Camera for Zeiss Contax CY mount lenses

[RattyMouse]

Just to close the loop, after all of this... and after pondering some other options, I've ordered a Contax S2 from my friendly Japanese dealer with whom I've had a number of suitable dealings. Thanks for the help and advice here. I look forward to happy times shooting.

Outstanding! What did that cost you? I am sure you will enjoy this a lot.

 

[JWMster]

Guys: Got the camera. Now looking at a few test shots, I'm thinking I might need to get a diopter correction for this camera. With an RF Leica, the focusing is actually easier than the split screen image in the center in the Contax S2. Found a suggestion that the Contax eyepiece (square viewfinder) could be used with Nikon FM, FA and FE diopter lens correction pieces. Looking on line, these seem to be round while the screen is square. So it's a bit of a puzzle actually.
By contrast, I'm seeing that some of the Canon diopter correctors are square. Thoughts? Suggestions welcome! THanks!

 

[ronnies]

Guys: Got the camera. Now looking at a few test shots, I'm thinking I might need to get a diopter correction for this camera. With an RF Leica, the focusing is actually easier than the split screen image in the center in the Contax S2. Found a suggestion that the Contax eyepiece (square viewfinder) could be used with Nikon FM, FA and FE diopter lens correction pieces. Looking on line, these seem to be round while the screen is square. So it's a bit of a puzzle actually.
By contrast, I'm seeing that some of the Canon diopter correctors are square. Thoughts? Suggestions welcome! THanks!

Hmmm....

Nikon have a 19mm round eypiece on the FM/FE etc. My Yashica FR1 (and FX-3) came with a Yashica rubber eyecup which took round lenses. I can check if they are the same size when I get home tonight. Perhaps the Contax came with the same eyecup?

Ronnie

 

[JWMster]

None... as in mine didn't come with an eyecup. Just ordered one off E(vil)Bay... as some like to refer to it. Won't be here when I need it... which was yesterday apparently. Appreciate your checking on this. Many thanks!

 

[JensH]

This really depends what you are looking for.
-Pro-body, solid build, good viewfinder with all relevant information, relying on batteries, aperture-priority and manual metering: RTS II
-Very compact, almost all important features except mirror lock-up and shutter speeds over 1/1000, manual wind, aperture-priority and manual metering, batteries needed: 139 Quartz (159mm is as well nice, but they are hard to find and on Contax bodies I've used it is the only one that has failed, couple of times actually...). If you can live with viewfinder showing shutter speed only, aperture not visible and double exposure is not a big thing, Yashica FX-D is very very similar than 139q. You will as well miss TTL with flash with Yashica, but FX-Ds are typically dirt cheap. Control lay-out is different between Yashica and Contax.
-All manual, FX-3/Super/Super 2000. No info on viewfinder, except 3 light lightmeter, light and compact. FX-3 Super is the camera I take when it is raining These are pretty cheap as well.
-In-built winder,matrix metering, spot metering, center-weighted metering, all exposure modes and all the info you need in viewfinder. Compact and light: Aria.

139q and FXs will need their leathers most probably to be replaced. Aria and 159mm do not suffer from that. RTSII seems to as well have better quality leather. On the cameras mentioned above RTSII and 139q get the most usage. They do everything I need and nothing gets in the way while shooting as I am on aperture priority 90% of the time. While buying check that mirror has not slipped. Google for "Contax mirror slip" and you get what it is all about. Best bang for the buck I'd recommend the 139Quartz, unless a bargain RTSII shows up.

Hi,

+1 to all that, except I wouldn't buy a 159 again, had massive electronic problems (camera taking pictures whenever it wanted, without me doing anything (once happend in the Petersdom im Rome, ironically) even with power set to off. Send it to CY/Kyocera, but it only helped a short time. I found it's plastic "leathering" quite ugly.
139q is great, my RTSII great but heavier. RTSIII if wight and money are no problem. RTSI is said to have electronic problems.

Yours
Jens

 

[ronnies]

None... as in mine didn't come with an eyecup. Just ordered one off E(vil)Bay... as some like to refer to it. Won't be here when I need it... which was yesterday apparently. Appreciate your checking on this. Many thanks!

Sorry. Completely forgot when I got home last night. Old age doesn't come on its own...

Ronnie

 

[JWMster]

Ronnies: What? The APUG list and some random guy aren't tops on your list? Hey... you've already been very helpful. Thanks! We all have more important things in this life.... thank you for even thinking of this twice already. Very kind of you.

 

[msarkki]

None... as in mine didn't come with an eyecup. Just ordered one off E(vil)Bay... as some like to refer to it. Won't be here when I need it... which was yesterday apparently. Appreciate your checking on this. Many thanks!

Interesting. I measured the eyecup after seeing the message on Nikon diopters being suitable. To me it looks that lenses between 17,6-19,4 mm in diameter would fit the cup. If you give it a try, let us know the results.

 

[JWMster]

MSarkki: Thanks! I've got to figure out my eye diopters and all that first. Then we'll give it a shot. Will post when I find out what works. Thanks!

 

[ronnies]

Ronnies: What? The APUG list and some random guy aren't tops on your list? Hey... you've already been very helpful. Thanks! We all have more important things in this life.... thank you for even thinking of this twice already. Very kind of you.

Finally checked tonight. The Yashica eyecup screw in part is just too big to fit my Nikkormat (same size as the FM) and the Nikkormat eypiece is too small to fit in the Yashica eyecup.

Ronnie

 

[George Mann]

My Nikkormat's eyepiece is smaller than that of my F90x, but the eyepiece from my D1h fit it, so the later Nikons may be compatible.

 

[ronnies]

Later Nikons have a 22mm eyepiece. Will try that tonight.

Why didn't I do that last night....

Ronnie

 

[ronnies]

https://www.camera-info.com/threads/eyepiece-correction-lens-diopters.1581/

According to this there are at least two types of Contax/Yashica eyecup and the earlier ones DO fit the Nikon correction lenses. Mine must be a later version.

Fujica eyepieces are also compatibly with the Nikon 19mm round eyepieces as one of my Nikkormats has the eyepiece from a Fujica ST701 in it.

Ronnie

 

[ronnies]

Ok tried the eyepiece out my F100. It's bigger than the Contax/Yashica eyecup.

Ronnie

 

[JWMster]

Ronnies: Gee.... thanks for the extra effort. Very kind of you to be so persistent. Thanks! But sounds like a dead end. Perhaps the originator of the idea was misinformed. Hmmmm

 

[cooltouch]

JWM, your Contax has a rectangular eyepiece, correct? You might try a eyecup that fits Canon A-series (and EF, FT/FTb). I know they fit more than Canon. I have a Canon eyecup installed on my Pentax MX and I have installed rectangular Canon eyepiece accessories on Pentax cameras beffore. So if the eyecup fits, a Canon diopter for A-series might also. You can probably find exact dimensions of Canon's rectangular eyepiece online. Only problem with Canon's rectangular diopter eyepieces is they have no facility for attaching an eyecup, so you'll lose that nice feature.

 

[JWMster]

Cool touch

Yes, i wondered the same: "Canon viewfinder looks to have the same shape, so why are folks sugggestuing Nikon?" So thank you for the observation. Seems to make sense and be worth looking into.

 

[cooltouch]

Hey JWM, after posting my above message, I went over to eBay to have a look around. I was surprised to find that most EOS eyepiece cups and accessories will also fit A-series Canons. The good news is that these later diopters for EOS have eyepiece cups of sorts. So, if I had to choose, and if I determined that they fit Contax, I'd probably go for one of them.

BTW, I bought a Contax 139Q off eBay a few days ago, and I got a notice from the post office that they tried to deliver it today (I was out). So I'll be picking it up from the post office tomorrow. If the 139Q has a rectangular eyepiece, I'll try one or more of my Canon eyepiece accessories on it and see if they'll fit. I'll report back here with my results.

 

[JWMster]

Thanks! I've one of the Contax eyepieces coming from eBay myself, and figured to get a look at it first. But please keep me posted and enjoy your new camera! Did you get a lens, too?

 

[ronnies]

My EOS eyecup fits my FR-1 perfectly.

Ronnie

 

[cooltouch]

Hey JWM, yes, not a Contax lens, but a very nice Tamron -- a 17mm f/3.5. I like Tamron lenses a lot. I do look forward to getting a nice T* lens or two for it.

I have some results for you regarding eyepiece fitment. I tried a couple different EOS eyepieces and one A-series eyecup. The eyecup fit well, but being all rubber, it had some stretchiness to it. But the two EOS eyepieces fit with noticeable slack. I mean, they would stay on, sorta, but there was a lot of wobble there. The Canon eyepiece is perhaps as much as a millimeter longer than the Contax one, so I can't really recommend it. And I can't really recommend Pentax for much of the same reason. The Pentax eyepiece frame is a bit atypical. The sides of the frame are convex. My 139Q came with a round eyecup on a square slide-on frame. It would start onto the Pentax eyepiece frame, but it would soon stop sliding in place because of the convex nature of the Pentax eyepiece frame. And since Pentax eyepieces will have this same general shape, I don't think they're gonna work all that well for you either.

So here's hoping the Contax eyepiece you have on order will work out for you.

 

[dynachrome]

This is a late follow-up. I just had a Yashica FX-7 overhauled and recovered. It's covered on a nice gray rubber (vinyl) material I got from Koffler sales. As far as I can tell, the FX-7 is a non-US version of the FX-3.

 

[ronnies]

This is a late follow-up. I just had a Yashica FX-7 overhauled and recovered. It's covered on a nice gray rubber (vinyl) material I got from Koffler sales. As far as I can tell, the FX-7 is a non-US version of the FX-3.

No the FX-7 is a chrome version of the FX-3 (black)

Ronnie

 

[dynachrome]

Thanks.

 

[GarageBoy]

Had both an ax and an RX... The ax would jam when I closed my lenses below a certain aperture... Sold it at a loss for parts. The secondary mirror (well, arm that holds the meter cell behind the mirror) wouldn't swing away when a lens was mounted. Returned that one... Sticking with my little fx-d that I learned photography on