Are M42 Zeiss Contax lenses popular with Yashica users?

I own quite a few M42 lenses, and I'd say - without counting - that maybe half of them are Yashica branded or manufactured, and I also have a couple of the Jena lenses. The collector side of me likes and appreciates them for all the obvious reasons, and I've used a few to shoot with on digital bodies, but not on film cameras of either M42 or C/Y mounts.

I have several of the screw adapters so that I could investigate the possibilities of using them along with a C/Y film body, but my own personal choice has been that there's no advantage for me in using them in that setup these days. If the question had come up several decades ago, I might have given a more positive response, but given the current choices of ML and Zeiss glass I have, I can't see me using any M42 lens on a C/Y film body. The only exception I could see as a possibility, is using the Revuenon Tomioka 55mm f/1.2, but even then, it wouldn't be without a very good reason. There are too many 'Gotchas' to complicate that setup, when using native glass gives better results, in a more fluid workflow for me. The 1.2 is the only lens where I'd have no other direct replacement for it - in terms of speed only - so that's the only reason it might be the exception.

However... There is one other alternative in using the M42 to C/Y adapter that makes perfect sense to me for what gear I use... as a stacked adapter for mirrorless digital use. I have one exceptional C/Y to E-Mount adapter from Novoflex, and along with it's matching tripod foot, I can use that setup to share adapting duties on both the Sony mirrorless bodies I use. That gives me access to 90% of the lenses I'd normally want to use on them - and not having to swap out that adapter to another one for M42 lenses, gives me the flexibility to use another bunch of lenses in a setting that mechanical linkage issues just won't exist. I won't be effected by stop down metering, or massively dark previews that are difficult to discern where the actual focus planes really are. Using the screw adapter becomes transparent to me as the shooter when done this way, and fills in most of the remaining 10% of what lenses I'd want to use with E-Mount digital bodies. The same thing might be true for many other digital mounts too, but in terms of C/Y, I only have two mounts to vouch for. I can do the same with my GH2 in M4/3 mount, with the single C/Y adapter I have for it, if the need arises.

Being able to adapt an M42 lens to C/Y mount may have been a neccessary compromise to reuse them at one point, but it introduced some issues that can disrupt ease-of-use, or it's just too big a PITA to be worth the effort. These days, I'd be happy to buy an M42 lens for it's distintive qualities in it's native mount, or just for it's many 'collector' values, but I wouldn't eye it as a candidate for an adapted lens to a C/Y film body... only on digital with the adapter.

I have often used M42 lenses on C/Y cameras where their unique capabilities demand it.

Lenses like the Yashinon-DX 100 f2.8 and Yashinon Tomioka 60 f2.8 Macro are of such quality that it would be a crime not to use them regularly - they certainly get additional use on my digital gear. That also applies to the DS-M 55mm f1.2 which I prefer to the ML type as mine is slightly sharper.  The only proviso concerning the M42-C/Y adapter is that it should have a flange that can engage with the aperture pin on the many lenses with an Auto/Manual switch.

That Yashinon 100mm has a unique place in the Yashica/Contax range as there are other 100mm options, mostly of a macro or bellows type, but as far as I can recall, it's the only conventional 100mm telephoto with a f2.8 aperture. Zeiss only offers f2 and f3.5 100mm telephotos and. other than those lovely old Yashinons, Yashica only has macro and bellows options.

The M42 lenses that I use most often, either on Yashica M42 bodies or C/Y cameras, are the Yashinon 100mm and the Petri Orikkor Kurabayashi 50mm f2, with its dreamy bokeh.  The DS-M lenses probably get a work-out at least as often as the ML range where like-for-like options exist as they're amazing performers and very good value (though grab them while you can as I see prices moving north quite noticeably).



DS-M 28mm f2.8