lxmike
M2 fan.
Hi i'm toying with getting a contax II, I'm being offered one with a 5cm Tessar, I'm no stranger to rangefinders but have no expereince of the Contax II. Thanks in advance Mike
Mudman
Well-known
lxmike
M2 fan.
many thanks mudman
pb908
Well-known
I just open/cla a mint Contax II with collapsible 5cm f2. looking inside mechanism, the RF alignment is shock proof, no need vertical adjustment.
Compare to Contax IIa (I have one, Black Dial) :
- it's feel heavier/sturdier, it's like holding a rock !! (IIa is like a brick).
- it is bigger (for some people it help to hold camera better), but collapsible lens make this camera less obstrusive.
- the LONG baseline is the BEST of the best
- normally it have a "foot" to hold camera steady on the desk (with heavy lens)
- VF is little bit bigger than IIa.
- you can mount any russian (kiev) lenses, a cheap Jupiter 12 will work here, but not on IIa
- it is older than IIa (a contax II is before WWII, if you get a mint & working one, that will have more "collector" value)
negative side compare to IIa :
- no pc-sync for flash
- the cocking dial is harder to turn (like turning a zorki, get harder halfway when low speed is selected) but still easy enough.
- your hand can easily block the RF window, more than on IIa
- the shoe (cold-shoe) is not centered to lens position, so any external finder need to correct horizontal paralax as well
- no 1second speed, but manageable with Bulb and Timer
- compare to leica, the focus movement of lens is in reversed. turn CCW to reach infinity.
- if I am not wrong, the II has focus dial turning the same direction as the lens, while IIa has it reversed. in this case, if you use IIa and leica, you can assume your focus dial of IIa is the focus knob of Leica lens, both turn CW to reach infinity. but on II, it is reversed so can't make the same assumption.
- the peek hole of VF is smaller than IIa
base on that, I have confusion which one I'll keep if I need to sell one. both II and IIa are nice RF!! for long term and heavy use, I think I'll keep II more than IIa, there are lot of kievs ready for spare parts.. and also because of rarity factor..
enjoy yours !!!
Compare to Contax IIa (I have one, Black Dial) :
- it's feel heavier/sturdier, it's like holding a rock !! (IIa is like a brick).
- it is bigger (for some people it help to hold camera better), but collapsible lens make this camera less obstrusive.
- the LONG baseline is the BEST of the best
- normally it have a "foot" to hold camera steady on the desk (with heavy lens)
- VF is little bit bigger than IIa.
- you can mount any russian (kiev) lenses, a cheap Jupiter 12 will work here, but not on IIa
- it is older than IIa (a contax II is before WWII, if you get a mint & working one, that will have more "collector" value)
negative side compare to IIa :
- no pc-sync for flash
- the cocking dial is harder to turn (like turning a zorki, get harder halfway when low speed is selected) but still easy enough.
- your hand can easily block the RF window, more than on IIa
- the shoe (cold-shoe) is not centered to lens position, so any external finder need to correct horizontal paralax as well
- no 1second speed, but manageable with Bulb and Timer
- compare to leica, the focus movement of lens is in reversed. turn CCW to reach infinity.
- if I am not wrong, the II has focus dial turning the same direction as the lens, while IIa has it reversed. in this case, if you use IIa and leica, you can assume your focus dial of IIa is the focus knob of Leica lens, both turn CW to reach infinity. but on II, it is reversed so can't make the same assumption.
- the peek hole of VF is smaller than IIa
base on that, I have confusion which one I'll keep if I need to sell one. both II and IIa are nice RF!! for long term and heavy use, I think I'll keep II more than IIa, there are lot of kievs ready for spare parts.. and also because of rarity factor..
enjoy yours !!!
lxmike
M2 fan.
many thanks PB