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Iceland, Switzerland, and France with Zeiss

FlypenFly

New member
I recently took a European tour with two friends joining me for the first leg of it. Even though we were delayed 24 hours with the worst airline I’ve ever traveled (Iceland Express, make sure to travel Iceland Air). Fortunately we still ended up going and it was an amazing experience. The highlight for me was the Blue Lagoon, it was a singularly unique experience and makes all other thermal mineral spas seem quaint by comparison. The in pool bar and massages really bring the experience forward to another level.

I recommend renting a car like we did the first day, the rates are competitive. It’ll give you the freedom to explore the island. In the future, when I return I think a four wheel drive and more rugged vehicle might be a better choice. We took some paths that were clearly not meant for our little Skoda wagon. We drove in much farther than smart people would have given the isolation and cold. A helicopter tour to see the volcano and whale watching tour are also two things we missed that will be on top of the list for our next trip. We did manage to catch the aurora borealis though and that was the other major highlight for myself besides the other worldly beautiful landscape.

Photographically, I was carrying a lot of equipment. In my backpack were:
1. Sony A850 Full Frame 24mpx camera
2. Zeiss C/Y mount (Leitax adapted to Alpha) 35-70mm F3.4 (my most used lens of the trip)
3. Zeiss ZF.2 mount (Leitax adapted to Alpha) 21mm F2.8 (my second most used lens)
4. Tamron 70-300mm F4-5.6 (brought it for whaling but didn’t use it.)
5. Zeiss Sony ZA 85mm F1.4

7. Sony NEX-5N (APS-C) with LA-EA1 adapter
8. Contax G Zeiss 28mm F2.8
9. Contax G Zeiss 45mm F2
10. Sony 16mm F2.8

11. Giotto tripod system with Vanguard GH-100 pistol grip ball head
12. Sony TX5 Waterproof Compact Camera

Some of the shots, I'll periodically update this with more photos.


NEX-5N HDR mode is pretty decent:







Not bad flare from the TX5:





Rainbows at night?







Light pollution from Reykjavik



Wish we had stars like these in Manhattan





Don't let this happen to you somewhere desolate with no cell signal and no supplies.



Quite an amazing spectical in person.




















So that's it for Iceland. Here's a preview of Switzerland. I'll post more later if there is any interest.

 

FlypenFly

New member
Hi Cindy, I ended up using the A850 about 75% and the 5N about 25%. I'm very excited about the Nex-7 I have on order.
 
S

Shelby Lewis

Guest
Beautiful work.

I want to move here (what a lovely photo you've captured):
 

Annna T

Active member
Hi Jaegraphy,

I've looked at all your shots with great pleasure. The Icelandic pictures are wonderful, I liked the people bathing amid the vapors of hot water very much and also the pictures with smoking hotwaters amids the cracks of the ground.

I did also look at your pictures of Switzerland and visited your blog. It is always interesting to see what strangers visiting your country retain from it.. The picture of Lauterbrunnen (in the Berner Oberland) is wonderful and indeed, it is a lovely place.

Now, concerning the story of the women not getting the right to vote has to be replaced in context, that concerned a very very small canton (less than 16'000 inhabitants in 2010, out of 7 billions for the whole Switzerland). But it is true that the right to vote came very late in some cantons (in the sixties or seventies).

Well, back to photography. I see that you own Contax G lenses. So do I. I bought a micro fourhthird camera in order to be able to use them. Alas, the wide angle with their protruding rear elements can't be used without modifying the lens (a risky operation I don't want to try). I've recently read that the flange distance on the Nex is only 17.5mm while it is 20mm on the mft format. Does that mean that you can adapt the 28, 21 and 15mm on the Nex bodies without modifying the lenses ?

In case you have been able to adapt one of the wider angle lens on your Nex5 : how is the output ? does it make sense to use them on an APSC sensor where the light would make an even bigger angle than on the mft format ?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences with the Contax G lenses and congratulations for your pictures. I enjoyed looking at them.
 

Schmiddi

Member
Great shots! Need holidays, Switzerland is only one day driving...

Does that mean that you can adapt the 28, 21 and 15mm on the Nex bodies without modifying the lenses ?
There are adapter available for almost everything to Nex - so there will be something for Contax G too. A quick look showed that some lenses need some work, but are still usable on original mount. So you should check adapter and your lenses...

In case you have been able to adapt one of the wider angle lens on your Nex5 : how is the output ? does it make sense to use them on an APSC sensor where the light would make an even bigger angle than on the mft format ?
I use Zeiss ZM-lenses on my NEX-5N, and also tried Voigtländer down to 12mm. Strong vignette (some 2.3 f-stops in the corner for the 12mm Voigtländer, 1,5 f-stops for the Zeiss 25mm ZM), but almost no color shift (this was different with NEX-5 - and there are first reports that also the NEX-7 is bad here...)! So I would expect that your Contax-G lenses also will perform very good on 5N :D

All the best,
Andreas
 

Annna T

Active member
There are adapter available for almost everything to Nex - so there will be something for Contax G too. A quick look showed that some lenses need some work, but are still usable on original mount. So you should check adapter and your lenses...
Thanks Andreas, but I know it, I own mft cameras and it is the same. The problem is that the Contax G lenses are special. No problem for adapting the longer ones, but on MFT cameras you can't use the wider ones (16, 21 and 28), neither the zoom, because they have protruding elements sticking against the sensor. But the flange distance on mft cameras is 20mm while it is 17.5mm on the Nex. So the adapter has to be somewhat longer and may be you can use them on the Nex, at least it is what I hoped.

After a search on Ebay I found several models of adapters for the Contax G lenses. Some don't say anything concerning which lenses can and can't be adapted. Some say all Contax G lenses can be mounted with their adapter. Some say you can mount the 28, 35, 45 and 90mm. Some add the 21 to that and someone even listed all the existing Contax G lenses. So it is difficult to know without trying them.

I have looked closer at my lenses and think that contrary to the mft format, you may be able to mount the 28mm, but may be not the 21mm whose protruding elements are just a little longer. The 21mm is a fantastic lens and would make a 32mm on the Nex.. Being able to mount it on a Nex body may lead me to get one. If not I'll stay with mft cameras for a while.

I use Zeiss ZM-lenses on my NEX-5N, and also tried Voigtländer down to 12mm. Strong vignette (some 2.3 f-stops in the corner for the 12mm Voigtländer, 1,5 f-stops for the Zeiss 25mm ZM), but almost no color shift (this was different with NEX-5 - and there are first reports that also the NEX-7 is bad here...)! So I would expect that your Contax-G lenses also will perform very good on 5N :D
Thanks for sharing your experiences .. this is bad news.. as I liked the integrated VF of the Nex 7; it is the first time I hear about problems of color shifting in the corners, very bad news indeed. Vignetting bothers me less than unsharp corners.
 

douglasf13

New member
Thanks Andreas, but I know it, I own mft cameras and it is the same. The problem is that the Contax G lenses are special. No problem for adapting the longer ones, but on MFT cameras you can't use the wider ones (16, 21 and 28), neither the zoom, because they have protruding elements sticking against the sensor. But the flange distance on mft cameras is 20mm while it is 17.5mm on the Nex. So the adapter has to be somewhat longer and may be you can use them on the Nex, at least it is what I hoped.

After a search on Ebay I found several models of adapters for the Contax G lenses. Some don't say anything concerning which lenses can and can't be adapted. Some say all Contax G lenses can be mounted with their adapter. Some say you can mount the 28, 35, 45 and 90mm. Some add the 21 to that and someone even listed all the existing Contax G lenses. So it is difficult to know without trying them.

I have looked closer at my lenses and think that contrary to the mft format, you may be able to mount the 28mm, but may be not the 21mm whose protruding elements are just a little longer. The 21mm is a fantastic lens and would make a 32mm on the Nex.. Being able to mount it on a Nex body may lead me to get one. If not I'll stay with mft cameras for a while.



Thanks for sharing your experiences .. this is bad news.. as I liked the integrated VF of the Nex 7; it is the first time I hear about problems of color shifting in the corners, very bad news indeed. Vignetting bothers me less than unsharp corners.
We don't know for sure, but preliminary tests seem to show that the NEX-7 is similar to the NEX-5 in regards to corner performance, but we'll see. I've been pleasantly surprised how much better my 5N than my 5 in the corners. The CV 15/4.5 is very good on the 5N.
 

FlypenFly

New member
Hello, thanks for taking the time to view the images.

As far as the Contax G, I've used the 28, 45, and 90. The 28 does seem to have a worryingly long protrusion but I have not had any issues. It works great on my 5N without any issues and focuses fine at infinity.
 
J

jcoffin

Guest
Thanks very much for posting these. Although "awesome" is horribly overused (and abused), some of these truly are awe-inspiring.
 

Annna T

Active member
Hello, thanks for taking the time to view the images.

As far as the Contax G, I've used the 28, 45, and 90. The 28 does seem to have a worryingly long protrusion but I have not had any issues. It works great on my 5N without any issues and focuses fine at infinity.
Hi,

Many thanks for your answer, this is encouraging, although I fear that the 21mm may still be too long, even on a Nex camera. I have looked closely at it and it is may be one millimeter longer than the 28mm.

What kind of adapter did you get ? did you buy it on Ebay ? By case do you still have a link to that adapter ?

Your pictures are so sharp that I'm really yearning for my Contax G lenses
 
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