Found Contax G1 with enlarged 63mm Nikkor lens? Please help

[dandunord]

Hello, last week at my local pawn shop i found this Contax G1 with a few scratches and without his original Carl Zeiss lens, but it was replaced with a contax ga-1 adapter and a enlarged lens for a nikkor 63mm? Im not an expert and this was my first rangefinder but i have never seen something alike.

I bought it for 35$ with the risk of not knowing if it was going to work or not...

The electronics in the body seems to work fine, so i tried a few rolls but got all blurry pics. The first roll i did it with the autofocus function and the second one with manual focus, neither of those gave me focused pictures 🙁

I dont know why would someone put that type on lense in a Contax, i dont have too much knowledge either... i would like some opinions

















Thanks!

 

[Beemermark]

Strange. I think it would function as a close up lens. Trying to figure out how close might be difficult. I'm guessing in the 12 inch range.

 

[santino]

35 is a good deal. All you need now is a genuine Contax G lens. Your camera was probably fixed to something to take macro shots without focusing.
PS: your links don‘t work.

 

[Forest_rain]

$35 is a steal. Not much of a risk considering these cameras go for $300+ regularly. I would consider $200 to be a good deal for a working model.


I would google that lens. It looks like it might be for close up work only. One time I bought a retina and got a roll developed and everything came out blurry. After taking hours to take apart the lens and putting it back together I realized it had an (UNMARKED) close up filter on the front, causes all non-macro images to come out blurry. Took it off and it worked fine.

 

[rfaspen]

You got a good deal!!

Using an enlarger lens on that camera is an unusual setup. As someone said above, I think a previous owner may have tried to do close-up/macro work with it. I think you want to use the camera in a normal fashion.

The 63mm f2.8 EL Nikkor-N enlarging lens is a rather desireable lens. It was well worth the $35 alone, even if you never use it (and you may not). It might be a good approach to sell the EL Nikkor and use the money to purchase a Contax lens. I would suggest the 45mm f2.0 Contax lens as best value by far.

Do a little research to determine a proper price to sell the Nikkor. It is particularly attractive to folks who would use it for film "scanning" with a digital camera. The 63mm EL Nikkor has a reputation for being an excellent flat-field performer.

Sell that Nikor lens, get a Contax lens and enjoy your new camera.

 

[rfaspen]

And that adapter looks really interesting. I don't know anything about it, but I wonder if its meant to be a general LTM adapter. I can see what looks like common focal lengths on it.

I would research that adapter too and see how neat it is. Might be a real useful thing to have.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

A Contax G1 with a 63mm EL Nikkor enlarging lens for $35? Drool...

As a canny seller you'll get much more than that for the EL Nikkor - it was a highly desirable enlarging lens in the 1980s for 6x6 120 roll film negatives. I recall seeing one for sale in Melbourne in the 1990s with an asking price of A$150, but passed up on it as I've been using a 105mm EL Nikkor for 120 negs for many years.

Is the lens adaptor a Metabones? If so, then it too is worth a good price.

You could consider selling the lens and adapter separately and putting the cash you make towards a good Zeiss G lens. A 45, 35 or 28 would be ideal on that camera, and as it focusses on a G, you'll not need an adaptor which throws other complications into the works anyway.

Check the G1 to see if it has any LED bleed. Even if yes, it may still work well LED 'bleeding' is the most common fault of those old G cameras. My four haven't shown any sign of it to date, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Anyway, you got a wonderful deal. Back pats to you...

 

[plummerl]

Here is one possible use! http://www.tferradans.com/blog/anamorphic-chop-shop-el-nikkor-63mm-f2-8/

 

[Oren Grad]

... it was a highly desirable enlarging lens in the 1980s for 6x6 120 roll film negatives.

This is not correct. The 63mm f/2.8 EL-Nikkor N is specified to cover 32x45mm, or a maximum format diagonal of 55.2mm. This is far short of what's needed for 6x6 (56x56mm).

I own this lens as part of my darkroom kit, along with EL-Nikkors in several other focal lengths. It's a fine enlarging lens for small formats, and as many people have recognized, it can be used effectively for close-up taking work when adapted to suitable film and digital cameras.

It's certainly saleable, but unless some of that pawn shop magic carries over, the amount one can expect to get for it won't come close to paying for any of the Contax G lenses.

 

[john_s]

This is not correct. The 63mm f/2.8 EL-Nikkor N is specified to cover 32x45mm, or a maximum format diagonal of 55.2mm. This is far short of what's needed for 6x6 (56x56mm).

I own this lens as part of my darkroom kit, along with EL-Nikkors in several other focal lengths. It's a fine enlarging lens for small formats, and as many people have recognized, it can be used effectively for close-up taking work when adapted to suitable film and digital cameras.

It's certainly saleable, but unless some of that pawn shop magic carries over, the amount one can expect to get for it won't come close to paying for any of the Contax G lenses.

You beat me to it. I use one for 35mm enlarging and it's excellent.


Some info at:


http://www.savazzi.net/photography/el-nikkor_63mm.htm

 

[Bolo Kukus]

This is not correct. The 63mm f/2.8 EL-Nikkor N is specified to cover 32x45mm, or a maximum format diagonal of 55.2mm. This is far short of what's needed for 6x6 (56x56mm).

I own this lens as part of my darkroom kit, along with EL-Nikkors in several other focal lengths. It's a fine enlarging lens for small formats, and as many people have recognized, it can be used effectively for close-up taking work when adapted to suitable film and digital cameras.

It's certainly saleable, but unless some of that pawn shop magic carries over, the amount one can expect to get for it won't come close to paying for any of the Contax G lenses.

I have just checked Google and other reference sources. You are correct on this. Lucy boy!!

 

[splitimageview]

Is the G1 a silver or green label?

Either are good; if you want to update to green for lens compatibility with the 35mm and 21mm, I can post the programming sequence.

 

[Rangefinder 35]

.You're a lucky dog. Now sell that enlarging lens (it won't fetch much but at least $35) and invest in genuine Carl zeiss G lens , like 35/2.0 G Planar, which is amazingly sharp. After all the whole point of owning a Contax is to be able to use Contax lenses...

 

[diego1971]

Is the G1 a silver or green label?

Either are good; if you want to update to green for lens compatibility with the 35mm and 21mm, I can post the programming sequence.

Can you please post it?

 

[Rangefinder 35]

How d one program it from silver to green?

 

[rfaspen]

Best I can tell, the EL Nikkor 63/2.8 is selling these days for anywhere between $110 and $200 USD. Most in the $110-150 range.

Best I can tell, you can find a Contax G 45/2 lens for between $340 and $390 USD (or of course much more 🙂 ).

Now, I know things are different for different people in different locations/markets (OP appears to be in Venezuela), but he/she should be about 1/2 way to an awesome Contax lens with a little selling effort. I really hope they can somehow make a Contax lens possible...the deal for the body was such a steal.

 

[Bolo Kukus]

Is the G1 a silver or green label?

Either are good; if you want to update to green for lens compatibility with the 35mm and 21mm, I can post the programming sequence.

Yes, please - this will be most useful to many of us. I for one will be very grateful to you for the 'formula'.

As one who is somewhat (my partner laughed) obsessed with Contax G cameras, I occasionally see G1s with silver labels floating thru auction houses. Usually they don't sell as almost everyone buying into G1s wants the green label - my four are all greens.

The 21/2.8 Zeiss G seems to have attained legend status. I own one, and I find it's a good lens, without much 'bend' as so many other 20s/21s show in broad landscape or tight interior shoots. Certainly it's slightly better than my Nikon 20/2.8 D, which also is no slouch in the same situations.

The 35/2.0 Zeiss G has an undeserved (well, I think so) bad reputation as a not-so-good shooting lens. I have one, and like the equally legendary 28/2.8 Biogon, it has never let me down.

It's wise to remember that even with its made in Japan G series, Zeiss has almost never made a bad lens.

 

[Agiknee]

Man I thought I got a good deal at finding my g1 for 40 bucks !

 

[Doug]

At $40 you stole it too!
I got a used G1 from KEH for $245 in 2005 but it didn't stay long because it left random blank non-exposed frames scattered along the roll. It went back on exchange for a G2 which I still have and admire. FWIW, my main reason for getting the G1 was purely to use the great G 21mm lens!

 

[Bolo Kukus]

Man I thought I got a good deal at finding my G1 for 40 bucks !

To quote you... man, you did! I paid top dollar for my first one (bought new), and then picked up my next three at A$150 each in the 2000s when they were going for peanuts on the dollar. And thought I was the bee's knees.

I did buy one for A$90 in 2013 but it was a 'white label' and not the sought-after 'green label'. SI sold it for 2x the price to a user who still shoots with it and a 28/2.8 Biogon and loves it to bits. Win-win.

All this confirms there are still bargains out there for those of us who happen to be at the right place at the right time.

In a word - serendipity. Or in the olde Englishe, happenstance
.