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Contax 645 Zeiss 45mm Distagon lens shade bayonet

G

Guest

I have recently purchased a Contax Zeiss 645 45mm Distagon and have noticed the bayonet flange outer ring assembly turns back and forth. It seems to have a lot of play, and wondered if this is normal or has been caused by the amount of pressure necessary to fit the shade onto the bayonet. The front element retainng ring with the Zeiss Distagon serial number st&ing moves slightly as well when the shade is attached to the bayonet. Can anyone else find the same to be true, or does this lens have a problem, and how can it be repaired?
 
Anthony, that doesn't sound right, the shade, with its "petal" design, needs to be precisely registered otherwise it will vignette the image.

It's fairly common on Hasselblad Zeiss lenses for the front element retaining ring to work loose, especially with aircraft vibration, but you need a special wrench to tighten them up without risking scratching the lens.
 
I have now realized that the lens bayonet ring assembly is not functioning correctly. Can anyone recommend to me the best and most expedited method of getting this lens into Contax warranty repair? My local store has told me I may end up waiting up to 6-8 weeks for turnaround from Contax. That seems ridiculous to me, and I would greatly appreciate getting a contact number of some person that I could talk to before sending the lens off.
 
That depends where you are located
If you are in the usa, I suggest you call the Contax/Kyocera "800" number and check with them for turnaround time.
My experience with Contax in Canada, has been less than 2 weeks!
Colin
 
I have recently purchased the 45MM 645 Lens

I find it difficult to get used to
It is nowhere like the "feeling" you get with the wide angle zoom for the N1

you seem to have to get very very close to your subject otherwise the foreground is massive

any tips
 
Noel,

It's a great lens! The reason I bought it was to "dramatize" the foreground in relation to the background. It is a great landscape lens, especially for where I live in the Southwest US. My best images are when I do get very close to the foreground subject and shoot for maximum DOF. If you're not getting close to your foreground subject then you are wasting the value of this lens, unless you are shooting a distant scenic and just want a wide angle view with no foreground at all. Then again, I don't know what you are using the 45mm for. Maybe it's not the right lens for your application.

Guy
 
> Thanks Guy, my experience is that it sends out the foreground to a huge degree, unlike the 35mm zooms I recently photographed some Sun Flowers and literally had to get right into them to take the image
 
Hi All,

I've been playing with Hyperfocal distance calculations recently. Can someone tell me what the correct "circle of confusion" value is for Medium Format?

Thanks,
Kerry
 
Hi Kerry,

> I've been playing with Hyperfocal distance calculations recently. Can > someone tell me what the correct "circle of confusion" value is for > Medium Format?

The CoC is different for different medium format formats, and you can get the info from this on-line DOF calculator. It's included in the drop-down menu for the "Negative Format". For 6x45 it's 0.05mm.

Regards,

Austin
 
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