Hello from John

[JohnTM]

Hello All,

Joined this group to find out more about Contax systems. There's not much exposure to such here in Australia - the Rx I use I bought in Japan. Looking forward to learning all the finer tricks about using the camera (like all camera systems have) as well as viewing the work of others.

Cheers

John

 

[Tysker]

Hello John,

nice to meet you here. I myself use nikonequipment, but mostly the zeisslenses ZF 2,8/21 - 2,8/25 - 2/35 - 2/50 and 1,4/85.

So I cannot say anything about the contaxbodys, but something about these different lenses. Some of these was used also in the contaxsystem.

Have a nice time here,
Heinz

 

[JohnTM]

Hello Heinz,

Pleased to meet you. Thank you for the warm welcome. I've never even touched Nikon equipment, though sometimes I wish I did because most of the second hand dealers here in Australia, seem to deal with Nikon, more so than other brands.

A Canon (EOS film) was the first serious camera I used, so I simply stayed with them. After reading much to do what I wanted to do (photograph martial arts - karate) I soon adopted digital, but also stayed with film. I read out about Contax systems, especially RTS system and the Zeiss lenses they used, but could not find one here in Australia. However in 2007, I found an excellent used camera store in Osaka, that sold me the Rx. I could not believe how clear the viewfinder was, nor how sharp the images were when they were processed. Now, the only time I use another film camera is when I'm shooting slide and B&W film on the same trip.

Cheers

John

 

[chris_curly]

Hi everybody

HI i am a newbie,

i have a contax 645 sytem with 2 Zeiss lens and an mk1 canon 5d, One of the reasons for me using this forum is i need help and advice on digital backs for the contax, I have tried scanning from negs but they dont look great and compared to the 5d there isnt much difference.

Obviously in film there is no beating the contax, but i was wondering about any budget solutions for a digital back for the beast! (my pet name for her)

thanks

 

[pfharrison]

Contax Rx

I have an RX and if I am honest I don't really like the camera compared to earlier contaxes, the pictures are fine but I find the RX has rather too many features, and is not as nice to use as ealier simpler models like the 137 which is my favourite. I have a 645 but have no experience with digiatal backs on it, my suspicion would be that there are no cheap digiatl back solutions for it though as nothing for a Contax 645 seems cheap.

Paul

 

[Tysker]

HI i am a newbie,

i have a contax 645 sytem with 2 Zeiss lens and an mk1 canon 5d, One of the reasons for me using this forum is i need help and advice on digital backs for the contax, I have tried scanning from negs but they dont look great and compared to the 5d there isnt much difference.

Obviously in film there is no beating the contax, but i was wondering about any budget solutions for a digital back for the beast! (my pet name for her)

thanks

Hi,

did you try slidefilm in your contax 645 also? These films, I prefer Velvia 100F, are "better" than for example a Ektar 100!

Yes - it seems today digital 35mm-cameras you can compare with scanned 6x6-film. But I don´t know whether that is so when you for example also use a Nikon Coolscan 9000 with its 4000 dpi.
I have one, and also film from Pentax 67 and an old Hasselblad 500 C/M (2-8/80 mm). But I use "only" a digital Nikon D200, and never compared. Yes - I often prefer "my" Velvia 100F in my Nikon-bodys, and the scans with the Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED.

But digital backs become cheaper and cheaper. But maybe not for a contax.

Regards
Heinz

 

[pfharrison]

Comparing 645 scans and Digital

Perhaps you could let us know how you compared the 645 scans with the Digital pics. Film scanner comparison means etc. I am interested in how you did this.

Paul

 

[pfharrison]

645 scan quality

I got some PanF film back from my 645 which I used setup on a tripod with cable release and mirror lock, using the single shot auto-focus to make sure that they were exactly focussed and I got some results that are very impressive a lot better than my Canon EOS 5D Mk1 is capable of, I think that the 645 can produce excelent results in appropraite secenarios, I have previously failed to get these results, it doesn't really work for mobile subjects, and it is difficult to get an exact manual focus because of the lack of split screen and microprisom collar, the one shot auto-focus works very well though.

Paul