They rack focus beautifully. Fairly "affordable" as well. Just to be clear (think you left that part out, haha). 28mm comparison: 28/2.8 on the left, 28/2.0 Hollywood on the right. At this point the price argument was adding a lot of weight. You have to admit they look sexy. In my experience, the gears never fit on the first try. They dilate quite a bit and fit much more easily. Introduction to Contax Zeiss + Cine Tune-Up Guide This was a game changer. It's cheapass ones I got from China. It was a time when I didnt shoot much, but I went on long bike rides. I prefer the C/Ys but since I already own 3 FDs (cheap ones: 28 2.8, 50 1.8 and 135 2.8), I'm leaning towards the latter, although still undecided. It looked neat, but from my experiences as 2nd Assistant Camera, I was constantly being asked how fast so-and-so lens was, or whats its minimum focus. If I know Im not gonna need either the 15 and the 60, I just dont take their case with me. The 15mm is a gorgeous rectilinear super wide angle, it shares the same optical formula as the Leica Super-Elmar 15mm f/3.5, with different coatings. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide - REDUSER.net They cover full frame, are super easy to adapt to many other mounts and never lose their value. In fact, i'm almost considering selling my 85mm f1.4 for that reason. Landmine Media, LLC. Contax Zeiss lenses are the gems for sharp yet vintage glass. This page was generated at 05:50 PM. The rubber grip on the focus ring of the lenses is awesome because it prevents the gears from sliding, but its also a pain because it makes the fitting a lot harder. These I ordered from MOO, because they offered me more variety at a much lower price. Are not only the slowest, but frequently the most classic. Some folks consider several of the Zeiss Contax Yashica lenses to be very similar to the real Super Speed. I still dont know when to use them, though! If I have a motor on the iris, itll have to be adjusted every time the lens is swapped. Original Contax Zeiss set on the left, Soviet set on the right. My MM 18 f4, 21 2.8, 35 2.8, 50 1.4, 50 1.7, 85 1.4, 135 2.8, 180 2.8, and 300 F4 are all W/OUT the Ninja-star. You can also tell their place of manufacture based on whats written on the lens! I shipped all of them to SIMMOD for declicking and a quick checkup. This makes life easier when grabbing gear to go out and renting it as well. With less glass comes more consistency. Distagon, Planar, Sonnar, Tessar, Biogon and Hologon. I'm not too sure where they got their findings, but apparently this was a series of tests possibly published on Zeiss's website. It was a time when I didnt shoot much, but I went on long bike rides. They are also a little sloppy on the mount, which can be alarming. Contax Zeiss Survival Guide. ONLY "RTS". Then, near the end of last year I decided to round out the set and make it suitable for renting. Contax I. Also almost twice as big and heavy as the previous one. If you like vintage flaring, the AEs are great. The AE's are no longer serviced by Zeiss, keep that in mind. For declicking, I read a lot of posts from people saying its a super easy process on Contax Zeiss lenses, but I didnt have the guts for it. Generally speaking, these fall into 3 lens types, categorized by how fast and complex they are. After aperture was made smooth and clickless I still had my 3d printer hanging around, so I printed aperture gears as well.