What Digital Camera Works Best With Old Contax Rf Rangefinder Lenses? – Quick Guide

People often ask, What Digital Camera Works Best With Old Contax Rf Rangefinder Lenses?

Let’s find out!

What Digital Camera Works Best With Old Contax Rf Rangefinder Lenses?

The Nikon F3 works best with old Contax Rf Rangefinder lenses. It has a built-in lens mount that allows you to use any standard 35mm or 50mm lens from your current camera body. It also has a built-in flash, so you don’t need another one.

The only downside is that it doesn’t have a viewfinder.

Vintage Lenses That Work Great on Mirrorless Cameras

Vintage lenses are more popular than ever, thanks in large part to the mirrorless revolution and affordable, high-quality cinema and hybrid video cameras.

These lenses are regularly “cine modded” for video use due to their unique character and less clinical rendering, (sometimes) affordable prices compared to cine lenses, helicoid-driven focus with hard stops, and physical aperture rings (which are often de-clicked).

There are many great vintage lenses that can work with modern mirrorless cameras, and below are some choices that you should consider.

Contax Zeiss 3.5/100mm Sonnar T*

A great alternative to the 85 Sonnar if you’re looking for an ultra-wide angle lens.

The 3.5/105 is a great option for those who want a faster aperture.

This lens is perfect for portraits and landscapes, but it’s not as good in low-light situations. It has a very nice build quality and feels solid in your hand.

Contax Zeiss 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Vario-Sonnar T*

This lens is a real gem, especially if you shoot landscapes. It’s a push/pull design that makes focusing easier. It’s a classic design, and unlike most modern lenses, it performs exceptionally well.

The build quality is excellent. It has a very good price to performance ratio. The only downside is the lack of IS. If you’re looking for a great all-around lens, this one is hard to beat. It’s an absolute bargain at $400.

Minolta M-Rokkor 90mm f/4

The Minolta M-Mount is a great option if you’re looking for a cheap alternative to Leica glass. The Minolta Rokkor 90mm F/4 is one of the most affordable 90mm lenses out there.

For landscape photography, the Minolta M Mount is a good option. It’s also an excellent choice for street and travel photographers who want to use their camera with a wide-angle lens.

If you’re interested in using your Minolta AF SLR or compact system camera as a mirrorless shooter, then the Minolta XE-1 is a great option. The XE-1 has a fast f2.8 aperture that makes it ideal for low-light shooting.

Minolta’s new GXR line of cameras are some of the best APS-C mirrorless cameras on the market today. They offer high-quality images at a very attractive price point.

Nikon Nikkor AI 45mm f/2.8 P & Contax Zeiss 2.8/45mm Tessar

The Contax Zeiss is a classic lens that will never go away.

The Nikkor 45 is a modern version of the classic Contax 45/2.8.

Both lenses are fantastic performers. The Contax has been around for over 50 years and it’s still going strong. It’s an excellent performer, but it’s not perfect.

The Nikkors have been around since 1960 and they’re still going strong. They’re also very good performers, but they’re not as versatile as the Contax. If you want to use them on a crop sensor camera like the Sony A6000, then you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re using full-frame cameras, then these lenses are great performers.

what digital camera works best with old contax rf rangefinder lenses

What Digital Camera Works Best With Old Contax Rf Rangefinder Lenses?

The Use of Rangefinder Optics on SLR Cameras

The use of rangefinder optics can be useful if you want to take pictures of macro subjects. Old rangefinder lenses can be used on modern SLR cameras, but only with adapters.

The adapter will allow the lens to focus at infinity and also provide a manual aperture control. Some older lenses have an aperture ring that is incompatible with modern camera bodies.

Aperture Control

Most DSLRs have an aperture setting in their menus. This allows you to set your exposure manually. If you are using a zoom lens, you may need to adjust the focal length setting to get the correct amount of light into the sensor.

If you do not have access to this feature, there are other ways to achieve the same result. You can use a neutral density filter or a polarizer. A neutral density filter reduces the amount of light entering the camera by 50%.

It does so by reducing the amount of light passing through the front element of the lens. Polarizers reduce the amount of light entering by about 90% (depending on the type). They work by rotating the polarization axis of the incoming light.

Neutral Density Filters

There are several types of ND filters available for purchase online. These filters come in different strengths and they all affect the color balance of the image differently. For example, a 10-stop ND filter will reduce the amount of light coming

into the camera by one-tenth. This means that it will darken the image by ten stops. However, it will also change the color balance of the scene. Reducing the amount of red light will make the subject appear more blue than normal.

Conversely, increasing the amount of green light will cause the subject to look more yellowish.

Polarizing Filters

Polarized filters are similar to neutral density filters, except that they rotate the polarization axis of the light instead of blocking it. There are two main types of polarized filters: linear and circular. Linear filters rotate the polarization axis of light linearly.

Circular filters rotate the polarization axis around the center of the filter. Both types of filters reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor by about 90%. The difference between them is how much light is blocked.

A linear polarizer reduces the amount of light by 50%, while a circular polarizer reduces the amount by only 10%. Polarizers can be used in combination with other filters, such as graduated neutral density (GND) filters or color correction filters.

Which Lens Adapter Do You Need?

The adapter you’ll want to use for shooting a vintage lens on your DSLR depends on the following:

  • what type of camera do you have?
  • what type of lens do you want to use on it?

Once you know that you can use the numbers on the adapter to figure out which one you want.

Here are some examples of lens mounts and camera mounts. They’re usually written using abbreviations instead of their full names. For example, “EF” stands for “EOS Full Frame.”

An M 42 NEX to Sony E mount adaptor will be labeled M 42 – NEX, while a Pentacam K mount to Fuji X mount adaptor will be labeled PENTAX K Mount to FUJIFILM X Mount Adaptor.

If you don’t want to mess up your existing code, just stick with the original adapter.

Make sure you get the correct adapter for each different lens that you purchase.

There are several things to keep in mind when buying lenses for digital cameras. For example, if you’re using a Pentax K10D, you’ll want to use Pentax K-mount lenses; if you’re using a Nikon D3S, you’ll want to buy Nikon DX mount lenses.

Conclusion

We hope that this article was helpful.

If you have any queries feel free to reach out in the comments section below.

Author

  • John Moses

    John is the Editor in Chief here at The Outdoor Stores. His area of expertise ensures that there is no one better to suggest which rifles are most suitable for your hunting experience. He is also available for you to contact him personally to discuss the types of animals you want to hunt and the terrain you will be hunting on. Feel free to read his posts for expert opinion on Rifles, Scopes, Rangefinders, Bonoculars and Monoculars.

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