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Contax G to MFT adapter - anyone?

slau

New member
The adapter has been available for a few days now. According to eBay, they have sold 24 units so far.

I am very interested to use my Contax G lenses (45 & 90; too bad can't use my 28) again. The only thing that is holding me back is the focusing wheel on the adapter. It is a tiny 10mm wheel and it may be a bit tricky to use, especially when you wear a glove.

I am asking for user personal experience to see if the focusing with the tiny wheel is acceptable. Thank you.
 

JBurnett

Well-known member
No experience with the adapter. However, for winter "glove" work, I wear a pair of Lowepro knit gloves with the "nubblies" on them. Gloves are never ideal, but these work well enough, even with small controls. For very cold weather, I have a pair of mits that "fold back" to expose the fingers, and I wear these over the Lowepros. I also have some ultra-thin insulated gloves that can go inside the Lowepros. If it's cold enough to need all three layers, it's probably cold enough to be "tanking" the battery. Time to go home and have a hot chocolate.
 

monza

Active member
There is another adapter about to be released which has a bigger thumbwheel, and it is geared. The focus travel from near to far can be over 4 revolutions of the screw drive, so a geared adapter will offer faster focusing (only about 1.5 turns from close focus to infinity.)
 

Jonathon Delacour

Subscriber Member
There is another adapter about to be released which has a bigger thumbwheel, and it is geared. The focus travel from near to far can be over 4 revolutions of the screw drive, so a geared adapter will offer faster focusing (only about 1.5 turns from close focus to infinity.)
Drat! I've just ordered the Jin Rong adapter. Robert, are you able to say who will be offering the geared adapter?
 

Jonathon Delacour

Subscriber Member
OK, next question... roughly how much? Or perhaps you're not able to say yet. (I'm tempted to pre-order one without even knowing the price). :D
 

monza

Active member
Sent you a PM. The production units will be anodized black and the thumbwheel will be black.



A jpeg shot with the 45/2 Planar.

 

slau

New member
There is another adapter about to be released which has a bigger thumbwheel, and it is geared. The focus travel from near to far can be over 4 revolutions of the screw drive, so a geared adapter will offer faster focusing (only about 1.5 turns from close focus to infinity.)
In that case, I will wait a little bit. I do understand that there may be a trade off or compromise of focusing speed and focusing precision. I was told that the current G adapter takes about 4-5 turns of the wheel to get from the closet focusing distance to infinity. That may be too slow for me 'on paper'.

John, thank you for the advise of keeping hands warm. I do use layer system on my hands as well as on my body :).

Jonathon, would you please post your opinion on the G adapter after you have a chance to play with it a bit.
 
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Jonas

Active member
There is another adapter about to be released which has a bigger thumbwheel, and it is geared. The focus travel from near to far can be over 4 revolutions of the screw drive, so a geared adapter will offer faster focusing (only about 1.5 turns from close focus to infinity.)
Well, that's interesting. I'm a fan of the small Zeiss Contax lenses. I'm looking forward to learn more about this.
 

Jonathon Delacour

Subscriber Member
In that case, I will wait a little bit. I do understand that there may be a trade off or compromise of focusing speed and focusing precision. I was told that the current G adapter takes about 4-5 turns of the wheel to get from the closet focusing distance to infinity. That may be too slow for me 'on paper'.

John, thank you for the advise of keeping hands warm. I do use layer system on my hands as well as on my body :).

Jonathon, would you please post your opinion on the G adapter after you have a chance to play with it a bit.
It may be a week before it arrives but I'll certainly post my opinion and some results once it does. You've hit the nail on the head about the trade-off between focusing speed and precision. I'm intending to order Robert's adapter as well because the Department of Rationalization and Self-Justification raised that issue a split second after I wrote my earlier comment.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Nice looking adapter, Robert.:)

Seriously- have you thought about anodizing (could be special order) it to Blue, Red, etc colors to match the m4/3rds bodies? The colored anodizing is easy (look at Novoflex accessories). Just need a different dye instead of black.

The inside (light path) still would need a black paint though. More labor.
 

monza

Active member
Yes, the anodizing shop can do all sorts of colors. But then it becomes an inventory challenge...and maybe white and chrome for the Olympus? ;)
 

Jonas

Active member
Just make them black.

The single lens I'm interested in here is the Zeiss G Planar 45/2. Robert, do you have anything to say about corner to corner "sharpness", contrast and such with this lens used with a G1?
 

monza

Active member
I have been focusing on the adapter design, not the lens performance, but I'll have results next week, as will beta testers. The Contax G lenses are my favorite lenses of all, but they are rangefinder lenses, like M lenses. I expect the 45 and 90 will be great, the wider lenses will probably have a bit of smearing. The 21/28 will not fit without the rear element protectors being trimmed. But with the Pana 20/1.7, there really is no need for the 21 anyway.

The 45/2 is really inexpensive and the 90 is even less (about $100 used at B&H or KEH.) Leica ASPH quality for a pittance.
 
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One nice thing about buying these lenses used--when they're not mounted on a camera, the aperture ring appears to be out of alignment. So eBay sellers who don't know the system often sell them very cheaply as broken. I got my current 45 this way, and it is perfect...
 

monza

Active member
There may be some images on flickr with Contax G glass converted to M mount, and then used on micro 4/3. I also recall some images here posted by butterdada with the 28mm.
 
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