Practical questions about the Contax IIa

[Vier14]

Dear all,

I've recently acquired a nice Contax IIa with a Sonnar 1.5 Opton in perfect working condition.
I find it less "status-symbol" and, at the end, more palatable than my Leica M2.
To obtain the best from the IIa, I'll be happy to have some clarifications on the following points:

1. Minimum shutter speed before blurring the picture

An experienced Leica user is supposed to make sharp picture at shutter speed down to 1/8, even 1/4, because of the mirrorless horizontal shutter.

What about the IIa with its vertical metal shutter?

2. Shift focus

Does it affect the original Sonnar, or only the current version?

(Same question for the Nikkor 1.4 I use with my M2)

If I understand things correctly, the shift focus implies to focus 3 inches beyond the subject to focus correctly?

3. 35mm lens

The Biogon-Opton looks ludicrously expensive. What is the best alternative, knowing that the Jupiter 12 does not fit with the post-war Contax ? (please confirm)

Do I need an external 35mm viewfinder as the rangefinder of the Contax is limited to 50mm?

Thanks for your help

Best regards from France

Olivier

 

[marcr1230]

I have a IIa - never tried to hold that slow a speed
The horizontal vs vertical should have no impact since the time is the same
Assuming no effect from the vibration of tripping the shutter initially

Biogon is expensive because is rarer

Try a nikkor 35 2.5

To be most accurate - use a separate viewfinder
I find that focus then framing is too cumbersome
Either zone focus and use the external finder always or ditch the external and accept the
Cut off view in the main finder (wrt 35mm)

 

[ray*j*gun]

I have a IIa and 1,5 Sonnar original lens......1/30 is the best I can do.......I focus with zero compensation and yes you need an external finder for anything but a 50mm. CV lenses are wonderful for the money. Many find a multiple finder useful anyway because the Contax finder is so squinty.

I don't understand your comment about M2's status but makes the world go round.

 

[Dez]

Lots of good advice in this thread, but I'll toss in another two cents' worth.

The Contax 2a is a truly wonderful camera, and I have heard that one could buy a decent car for the price of one of these gems with the f1.5 lens in the 50's. I think it cost more than contemporary Leicas.

There may be some advantage to a RF camera vs an SLR for low speeds, but I think it's minimal. Your general health and caffeine level are bigger factors, and finding a way to brace the camera is most important. Although the 2A is easier to hold than the prewar models, I find that I still have to grip it a bit strangely, and that may be a bit of a problem.

Re the 35 (or 28) lenses, I agree that the Nikons are your best bet. Yes there is a focusing mount diffrerence, but for a wide angle lens, at least one I could think of affording, it really won't have any effect. The Biogon pricing is ridiculous.


Cheers,
Dez

 

[Vier14]

Thanks all for these wonderful comments I found waking up thanks to the time difference:angel:

I am fortunaltely in good health and doing sport three times a week. So I will try to god down in speed to 1/15, potentially 1/8 as it allows me take pictures in a dim light environment at f1.5.

I took a day off and the weather is pretty nice.

Time to go

Regards

Olivier

 

[sevo]

1. Minimum shutter speed before blurring the picture

An experienced Leica user is supposed to make sharp picture at shutter speed down to 1/8, even 1/4, because of the mirrorless horizontal shutter.

What about the IIa with its vertical metal shutter?

No difference. But 1/8s or 1/4s is certainly stretching the limits on every camera, unless you intentionally want visible shake as a artistic statement. For what it is worth, the Leica and Contax are no magic bullet cameras regarding shake. While much less shake prone than early SLRs, they are about on a par with good 80's mid range SLRs, and inferior to current or recent high end SLRs (e.g. the Nikon F6 or D3) whose high body mass and well damped mechanisms almost zero camera induced shake, as evident by the latter creating images effectively free from shake at every speed when merely rested on a hard surface and triggered by wireless remote.

Whatever reasonably decent camera you use, release pressure shake and tremor are worse problems at these speeds than camera induced shake, and even a F6 won't turn out many successes when hand-held, unless fit with a VR lens. That is, use a support system - a monopod will do more for your 1/8s work than any camera without electronic image stabilization can do!

2. Shift focus

Does it affect the original Sonnar, or only the current version?

(Same question for the Nikkor 1.4 I use with my M2)

If I understand things correctly, the shift focus implies to focus 3 inches beyond the subject to focus correctly?

Something like that, yes, but only when fully close up, fully open and the lens still adjusted to factory standard - they seem to have been set up by default to have no focus shift at f/4 (so that they'll have some when wider open), but they can be serviced to have none at f/1.5, in which case they'll have it in the mid apertures. About that scale of focus shift is inherent to all fast Sonnar type designs due to their strong asymmetry.

3. 35mm lens

The Biogon-Opton looks ludicrously expensive. What is the best alternative, knowing that the Jupiter 12 does not fit with the post-war Contax ? (please confirm)

Do I need an external 35mm viewfinder as the rangefinder of the Contax is limited to 50mm?

The Jupiter 12 and Jena Biogon have too wide a barrel to fit the IIa curtain box.

Compared to that fairly ubiquitous lens (the Soviets may have built more of the J12 than all Contax mount lenses ever turned out by both Jena and Oberkochen after 1949), wide angles fitting the IIa are relatively rare, hence more expensive. The Opton 35mm Biogon actually is the best buy of the lot right now, being still somewhat affordable and optically the best Zeiss wide type. The originally lower budget 35mm lenses (wide Planar types from both Opton and GDR Jena, plus some odd pre war designs) fitting the IIa have, due to their relative rarity, now risen to collectors prices above the Biogon, out of proportion to their somewhat inferior optical performance and/or speed.

One excellent alternative, if you can get hold of one (Cameraquest still had some new old stock a year or two ago, but I can't find that page any more, and they are getting rare), would be a CV 35mm (or 28mm) Color Skopar in Nikon RF mount - these are the sharpest and highest contrast wides ever made in a (almost - you may want to stop down to f/4 when closer than 2m to compensate the close focus difference) Contax compatible mount.

Sevo

 

[Highway 61]

1. Minimum shutter speed before blurring the picture

2. Shift focus

3. 35mm lens

3.1 The Biogon-Opton looks ludicrously expensive. What is the best alternative, knowing that the Jupiter 12 does not fit with the post-war Contax ? (please confirm)

3.2 Do I need an external 35mm viewfinder as the rangefinder of the Contax is limited to 50mm?

1. 1/5s

2. Yes

3.1 Vintage W-Nikkor-C 2,5/35 or modern Color-Skopar 2,5/35 in Nikon RF mount

3.2 Yes

😉

 

[Vier14]

Thanks for these classy answers

 

[batterytypehah!]

One excellent alternative, if you can get hold of one (Cameraquest still had some new old stock a year or two ago, but I can't find that page any more, and they are getting rare), would be a CV 35mm (or 28mm) Color Skopar in Nikon RF mount - these are the sharpest and highest contrast wides ever made in a (almost - you may want to stop down to f/4 when closer than 2m to compensate the close focus difference) Contax compatible mount.

The page is still up: http://cameraquest.com/nrfVClens.htm

Granted, Stephen never seems to take any old pages down 🙄 but he's also still running an ad here on RFF for the 35/2.5 lens.

 

[furcafe]

1. Same as what you should be able to achieve w/your M2.

2. Based on my experience shooting the pre-WWII & post-WWII 50/1.5 Sonnars, the 50/1.4 Nikkor-S in both LTM & Nikon RF mount, & the current 50/1.5 C Sonnar in Nikon RF mount (optimized for f/2.8) on Contax RFs, Nikon RFs, & my Leica M bodies (including the M9) via adapters, I think the modern lens simply displays the focus shift more than the old design(s). Not being an optical expert, I'm not sure why this is the case, but my guess is that: (1) the new lens is simply sharper wide-open, so you can see the effect of the focus shift more clearly; & (2) the older designs were optimized for f/1.5 close work (particularly the Nikkor), whereas the 1st batch of C Sonnars in ZM mount (& my Nikon S mount version) were optimized for f/2.8 at close distances & so the focus shift was more visible when people started using the new lens in the same manner as they did the old version.

3. As suggested by others, in your price range, the 35/2.5 w-Nikkor is a good classic alternative & the CV 35/2.5 SC Skopar is the only modern one. Unless you have enough experience to previsualize the 35mm field of view, you will need an external VF.

Dear all,

1. Minimum shutter speed before blurring the picture

An experienced Leica user is supposed to make sharp picture at shutter speed down to 1/8, even 1/4, because of the mirrorless horizontal shutter.

What about the IIa with its vertical metal shutter?

2. Shift focus

Does it affect the original Sonnar, or only the current version?

(Same question for the Nikkor 1.4 I use with my M2)

If I understand things correctly, the shift focus implies to focus 3 inches beyond the subject to focus correctly?

3. 35mm lens

The Biogon-Opton looks ludicrously expensive. What is the best alternative, knowing that the Jupiter 12 does not fit with the post-war Contax ? (please confirm)

Do I need an external 35mm viewfinder as the rangefinder of the Contax is limited to 50mm?

Thanks for your help

Best regards from France

Olivier

 

[Highway 61]

Thanks for these classy answers

You're welcome 😉

I'm not teasing you, I just wrote with fewer words exactly what all the other people have written and will continue to write here.

Now enjoy your IIa ; I have one (and use it regularly) myself so I fully agree with you about this camera (when its shutter works at all speeds, but this is another story).

 

[S.H.]

Bonnes photos avec le contax!
I never had any problem with focus shift on my sonnar 1.5. I stumbled across a cheap planar 3.5 but that was pure luck, they seem to fetch the same price as the biogon 2.8. Not much to add, I think everyone answered your questions 🙂.