Yashica FX-A with Zeiss' PC-Distagon

It would be interesting to see what could be possible, but unfortunately digital post processing with distortion and perspective correction has taken the place of doing anything 'in camera'. I guess that the trade-off of reduced resolution and clarity to do it all in software has outweighed the precision and quality of doing it optically at the source. Sad that progress isn't always the best option, and cheap and easy rules the day.

biggles3 ... I've never seen anything but the spec sheet on this lens before now, so nice to finally see one.

Here are a couple of shots from a project on 'New London' I've been using the PC-D on my Eos 5Ds for. The full res files are on Flickr;


Nine Elms by Barry Reid, on Flickr


Vauxhall by Barry Reid, on Flickr

The 70/86 is essential for this and for the 18mm. Not just for filters but to allow use of K-84 Metal hood cap in place of the soft plastic cap supplied with both lenses. Maybe I’m careless but I found the plastic cap soft enough to flex if bouncing around in a bag, touching the surface of the front element of the 18mm leaving tiny coating scratches/marks.

Luckily I got a couple of 70/86 rings and caps a few years back and won’t be parting with them.

Excellent work Barry!

1. where is tilt on pc-distagon. NB: leitax has a sony-adapter.
2. How is mirror-clearing done to reach infinity? I think canon explicitely made larger mirrors to avoid adaptation.

Hi europanorama

With regard to the tilt/shift movement of the PC-Distagon, this refers to vertical tilting and horizontal shifting of the image - what it can't do to the photo is swing/tilt/shift.  You are perfectly correct to question the 'tilt' reference as it is strictly a shift perspective correction lens; with its massive 83 degree image circle and shift of up to 10mm in ALL directions, you have the fun of watching the image tilt up or down and/or shift side-to-side according to the rotation you apply.  So, the image tilts and shifts but the lens only shifts - but across all axes.

As to your question about the clearance for Canon users; although Leitax can't make an adapter for this lens to use with Canon EOS digital cameras, I've popped on a simple C/Y-EOS adapter and on my Canon 6D it works with no clearance issues.

In the C/Y system, the Contax Hoods 3-5 take the K-84 cap as you say; Metal Hoods 1, 2 and W-1 take the K-94 and the 77mm Metal Hoods for the three f1.2 Planar lenses take a K-841.  As for the Adapter Rings, you can of course use the 70/86 ring on the 35 & 85 f1.4 lenses but the easier, and much, much less expensive option is to use the 67/86 Ring and Hood No.2 for the 35mm and Hood No. 4 for the 85mm although 70mm slip-on rubber hoods were made for both lenses in the early days and if you can find them in good condition, they are the cheapest option.  From the mid-1980s, the screw-in Soft Lens Shade G-14 was produced for the 35mm and G-13 for the 85mm; and of course, with both lenses you have the option of using the Gelatine Filter Holder which actually acts as a nice hood for the 35mm.