Contaflex 126 to LTM 39mm

[Tessar.]

Anyone been interested in, or bought a copy of this Contaflex 126 lens to L39 adapter? It looks as if the adapter has a built in helicoid and aperture control, but can't see if it is rangefinder coupled.

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=9098751925

I just obtained a 32mm Distagon cheaply and am interested in adapting it as it will cover the full 24x36mm frame in 35mm. These lenses look to be as well made as the lenses for the Contarex system.

Has anyone had experience of a reliable taobao agent or know of an ebay seller that they think would be interested in selling it?

Thanks.

 

[rxmd]

Anyone been interested in, or bought a copy of this Contaflex 126 lens to L39 adapter? It looks as if the adapter has a built in helicoid and aperture control, but can't see if it is rangefinder coupled.

I don't think it has a helicoid (after all that one's built into the lens). There's an aperture ring which the lenses lack - the camera has built-in aperture control - but there is no rangefinder coupling.

(No way to do rangefinder coupling for SLR lenses universally without complex mechanics tailored to a specific lens model.)

If you have Contaflex lenses already, it may be worth the $150, but without rangefinder coupling I'm not sure if it's that interesting. Which of the lenses even cover 35mm?

 

[Tessar.]

On the Contaflex 126 the camera has the helicoid (no focus on the lens). All the 126 lenses cover 35mm as the circle for 28mm square will encompass the 24x36 frame. (just about) There are some examples on flickr and asian web sites and the 32mm Distagon corners look absolutely fine.

I like the idea of the 32mm Distagon as it reminds me of the angle of view I got when I had a Mamiya 7 and 65mm lens, a nice combination.

If there's no rf cam and I like the lens a lot then I will just use it on my NEX and later on get Dirk from Japan Exposures to get the lens permanently converted to Leica M with rf coupling.

 

[Tessar.]

If anyone is interested in this thread in the future, I bought the adapter through a taobao agent (taobao focus - good service and reasonable fees) and it works well with my nex5 and the 126 lenses. However I wanted to use the 32mm distagon on my Bessa L and the adapter does not work very well for this use as there is no focus indicator on the adapter so no way of telling what the distance the lens is set to.

 

[rbelyell]

may i ask how this adapter works if it does not have a focusing helicoid? also, is there some way to contact this seller for a person in the US, like me? i have a wonderful rollei sl126 which operates similarly to the contaflex, and the hft lenses are first rate. i woukd love to use them on m4/3 (or find some way to turn my 126 into a 35!).
thanks!

 

[rxmd]

In retrospect my earlier post in this thread (about the helical allegedly being built into the lens) was complete rubbish. Best ignore it.

I guess they couldn't put a distance scale on the adapter's helicoid because the relation between focusing distance and outward travel of the lens changes with the focal length. So they could make a distance scale for one particular lens, but it would be off with another lens.

If you want to use only a 32mm lens, you can make a distance scale yourself and put that on the adapter (print it out, or engrave a few marks).