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Zeiss lenses on Canon bodies

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I am using Mostly Cameraquest adapters. These adapters are very well made. I was using the type secured with a screw but my 28-85 Vario-sonnar fell off and I caught it luckily as it was on its way down to the foamy waters on the rocks of Big Sur.

I have wobble of several my Zeiss lenses on the CQ adapters. This occurs with my 21mm Distagon and the Vario Sonnar.

I am looking for experience on adapters that photographers use regularly and that are snug and don't wobble.

The Zeiss lenses still work of course, but it means that focus might change or that the plane of the lenses image in the sensor is at an angle!

Asher :)
 

John_Luke

New member
Asher- did you try to expand the adapter bayonets on the Contax side? Use some sort of flat instrument and pry them open a bit. They are brass, so there is some amount of malleability ot them.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
John,

Great you are here! I'm going to look at that. Thanks! Am going to drop off some lenses to a local camera repair man. He's old school. I also need a tiny screw for one of my Zeiss lenses but that doesnt seem to be the reason for loosness. I'll ask him to do the prying!

I'm so busy with OPF and I have to process a shoot.

I really appreciate your suggestion. Di you need to do it on your adapters?

Asher :)
 

Asim

New member
I use the DSLRXchange.com adapter for my CZ 50/1.4 and it looks a tad off, but is quite snug.

and I can finally post! :)
 

Paul Caldwell

New member
Hello Asher,

The cameraquests can cause the problem you mentioned, slippage. This is because their bayonet style lock will easily ship out depending on the lens you are using. I have found that on the smaller sized distagons, such as the 28mm or 35mm this is not much of a problem, however on the 35mm TS it's a real problem.

The dslrexchange adatpers have a distinct advantage here in that they will lock in place as they have a screw that will actually drop down into the cutout on the distagon lens. However make sure you have their redesigned adatper, the one with the set stop. If not it will be possible to ture the lens too far counterclockwise when removing and thus damage your AF contact.

It's interesting to note, I have this problem right now with my 24-70 L Canon lens, the set screw actually came out. I found out only by the fact that when I was putting it on, I was able to turn past the normal stop. I am only glad it didn't drop down into the camera.

PFC.
 

Bob Prichard

New member
I have Cameraquest adapters on all my Contax, Zeiss and Nikon lenses and have not had any problem with wobble. I have used the lenses and adapters on both the 1DsMkII and the 5D. The lenses and adapters are all tight and snug.

I bought some cheaper adapters from Hong Kong and had to return them. They did not lock in place on my camera.

If you are having problems with your adapters, contact Gandy at Cameraquest. He should be willing to help you out.
 

Alain Briot

pro member
Olympus Wide angles also work great on Canon and are better than Canon's Wide Angles. I use the 18 and 21 olumpus on my 1DsMk2.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Paul2660 said:
Hello Asher,
....................It's interesting to note, I have this problem right now with my 24-70 L Canon lens, the set screw actually came out. I found out only by the fact that when I was putting it on, I was able to turn past the normal stop. I am only glad it didn't drop down into the camera.
PFC.
Well, that issue of the screw coming out nearly lost me my 28-85mm Vario Sonnar over the Northern California coast. That was the last time I used adapters with screws!

I am about to investigate a new German adapter.

Asher
 

Brad Fernihough

New member
Do you have any more info on this. I have a 50mm T Planar Zeiss for my 501 Hassy that i would like to connect to my 5D. Its tac sharp on the hassy and if i could use it on the canon i wont need to go spend 1000 on a new lens.
 

Daniel Buck

New member
I've been using fotodiox adapters for 3-4 years now, they are much better than the brass adapters I had before, but there is still a tiny bit of slop and you can twist the lens ever so slightly inside of the adapter. I've never had one come off accidentally though! The 28 distagon 2.8 is my wide angle, and the 45mm pancake is my 'body cap' :-D I've got some others, but I don't use them often.

I haven't used any of the newer fotodiox adapters, but a friend of mine picked up one for his 18 distagon, and said that it had no slop to it. I may try and order one of the newer fotodiox adapters, I don't know if they are a different design, or just made with higher tolerances now, or if he just got one that happened to be nice and snug :)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Do you have any more info on this. I have a 50mm T Planar Zeiss for my 501 Hassy that i would like to connect to my 5D. Its tac sharp on the hassy and if i could use it on the canon i wont need to go spend 1000 on a new lens.

Brad,

The lenses we generally refer to here for this are Zeiss Contax 35mm SLR MM type, not MF. However, if you go to http://www.zoerk.com you get to see the scope of what they make. Then go to http://www.zoerk.com/pages/p_mounta.htm for your specific Hasselblad adapter.

"If you have a 35 mm or interchangeable lens digital camera and a medium format SLR, the Zörk Mount Adapters allow you to use your medium format lenses on the 35 mm or digital camera body. Sharing lenses has some distinct advantages: you save cost and weight especially if you decide to take both cameras on a job; you use the sweet spot (central 2/3) of the medium format lens, for excellent edge-to-edge sharpness; and the smaller 24x36 mm image field helps minimize the effects of lens distortion and aberration."

Call them. You email the guy in New York. He's so helpful!

Good luck!

Asher
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
Brad

you even could go for the PSA, (Panorama Shift Adapter) if you d' like, from Zörk, as well. There' s a version for Hassi -lenses available.
That is more suited for a tripod-typ of shooting, than action-photography.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
........

I haven't used any of the newer fotodiox adapters, but a friend of mine picked up one for his 18 distagon, and said that it had no slop to it.

So tell me Daniel, what camera does he use the 18mm on. Is it a 5D? I know people file down the mirror to get clearance!!

Asher
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
I should google for "iffy" ;-)

Yep, the D-series have a differently sized mirrorbox, therefore the Mk3 should work. That's all I read.
Here, on the 1 Ds-2, all my 5 YCZ are adapted without any issues.
 

marc wilson

pro member
Fotodiox pro adaptors worked for me. I used them with various contax zeiss lenses on a 5d (28 / 35 / 50 / 85) and on all occasions they performed better than the cheaper brass ones with no focussing problems.
 

Daniel Buck

New member
Fotodiox pro adaptors worked for me. I used them with various contax zeiss lenses on a 5d (28 / 35 / 50 / 85) and on all occasions they performed better than the cheaper brass ones with no focussing problems.

Yup, I've had no infinity focusing problems with the Fotodiox pros either :)
 

Michael Fontana

pro member
I used these from happypagehk, they' ve a coded AF-chip, which confirms, when the focus is manually set correct. It writes also the focale lenghts into the EXIF-data of the image file, which is very handy, if you want to stitch or correct lens distortion.

No infinity focusing problems, either.
 
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