Curious - 50/3.5 Heliar on Contax/Kiev?

W

wlewisiii

Guest
Not that I have the spare change laying around, but I got curious this evening. I understand the difference between the nikon rf and contax rf mounts and how that can be convieniently covered up by DOF on wider lenses.

So, is the DOF on the 50/3.5 S-Mount Heliar sufficent to fake it? Or would it still need reshiming to work wide open & close up on, say, a Kiev 4?

Thanks!

William
 
The DOF will cover the error at F3.5, but the lens will not be at its peak performance. I see the error when using a 50mm F2.8 tTssar made for the Contax on my "regular" Nikon RF's. The Heliar is an expensive lens. If you have that much loose change, buy the Bessa R2S Kit that comes with it.
 
Ok, that's about what I expected. I'll stick to trying to find an affordable collapsible 50/3.5 Tessar.

Thanks!

William
 
Yes it will work perfectly on a Contax/Kiev. I tested mine on a Nikon and Kiev and a Orion type Contax to M adapter that, like the Kiev, would also show any discrepancies. All of them focused this lens perfectly. Its just not fast enough for the differences in the Mount to have any effect.

The Heliar is an expensive lens.
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For a lens rated as one of the best ever tested by popular photography I think its pretty darn cheap at $299.
 
$300 is an expensive lens for a Kiev budget. It's a high-resolution lens. The error will be within "acceptable" DOF, but not give the performance that might be expected from the sharpest lens ever.

A Menopta will be quite nice on a Kiev...Especially with the aperture blades painted black to reduce reflections.
 
Between a Menopta & a Jupiter 3, I'm going to be quite well set for 50's. As I mentioned I just got curious while pricing a SC 28/3.5. Spending $300 for that lens seems far more reasonable than for the Heliar.

My goal is a kit of SC28, J-12, J-3, I-61, J-9 & J-11. That will cover quite well what I like to do with a rangefinder camera without the Heliar.

William
 
The error will be within "acceptable" DOF, but not give the performance that might be expected from the sharpest lens ever.
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I totally disagree, I cannot distinguish any performance difference when I compared it on both a Nikon S3 and a Kiev.

You are probably right though by Kiev standards it might be expensive compared with some soviet optics but its still good value.
 
You know, you could also get a $20 Soviet lens and simply not shoot it faster than f/3.5 or f/4 unless focused at infinity.
 
I've used a 5cm F2.8 Tessar made for the Contax on my Nikon S3. I could tell the difference in sharpness wide-open at F2.8 when looking at a tight crop. I have two M-Mount adapters, one with the cam cut to correct the Contax standard to the Leica. It works well with that adapter. I've got one FSU camera that works perfectly with lenses collimated for a Leica, and another that does not.

Basically, the focus error of an S-Mount lens on a Contax camera is ~1" at 36". That is within the acceptable DOF of an F2 lens, and certainly at F3.5. DOF is given as the size of the circles of confusion, and acceptable generally means an 8x10 enlargement. But, I find that shimming the lens for the correct standard produces sharper results.
 
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