carl zeiss lenses for canon eos

gtc

i have found that adaptors are now available for fitting Contax /Carl Zeiss lenses to Canon Eos mounts.

checking local prices this looks like a cost effective way of getting,albeit manual focus,an f2.5 telephoto for less than $1000

with a 1.5/1.6 crop factor some of those lovely short,fast Zeiss telephotos now look quite a bit longer and are very useful for low light work.

i want something like this for bats and other night creatures.

the lack of auto focus is not so much an issue at night as it tends not to work very well in darkness and the sound of a lens motor can scare things off-in seeking my bat shots I will be locking focus on a predetermined point and shooting as they fly through the field of view.

the "T" coated APO telephoto range is very well regarded and those on here that have used Sony digicams with the Zeiss Vario Sonnar f2.0-2.8 zoom will know what I am talking about.


has anyone else looked into this, or better still,tried it?

Andy

yup. the distagon (contax/yashica) t* lenses work just great, with adapters from cameraquest or [www.dslrexchange.com]dslr exchange[/url] work great.

good luck

gtc wrote:

i have found that adaptors are now available for fitting Contax /Carl Zeiss lenses to Canon Eos mounts.

checking local prices this looks like a cost effective way of getting,albeit manual focus,an f2.5 telephoto for less than $1000

with a 1.5/1.6 crop factor some of those lovely short,fast Zeiss telephotos now look quite a bit longer and are very useful for low light work.

i want something like this for bats and other night creatures.

the lack of auto focus is not so much an issue at night as it tends not to work very well in darkness and the sound of a lens motor can scare things off-in seeking my bat shots I will be locking focus on a predetermined point and shooting as they fly through the field of view.

the "T" coated APO telephoto range is very well regarded and those on here that have used Sony digicams with the Zeiss Vario Sonnar f2.0-2.8 zoom will know what I am talking about.


has anyone else looked into this, or better still,tried it?

gtc

ten steps ahead
Thanks Andy-you are ,as always,ten steps ahead of me.

I have sourced a local conversion plate for contax/yashica mount zeiss glass .

I am now trying find out what makers mount is on the zeiss jena sonnar 200mm 2.8 that I fancy- a 300mm equivalent at 2.8 for $400.00 -thats my kind of "L"glass!The bokeh looks very nice!

Greg

wallywally

Andy wrote:

yup. the distagon (contax/yashica) t* lenses work just great, with adapters from cameraquest or [[URL="http://www.dslrexchange.com]dslr"]www.dslrexchange.com]dslr[/URL] exchange[/url] work great.

good luck

i am italian... sorry for my englis..

i read that there isa a problem with wide angle (d5 + adapter + distagon 18mm f4) .. there are a ploblem with a dimension of the mirror... who can modify the mirror in US?

can you help me?

if i buy a 20mm f 2,8 canon and i work with canon D5 i have a quality... if i worh with 18mm f4 zeiss adapter lens anda canon 5D i have the same quality or there are problem? .. anyone can compare the two solution? ...

tnx for replay
wallywa@hotmail.com

claudermilk

You can mount all kinds of exotic glass on the EOS mount--one of it's many attractions.

There's a pretty active community of guys who are very much into mounting these lenses on their Canon DSLRs over at FM. They have a whole area dedicated to them & should be able to answer any questions.

Justiceiro

I have been using Carl Zeiss Jena lenses for a while with an adaptor- their a bit heavy due to the fact that they are built for medium format.

Here's what the canon looks like mounted with a 80mm Biometar:




The quality is good as well. I've heard that QC is spotty, but I've owned three Eastern Bloc lenses (CZ biometar, Meyer Gorlitz, and Meopta) and every one of them was tack sharp.

Here are some shot's taken with the Biometar:


This one was hand held, so there's a little shake, but the color is good.



the lens in the picture is the Meyer Gorlitz "Orestegor"

I got the whole setup (Pentacon body and Biometar) for about $90 in Prague, I think you can get the Biometar for under $100 these days. I have heard the 50mm Flektogon MC is good as well.

I also use the 300mm Meyer Gorlitz "Orestegor", though I just got the 70-300 IS, so I may put that one up on the block. I'll do a shootout and compare the two on tripods (handheld with the Orestegor is impossible, its very heavy). Here is a good shot with the Orestegor:



and




Again, with the adaptor at about $25, these lenses wouldn't even get you close to $1000. I think Zeiss CZ is highly underrated.