Contax RTS System Resources

[Amin Sabet]

Post links to outside resources in this thread. If you offer a related service or relevant outside content, feel free to promote yourself here!

[Claire Senft]

I do not intend to promote myself here. I am willing to give my opinion on the lenses that I own that fit my Contax RTSIII. 21mm Distagon, 28mm Distagon, 28mm Super Angulon PC...Leica R lens with the mount swithched to Contax..., 35mm 2.8 Distagon, 35mm PC Distagon, 50mm 1.4 Planar, 60mm 1: Makro Planar,100mm Planar, 200mm APO-Sonnar. I have no personal experience with any other lenses to fit the Contax/Yashica mount.

[Alex]

I've no plans for a D21, but I'd be interested in your views on its performance and how that relates to the sometimes stratospheric price that this lens has been known to command. Perhaps you could also add some words on the other Distagons.

[fuwen]

This is a nice and informative site on RTS II.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/contax/contaxrts2/index.htm

and my personal experiences with the C/Y Contax.

http://www.fuwen.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogsection&id=10&Itemid=112

[Claire Senft]

I bought my Distagon while Contax was still in operation. I paid about $ 1100.00. I find it to be a delightfully nice 21mm lens. The only other 21mm I have owned was a Schneider 21mm F4 Super Angulon in Leica M mount. The Distagon is better although the Scheider was far from being a dog. I can not comment about whether someone else should spend $2500 or more for a used Distagon. That is for you to decide. All of the Distagons that I own are more than satisfactory. The 35mm 2.8 Distagon is a sweet heart. The 28mm when stopped down 2 or more stops is also very nice.

[Orio]

May I ask why RTS only, and not AX, RX, 167MT, et c. ?
thanks

[Alex]

The 35mm 2.8 Distagon is a sweet heart. The 28mm when stopped down 2 or more stops is also very nice.
My favourite used to be the D28, and it's still among the top lenses I have ever used. I bought an old, beat up D35/2.8 a couple of years ago, not having much use for it as I didn't use that focal length much, mainly because it was going for a low price that I knew I'd kick myself to let it go. It was, however, optically and mechanically perfect, it was simply a well-used one with obvious paint loss, but no damage, and no tell-tale filter dings. As soon as I mounted it, I knew it was going to be my favourite. I'd forgotten what a natural perspective the 35mm has, and found that whenever I was on an outing, this lens stayed on longer than the 28 or the 45 or the 50. The image quality is exactly what you have come to expect from a Distagon.

I've never been able to afford the 21mm Distagon, so I've had to make do, when I need that focal length, with the Yashica ML opposite number, and occasionally a 20mm Flektogon. It would be interesting if anyone is able to give an account of how the 21 Distagon performs against a range of alternative designs.

[jdvf]

This site gives a quite good overview about Contax C/Y SLRs lenses and other Contax System: www[dot]arillon[dot]de" (Unfortunately in German only)

Does anybody know what has happened to Cees de Groot's Contax SLR Site ? I found it very helpful in the past. But it's offline for a while.

May I ask why RTS only, and not AX, RX, 167MT, et c. ?
thanks

I don't think it's limited to the RTS.

Greg

P.S. Thanks to the forum rules I am not allowed to post links to external site. Might remain my last post in this forum :-(

[Brian]

We were hit very hard by spammers. Having a minimum post count before posting links helped alleviate the problem.

[jdvf]

Does anybody know what has happened to Cees de Groot's Contax SLR Site ? I found it very helpful in the past. But it's offline for a while.

To answer my own question, luckily his Contax pages are stored at the web archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20071017083645rn_2/www.cdegroot.com/photo-contax/

Greg

[Edit:] The site is online again: http://www.cdegroot.com