waiting for my contax

[santino]

Hi!

I'm waiting for my Contax IIa to arrive, excitement guaranteed!
here's a pic

 

[santino]

I forgot to mention that it is a export model with feet instead of meters, seems to be relatively rare. I can't wait much longer (sorry, had to share my joy)

 

[Gene M]

Nice looking camera. Peter J. Laudanski's quote is pretty pompous. He draws with light ?

 

[santino]

Nice looking camera. Peter J. Laudanski's quote is pretty pompous. He draws with light ?

He does

 

[darkkavenger]

Congratulations! I am seeking a model marked in meters.


Nicolas: j'ai bien reçu la note, j'y réponds dès que possible
//max

 

[santino]

I'd prefer meters too but it was a good deal and the Contax had CLA recently
I'll have to use my J8M on it, don't have a real Sonnar but I'm quite happy with my Kiev 4a (and the Contax has to be better ).

 

[darkkavenger]

You also have... hum... the rangefinder, for focusing.

Plus, the concern about how the helical is marked regards the 50mm lens only. With other lenses, you use the lens barrel engravings.

i'm really dumb! I shoot with DOF method only with wide lenses, and i forgot it's on the lens barrel :bang:

 

[Sonnar Brian]

If you don't have one, The Helios-103 is well worth getting. I find it sharper than the J-8's.

I use one on the Contax, and they are hard to beat for price. Even after you find a Sonnar, it gives you a "Planar" alternative.

 

[santino]

you're probably right though I've never used the Helios but I shot with a Zenit with Helios 44 lens and it is a excellent performer! thanks for the hint!

 

[Mike Kovacs]

Looks like a nice one. If you saw a 30-something male shooting with a Contax in Linz last September, that would have been me.

I still need to scan those rolls - my favourite are of the tower staircase on the top of lookout you get to via the Poestlingbergbahn. We stayed with friends on the opposite bank of the Danube.

Sorry, this one's a Rolleiflex shot of Linz

 

[santino]

unfortunately I didn't see you.
I can't believe that somebody been to Linz, it's such a small town and you're from Canda, my oh mine
btw. good shot.
contact me if you'd ever come again there aren't much Contax shooters

 

[varjag]

I zone-focus with 50mm routinely, and not just for hyperfocal distance; sometimes estimating the distance roughly and dialing it with the lens set to medium aperture. But true, not a concern if you do it with wides only.

 

[Mike Kovacs]

I also remember these very cool wooden robots in the town square that moved about on a giant sandbox. Also nice was the boat ride down the Danube to the next stop (can't recall the name, begins with an "O") and cycling back.

Our friend insisted we ride the little yellow tourist train - that was embarrasingly touristy! At least it gave us a quick overview of the old city.

 

[outfitter]

Originally Posted by NicolasD
But you will find a huge lot of Contax II and Contax III within the USA and Canada with helicals marked in meters and without the "Made in Germany" engraving on the rewnd knob. These cameras belonged to people who were escaping from the nazi regime in the late 1930's and couldn't take money with them, but just valuable things. The Contax II was one of the most expensive cameras at that time, and that explains how so many of them are now located in North-America.

Interesting theory but the United States had very restrictive immigration policy at the eve of WWII and allowed in very few refugees from the Nazi. As you say the Contax was very expensive and relatively few export models came in prior to WWII. In my experience there are more metric Contax II in the USA than export models. My guess is that the pent up demand for German cameras in the USA after the war coupled with the desperate need for dollars in much of Europe produced an in-flow of used Contax cameras.