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Katz eye replacement focussing screen for 350D

dirk

DPRF-Founder
Administrator
Hi

I am considering to sell all my Contax N gear and to switch to Canon DSLR with Zeiss lenses combined (is there a buyer out there?)

I just read in another posting about the Katz eye replacement focussing screen for the 20D.

Is it also possible with the Canon 350D to replace the focussing screen?

Thanks in advance

P.S.: Any more solid rumours about new Canon DSLRs?
 
Dirk, just when I thought to dump my Contax N gear, I get back a couple of rolls of B&W that are absolutely outstanding.

Be forewarned that the Katzeye screen is extremely difficult to install if you don't get it right the very first time. I almost gave up, and when I did get it in there was dust in the finder ... but I wasn't about to try it all over again ...and just live with the dust.

The 20D is a nice camera, but it isn't a Contax even with Contax lenses on it.
 
Hi Marc,

"...The 20D is a nice camera, but it isn't a Contax even with Contax lenses on it..."

yes, you put salt in my wounds...

If I look at the current alternatives on the market, there is nothing that comes close to Contax feelings - except maybe Leica. But I do not want to make the same experience twice, so I will avoid Leica at the moment (and the DMR is too expensive for me anyway).

I wish there would be no need to think about alternatives. The more I compare all current offerings of Canon, Nikon et alii, the less I can believe, that the Contax N-System was not a "homerun".

canon will most likely come out with a DSLR between the 20D and the 1D Mark II with crop factor 1.3. Availablity probably in December/ January. Price level above the 20D.

But hey, where is the aperture ring of the Canon lenses, where is the solid feeling while holding the lens and why all Canon users push now the prices for used Zeiss lenses up into the sky?

Why did they do it not right from the first moment on and bought a Contax N?

Life is unfair...
 
Frankly Dirk, it's not worth the loss, both in money and in quality. All the marketing hype and stuff has everyone all worked up and chomping at the bit to lose money on perfectly good gear, to replace it with plastic feeling cameras with really shitty lenses that don't even have an aperture ring on them.

I got the Leica DMR and already used it at 2 weddings. It seems really well made and very easy to use. The RAW files open right up in PSCS. The difference from Contax is that Leica turned to Imacon to make it work. It's a CCD so it looks more film like in results. If it holds up then Leica has a winner on their hands IMO. The battery went all day on one charge.
 
To be a CONTAX FORUM, there is a lot of Canon discussion! Is there something I have misunderstood here? Canon should be discussed in a Canon Forum! I believe Carl Zeiss should have an all positive feed back from this CONTAX FORUM so that they feel strong in the position to bring back the CONTAX brand name (which actually belongs to Carl Zeiss but is contracted to Kyocera for a certain period of time). I just can't believe that the contract allows Kyocera to "kill" the brand. We, the fans and customers, should tell them with a strong voice that we still want CONTAX. May be in a slower pace and may be not all of the models produced lately, SLR, Medium Format, Rangefinder and Digital. But we want it to survive. We should not discuss, in the CONTAX FORUM, to which brand one should go from CONTAX!
 
Hi Ulf,

I can totally understand your feelings, let let me assure you (since we tried it over 3 years) that it is not in our hands anymore what will happen with the Contax brand. As long as Zeiss does not find a new coopertaion partner and Kyocera changes its mind, there is simply no hope for new developments.

So the only hope is to continiue to use the Zeiss lenses. At the end of teh day, the majority of Contax users bought Contax because of the lenses, right?

So it is natural, that we discuss also in a Contax/Zeiss Forum new possibilities to adapt our Zeiss lenses on something that can make digital shooting possible. We of course can still make images on film with a Zeiss/Contax combo, but at the moment there is no DSLR option. I just tried to contact today Zeiss and Kyocera again, but the responsible persons were not reachable/did not pick up the phone.

So I do not give up on the Contax dream and I will continue to be a pain in the neck of some decision makers, but we should not be too optimistic. If you look at the photo industry, there are only losses except for Canon and recently Nikon. Kodak tumbles, Olympus tumbles, Minolta was sold to Konica, Pentax tumbles... you name it. And the fact that Nikon just had a great last quarter does not say that they will survive longterm.

To be honest I do not see at the moment any way out for Zeiss. No big player will be interest in continuing the N-system. This would be a too dramatic competition. And for the analog Zeiss lenses, most users alraeyd switched to Canon to use their zeiss lenses with an adapter on the Canon DSLR.

This means that those users have

a) no money anymore near term for a DSLR
b) will always get a cheaper and more advanced Zeiss compatible (!) DSLR from Canon, in case someone tries to offer a Contax DSLR with C/Y mount.

If you reflect additionally that it takes at least 2 years from the planning of a DSLR until you see it in the shelves, you can count how likely you will see a new Contax DSLR soon, even if Zeiss finds a partner tomorrow.

So the goal is in the mean time to enjoy the Zeiss lenses - no matter what kind of box is behind them.

But I agree, ideally we should talk 95% about Contax and Zeiss. But extreme situations lead often to extreme behaviour
happy.gif
 
Ulf, it is good to have strong support for the Contax products.
A vast majority of my professional gear is Zeiss equipped.
Which includes Contax 645, ND, N-1, RX, ST and 3 Hasselblad Cameras with a total of about 40 lenses ... most of which cost more than I'd care to admit (at least to my wife ; -)

But I make photos, not lens collections ... nor am I blindly loyal to any company ... any of which would drop you like a hot potato if they decided to get out of the business like Kyocera did.

Dirk, as far as I can tell the new DMR has properties similar to the ND in that it has a nice dynamic range compared to the Canons. So it does B&W quite nicely. It is a beautiful piece of equipment that's easy to use.

Ulf, pardon me while I show Dirk a shot made with a Leica DSLR.
Leica is a long time rival of Zeiss, but they are sort of in the same boat in this digital world so a couple of shots couldn't hurt huh???

393343.jpg
 
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