Classic Contax Resources

[Amin Sabet]

Post links to outside resources in this thread. If you offer a related service or relevant outside content, feel free to promote yourself here!

[Brian]

My newly acquired Contax II is up with Eddy Smolov for a CLA now. It was working, but was last services in 1976- as per the sticker. I'll report back, should be about two weeks. Not two years...

[Brian]

The Contax II left Eddy's shop yesterday. Turnaround time is 8 days from him receiving it.

Should be here well before Christmas!

[Jeff L]

I'd really like to know how the repair went, especially the accuracy of the shutter speeds and curtain travel.

[Brian]

I'll be shooting a roll through it and report back. I'll be using a post-war CZJ 5cm F2 "T" with it.

[Jeff L]

Thanks. I don't need repair now, I just had mine done at Henry Scherer's. He did a great job, but the wait is very very long. He's very busy and charges accordingly.
Jeff

[Brian]

My Contax II was waiting for me in the mailbox today, two weeks after sending it to Eddy Smolov in New York. It was cold outside, never got above freezing.

The Camera worked right out of the delivery box. The shutter is much quieter, made me look to make sure it was working. It was. It is now "Leica M3 after CLA" quiet. The film wind is smooth. All speeds looked good, and I did not give it a chance to warm up. I'll be loading it up and trying it out. I set a 1955 J-3 in a Contax mount to make up for the 1937 5cm F1.5 Sonnar taken from this one and made into LTM. I also have a post-war 5cm F2 "T" sonnar for it, a 1931 5cm F2.8 Tessar, and a CZO 50mm F1.5 SOnnar. But that 1937 lens is now in LTM, with an M-Adapter, and on the Leica CL. Small-Fast combo.

[Amin Sabet]

Sounds great! Fast turnaround too, especially considering the time of year.

[jmkelly]

I just picked up a non-working Contax II with 50/1.5. As described the body does not sound like it is beyond repair. Ken Ruth did beautiful work on a Nikon S for me and I have heard Henry Scherer is a wonder, but I'm thinking of sending the Contax to Eddy Smolov. The email I have for him is 123camerarepair@gmail.com. Anyone care to post the rest of his current contact information?

Also, does ES offer re-covering service? Henry Scherer's site lists it as a service offered, but I don't see that cameraleather or aki-asahi offer pre-cut kits. I'm sure I will find plenty of information on fixing Zeiss bumps - maybe it would be helpful to put any tips the membership has on this topic here.

[Brian]

An article on Nikon Historical Society for Bumps.

http://nikonhs.org/tech_articles/restore_leather.html

The Email for Eddy is correct, double checked at home. I Email a problem descrption, and he has sent back Cost+estimate for shipping. I am sending a Contax IIIa up to him today.

(Note- the work de******ion does funny things)

[raid]

My IIa and IIIa have been functioning beautifully after ES serviced them.

John: Just call Eddy first and explain what you need from him.

[jmkelly]

I have a big piece of black lizard skin and a fondness for black lizard-covered cameras. Which poses an existential question - if I recover my Contax II in black lizard, will I still be welcome here? :redface:

[raid]

I have a big piece of black lizard skin and a fondness for black lizard-covered cameras. Which poses an existential question - if I recover my Contax II in black lizard, will I still be welcome here? :redface:


I will welcome you. Do the deed and show us the results.

[jmkelly]

I emailed Eddy Smolov midday today and he got back to me immediately. He says he can cure Zeiss bumps but 1) I want to see how bad the leather on this body is before I deal with it, and 2) I want to know what his method is. Plus as much as I like black lizard, I have a black sanded stingray skin on the way (the natural bumpy skin looks too thick).

[Brian]

Services regarding photographic equipment and photographic services have been welcomed here.

Postings regarding non-photographic services and goods are generally treated as spam.

[Amin Sabet]

In case anyone is wondering, I deleted the post to which Brian responded and banned the poster.

Brian, that was someone I know to have been a spammer.

Thanks,
Amin

[Brian]

Thanks, Amin.

Being the eternal optimist, I was hoping some Russian Lenses would be up.

[jmkelly]

Eddy Smolov gave my Contax II a fast turnaround as well. He took a whack at the leather but gave up - stuff was too brittle. I put a roll through the camera last week but have not developed it yet - will report on whether speeds are close or not.

For some reason the Zeiss bumps just offend me. I pulled the leather myself and yes it was a chore, and worn to the point that it was not worth trying to put back on. I cleaned the corrosion around the back door rivets, and sort of kept going.

The cosmetics of the metal bits were OK but as I had the camera all apart I decided to send it off to Robert (digitalintrigue) for painting.

Turns out both Aki Asahi and Cameraleather offer coverings for the Kiev 4. I asked Morgan to delete the flash sync hole on the front panel and he sent me a nice set of coverings in black kid leather.

I picked up a copy of Peter Took's Zeiss Contax Repair Manual, Models II & III to help me put the thing back together correctly. It should look great when done - I will post some shots.

Eddy Smolov fixed my camera, but he did not do the kind of restoration Henry Shearer promises. On his website Shearer does go on a bit about how complicated and delicate and difficult to adjust correctly the Contax shutters are. Truth, or self-serving hyperbole? Doesn't matter I suppose, but I am intrigued enough that I'm rigging a shutter speed tester, just to be sure that the critical spring has not been over-tightened.

[ray*j*gun]

I used Eddy Smolov for a Zorki 3 (slow speed dial) and he did a beautiful job for a great price.

Ray

[Ranana_Envery]

Does anyone on this board actually own any classic?

I know that some of the GBB folks have had MGC Glocks but thats about it.

[Brian]

I guess it depends on what you mean by a Classic.

In terms of a camera, Classic is usually considered a mechanical camera. The ones that have been discussed in this thread go back to the 1930s.

So yes, many people on this forum own Classic Zeiss Cameras.

These are considered Classic Contax cameras.

http://ziforums.com/picture.php?albumid=118&pictureid=1086

And they still work after more than 70 years.

http://camwk.com/picture.php?albumid=42&pictureid=463

[raid]

Brian,

Is this a military "olive" lens that you own?

Raid

[spwong]

Any update on jmkelly's shutter repair test? I'm curious about Eddy's work. I have a color dial iia.

[Brian]

Well- I can report on my experience with Eddy:

Contax IIIa, shutter not capping, came back working perfectly.

Contax II: CLA, all is working.

2nd Contax II: non-working, sent to Eddy. Received back and I gave it away to a returning War Vet. It developed a shutter problem on the third roll- not capping on wind about 1 of 4 times. I Emailed Eddy, sent him the camera, came back fixed. No charge for the work done several months later or for shipping.

[jmkelly]

Any update on jmkelly's shutter repair test? I'm curious about Eddy's work. I have a color dial iia.

Setting up the tester was moot, as my first couple of rolls of print film through the Contax II serviced by Eddy Smolov showed the speeds to be "close enough." I don't shoot slides in 35mm much and have modern bodies to do it if I want.

But just for fun I messed around with a laser pointer, a photodiode and the sound card on a computer. Reproducilibility was lower than I hoped, and even with Audigy's 96k sampling rate there were not enough points to get the fast speeds with any sort of accuracy. And these days I'm thinking I'd like to save up for a user single-stroke M3 rather than for a purpose-built shutter tester. :)

RE: the quality of Eddy Smolov's work - I just received a nondescript black-dial IIa that works OK except for the slow speeds hanging. I will be sending this body to him for repair. Bottom line - if I had a repair that required a fabrication I might send it to Ken Ruth; if I had a show camera or a collectible it might go to Ken, or maybe to Henry Scherer; but I don't think there is anyone better than Mr. Smolov for keeping a user camera in working order.

[spwong]

Bottom line - if I had a repair that required a fabrication I might send it to Ken Ruth; if I had a show camera or a collectible it might go to Ken, or maybe to Henry Scherer; but I don't think there is anyone better than Mr. Smolov for keeping a user camera in working order.

Thanks - a nice honest assessment. I guess I used the Leica equivalent of Eddy for a CLA on a (single stroke!) M3 I "inherited" recently - Youxin Ye. Fast turn around and reasonably priced - I wanted to get out and use it and am happy with his work.

[jmkelly]

Thanks - a nice honest assessment. I guess I used the Leica equivalent of Eddy for a CLA on a (single stroke!) M3 I "inherited" recently - Youxin Ye. Fast turn around and reasonably priced - I wanted to get out and use it and am happy with his work.
I have had 100% positive experience with Youxin as well.

[Brian]

I've sent Six Leica's to Youxin and a Leotax D-IV. Youxin is one-of-a-kind. He replaced the beamsplitters in three of the Barnack Leica's and the Leotax. I would use him over KEH or Essex in New Jersey.