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Mrs. Contarex wearing a rare lens

Camera: Zeiss Ikon Contarex Special (built between 1960 and 1963)

Lens: Carl Zeiss Tessar 50mm f/2.8 Contarex Mount

 

I'm halfways through the first roll of film with the Tessar lens. My first impression is that focusing is significantly more challenging than with the Planar 50 or the Sonnar 85. The Special has a matte screen without a split image or microprism circle, so the brightness of the finder image matters a lot.

 

With fast lenses, focusing is a breeze - the scene just jumps in and out of focus. The Tessar is one stop slower. I wouldn't have thought that to make much of a difference, but to my surprise, it does. Accurate focusing is still possible, but it definitely is more of a challenge.

 

I'm curious to see the results.

 

Shot with:

Canon EOS600D

Leica Bellows R (16860)

Leica 100mm f/4 Macro Elmar-R, bellows version (11230)

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Uploaded on January 2, 2020
Taken on December 30, 2019