which camera-body to choose for excellent Carl Zeiss lens

<p>Hey guys,<br>

I will use a Carl Zeiss Planar 50 mm lens which I have still and have used it with a Contax G2 earlier on. My question is, what you think which solid camera-body (analog) would fit with it, comparable (if not 1:1 of course) to the Contax G2.<br>

All the Best, Philip</p>

<p>I think the Sony NEX might have an adapter to use Contax G lenses but I've never tried it because i have no G lenses. I do have an adapter for Contax SLR zeiss lenses and those do work with an adapter. Try searching on Amazon or B&H Photo for Sony NEX adapters.</p>

<p>The Contax G Zeiss 45mm f/2 Planar is designed to work with the Contax G1 or G2 autofocus bodies only. I have had some luck using it with My Sony NEX outfit (MF with an adapter) but I can't think of any other film body that uses those lenses.</p>

 

<p>and how about the Sonnar?</p>

<p>Philip - its not about the lens design, it is about the mounting and registration distances (the distance between the rear of the lens mount and the sensor). The Contax G mount is has a registration distance of 29mm, not leaving room for using its lenses with adapters on other (film) bodies in general. There are adapters to use lenses with a variety of mounts on some other bodies...it varies. Most manufacturer's 35mm film lenses will fit onto a digital micro 4/3 digital body (reg. distance 19.25mm) via adapters, NEX (25.5mm) Nikon's or Nikon-1 series (17mm), due to the fact that the registration distance for those bodies (the distance between the rear of the lens mount and the sensor) is relatively short....so lenses designed for longer registration distances can easily fit onto an adapter which is inserted between the camera body and the lens. This is one of many digital "solutions" for many people. Analog (film) bodies can work in a similar manner, but most manufacturers at the time of production wanted to sell you their lenses, and designed mounts which generally were not interchangeable, even with adapters, for use on other bodies. Canon was a big exception....the registration distance of the EOS series film bodies (rear of mount to sensor)(44mm) allowed the use of adapters for some other manufacturer's lenses (for instance Nikon F lenses (46.5mm). Major lens manufacturers (such as Zeiss) sometimes made a particularly popular lens design in different mountings so that the lens could be used on a different camera, but the mountings are generally not interchangeable at the user level. </p>

<p>So, you can (generally, assuming there is room for an adapter) mount a lens designed for a longer registration distance onto a body designed for a shorter one, and get infinity focus, but not vice versa. If you look up lens registration or flange distances on the web, you will see lists defining those distances by manufacturer.</p>

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<p>what you think which solid camera-body (analog) would fit with it,</p>

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<p>If you mean the 45mm, you can have it modified to Leica mount: http://www.kenrockwell.com/leica/contax-g-conversions.htm</p>

 

<p>Contact Japanexposure, they provide service to convert G to M lens<br>

http://www.japanexposures.com/lens/<br>

Its not cheap but good result, another solution when you have Leica camera buy Zeiss Planar 50/2 ZM (for Leica)<br>

In my case , I keep the amazing G lens only for G2 camera</p>