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My Engraved Contax Demystified - and a few Shots from it


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<p>Hi All,<br /><br />In february, I bought a very nice RTS and was intrigued by the engraving "F. Nesgaard". Here's the thread, including a picture of the camera: <a href="../classic-cameras-forum/00aFZA">http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00aFZA</a><br /><br />Through a former colleague (from my Nikon days) I managed to actually get in touch with <strong>Finn Nesgaard</strong> - a journalist of (local, at least) fame, who has been covering cameras and video gear since the 70'es here in Denmark. He confirmed that my "new" RTS had indeed been his from new, and that the engraving had been mandatory for him (!!) Back in those days (late 70'es, that is), a journalist could buy gear at reduced prices directly from the distributor, but he had to get it engraved so that he couldn't just sell if off for a profit right away... In my e-mail to him, I linked to the above thread, and he was very pleased to see that his camera had gotten a second lease of life :-)<br /><br />So: Here are a few more shots from this (past) summer - all shot with the lovely Planar 50/1.7 and Kodak BW400CN Professional. I actually used a polarizer on some of the pictures just to keep the light levels tolerable for shooting near wide open.<br /><br />Hope that you enjoy them :-)<br /><br />Soeren<br /><br /></p><div>00alim-493539584.jpg.475acebd08721fbf221a3a884ed71f91.jpg</div>
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<p>Nice camera and great shots, as always. I'm just getting familiar with the Zeiss lenses on Yashica and Contax bodies, having picked up a nice RX body nobody wanted last week. I hope my first roll come out anywhere near your fine work. By the way, do you do your own scanning of the negatives?</p>
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<p>Thanks, guys :-)<br /><br />Fortunately, my kids haven't yet tired of me taking pictures of them - probably also because I always respect a "no", when I get one. My wife is very self-conscious, though...<br /><br />For those that did not read the previous thread, I use a Nikon COOLSCAN IV ED with Nikon Scan 4.0 and some very light work in CS afterwards. I have actually thought about writing an article about my scanning technique/process some time - although I'll have to calibrate my monitor again first, it seems. Thanks for pointing that out to me.<br /><br />As for the film, Kodak used to have two versions of their B/W C-41 film some years ago - now they only have one, and who knows what the future will bring ?? Possibly a return to XP2... Anyway - I can't really tell any difference. I'm not a "grain peeper", if that term exists :-)<br /><br />What matters the most to me is the subject (of course), the tonality, and the physical/mechanical experience of shooting a metal camera and film.<br /><br />Thanks again - any more commenst or questions are welcome, as always !!<br /><br />Soeren<br /><br /></p>
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  • 2 weeks later...
Great work! My original Yashica ML 1,7 was also a great shooter. It was stolen with the camera. Later my wife bought me or rather convinced me to buy a second-hand Zeiss Planar 1.4. This is great especially for children's portraits. Since you more or less confirmed your thoughts on the origin of the camera and know now "why"they were engraved, Were you able to also confirm your theory on having two bodies, and one for color and the other for B&W?? You gave me a tipp on a the second exemplar, Although I wrote the dealer, I think the english was too much for them. I suspect if I had simply followed through with an on-line purchase it would have gone OK, but I ws asking the shipping costs (twice / 2 different sources). Oh well, I may yet get a Contax body one of these years!! The RTS is desirable becasue it is now old and therefore affordable. Someone mentionedthe RX... I remember reading about this body when it was first released and thought... my god what a phenomenal creation. Anyway, neutral density ( polarizing filters ) do allow you to open up like this for that bokeh! I would be very interested in an/your article on scanning techniques.
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