Carl Zeiss Distagon 32mm F2.8 Contaflex 126 lens converted

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

This is the last one I swear;) Carl Zeiss Distagon 32mm F2.8 Contaflex 126 lens converted to Nikon F Mount, it is quite pretty and non destructive to the lens, well the Contaflex lens at least, quite a bit needs to be taken off the nikon donor body.

The difficulties with the original lens are that there is no focus or aperture control on the lens, as all of these controls are done via the Contaflex camera body itself. A donor lens has been used for the new body and infinity focus maintained, the full range of focus is from slightly past infinity to about 18cm at it's closest point, the aperture is controlled via the normal aperture ring but it does have it's quirks, the aperture works in the opposite direction than it usually would on a nikon lens and that also why I used an AIS body as even though it will only work on some nikon bodies at least it won't try and meter

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This is just to show that it is possible with a bit of thought. So if anyone is interested and has one of these lying around let me know and I can give you the steps taken.

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Wow. Top notch conversion. Looks manufactured. As compared to my BluTack adapter from Compur #2 (50. Cool

to PENTAX 67 listed above. Like 1

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

Lloydy · Expire: 2022-01-01

That's a great conversion, it looks 'manufactured' rather than home made.

How does it perform ?

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

Apologies for the long delay...family matters,

Many thanks for the compliments, it's actually a superb lens to use, the 3d pop is its strong point and it's sharp enough wide open.

Both at 2.8 straight jpeg

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ks73 · Joined: 14 Oct 2015 Posts: 45 Location: Kokkola, Finland

Looks very good (both lens and pics)!

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

So I bought a tessar 45 2.8 I think in contaflex mount. Do you mind sharing a few details?

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

Gladly, I'll see if I can find some deconstructive pics of the 45 to see if it would be a similar conversion.

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

had a look at the lens, it is much smaller so a proper donor lens will need to be found to house the main lens, you can remove the the screws thats meant for the original mount and the grub screws on the black facia afterwards to remove that. going to be a bit difficult finding a good fitting donor lens. got lucky with the one I had

jamaeolus · Expire: 2015-08-20

I get the nesting inside the donor lens part. How does the aperture linkage fit together? Did you start with a nikon 50mm 1.4?

Layer-cake · Joined: 18 Mar 2013 Posts: 560 Location: Cape Town

the way I did it was to utilize the original aperture ring on the lens, connected the aperture ring via a screw and a spring to the aperture arm on the contaflex lens itself. I always knew the flange distance would be usable on a nikon lens and weirdly enough the 50mm 1.4 was the only donor lens I had but as it turned out was the perfect size for the entire operation.

You could maybe use a 50mm E series lens as it is about the thinnest and cheapest lens available, once you remove the lens elements the main helicoid is made out of plastic so you can cut away the rear part, just be careful with them, to much force and you will distort the helicoid.

Cesius · Joined: 29 Dec 2016 Posts: 2

Amazing! Looks great! Wink