I'm a new Contax user in UK ; 137MA & 60mm AE Planar

[dunk]

Hi, I'm dunk in Cambs. UK and some of you might know me from the Leica Users Forum. Yesterday I bought a 60mm Macrp Planar AE and today happened upon a 137MA on Ebay which I won and should receive in a few days time. Hoping to use the 60mm on a digital camera but not sure which is the best adaptor to go for. Any advice about compatibility issues would be appreciated please. I have Olympus E-1 and Panasonic G-1 cameras plus Canon EOS 10D .

Meantime am happy to try out the 60mm on the 137MA. I'm an experienced close-up photographer and prefer to use natural daylight. Also continuous tungsten lighting ... ie photo floods plus a Schott fibre optic projector. I very seldom use flash these days as prefer the WYSIWYG approach.

I always hankered after an original RTS and may still get one ... but the 137MA should be fine to experiment with initially.

Cheers

dunk

 

[nickdando]

I also have the same lens and wanted to use it on a Canon Eos 10D. Unfortunately the aperture pin catches against the surface of the mirror box, and I never tried to fire a shot to see if the mirror would be obstructed. I don't know what effect filing down the pin would have; after all it was designed that way for a reason.

The same problem affects the Mutar I, and the Auto Bellows just can't be fitted onto the camera due to the pentaprism overhang.

I got my adaptor through Carsten of Classic Camera Exchange. It's made in Germany from chromed brass and works very well. The only snag with the Canon is the ERR99 problem, that afflicts the camera and not just because I'm using a non-standard lens on it. To cure it, the camera has to be switched off, each time the problem occurs to reset the error code. It can be very annoying. It even happens with some genuine Canon lenses that I have.

I'm just not very keen on the Canon, to be honest, as the Contax cameras are so much better made - AX, 137MD, RTS II. For digital work, I much prefer my Epson R-D1.


Nick

 

[dunk]

Thanks for the information Nick. I'm wondering if the EOS 10D would still catch the aperture pin of a small extension tube. Have seen a used set of Vivitar tubes advertised and they might have a shorter aperture pin(s) . The smallest tube is 12mm which would permit photography at approx 1:3 magnification and larger with the 60mm lens ... this could be useful but only if the Vivitar tube pin is shorter than the actual lens pin and does not catch the mirror.

Has anyone tried using the 60mm with a Contax to 4/3 format adaptor? I would like to use it on my Olympus E-1.

Cheers

dunk