 Robert N. Valine |
Any Contax Shooters ? I was wondering if we have any Contax shooters on BP besides myself.
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Bob Cammarata |
Hello Rob, You have a fine machine but you seem to be unique around here. I just looked at "All Photos Created with This (your) Camera" at this link: It looks like your own personal Gallery. I once looked into upgrading to Contax myself for those Zeiss lenses. Bob
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Robert N. Valine |
Hi Bob, I haven't heard anything from you for quite a while. It's good to see you're still on BP. I really enjoy the Contax cameras. They're very well built and the Zeiss lenses are fabulous. The system does have it's limitations though. I purchased a Nikon F100 in December 2006 for shooting wildlife and events where I need more speed. The auto focus, High speed motor drive and wide choice of lenses in the longer focal lengths were my main reasons. I have no intentions of giving up my Contax cameras though. Different tools for different situations. Where I don't need speed or long focal lengths, the Contax system does a fine job.
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Robert N. Valine |
You're right Bob. They are all my pictures. That's a shame. Contax makes some fine equipment. I think if they would have come out with a digital body to fit their manual focus lenses, they might still be in business. They lost their distributor from what I understand. They shouldn't have expected people to run out and buy all new auto focus lenses after they already spent a fortune acquiring the Zeiss manual focus lenses. If they had a digital for the manual focus lenses, I would buy one right away. I'm seeing a lot of adapters on ebay for other camera bodies so that Zeiss lenses can be used with other manufacturers Digital bodies. Mainly Canon. It's too bad Contax didn't try to solve this problem. It seems to me that they wanted to force people to buy all new lenses if they wanted to get into digital. They should have had a digital body for both auto focus and manual focus lenses so that their customers had a choice in the matter.
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Mary J. Lowisz |
How about a Contax by the name Kiev? I just got a Kiev 4 with a Jupiter 8. It needs to be CLAed before I use it, though.
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Robert N. Valine |
I don't know much about the Kiev. I've heard of them though. I think that's Russian copy if I'm not mistaken. I see a lot of them on ebay.
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Mary J. Lowisz |
Rob, you are right, but Kievs are more than copies. After WWII the Soviets dismantled the Zeiss Ikon factories in Dresden and Jena and transported them to the Arsenal Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. So the same dies that made Contax cameras made the Kiev.
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Robert N. Valine |
That's very interesting. I didn't know that. So the Kiev is basically a Zeiss Ikon that's made in Russia ? If that's the case then you should have a superb camera. The Zeiss Ikon is a very well known Rangefinder camera of very high quality. I wouldn't mind having one of the new ones that they are making now. I love Rangefinder cameras. I have 3 Contax cameras, 2 Aria SLR's and a G2 Rangefinder. I love the G2 It's a joy to shoot with once you figure everything out and get used to it. It also produces very high quality images. I also have a Petri 7S Rangefinder that I play around with once in a while. The meter doesn't work in the Petri anymore. So, I either use a handheld meter or I use Kodak Tri X Black and White film and guess the exposures. I've actually taken some pretty cool photos with the Petri. If you post any photos on BP that were taken with the Kiev, Let me know. I'd like to see them. Thanks for the info......Rob
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Mary J. Lowisz |
I haven't shot anything with the Kiev yet; its off to New York for a CLA. I recently discovered rangefinders and now have three. The Kiev, a FED2 (Russian Leica copy) and a Canonet Q17 in need of some new light seals. I just finished a my first roll of film with the FED. I haven't got the pictures back yet, but will post some if they turn out reasonably well--I am trying to learn the sunny 16 rule even though I have two hand meters. Do you have anything in you gallery take with the G2or Petri?
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Robert N. Valine |
Yes I do. http://robvalineimages.com/-/robvalineimages/detail.php?photoID=2607261&cat=42917 This was taken with the G2. This image has been enlarged considerably after high res scanning. I believe it could be a 20"x 24" print with no trouble at all. That's a pretty big enlargement for 35mm. This is Razor Sharp and I was very impressed with it. It was taken handheld. These are some of the images that I took with the Petri 7S that I have on Photo.net in a presentation called "Guesswork". http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?presentation_id=337795 http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?presentation_id=337795
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Robert N. Valine |
Another Rangefinder camera that I was looking at pretty seriously is the Voigtlander. If you want the most bang for the buck in a Rangefinder, It's hard to beat Voigtlander. I've been looking at the new Bessa R2A which has Aperture priority auto exposure and exposure compensation.
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Mary J. Lowisz |
Great work. I particularly like the dinasour. I did post one pic in my gallery made with the FED 2. Unfortunately, there is some lens flare.
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Robert N. Valine |
Thanks for the comments Mary! I took a look at your photo. There does appear to be something in the photo. Are you sure that's lens flare? Were you shooting into the sun? It doesn't look like a sunny day. Have you tested that lens before? Your awfully close to the subject. You have to be careful with Rangefinders and minimum distance. They're not good super close to the subject. Most have a minimum focal distance of about 2 to 3 feet. Thanks for letting me know you posted the photo.
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Mary J. Lowisz |
I am not sure its lens flare; I saw some other abnormalities ins a couple of other pictures. None of them were anything like what was on my dog. It was actually a very sunny day and we were in some shadows. It was the first time I used that camera and lens. Honestly, I think I about a meter away from Rusty so about the minimum distance.
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Robert N. Valine |
You should try shooting some pictures in absolute shade or when there is no sun shining. Lens flare comes from the sun. If you're in shade you shouldn't have lens flare. It didn't look to me like lens flare. But, I could be wrong. How many photos have you run through this camera ? Are there any others that have strange things in them ?
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Mary J. Lowisz |
That was the first roll of film I ran through this camera. I thought it maybe light reflecting off the snow. In the other pictures it looks like lint or dust on the lens. Its not the same in every picture either. I thought I cleaned it before I left the house that day. I will post another in my gallery; look near the top.
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