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Contax ND

Hallo,

as you might have experienced, the N-Digital thread is getting bigger and bigger. This is really good news, since it shows the great activity and support of the members to each other at contaxinfo.com.

Unfortunately this also blows up the size in KB and therefore the time for the browser to scroll to the newest message of the thread.

So I "archived" the older messages in this thread. One Archive is from the beginning til October 3rd, the other one from October 4th til November 1st.

You can still easy read and search the older messages by clicking on the archives. It is just to save you browser time while beeing online. You find the archives always at the top of the thread in the original order as the comments were posted.

I did not archive more today, since I try not to cut the line within a (very interesting)discussion.

Dirk
 
Quick thanks to Dirk for the archives - at least with my connection speed I don't have to wait ages before reaching the most recent posting.

Can I direct this post at those ND users who are happy that they have purchased a good camera, and are now determined to get the best out of it, so here is a question on workflow with the ND.

If I take a RAW image, and have set the in camera controls to the minimum required - eg shutter speed, f stop, ISO white balance etc, and don't apply any chroma or curve adjustment. The image is transferred to my computer, and I then "develop" image, again without applying any of the software controls on the supplied developer and bring it in to PhotoShop.
Finally I do the all the adjustments in PhotoShop that are required.

As PhotoShop will probably be used anyway, is it better to work this way, or do you guys apply all the adjustments at the developing stage? Does it make any difference?

Also, has anyone tried setting the camera/monitor & printer up using a Kodak target (Q60 I think) & what were the results? Various companies promise the earth in terms of setting up profiles & so on - what are your experiences?

Any comments?
 
Andy, using adjustment controls in RAW developer makes sense if you are developing a batch of pictures, and it would take two days to do everything in Photoshop manually. Of course, you can write a custom action, but it is so much easier with RAW Developer.
 
Hello Contax Members

I have a mint condition 1st Version Zeiss 300mm f4 AE Tele-Tessar for sale at GBP 500 (including leather pouch and caps). This is the original Zeiss lens, not the second model on sale now (of which there are AE and MM versions). Payment can be done by card. Postage extra. Guarantee can be supplied. Contact me on carsten.lemmermann@btinternet.com UK 0044-1200-422422 Also selling Zeiss 135mm f2 AE (mint) and Contax accessories as well. Please ask. Regards Carsten
 
Marc,

My comments about "don't judge a camera without using it" was aimed at Tino, who admits has not tried it then proceeds to completely trash the camera and its lenses. And he IS entitled to his own opinion, indirect as it may be. I was just totally amused. Martin has indeed tried an ND and entitled to judge his experience.

I have tried my friend's EOS D60, which shares many operational characteristics with the 1Ds, as it well should, and can draw some fairly good conclusions as to the handling of the 1Ds from that, as well as from a couple of the extensive reviews currently available.

In no way have I trashed or disparaged the Canon body or marque. I have said I much prefer the way the Contax handles, and admitted it was a purely subjective preference. Compare that to the venemous trashing Tino gave Contax. My point is, there is no need to get violently disparaging of something you have not experienced to brag and be enthusiastic about something else you really like. There are cordial ways and there are rude ways of emoting, and to my perhaps over-sensitive view, Tino was on the rude side. And Martin was pretty violent too, but he was pissed for a reason, which gives him license
happy.gif
.

I did not mind him praising the Canon at all, if deifying its creators might have been a bit melodramatic. I understand people get excited about stuff, and Canon hit many marks Contax missed. Again I need to point out, there are different needs for different kinds of shooting. If other people consider my photographic goals and requirements silly, stupid, superfluous, uninformed and misguided, well, I won't be doing hari-kiri, trust me
happy.gif
.

One thing that would be interesting to discover is, are we all using the exact same camera? Could very well be, or there could have been some incremental if not overwhelming improvements, perhaps.

I wasn't aware the moire was creeping in going from RAW to TIFF - I'll try some stuff in that direction. But I was trying to decipher whether subject matter played any part in bringing out the moire. I'll remove the JPEG s&le I posted, as it serves no purpose.

Dirk,

Good move on the archiving. I was going to suggest opening several threads for the ND in the vein of: General Handling, Sensor and Imaging, Media & PC Connectivity, and Development & Reproduction, to help spread out the bulk. But maybe we could just have three threads: Why I Hate the ND, Why I Love the ND, and What Contax Need To Do.

Peace - it's Channuka and almost Christmas,

DJ
 
DJ, good points in terms of how to post with some decorum.

For the record, the Canon D60 is nothing like a 1Ds
in terms of almost anything. Completely different cameras altogether. Try handling a EOS 1V which is closer to the experience of the 1Ds.

Also, I took your suggestion and ignored the RAW feature and returned to shooting the ND in Tiff mode...and I didn't use a flash. No Moire' pattern at all. This suggests to me that it's the crappy software, not the camera. What else could it be?

I shot a bunch of snapshots around the house at ISO 25 and fed the card into a card reader then just opened them up in PS7. Not a sign of moire' or even any pixalization even with huge blow ups. This camera is going to send me to a mental institution.
 
Dear friends,

Just to set the record straight:

I certainly did try the N-Digital (with N 3.5-4.5/70-200 and N2.8/100Makro Sonnar) for a full afternoon and arrived at my conclusion, above, after careful considerations. The lenses do not posess internal focusing (vs CANON mentioned) and are perceived as relatively slow ("slack") focussing when compared even to CANON D60, which I also used for 4 months, and of course the 1Ds. The latter focuses at a speed that lets the N-Digital look like 2 GENERATIONS behind - thus anachronistic!! (The D60 is , incidently, not comparable with the 1Ds, next to which it appears like a toy)
Regarding CONTAX, apart from my disappointment with the technical performance (though optically the lenses may well be unsurpassed) the circumstances relating to the undisputedly existing FLAWS, as well as the performance and stance of CONTAX/YASHICA/KYOCERA in general, eventually led to my ultimate frustration with the whole affaire. I would bet, anybody with professional experience, looking at the performance of a 1Ds +Pro lenses system would arrive at the same conclusion!! I do not photograph for a living and view the matter from the perspective of a perfectionist connoisseur, having worked with Professional Gear for the past 20 Years to my heart's delight, in cooperation with professionals here and than.
I am not under any strain whatsoever to cater to any supplier.

Thank you for your interest.

TINO ZAHEDI
 
Tino,

While I don't have a 100mm Makro Sonnar to confirm, the 24-85 and 70-300 are indeed internal focusing designs. But thank you for explaining what you meant in your initial posting, and the fact that you did try out an ND for a short time.

Remember when posting in forums, as in real life, it's not just what you say, but how you say it that is important if you want people to consider your views.

Have fun with youe 1Ds!

DJ
 
I am not a Contax digital user (I have the film N1 version, to my great satisfaction) but I personally always considered the digital N dead-on-arrival because it's price/spec ratio alone, when compared to what Canon and Nikon have to offer, is so ridiculously high.

In my view, there is no way that the Contax digital SLR adventure can possibly survive if they continue to push uncompleted, uncompetetive overpriced product onto the market. Since we will all be shooting digital in a few years, this issue is seriously enough that you have to wonder about Contax' future in this regard. Perhaps I am pessimistic, but they will have a rough time keeping up with the Canon's and Nikon's, even as a niche player.
 
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