Contax Aria or Contax AX

[europanorama]

The AF in AX is very good for short focal length prime lenses, but it becomes problematic for zoom, long telephoto or lenses with floating elements. - could you specify this problem?

 

[afranklin]

> The AF in AX is very good for short focal length prime lenses, but it > becomes problematic for zoom, long telephoto or lenses with floating > elements. - could you specify this problem?

It is not really a problem with floating element lenses. It is merely something you have to be conscious of, and get your focus somewhat close manually, and then autofocus.

Austin

 

[europanorama]

>It is not really a problem with floating element lenses. It is merely >something you have to be conscious of, and get your focus somewhat >close manually, and then autofocus. > >Austin does it take longer to be in focus if in AF-position under certain circumstances?

 

[afranklin]

>Austin does it take longer to > be in focus if in AF-position under certain circumstances?

Michael,

I'm not clear what you are asking, would you please re-state that?

Austin

 

[craignorris]

I found that you have to set the lens to infinity focus distance before the AX will autofocus reliably. If you set the lens to a closer than infinity distance, the AX sometimes can't autofocus at all. If the lens is set to infinity, my AX will reliably focus with all my lenses, including 80-200 f4 and 35-70 f3.4

Regards,

Craig

 

[singlo]

For lenses with flosting elements for close focusing (e.g. 180mm f2.8, 18mm f4), you need to stop down the aperture to avoid the loss of image sharpness at the edges if you use AF mode.
The back focusing sytem of the AX can only travel up to 10mm, for long telephoto primes or zooms, you need to "rough focus" the lens manually before you activiate the AF button. Also the AF sensor does not work wery well with lenses having maximum aperture equal or less than F5.6. I found that the AF mode of AX does not work with my 300 f4 and 100-300 f4-f5.6. Nevertherless I still think the AX is a great camera and a joy to use.

 

[afranklin]

> For lenses with flosting elements for close focusing (e.g. 180mm f2.8, > 18mm f4), you need to stop down the aperture to avoid the loss of > image sharpness at the edges if you use AF mode.

A more practical solution in my book is simply manually focus to an approximate focus "zone", and then let autofocus work. Personally, I haven't noticed any sharpness issues with the floating element lenses even if left on infinity...but I'm not doing critical work, or checking 13x19 prints with a loupe...but if that is a concern, doing as I suggest will avoid any concern.

Austin