contax G lenses on mirrorless cams: advice sought

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

as ive been moving to smaller gear, subbing some leica lenses for my really loved zeiss contax slr lenses, i'm thinking about investing in a G system, not only for the film aspect, but also to use compact zeiss lenses on my mirrorless cams. my question concerns the fact that G lenses do not have their own focusing setup but rely on the camera AF hardware. so i thought the focusing would be part of an adapter and that might actually be a crappy experience. so for those of you with this setup, how is the focusing experience?

thanks
tony

AhamB · Joined: 22 Jun 2008 Posts: 733 Location: Germany

Varies between crappy ("scratchy, uneven rotation") and usable enough, from what I've heard. Which of the G lenses you mount seems to make a difference too. With the cheaper G adapters there's probably more of a chance to get one that's scratchy.

Edit: I should have added that the image quality of the Contax G lenses is top-notch! The ergonomics are just not great because they were designed as AF lenses.

std · Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 1826 Location: Bulgaria

Well probably the focusing is not as easy as on on a Leica lenses which have dedicated focus ring but if you are patient the image quality is very good. Generally the focusing experience varies from adapter to adapter and also depends which lens you are using.

The chinese adapters with large focusing ring are fine. Metabones adapter is way too heavy for e-p2 in my experience.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thank you stefan. i really want the 35-70, do you use that on mirrorless? if so, what is your experience?
thanks
tony

std · Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 1826 Location: Bulgaria

I do not have this zoom and reading the reviews on the net i got the impression that the image quality is not very good.
Anyway i do not have 700$ to spend on a single lens .. if it will be so expensive i prefer to buy the 21 mm biogon.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thanks stefan. is there a particular adapter you can recommend for use with the 45/2 lens?

std · Joined: 09 Feb 2010 Posts: 1826 Location: Bulgaria

I cannot recommend a particular one - i only have the metabones one for mft.

Some time ago (when i still had a Nex) i had an adapter with large focusing ring like this Click here to see on Ebay .
Most of them on ebay look the same, maybe i will get one of the cheap ones to try it too.

rbelyell · Expire: 2014-01-31

thank you stefan.

Phenix jc · Joined: 19 Dec 2009 Posts: 398 Location: France

Be aware that these G lenses are a little difficult to mount on the adapter. Beside, the 21/2.8 is different from the other lenses, because of it's protection on the rear side, and don't give you any choice : [on NEX] : You have to mount the adapter on the body, and then the lens on the adapter. And you can't remove the lens without first removing the lens out of the adapter. Tedious. But this lens is a diamond in the sky with rubies. + Sapphires and emeralds : A Biogon.
I'm using one of these cheap and rough adapter : it does the job, but you'll probably prefer a more expensive one with a better quality.