Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!

SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

Lessons from the Contaflex126 . . .
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:52 am    Post subject: Lessons from the Contaflex126 . . . Reply with quote

As some of you may know, I've had grief over the first roll of films processing, so I decided to take a second roll and try a more experienced processor. Anyhow, now to the lessons . . .
As Larry can prpbably back me up on, this camera though gorgeous can be a hard taskmistress, in one area. The camera though an slr focuses by turning a "collar" mounted on the camera (not the lense) giving a 270 degree arc of travel for focusing. This means that on some of the lenses focusing can be "fussy"/require precision - a skill you need to learn with this nice little camera, not to mention get the feel for. That said it can only improve my focusing skills with other cameras.
The other lesson I learned was of photography dictated by lenses Confused Let me explain - my plan was to shoot a cartridge of film in the garden dividing it (24 exposures) between 5 lenses. Well I discovered the lenses' focus ranges (shortest to longest before infinitry) and therefore this determined where I could set up for the shot and the type of shot. I guess this is normal for primes (I might be getting too comfortable with zooms Rolling Eyes ) What I noticed was this gave me a better feel for the shot and hopefully it improved my judgement.
Here are the lenses and their ranges . . .
Quote:

Lens_____Specs_____minimum to maximum range before infinite focus
Color-Pantar____2.8/48____20" to 10 feet then infinity
Tessar____2.8/48____20" to 10 feet then infinity
Distagon____2.8/32____12" to 7 feet then infinity
Sonnar____2.8/85____ 5.5' to 35 feet then infinity
Tele-tessar___4/135____13' to 100 feet then infinity


I'll try to post any good shots I get.

Jim


PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks.


Show us your pics, please. Interesant images with 126 cartridges.

Panthar 3 elements lens, isn't it?


PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 2:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I completely agree with Jim's assessment.

I too, found my first two rolls were out-of-focus in over half of the images. This made me "wince" a time or two, and I was "forced" to REALLY fine-tune my focus.

With a lot of care, the next two rolls met and even exceeded my hopes for this format. That "long throw" focus ring is definitely a hard one to get used to. I'm still learning, because I'm STILL getting only 50-75 percent of my images in focus. Shocked


PostPosted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

@estudleon
The explanation I received from the Zeiss Historica site was as follows . . .
Quote:
The Pantar is an old trademark from the Goerz firm which was merged into Zeiss Ikon in 1926. Goerz was a high quality manufcture but the trademark was revived in the 1950s as a less expensive set of lenses for the Contaflex Prima (and I believe some other lower priced models of the Contaflex) because the other Zeiss lenses were considered very expensive and Zeiss Ikon was trying to attract all levels of buyers. For the Contaflex 126, it was the only non-Carl Zeiss lens for the camera. I believe that it states Zeiss Ikon Pantar and not Carl Zeiss.

I am working from memory here as I do not have an example at hand. It is believed to have been manufactured at the Hensoldt subsidiary in Wetzlar.

It is also not to be confused with the Carl Zeiss Planar (very similar spelling) which was a high quality and very expensive lens for the Contarex and later Contax SLR cameras.

Now the problem is with the film which I believe is still being made in Eastern Europe.

Larry Gubas
Zeiss Historica


Well my film is now dropped off to what seems a very knowledgable place - They know what 126 is, can do prints, and the lady there said she has a preference to film Very Happy

Jim


PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2008 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very, very thanks. Very complete information. Really help me.