Voightlander Prominent and Contax IIa

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paparazzi mano

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I find that the Prominent forces me to slow down and to focus on the scene and composition. Does anyone still use it especially with the the Nokton?

Contax IIa is also very good and less than a Leica and not that prominent!:D The ergonomics is better than the Prominent but the build is slightly lower. The sonnar lens is a great lens.

Does anyone have similar experience?
 
I don't own a Prominent any more, but I still own a Contax IIa. My feeling is opposite, I think the IIa quality is better than the Prominent, and the lenses for the IIa are superior. But, could be only a personal preference / bias.

...Vick
 
I have a Prominent I knob advance and the Prominent I lever advance. The build quality is 1st rate, but the design is overly complex. The double set of shutter blades is unnecessary for the films of the day. The Polaroid 180 uses the same design, but was made for ASA 3000 film. The bright line finder of the later Prominent I flares. The Nokton is superb, I use one with an adapter on the Nikon S2. It would be easy to hack into LTM as the back-focus is big.

I would not get rid of the Prominents, and the Skoparon and Dynaret are quite good.
 
I kept the IIa and the Prominent I. Both cameras are first quality of craftmanship.
Both are less practical to use than a modern RF camera.
Both cameras have excellent lenses.
 
raid said:
I kept the IIa and the Prominent I. Both cameras are first quality of craftmanship.
Both are less practical to use than a modern RF camera.
Both cameras have excellent lenses.
Click to expand...

Dear Raid,

The Prominent has forced me to take time to think about composition instead of firing a shot. Its too easy to just click the shutter. The "Just Do It" mantra don't work. Digital camera has made it even too easy to take a picture. Taking a good picture takes technical skills and also an eye for good story telling.

Talking about the shutter, I can barely hear the shutter. It is such a feat of engineering.

Wonder why it is not so popular. The Nokton and the Ultron lenses are super. A good balance of contrast and sharpness. I think that its better than anything Leitz or Zeiss had made in the same era.
 
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I have two Nokton 50/1.5's. They are on par with the best superspeed lenses of the day, but I would have a hard time rating them aboce a good Sonnar or Nikkor. What is different- the Nokton is based on the Planar formula, the others are Sonnar formula. The Nokton is better than the Summarit and the Simlar, the other lenses based on Planar formula.
 
Brian Sweeney said:
I have two Nokton 50/1.5's. They are on par with the best superspeed lenses of the day, but I would have a hard time rating them aboce a good Sonnar or Nikkor. What is different- the Nokton is based on the Planar formula, the others are Sonnar formula. The Nokton is better than the Summarit and the Simlar, the other lenses based on Planar formula.
Click to expand...


any good bokeh pix with your Nokton?
 
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