[email protected]
Member
It is in the same range as on the Contax, by far fast enough for landscape, slow for fast moving objects, but when it locks, its 100%.
Regards
Wolfgang
Regards
Wolfgang
The GetDPI Photography Forum
Great to see you here. Join our insightful photographic forum today and start tapping into a huge wealth of photographic knowledge. Completing our simple registration process will allow you to gain access to exclusive content, add your own topics and posts, share your work and connect with other members through your own private inbox! And don’t forget to say hi!
Contax 645 Lenses on Leica S
- Thread starter monza
- Start date
Today I got the adapter, but couldn't get it to work. The adapter won't fit on the Contax 140 mm I have. The bajonet is okay, but the lens turns on the adapter very, very tightly and it won't click in place. It will not get passed the pin. On the camera side the adapter fits just fine. The camera turns on, but does not 'recognize' there's a lens attached. Aperture gives a -- and no AF. I guess I'm going to send it back, very disappointed.
I think I remember having read somewhere that the Hasselblad adapter is also quite thight, but that it does click in place.
I think I remember having read somewhere that the Hasselblad adapter is also quite thight, but that it does click in place.
My first reaction to the new adapter was to immediately order it from my preferred dealer!
I bought a second hand S2 a few months ago, added a new 70 Summarit-S and started to adapt manual focus Mamiya 645 lenses and my Hasselblad V lenses.
I now have added also a 35 Summarit, which pairs fantastically with the 70mm.
The CZ glass though on the other hand provides a huge range extension in focal length for very little money (compared to the Leica S glass) and a few lenses are really, really interesting for their beautiful character).
I absolutely love the 120/4 Apo-Makro-Planar - it is a wonderful lens, but as mentioned before a bit tricky to focus correctly.
I find the focus action from infinity to ~2m very fast for a manual focus lens, hence difficult to focus spot on quickly.
The 80/2 Planar is indeed a lens as full of character, as my much loved Noctilux f1.
I love this lens on the S and much prefer it's vintage rendering over the perfect imaging of the 70mm, when people are involved.
I like the 80/2 Planar a lot better than the Mamiya 80/1.9 - the Carl Zeiss lens has a much more pleasant, smooth out of focus rendering and is much sharper from wide open.
The 140 Sonnar is a tricky beast - it is very weak wide open (loaded with colour aberrations and flares easily), but it is indeed beautiful for portraits from f4 on.
When AF is a must, as you shoot less formal, faster paced portraits, this lens, slightly stopped down is great, but it never beats the beauty of the 120/4 Planar, if you have the time for manually focussing.
The 210 Sonnar is a sleeper.
I received mine Today and first quick test shots show, that it performs visibly better from wide open than the 140 Sonnar.
I was surprised, as of how well it actually works also with the 1.4x Mutar tele converter, once stopped down a bit.
This looks like probably the most interesting longer lens option for the Leica S.
most impressive: 120 f4 Apo-Makro Planar
most character: 80 f2 Planar
worst performer: 140 f2.8 Sonnar
must have item for any of the above lenses: 13mm extension tube
I have one issue with the adapter so far:
If the camera is on and the adapter and lens are freshly mounted, everything works as it should and the mounted lens is properly recognised.
Once the camera activates it's standby mode though, the S2 immediately looses all lens information and acts, as if no lens is mounted.
I have to slightly ,unmount and re-mount the adapter to the S2 body to recover.
The issue is new to Leica Solms and no remedy is known as of yet.
I am on the latest firmware updates.
I would be interested, what others experience with the new Contax 645 adapter.
I bought a second hand S2 a few months ago, added a new 70 Summarit-S and started to adapt manual focus Mamiya 645 lenses and my Hasselblad V lenses.
I now have added also a 35 Summarit, which pairs fantastically with the 70mm.
The CZ glass though on the other hand provides a huge range extension in focal length for very little money (compared to the Leica S glass) and a few lenses are really, really interesting for their beautiful character).
I absolutely love the 120/4 Apo-Makro-Planar - it is a wonderful lens, but as mentioned before a bit tricky to focus correctly.
I find the focus action from infinity to ~2m very fast for a manual focus lens, hence difficult to focus spot on quickly.
The 80/2 Planar is indeed a lens as full of character, as my much loved Noctilux f1.
I love this lens on the S and much prefer it's vintage rendering over the perfect imaging of the 70mm, when people are involved.
I like the 80/2 Planar a lot better than the Mamiya 80/1.9 - the Carl Zeiss lens has a much more pleasant, smooth out of focus rendering and is much sharper from wide open.
The 140 Sonnar is a tricky beast - it is very weak wide open (loaded with colour aberrations and flares easily), but it is indeed beautiful for portraits from f4 on.
When AF is a must, as you shoot less formal, faster paced portraits, this lens, slightly stopped down is great, but it never beats the beauty of the 120/4 Planar, if you have the time for manually focussing.
The 210 Sonnar is a sleeper.
I received mine Today and first quick test shots show, that it performs visibly better from wide open than the 140 Sonnar.
I was surprised, as of how well it actually works also with the 1.4x Mutar tele converter, once stopped down a bit.
This looks like probably the most interesting longer lens option for the Leica S.
most impressive: 120 f4 Apo-Makro Planar
most character: 80 f2 Planar
worst performer: 140 f2.8 Sonnar
must have item for any of the above lenses: 13mm extension tube
I have one issue with the adapter so far:
If the camera is on and the adapter and lens are freshly mounted, everything works as it should and the mounted lens is properly recognised.
Once the camera activates it's standby mode though, the S2 immediately looses all lens information and acts, as if no lens is mounted.
I have to slightly ,unmount and re-mount the adapter to the S2 body to recover.
The issue is new to Leica Solms and no remedy is known as of yet.
I am on the latest firmware updates.
I would be interested, what others experience with the new Contax 645 adapter.
Tested the adapter today.
Overall impression is extremely positive. Tried the 35, 45, 55, 80, 120, and 210 Contax lenses, along with the zoom; AF is accurate and AF seemed more certain of itself. Less hunting and adjustment than I'm used to when shooting a 645. I hesitate to say 'faster' but it did seem that is the case.
One thing to note: do NOT mount a 645 Hartblei lens, the bayonet release notch on those lenses is 'deeper' than on the Contax lenses and the lens will NOT release from the adapter. Had to disassemble the adapter to remove the lens. Looks like a small mod to the Hartblei bayonet will rectify this.
Tested the Macro with the split image S2 focusing screen, which is fantastic. The split image/microprism is great with the wonderful S2 viewfinder.
Next up: testing to see if the standby mode issue happens on this camera too.
Overall impression is extremely positive. Tried the 35, 45, 55, 80, 120, and 210 Contax lenses, along with the zoom; AF is accurate and AF seemed more certain of itself. Less hunting and adjustment than I'm used to when shooting a 645. I hesitate to say 'faster' but it did seem that is the case.
One thing to note: do NOT mount a 645 Hartblei lens, the bayonet release notch on those lenses is 'deeper' than on the Contax lenses and the lens will NOT release from the adapter. Had to disassemble the adapter to remove the lens. Looks like a small mod to the Hartblei bayonet will rectify this.
Tested the Macro with the split image S2 focusing screen, which is fantastic. The split image/microprism is great with the wonderful S2 viewfinder.
Next up: testing to see if the standby mode issue happens on this camera too.
Last edited:
Monza, thank you for testing!
Could you please verify, which firmware versions you have displayed for body and lens, when the adapter is mounted?
My S2 reads these firmware versions:
if the adapter is mounted but not recognised:
body: 1.0.4.2
lens (Contax 645 adapter): 0.0.0.0
if the adapter is mounted and recognised:
body: 1.0.4.2
lens (Contax 645 adapter): 135.4.0.0
The safest way to reproduce the issue with my S2 + adapter is:
- switch the camera on
- mount Contax adapter and Contax lens
- verify, that the adapter and lens is properly recognised (focal length and aperture is displayed on the rear LCD)
- let the camera sit longer than the dialled standby time
- wake the camera by tapping the shutter release button
… voila - the adapter and lens went invisible - no more focal length and set aperture displayed on the LCD. The camera will behave exactly as if no lens is mounted.
I talked with a customer service tech about this issue and it was unknown to them.
As my top LCD is one of the bad batches and has failed some time ago, I will send my body and adapter in on the next occasion to have this sorted.
Could you please verify, which firmware versions you have displayed for body and lens, when the adapter is mounted?
My S2 reads these firmware versions:
if the adapter is mounted but not recognised:
body: 1.0.4.2
lens (Contax 645 adapter): 0.0.0.0
if the adapter is mounted and recognised:
body: 1.0.4.2
lens (Contax 645 adapter): 135.4.0.0
The safest way to reproduce the issue with my S2 + adapter is:
- switch the camera on
- mount Contax adapter and Contax lens
- verify, that the adapter and lens is properly recognised (focal length and aperture is displayed on the rear LCD)
- let the camera sit longer than the dialled standby time
- wake the camera by tapping the shutter release button
… voila - the adapter and lens went invisible - no more focal length and set aperture displayed on the LCD. The camera will behave exactly as if no lens is mounted.
I talked with a customer service tech about this issue and it was unknown to them.
As my top LCD is one of the bad batches and has failed some time ago, I will send my body and adapter in on the next occasion to have this sorted.
Thank you for confirming Monza.
Is your camera a S2 or the newer S model?
I absolutely agree regarding the new adapter and possibilities.
I am new to the Contax lenses (I specifically bought the adapter to expand my lenses for the S system, now starting to explore these lenses).
The Autofocus with the Contax lenses is indeed very usable, but it is nowhere near as fast and assuring, as the AF with the Leica S lenses.
With the Contax lenses there is before locking focus often a slight back and for in the finest increments, to find perfect focus and lock, while the S lenses simply … lock.
I am absolutely delighted by the different, more classic rendering of the Carl Zeiss lenses. The 120 Apo-Makro-Planar is indeed one of the few lenses that really stand out.
The 80 Planar indeed provides a look to the images, no other medium format lens provides and the longer lenses, like the 210/4 Sonnar (especially combined with the 1.4 teleconverter) expand the range of the S2 in a very compact and carry able fashion).
I am very happy so far (apart from the little gremlin there is).
The adapter is worth every bit of it's high price.
Is your camera a S2 or the newer S model?
I absolutely agree regarding the new adapter and possibilities.
I am new to the Contax lenses (I specifically bought the adapter to expand my lenses for the S system, now starting to explore these lenses).
The Autofocus with the Contax lenses is indeed very usable, but it is nowhere near as fast and assuring, as the AF with the Leica S lenses.
With the Contax lenses there is before locking focus often a slight back and for in the finest increments, to find perfect focus and lock, while the S lenses simply … lock.
I am absolutely delighted by the different, more classic rendering of the Carl Zeiss lenses. The 120 Apo-Makro-Planar is indeed one of the few lenses that really stand out.
The 80 Planar indeed provides a look to the images, no other medium format lens provides and the longer lenses, like the 210/4 Sonnar (especially combined with the 1.4 teleconverter) expand the range of the S2 in a very compact and carry able fashion).
I am very happy so far (apart from the little gremlin there is).
The adapter is worth every bit of it's high price.
philipchan
Member
Just received my adapter C a week ago, and tested with all my Contax 645 AF lenses without the issues mentioned above, ie. lost information when woke up after sleep mode etc.
Camera is S2 about a year old, all lenses are from my previous Contax system. I tend to think Leica might have reacted to the feedback and shipped now the adapter with updated firmware.
Very happy with the adapter and the lenses worked on the S2 perfectly.
Philip
Camera is S2 about a year old, all lenses are from my previous Contax system. I tend to think Leica might have reacted to the feedback and shipped now the adapter with updated firmware.
Very happy with the adapter and the lenses worked on the S2 perfectly.
Philip
Hi everybody, I have a question for Leica S - Contax 645 users.
Do you received a set of Lens profiles for Lightroom to correct the 645 lenses?
Are they available on the net? I'm using Contax 645 and P65+ back and it will be really useful to use them on LR as I'm doing in Capture One.
Thanks! Regards
Rob
Roberto Pastrovicchio Photography . Italy . +39 329 9617876 . [email protected]
Do you received a set of Lens profiles for Lightroom to correct the 645 lenses?
Are they available on the net? I'm using Contax 645 and P65+ back and it will be really useful to use them on LR as I'm doing in Capture One.
Thanks! Regards
Rob
Roberto Pastrovicchio Photography . Italy . +39 329 9617876 . [email protected]
Currently they are not available in Lightroom, but Adobe did supply these profiles for Hasselblad H lenses, when Leica introduced their H lens adapter.
We might get the Contax 645 profiles at some point or not …
… meanwhile you could help yourself and create for each different Contax 645 lens a correction setting via the lens correction tab and safe it as a profile.
It is fairly quick to apply in batches, when using the Contax lenses on a S body (exif data is supported) - I don't know, if you get exif data recording the lens information for easy applying of profiles.
We might get the Contax 645 profiles at some point or not …
… meanwhile you could help yourself and create for each different Contax 645 lens a correction setting via the lens correction tab and safe it as a profile.
It is fairly quick to apply in batches, when using the Contax lenses on a S body (exif data is supported) - I don't know, if you get exif data recording the lens information for easy applying of profiles.
Adobe didn't provide H lens profiles when Leica introduced the H to S adapter. Leica did ... it is available for S2/S2P/S system users in the Registered Leica Owners Area as a download plug-in for Lightroom 4 and Photoshop CS5 and above.
The H to S profiles are probably different from the native Hasselblad H profiles that Hasselblad supplied Adobe ... and most likely take into account the different specifications of the S sensor.
What is missing from the Leica Owner's Area are the lens profiles for the Contax 645 lenses that was mentioned in the original sales update announcing the C to S Adapter.
> "Use of corrective lens profiles for the Contax 645 system when converting the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom or Adobe Photoshop."
Maybe those were supplied to Adobe directly, or use pre-existing profiles for C645 lenses ... but I've never noticed them in LR (???).
- Marc
PSon
Active member
Leica R flange distance (FD) = 47mm
Contax N FD = 48mm