TenEleven's Zeiss Contax (I, II, IIa) Lens Compendium

[markjwyatt]

This was a great thread. Good to see it pop up again.

...I suspect I may need to have the Biogon cleaned- I do see some flare issues. I could see the Biogon becoming one of my most used lenses.

I was mistaken. The lens is very clean (I just showed it to my repair guy also, and he concurred). I was dismayed with a sun star on one photo, but now realize this is quite normal, especially at smaller apertures (diffraction). This lens is sharp and renders nicely. See the upper right front windshield:


BMW i8 by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr
A lens hood would probably help, but the way the aperture is on the front of the lens is a little tricky.

This picture shows its sharpness and contrast rendering potential (handheld, no lens hood):


Stumpy Meets Medusa by Mark Wyatt, on Flickr

 

[davidswiss]

Does any one have any info. about or pictures taken with a Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f6.3 which I saw a picture of recently ??

It hasn't appeared in the list so far and it does seem a physically long and difficult to manage lens to attach to a contax.

 

[dexdog]

i have two of those lenses, have posted a few pics over the last few years. the lens is not that bad to handle on a contax, it is about same weight as the 13.5cm lenses. currently traveling, no access to my pics, so unable to post examples

 

[Cascadilla]

Does any one have any info. about or pictures taken with a Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f6.3 which I saw a picture of recently ??

It hasn't appeared in the list so far and it does seem a physically long and difficult to manage lens to attach to a contax.

I also own one of these, and have found it to be a good lens. It focuses accurately on Contax II and III bodies and isn't awkward to focus and hold steady at 1/250 or higher for me. My biggest challenge was finding a lens shade for it since the front on mine isn't threaded, though some later ones are. I eventually found a 42 mm adapter with a set screw that could take a lens shade. I have only shot B&W film with it, so I can't comment on how it renders color. I don't have access to my files from this lens right now but will post a few when I can.

 

[davidswiss]

Thanks for the answers and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Does anyone know if the 180 would fit a contax IIa ?

 

[dexdog]

The 18.0cm lens will fit on a contax IIa no problem

 

[Cascadilla]

Thanks for the answers and I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures.
Does anyone know if the 180 would fit a contax IIa ?

Yes, it fits. In my experience the focusing is still accurate enough despite the slightly shorter rangefinder base length.

 

[dexdog]

Yes, it fits. In my experience the focusing is still accurate enough despite the slightly shorter rangefinder base length.

i imagine that being able to focus such a long focal length lens with a RF was the reason the maximum aperture is f6.3

 

[Cascadilla]

i imagine that being able to focus such a long focal length lens with a RF was the reason the maximum aperture is f6.3

The famous f/2.8 18 cm Olympic Sonnar originally came in direct to camera mount but the focusing on even the long base Contax II/III rangefinder wasn't accurate enough. f/6.3 helps, and my experience with this lens with close-ups indicates that the camera RF is accurate enough at even close distances, 2.5 meters if I recall correctly. A parallax corrected finder is pretty essential for this. After all, why bother with the size, weight and expens of the f/2.8 lens if you can't use it at wide apertures. As an aside, this is why I am about to sell an 80-200 f/2.8 zoom for my DSLRs. It is simply too heavy for me to hand hold for very long at this point in my life and I'm not doing the theatre dress rehearsal work that I bought it for any more.

 

[Cascadilla]

One example from the 18 cm f/6.3 Tele Tessar K, shot on Tri-X developed in HC 110:
This is a small JPEG, so don't draw a lot of conclusions from it.

 

[raid]

Thanks for the information in this thread. I can see myself reading the material over and over:

 

[dexdog]

Does any one have any info. about or pictures taken with a Carl Zeiss Jena 180mm f6.3 which I saw a picture of recently ??

It hasn't appeared in the list so far and it does seem a physically long and difficult to manage lens to attach to a contax.

Marine Corps Museum, Quantico, Virginia. First pic is 35mm lens, You can see the tailgunner's position at rear of cockpit. Second pic is black and nickel CZJ 18cm f.6.3. The lens vignettes a bit wide open on my Sony full-frame digital cameras (this is the Sony a7). I don't use this lens very often, so don't have many images available. I think that the 18cm performs pretty well given that was made in 1933.

 

[dexdog]

A couple more pics, same camera and lens

 

[wlewisiii]

Neat stuff, neat list, thanks!

 

[davidswiss]

Impressive Dexdog, thanks.