Contax 11a

[firkin@netconnect.com.au (Alastair Firkin)]

From: gmrobinson@mmm.com
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 1997 15:43:12 -0600
Subject: Leica RF Competitors

>When I was growing up during the 50's, the two top 35 mm cameras were Leica
and Contax with Retina somewhat behind them.  During the early 60's Carl
Zeiss gave up the race against Leitz and was soon followed by Kodak.  I
have used a Leica M3 most of my photography life and consider this camera
close to perfection.  I have never used the other two cameras, except for
examining them, and would appreciate opinions about their features and how
their bodies and lens compare with the Leica M cameras.< snip

I had the chance last weekend to use a Contax IIa with Sonnar f1.5
alongside my M3. I have never used the LTM leicas, but from holding them I
suspect their viewfinder is of similar brightness to the Contax.

The Contax was a delight to hold, though at first, I rubbed the skin off my
R eye on the rough re-wind wheel (the rounded Leica is much more skin
sensitive). The viewfinder is fine and the rangefinder focus slightly
yellow but bright and easy to use. Focus with the index finger and front
mounted wheel took some training and I don't think that in a week I'd fully
mastered it. It also took me a bit of practice to look for the f stops on
the rotating lens element [a result of the focus barrel being in the camera
body.] I started by carrying the camera everywhere sans film, till I felt
familiarized with the beast. The major test was to be a comparitive and
compeditive series on the Statues of Sturt St Ballarat, a subject I've been
planning for some time. I loaded the Contax with a part used roll of
Kodachrome 64 [first half of the film shot with the Rollei 3003], but in my
excitement, forgot one of my golden rules. For the second time this year I
shot the M3 sans film [no direct chrome comparisons sadly but maybe next
time]. Sturt St was ideal the afternoon I went out. The sun was begining to
set and the light was fantastic. While walking from one end to the other I
was able to get a series of dramatic back lit side lit and front lit shots
using the full range of f stops and shutter speeds. After this, we had
friends visiting for the weekend. I felt comfortable enough with the Contax
to use it as a snap camera for a day at the recreated gold mining town of
Soverign Hill. Again the light was fantastic. I used Kodak Gold 200 and
took the M6 and 35asph as a bit of a comparison.

Results;

It is no wonder that the M3 made such a splash when it hit the scene. I
have read reviews of the late fifties and listened to a number of
enthusiasts, but there is nothing like "living" history to give you a taste
for it. The poor Contax was never going to survive this competition without
a major overhaul of its viewfinder and I suspect it was the M3 which sent
Zeiss out of rangefinder cameras. I'd been 'training' on the Contax, and
when the walk started, I'd become used to the smaller image but when I took
out the M3, viewed the same scene through its "huge" finder and saw those
bright finder frames I was blown away.

The rangefinders seemed little different in truth. On some of the subjects
the yellow image of the Contax enhanced differentiation, but the increased
brightness of the Leica and the "larger" focus area made side by side
comparison favour the newer design. Light metering is of course off camera
though the "coupled" MC meter made it a bit faster, the Contax III would
have been as fast. Both cameras have some faults in f stop selection. The
Contax because of the barrel rotation with focus, and the Leica because of
the barrel rotation for the collapsing Summicron [my ring is a bit sticky
unless the camera has been in the "sun" for a bit, and selection of the
aperture unlocks the barrel] I still prefer to focus the Leica via its
lever to rotating a wheel on the camera body. I found I was moving the
camera whilst focusing and this disturbed my concentration on the scene.
Perhaps this is just practice. Shutter release was equal though the M3 is a
little less noisy both have a wonderful direct smooth and solid feel to the
release. Strangely I enjoyed winding the Contax with its threaded knob. The
feel was great, but as a user the lever advance even with double stroke was
faster and does not require one to take the camera down from the eye. I was
amazed with the 1250 top speed of the Contax-- but

When the films were processed, the Contax shutter was cutting across the
upper part of the image at speeds 250th [slightly] to 1250 [quite
markedly]. The dealer claimed he'd never had a Contax which worked
faultlessly at 1250th [is this true, I stand in disbelief at this stage].
The images are superb. Contrast colour and sharpness all quite vivid. Beat
the M3 hands down, but then if I'd loaded film into the Leica the
comparison would have been fairer ;-) The action snaps were good, though I
missed on the focus once and missed the action a couple of times through
being a little slow. I also tend to shoot two grabs for all portraits. The
first seems to relax the subject and the second is often a bit more
natural. The Contax made this hard with its winding knob. The first snaps
were at 50th and show some camera movement [my fault] and subject blurr
[surprized me]. Camera movement may be related to the lack of support I've
always used in having my focusing hand supporting the lens. For the first
shots I used index finger focusing with the R hand, but I later did rotate
the barrel to speed up focusing and none of these shots show blurr. Framing
was more accurate with the M6 and I seemed to miss things on the negative
that I was sure I'd included in framing the photo with the Contax. This has
gone on a bit too long-- sorry, In the end the Contax went back to the
dealer. This was before I'd seen the films. He was asking about 1000 US for
it and though it was spotless, that seemed a tad too far over the mark.
Will I ever get another Contax RF? Yes, if only to use the lenses, but also
to actually test that Sonnar Lens.



Alastair Firkin
Feb Edition now out!
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