a 50mm accessory finder on top. It's up to you. I use it both ways.
 
It seems that your problem stems from using more advanced RFs before using the Contax! You should always start w/the more primitive system. 😛

I think you should 1st see if you can get accustomed to the VF. It could be worse, you could be using a "Barnack" screw-mount Leica or Leica copy, in which case you'd have two squinty windows to look through (1 for focusing, 1 for framing) rather than just 1 sort-of squinty combined RF/VF. I find using an accessory 50mm VF to be much more useful on a Barnack than on a Contax (especially w/larger 50mm lenses that block the VF), because I'm already forced to use separate RF & VF windows, but that's a personal preference. When it's available, I will always prefer the speed & convenience of a combined RF/VF. Per Xmas's post, I do open my left eye when I want to see what's outside the frame, but I do that w/all of my cameras.

ljsegil said:
Well, my IIa arrived and is a little beauty with a mint Sonnar 50 f/1.5. As far as I can ascertain everything funtions perfectly, although I won't have the first roll developed before the end of the week.
The only thing that troubles me (and of which I was warned) is the viewfinder/rangefinder. I find it very small and dark compared to the other rangefinders I have used. I think I am able to use the rangefinder adequately, although the first pictures will better tell the tale of success or failure. One thing that has crossed my (admittedly feeble) mind is to pick up a 50mm accessory viewfinder (are you listening, Stephen) such as the Voigtlander to help me better visualize and compose my shots after using the Contax rangefinder for focus. A little bit cumbersome, but it works for the Bessa T.
Has anyone tried this, or anything like it? How do other IIa users cope with the viewfinder? Perhaps it is something that one just gets used to. I appreciate any and all comments.
LJS
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Well what you need to do is try a leica M and your Contax in a dark camera shop. That is why Zeiss dont make rgfdrs and leica do, and I dont count the modern reincarnation... (try it as well if you want).

Noel
 
Contax IIa Viewfinder

Contax IIa Viewfinder

I am also finding that with my glasses on that I cannot see even close to the full frame of the eyepiece. Simply too little eye relief, and I end up sliding around to try to compose the picture. This seems to lead me to subject centered shots, as that is the area that I can see. I wonder if a dedicated accessory viewfinder would help that situation. Still awaiting the first pictures.
LJS
 
That's good to hear; now I'm even more excited about getting the camera (not here, yet, BTW)! 😛

f2eyelevel said:
I have performed this utmost adjustment on a Contax IIa I just sent to furcafe. It would be interesting to read what he thinks of his new (to him) Contax IIa finder.
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Missing my IIIa whilst it was with Dr Scherer, I succumbed to the purchase of a II on the baying auction house. It comes with a 5/1.5 Sonnar so it will be interesting to compare between the two "identical"lenses.
 
raid said:
Max,

Will you pay $350-$700 for an overhaul by Henry?

Raid
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Hello Raid,

sorry for the late reply ... yes I'm going to send it for an overhaul by Henry, alongside with a 1936 Contax-III and a 1936 50/2 collapsible Sonnar that is coated (light blue coating, probably done when coating became available a couple years after)

My IIIa is very neat, I bought it from David Murphy, but I think an overhaul won't do it any bad. Considering my addiction to the Contax camera system, I will rather pay $700 to Henry than sell all and switch to another system 🙂

Cheers,
Max
 
LJS, Congratulations! I use a Leica M3 for my 50mm work, and a Contax IIIa for my W-Nikkor 35/2.5 and I use a CV 35mm accessory finder in the shoe for that lens. As long as I only take out one camera at a time, I don't have any problems. The CV finder is VERY bright and a joy to use. My Contax got an over-haul by Henry in 2003 and has performed flawlessly ever since. I don't think he did anything to the finder though. I can't think why your finder is dark. Mine is darker than the naked-eye view by quite a bit, but so is my M3's blue-tinged finder, so...
I think I'd try using it for a while, then see how you feel. Enjoy!
Vic
 
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