Contax/Kiev to Sony E adapter

[dexdog]

Not my DIY modification unfortunately, but I still thought it interesting. I got this home brew adapter attached to a 1950 ZK in Contax/Kiev mount with CZJ serial number of (2)845683 that I bought last year from eBay. I had not looked at the adapter at all because I was primarily interested in the lens.

 

[dexdog]

The adapter was produced by grafting a Kiev helical onto a cheap M39 to E-mount adapter. The Kiev helical had been machined to fit in the M39 adapter and had been glued in place with what I assume is epoxy. I was curious about how well the adapter worked, so tried it out on a bunch of Contax RF lenses, including 3 pre-WW2 CZJ 5cm lenses, a Zeiss-Opton 50mm/2 and a Carl Zeiss 50mm/1.5 using the wide open, one meter test that Sonnar Brian uses. Much to my surprise, the adapter was dead-on using the above 5 lenses, they all hit precisely on the one meter mark. It also worked well when focused on my measured 5-meter indoor test area. Ironically, when I tried the 1950 ZK on the adapter, the lens front-focused about 15mm, which suggests that the shim on the ZK lens is a bit too thick. While this adapter is not an elegant piece of machining like my Amedeo Contax to E-mount adapter, it appears to work really well. The Ukrainian guy that cobbled this adapter together did a good job. Similar to the woodworker's truism about "you can never have too many clamps", one can never have too many E-mount adapters

 

[Räuber]

I have a similar adapter in my collection of different CRF adapters. Mine is reversed 180° but since it is not locket at the 1m mark I can focus much closer than 1 meter with it. But I have to be careful to not unscrew the adapter when close focus.

I have another adapter made from a Kiev for Leica M. Unfortunately this adapter is 1mm to short so it can not focus to 1m at all. It is an ambitious design that unfortunately has a lot of flaws a good engineer might have solved. The inner turret was cut generously and a screw was used to lock the adapter at the 1 meter mark. Unfortunately this leads to more light leak than intended. And if you remove the screw to focus closer as with the first adapter the adapter just falls apart because the inner turret is to short to screw any further.

From all tested adapters the Chinese 100 bugs CRF-LM adapters are the ones I would give my approval when it comes to compatibility, build quality and price. There are some Sonnar 5cm that can not be mounted on that one but those are exceptions. The most compatible ones are the ones made from Kiev cameras. They are the cheapest ones but unfortunately the build quality can be hit and miss on those ones. I could not test any expensive adapters like the Amedeo or Orion adapters since they are hard to find. Probably worth the money but almost not available.

 

[newst]

I have used modified Kiev camera mounts, Fotofox adapters, Kipon adapters, and Amedeo. In my opinion, nothing comes close to the quality of the Amedeo in design, materials, workmanship, fit, and finish. It looks as if the supply of Amedeo adapters is improving. He is selling on eBay again. He is even producing the Contax to LTM adapter again.

 

[Räuber]

I just ordered one Amedeo adapter CRF -> LM over Ebay from Amedeo directly. If someone want one of those great adapter you can find the creator on Ebay.

amedeo.m

For the price of one adapter you can buy 1 or 2 Sonnar 5cm but it might be worth it.