Zeiss Contax for cinema

Phillip Mosness · March 25, 2014

Curious about these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Ver-Ex-Modified-Contax-Zeiss-Distagon-50mm-1-4-For-PL-Mount-Arri-Red-/261321787197?pt=Camera_Lenses&hash=item3cd7fe073d

Apparently Contax were designed for still photography but the glass seems to be quite good for motion too.

What I have a little trouble with is the wide range in cost of lenses that seem fairly comparable.

Why some Zeiss lenses are a couple o' grand, and others are over 10 grand is odd.

I'm not referring to a new Master Prime vs. an older used lens. That makes more sense. I'm thinking more older standard speed vs. older standard speed.

Adrian Sierkowski · March 25, 2014

You're probably looking at Soviet Zeiss -v- West Germany Zeiss. They were not the same company during the cold war, and while some lenses may be marked "Super speed" the Contax and the Jenas are not the same as a MKIII SuperSpeed-- not even the same company (though that doesn't necessarily mean they're bad lenses, but they often get a markup from the zeiss name. I personally like many of the old Lomo lenses, which you can convert to PL mount if needed).

Adrian Sierkowski · March 25, 2014

Also I wouldn't but a re-housed lens like that, I'd rather but a ZF or something new and have a trusted pro re-house/cinemod it. You have no idea the quality of work that went into it.

Heikki Repo · March 25, 2014

Contax Zeiss lenses are quality glass. For lots of info on them... take a look at this discussion: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?92044-Contax-Zeiss-Survival-Guide

I have myself bought some Contax Zeiss lenses for my 16mm Eclair ACL. Mine aren't rehoused though, instead I use them with a C/Y to C-mount adaptor.

But Adrian is correct. There is no way to know who did the rehousing and was it done correctly. You could, however, buy some Contax Zeiss in original C/Y mount and have it cinemodded/rehoused. You wouldn't be the first.

The good thing about Contax Zeiss is that because it was made for SLR, it will cover not only S35 but also sensor sizes larger than that.

Brian Drysdale · March 26, 2014

The Contax Zeiss lenses were modified for use on Aaton mount cameras. They were extremely good, but not quite as sharp when wide open as the 16mm Super Speed Distagons and had very good mechanics, if a short scale on some of them.