>>3256154It's a really nice camera.
The vf is small by today's standards, and there are no framelines. But it was the best there was in its time, compared to screwmount Leicas.
You'll need to get used to the contax claw grip. Your fingers will get tired at first and you'll keep blocking the rf window, but you'll get used to the grip and it won't be an issue after a couple days.
So, aside from the above, there's no other sore points. It's a really well made camera with real leather and nice lenses, especially for their time. Joy to use. The rf baselength is huge and you'll never have to worry about focusing accuracy with any lens you can mount on it. (As a testament to that, there existed prototype olympic sonnars, 180mm f/2.8, that mounted directly and focused using the rf.)
Also don't shy away from russian glass. They're exact copies of the german lenses, the only reason they get bad reputation is for inconsistent quality control and because they're compared with much more modern Leica and Zeiss, Voigtlander designs (as they kept making them until quite late, without changing the designs). But compared to the original Zeiss glass for the Contax, they're very, very close if you get a non-butchered example. And any negative point about the russian glass vs modern Leica/Zeiss stands for contax Zeiss glass vs modern Leica/Zeiss.
The J-12 is a nice 35mm lens and can be had for cheap. It's also compatible with the Contax II (but not with the IIa). The original Biogon is nice too and much more heavy (full brass vs aluminium) and better build quality wise, but identical optically and much more expensive due to rarity.
The post war Biogon is a better lens optically, sharper and with less distortion, a complete redesign. But again, expensive.
The 85mm f/2 Sonnar, either the Zeiss or the Jupiter-9, are great portrait lenses, with smooth bokeh regardless of aperture due ti the number of aperture blades.
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