contax N Digital

[LeicaFoReVer]

Anybody used or heard of anything on this camera? I couldnt find any for sale on ebay. Does that mean it is rare or useless?

I believe, knowing the fact that G series contax and lenses are great I am interested in SLR side of Contax (preferably in digital)

Thanks,

 

[Ming The Merciless]

The little I know about the N Digital is this: It was a 6 meg, full frame dslr that was ahead of it's time when it was finally released. It took the Zeiss N (auto focus) lenses and, if I remember correctly it cost about $7,000.00 at the time. Kyocera quit the camera business shortly there after and the Ndigital sort of went away. Kyocera never gave the camera the PR support that would have been necessary for it to be a big seller among the pros. I doubt that too many were made since it was so expensive and Kyocera left the camera industry fairly soon after.

 

[benmacphoto]

This is the only one I have ever seen on ebay. Item number 330336913279.

 

[f16sunshine]

I owned a pair if N1 film cameras for a while and a few lenses.
The N digital was the same body essentially with a 6mp sensor.
The lenses were great optically (contax) although maybe the AF system was slow.
There is still a good demand for the lenses. A guy in Vancuver BC converts them for use on Eos digital bodies. My favorite was the planar 1.4/50. Industiguishable images from the Contax mf version. The body handled beautifully with all controls on analog dials. The lenses had aperture rings and pretty good damping in manual mode. I wish that contax never left the market.

 

[kbg32]

The N digital could not playback or review images it shot in RAW. If you google it, there is website somewhere of a man in Russia who was shooting extensively with it. He provided a great review of the camera and all its quirks. I was hoping that Contax was going to produce a G digital body at the time. At least that was the rumor then.

 

[Avotius]

That article was on luminous landscape by one of my favorite studio photographers here

 

[wintoid]

Ffordes currently have 3 in stock 😀

 

[LeicaFoReVer]

Holly! 2600$??

I was not expecting that much...I just wonder if it has similar drawbacks like kodak dcs pro digital which has full frame too (i.e. color fringing and excessive noise reduction etc..)

 

[ZeissFan]

I was hoping that Contax was going to produce a G digital body at the time. At least that was the rumor then.

Remember, it was Kyocera (not Contax) that produced cameras. Contax is simply a brand name that Kyocera used under license from Carl Zeiss.

That license should have expired by now, and I've often wondered what Zeiss plans to do with the Contax name.

The N1 film camera got some very nice reviews. The N1 digital came and went so quickly that it had no impact on the market, despite it being full frame. It's a shame really.

 

[Freakscene]

>Does that mean it is rare or useless?

Both, actually.

I tested one when it came out. Very poor image quality, even for that comparatively early stage of dSLR development.

Marty

 

[kdemas]

I would beg to differ a bit on the N Digital. The camera was very capable, but for certain types of photography and not for others. Working in a studio, doing environmental portraits.... fantastic. Great glass as well, the 85mm Planar is as good as they get.

If you're shooting action or need low light performance, look elsewhere. I loved my NDs, I recently sold 2 of them as I just wasn't using them enough with my M8 and D700 around for sports.

Anyway... super camera depending on your needs.

Kent

BYW- Avotius posted a good review link above.

 

[rfrangefinder]

kent, agree with your comments. still use an ND. keep ISO low. use the right RAW converters (i like Iridient). using n planar at 1.4 at iso 25 outdoors in daylight for superb portraits. dynamic range and lens' image quality are special. great with bw conversion. still use m8 more, but ND can be a great camera for many images.

 

[kdemas]

kent, agree with your comments. still use an ND. keep ISO low. use the right RAW converters (i like Iridient). using n planar at 1.4 at iso 25 outdoors in daylight for superb portraits. dynamic range and lens' image quality are special. great with bw conversion. still use m8 more, but ND can be a great camera for many images.

Excellent summary. I was just cleaning up my Lightroom collections and I have to say I really miss my NDs. The images from that sensor and those lenses, at low ISOs, are truly spectacular. It had a very special low pass filter on it as well which aided the imaging.

I never tried Iridient with the ND, I wish I had reading your post. I still use the N lenses on N1 bodies for a Kodachrome project I'm doing.

Kent

 

[menos]

waking up an old thread from the past ;-)

waking up an old thread from the past ;-)

Excellent summary. I was just cleaning up my Lightroom collections and I have to say I really miss my NDs. The images from that sensor and those lenses, at low ISOs, are truly spectacular. It had a very special low pass filter on it as well which aided the imaging.

I never tried Iridient with the ND, I wish I had reading your post. I still use the N lenses on N1 bodies for a Kodachrome project I'm doing.

Kent

Kent, is the now running Lightroom 3 version compatible with Contax N Digital RAW files?

What was the real battery life, shooting the camera in manual focus and RAW? - 100 − 150 shots?

How much are the bodies and lenses (50 1.4/ 85 1.4) going these days?

This camera somehow got me interested ;-)