Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/05/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Don - This is puzzling. I have used a number of Contax II/III and early Kiev cameras and have never has a problem with film slippage. I assume that your problem resulted in overlapping frames. If the end of the film is sufficiently wound on, this should not be an issue. It's a little hard to imagine how the wind-on spool could actually slip. Can you describe the problem any more specifically? Richard >From: "Don Dory" <don.dory@gmail.com> >Reply-To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org> >To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> >Subject: Re: [Leica] Re: Contax use >Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 20:22:14 -0400 > >Marc, >And for direct experience I have acquired two Contaces and three Kiev's, >none of which worked properly. After a thorough overhaul of the III and >some coaching I finally got a roll of film through the III and a 47 Kiev. >The problem was that the back was relatively flimsy and the pressure plate >exerted too much pressure on the film causing the take up spool to slip. I >gained an appreciation for the bottom loading Leica which has always been >easy for me as a cut leader does the trick every time for me. > >So, I have the old Sonnar and Biogon out for CLA and will soon have a >direct >comparison to a Leica III with the same standing; each set will have been >overhauled recently so the use will be a fair understanding of both series >of cameras in actual use. I will stand by the quality of lenses available >in 1936. The Zeiss offerings were superior. > >Don >don.dory@gmail.com > > >On 5/30/06, Marc James Small <msmall@infionline.net> wrote: >> >>At 11:34 AM 5/30/06 -0400, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: >> >> >I feel your pain. I struggled with Contaxi for years. >> > >> >The Contax shutter featured in the earliest boxlike Contax I and the >> >Contax II is a vertical focal plane shutter which uses thin metal >> >slats to get flexibility. Sort of like a venetian blind or roll up >> >bamboo blind. The slats are kept in line and driven by two fabric >> >tapes threaded through holes on the ends of the slat. Unlike the >> >Leica shutter which only varies the slot between the first and second >> >blinds to set higher shutter speeds, the Contax varies both the >> >spacing and the rate that the shutter moves by means of a gear train. >> >When the Contax was introduced in the 30s, Leica already had patents >> >on the easy way to do things so Zeiss was forced to adopt a more >> >complicated and costly mechanism. The shutter cannot be replaced as a >> >unit since so much of the mechanism is integrated into the body of >> >the camera. >> > >> >Typically what goes wrong on a Contax shutter is that one of the >> >shutter tapes wears or breaks. The camera must be opened and a new >> >set of tapes threaded through the slats and anchored to the driving >> >spools. In an emergency, you can use nylon dental floss tapes. The >> >complex gear drive should be cleaned and oiled at the same time. >> >Parts for these early cameras are unavailable so if anything breaks >> >except the tapes, parts must be taken from junker cameras. Some of >> >the Russian Kiev parts may fit since they were made on the same >> >machinery. Instruction manuals for Contax camera repair are available >> >on the internet. >> > >> >The Contax IIa of the 50s uses a redesigned and simplfied shutter >> >mechanism that is much more reliable than the shutter used in the >> >older cameras. Most good repair shops will still fix this camera. >> > >> >The Contax II of 1936 was the first truly modern 35mm RF camera. >> >Leica did not duplicate its features until the M3 of 1954. When >> >introduced, the Contax theoretically had shutter speeds to 1/1250 >> >second, the Leica peaked at 1/500 second. The Contax had a wide base >> >rangefinder using the swinging prism system, integated into the >> >viewfinder. The Leica had a less precise moving mirror rangefinder >> >viewed through a tiny peephole and a mediocre adjacent reverse >> >Gallilean telescope viewfinder. Speeds were set on the Contax by >> >lifting and turning the winding knob. The Leica had a seperate knob >> >for setting speeds and an auxiliary dial for slow speeds. The Contax >> >could be loaded by opening the back. The Leica had needle threading >> >bottom loading. The Contax had a bayonet lens mount. The Leica had a >> >screw in mount. Finally the Contax had excellent Zeiss Sonnar lenses >> >with apertures up to f1.5. The Leica had the f2.0 Summar. >> > >> >I don't mean to bash Leica. I'm a Leica fan myself. But in its day, >> >the Contax was regarded as a superior photographic instrument. When >> >Nikon copied the German cameras after WW2 they used the Contax as the >> >model for the S series, substituting only the more reliable Leica >> >shutter mechanism for the complex Contax shutter. This was the camera >> >that established the reputation for Japanese quality during the >> >Korean War. >> > >> >My suggestions for using the excellent Contax lenses, either scrap >> >the old Contax cameras, sell them to some sucker on eBay, or give >> >them to a collector. Get yourself a late model Contax IIa. These are >> >available for far less than the price of having the lenses adapted to >> >Leica mounts. The camera is smaller, lighter, and much more reliable. >> >It will fit all the older lenses as well as many Kiev lenses. >> >>Larry >> >>For starters, the accepted plural for Contax is Contaces, to follow >>Ikoflices, Ikarices, Contaflices, and Contarices. Straight Latin, it is. >> >>Second, the Prewar shutter is quite a bit tougher than the Postwar IIa and >>IIIa shutter, which was regarded as a disappointment by Zeiss Ikon and >>which never won the reputation for durability in the marketplace. It is >>important to bear in mind that the Contax II was the accepted >>rough-country >>35mm camera of the 1940's and 1950's and was by far the standard 35mm >>camera used by combat photographers in the Second World War -- Capa, for >>instance, switched from Leica to Contax following the Spanish Civil War >>due >>to reliability problems with the Leica. The IIa and IIIa never enjoyed >>the >>sort of reputation that the II and III enjoyed.. >> >>The Prewar shutter is much better built from quality materials, while the >>Postwar shutter was built by a company without much access to quality >>materials by a company operating on an extremely thin shoestring. The >>Prewar shutter was designed to accomodate 100,000 exposures between >>services, while the Postwar shutter was only designed to last for 10,000 >>and rarely made that in practice. The big killer for Contax shutters, as >>with Leica shutters, is lack of use. A regularly used Contax II or III >>will outlast a Leica by a matter of years. Yes, the tapes do break but >>this is much more common with a camera that has been sitting on a closet >>shelf for forty years than with a camera enjoying regular use. >> >>There are virtually no parts available for the Postwar shutter, production >>of such parts having ceased a third of a century back, while parts for the >>Prewar shutter abound -- the Arsenal plant in Kiev continued to produce >>repair parts well into the 1990's, and these are readily available today. >> >>One of the greatest myths of the camera world is the old chestnut about >>Leitz holding patents on its shutter. This simply is not true, and Zeiss >>Ikon and its predecessors had been producing LF cameras with focal-plane >>shutters very much akin to the Leitz shutter for years by the time the >>Contax first appeared in 1930. The design of the Contax was intended to >>trump the Leica by producing a more flexible, reliable, and rugged design >>and, by the time of the Contax II, they certainly had achieved their goal. >> >>All in all, a Contax II is the best of the breed and has the best VF/RF >>ever used in a RF camera. >> >>Marc >> >>msmall@aya.yale.edu >>Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir! >> >> >> >> >>_______________________________________________ >>Leica Users Group. >>See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > >_______________________________________________ >Leica Users Group. >See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information