Is there an M (or LTM) lens that 'renders like' the Zeiss 45mm/f2 Planar for Contax G-series?

[raid]

I kept one copy of the Planar G 45/2 as is, but I bought online another copy of this lens that had been converted into M mount. The 45/2 is a very special lens. I like using it.

 

[jc031699]

Funleader sells kits for reversible conversion of the G45/2 apparently!

Contax G 45mm f/2 Zeiss Lens Leica M Mount Conversion – Excellent

"Funleader G45 45mm f/2 – Zeiss lens from Contax G re-engineered for Leica M. Precision rangefinder coupling, clean glass, great handling. $485"

myfunleader.com

 

[Erik van Straten]

This kind of brings me back to where I started this from: when I first started using rangefinders I was using film because there wasn't much available in the way of a digital RF (the Epson RF-1 was about it, the M8 hadn't been released - and I couldn't afford it anyway). I started with a Hexar RF (with the M-Hexanon 50mm/f2), then an M3 (which I mostly used with either that Hexanon, or with an Elmar-M 50mm/f2.8) then the Contax G2 (which I mostly, but not exclusively, used with the 45mm/f2 Planar). This was when film, and C41 film processing (including decent scans) was much more readily available, much cheaper and much more convenient than it is now.

What had me start this thread was looking back at some old photos (prints; then scans from the same film) taken with those three outfits and thinking "I got results I liked from all of them, but there's a distinctive 'look' to some of the shots from that G2/Planar kit". Not better or worse, per se just distinct and different.

So I had an idle thought to ask whether there's a lens I could use to get similar results on something other than my G2 (because I was thinking 'digital', colour film being way to inconvenient for me these days).

To my eye, none of my current lenses (including the M-Hexanon 50mm) do that: or at least won't do that unless I went out of my way to simulate or at least emulate that through digital processing. Or to get a G-mount 45 Planar converted to work with a camera I have (most likely M-mount). I'm not at all sure I'm sufficiently motivated to do either of those things.

I do thank everyone for responding thoughtfully to what, really, was a more idle question than perhaps I conveyed.

Thanks, again...

...Mike

The Planar does have some distortion (barrel vault), but tonality and sharpness are very nice. But because of the distortion I use the Planar (and therefore the Contax G) no longer.

 

[Benjamin Marks]

I kept one copy of the Planar G 45/2 as is, but I bought online another copy of this lens that had been converted into M mount. The 45/2 is a very special lens. I like using it.

I did the same thing. It's a lens with a special "something..."

Edit: I should add that when Zeiss came out with a 50 Planar in M-mount, I bought that too, hoping that it would duplicate the magic of my 45. The 50 is a very nice lens, but I never got the exact combination of traits in pictures from my example that makes the 45 so special,

 

[Evergreen States]

I’ve just been reflecting on the, um, international flavour of all this:

A German-designed Zeiss 45mm/f2 Planar lens for the autofocus Contax G-series rangefinder system (made in Japan after Yashica was bought by Kyocera) converted to the Leica M manual focus system with a kit from Hong Kong based Funleader, bought from a Paris camera store on consignment from the guy who did the conversion, who lives in Brazil, by someone in Sydney who has now mounted it on his German-made camera.

Somehow that seems like .. something 🤷‍♂ 🤔

…Mike

Libertarian activist Leonard E. Reed penned an essay along these lines called I, Pencil. You may not agree with the political prescriptions this was written to forward (and I don't want to push any political agenda here), but it is a deeply humbling thing to merely consider how our global economy relies on international cooperation between thousands and thousands of people who will never know each other just to result in a single product. And then to consider how almost all of what we use and enjoy comes from this very cooperation.

 

[raid]

This thread has reminded me of my 45/2. I will use it soon again.

 

[RexGig0]

This entire thread has been a wonderful read/viewing. Thanks to all contributors. The 45mm focal length is the part that caught my attention. I wish the OP every success and happiness with converted Contax 45mm. 🙂

I have really enjoyed using the manual-focus Nikkor 45mm f/2.8P, an F-mount SLR lens, of “pancake” configuration, but other than focal length, it may well share nothing with the subject of the thread. Of the lenses mentioned, in all of the posts, I believe that the Zeiss Distagon 35mm f/1.4 ZM is the only one with which I am familiar, being one of my absolute favorite M-mount lenses.