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New Contax ND

John/Mike

A C/Y digital back is not going to happen. Contax/Zeiss does not have the cult following of Leica and Harley Davidson. My boss happens to be one of them (he's into Leica and Harleys!) and he's got almost the entire line of Leica lenses, from 15mm to a 400mm/2.8. Leica owners are willing (and able!) to spend big bucks for Leica equipment. But not Contax/Zeiss owners who are more middle-of-the-road aficionados.

He was just waiting for Leica to release the digital back later this year (and he would pay any price) but when I told him about the Leica/EOS adaptor/mount yesterday, he ordered one immediately! Now he's thinking, mmmh ... maybe I can get a 1Ds and just forget about the Leica digital back!

The advantage of going to a Canon (for both Leica and Zeiss lens owners) is that you can interchange between the auto-focus Canon lenses (L-series, of course!) and the manual-focus Leica/Zeiss lenses. That to me is a HUGE incentive to go with Canon, as you get the best of both worlds - Canon's superior digital technology and auto-focus lenses PLUS fine Leica/Zeiss optics.
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Bobby
 
John,

As Mike pointed out, the small sensor size is a turn-off right off the bat at least for me, and probably most serious photographers. They're starting handicapped. It may be OK for consumer stuff, but I don't see a big st&ede going over.

Ths is also a typical Darwinian reaction: the have-nots band together against those in power (Canon and Nikon - and I wish I could say Contax).

On the one hand I have to hand it to Contax for grabbing the bull by the horns. It's unfortunate they got careless and gored and are now on life support. On the other hand their handling of this adverse situation, in particular towards their loyal and trusting customers, has been nothing else but deplorable. Let's pray for a miracle.

DJ
 
That was my reaction to the Olympus too although I have seen some very good published pictures (albeit issued by Olympus in their advertising) made with it. But I think it is still too large a camera body and the viewfinder is still too small and I have read of the focus hunting in low light. I am sorry I have gone off topic.

In case you didn't see it as it is from a different thread,Gianluca in his post refers to this link http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/pancam_techwed_040114.html
It is very interesting about the camera used on Mars and how it is only one megapixel but with a difference.
Regards,
John
 
Leica issued a free book in the UK and probably elsewhere. It is superbly presented and is all about their lenses for M and R accompanied by photos showing what the lenses can do. It must have cost a lot but presumably it's worth it in marketing and customer cultivation terms. It certainly brings the brand to your notice and impresses. Maybe Kyocera could collaborate with Zeiss to do something similar to raise awareness of Contax and Zeiss with their illustrious and interesting history and superb products. Many people have not heard of Contax or even of Zeiss.
John
 
A little something I want to add regarding contax. I think people should show more appreaciation with this brand. Contax is always offering something different. It may not be accepted the all the users, but it surely inspired other from the engineers to users. It is the fisrt brand to make vacuum back for 135mm, it introduce the AX body, the first of it kind the AF is done using the film plate! The Dual forcus mechanism in N-mount, first of the kind to intergrated AF and MF! The first one to introduce full size CCD. It certainly is not the brand who makes money, yet surely should earn user's appreaciation. For me, sure I want more fast prime in the wide angle, but I love the 17-35 N. I became more attached and appreaciated with my N. Sure it has many dis-advantages, but I just enjoy the advantages that it offers! I am hoping that this kind of new inspiration will continued to offer by contax.The other brand were just boring compare to contax.

for other brand, leica, nikon, canon are just some money making machine, not that it is wrong to make money, but they will offer minium and charge the maxium. Sure canon offer great AF and a huge range of lenses, but I just can not accepted the kind of colour reproduction and the lack of design in useage. The camera is simply too difficult to operate, may be I am a bit simple, but while I take photo, there were many thing to think about and I fine it very hard to operate canon/nikon!
Leica offers great camera, it comes with a great price tag too. IMHO, Contax and Leica are similar, but Leica is 2* the price of contax.
people were complaining about the price od ND, if you think about it, if it was not contax who offer this camera, but Leica, a price tag of $6000 will be well accepted! Isn't that strange! isn't that unfair. the only different between this two company is that Leica will make big adv and tell people what they have done with this camera, and how it is justified to pay this hugh among of money! Their new dig back, offer 2/3 ccd and 8M will charge a modest $4000! I wonder what new design that this back will offer!
 
Benwang,

There is no shortage of appreciation for the brand. I expect most members in this forum have spent hundreds (and probably thousands) of dollars on Contax equipment. The problem is DSLR models for sale - currently zero. Regardless of brand, waiting is a fool's game.

My Canon D30 is getting long in the tooth, and I will upgrade this year. Nikon D2H is shipping, Canon 1D replacement will be announced at PMA, and I expect something from Minolta, too. These are the contenders on my shopping list, all of them serious players.

Meanwhile, Kyocera fails on multiple fronts: no SLR product development, no market share, no customer communication. This company would miss its own funeral... not that such a demise is likely. Don't be surprised, however, if the Contax brand crawls under a rock, and dies.
 
Benjamin, I think many here showed their appreciation by putting their money where their mouth is. Personally, I have a small fortune sunk into Contax gear (C645 and all the lenses including the 350/4 & 1.4X; N1 & ND 17-35, 24-85, 50/1.4, 85/1.4, 70-300, Nam-1, Hasselbald adapter, 2 360s, and a bunch of filters, accessories and hoods.

When I call Contax I'm either ignored, or stonewalled. I'm just a nobody there. I finally had to go through my dealer to get them to do something, and that was like pulling teeth.
(although, just sending in my 24-85 blind for repair and adjustment went quick and smooth).

In contrast, when I call Leica they jump through hoops to solve problems. All they have to do is look at my record of Leica loyalty and I AM someone they seem to value as a customer and treat me that way.

Canon may not be your favored system, but I, along with a huge number of pros and serious amateurs, do favor it. Why? Because they concentrate on getting the basics right first... then provide innovative but useful extras.

Let's face facts, if it were not for Zeiss few here would put up with the Contax bodies when there is so many better choices that do the basics so much better (like AF, and flash work and RAW development, etc.).

So, when some of us wish for a few primes in the N system, we are just longing for the very thing that keeps us in the Contax fold as users in the first place.
 
Marc, I do agree with you in a lot of way, I wish the list of lenses to be more complete. I wish this and I wish that
However, I think their ND is a very respectable product. Unlucky that this product is not accepted in the market.
I am sure that someone in Contax will read about the forum and I don't want them to recive just the complain. How good and wonderful the other brand is and the contax product is a load of rubbish. Afterall they do offers something different, and are something I enjoy very much.
For Leica, their CS will definitly be great, because you have already paid for it! It will not be justify for this kind of price with a bad service. Yet if you think about it, is this kind of service really what people look for. For me, I never need service. My N works great for me. It's very robust. I took it to china with some amazingly hard journey and it still survived! I was quite impress (I neally didn't make it myself)
Zeiss is contax. I don't know what is the agreement between Ziess and Kyocero, but it certinly bond them very strongly. If I were Zeiss, I will stop suport contax! It not worth the time and investment! So I think we have to come to an conclusion that their agreement is something beyond our knowledge. (I think if I remember rightly, it was you who said Ziess still own the brand "Contax"). So, it wasn't as simple as if it is not Zeiss, no one will use contax, afterall Zeiss is contax!
 
For Marc and DJ:

Marc: Do you have images online demonstrating your use of the Hassy 110/2FE? I'm quite interested in this lens, but haven't found much in the way of 's&le imagery' anywhere, at least not identified as such. I'm trying to decide between getting out of Hasselblad in favour of a Pentax 67II (just for the added neg size), and the 110 might be reason to stay. Also, did you ever determine whether or not there is focus confirmation in a Canon body with Contax adapter?

DJ: I, somehow, lost the link to your website, along with our email correspondence from a few months back (regarding your Bronica+VPS images of China?). Could you show me the way, again?

Thank you, ever so....
 
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