Contax II black paint project

[jmkelly]

Many moons ago I picked up a non-working lump of Contax II on eBay for a pittance. I sent it to Eddy Smolov, who rendered it operational.

However, it was not pretty. I decided to amuse myself making it so, and engaged our own Robert Jagitsch as my accomplice. I disassembled, stripped and cleaned, and sent him the parts to paint black.

Results are below. Yes, there's a screw missing near the RF window. The covering is black kidskin from Morgan at cameraleather. Morgan's pattern is for a later Kiev, and so does not fit perfectly around the self-timer or over the hump in the front plate below the focus wheel.

http://images51.fotki.com/v1543/photos/3/1126243/7649085/P6152626sm-vi.jpg

[jmkelly]

Here's the back. The paint is very handsome, and looks great with the new leather cover.

http://images42.fotki.com/v1316/photos/3/1126243/7649085/P6152633sm-vi.jpg

[jmkelly]

A better look at the top and bottom. There were bits I decided not to paint.

http://images51.fotki.com/v1541/photos/3/1126243/7649085/P6152635sm-vi.jpg
http://images110.fotki.com/v1539/photos/3/1126243/7649085/P6152637sm1-vi.jpg

[jmkelly]

Here it is with a similar chrome camera in the background (another project). Thank you Eddy and especially Robert for jobs well done.

http://images110.fotki.com/v1539/photos/3/1126243/7649085/P6152639sm-vi.jpg

[Brian]

That is pretty. Modern Photography did a Black Contax in the 70s. Removed the chrome using a transformer. Painted black and baked it in. They removed the parts before doing it. One of their readers skipped that last part and baked the whole camera.

[digitalintrigue]

John, the black kidskin really looks great. That is a handsome camera. I'm glad you like how it turned out. :)

-Robert

[jmkelly]

Robert - it sure looks a heck of a lot better than the lump headed for the scrapheap it was before! Thanks again.

Brian - baked the whole camera? Not so good for the shutter ribbons I suppose, nor for the balsam holding the RF prism togehter - ouch.

[digitalintrigue]

On this camera, the plates and various pieces were baked but the camera frame was stripped and painted with a polyurethane (no baking the camera!.)

[jmkelly]

Just an observation - you can see in the photo of the back of the camera that the polyurethane on the frame is glossier than the paint on the parts that were stripped, painted and baked. Not complaining! - the polyurethane is holding up very well so far.

[Carlo]

This is absolutely beautiful. I am just working on a Contax II trying to reanimate it. If I am successful, I would really like to have it black.

Great job.

[jmkelly]

The links for the inline images don't seem to be very sticky. I just updated them but if you don't see images check here (http://public.fotki.com/jkellyca/gear-pics-1/contaxiiblackpaint/).

[jmkelly]

I completed the black 1937 CZJ Sonnar that I wanted for this camera. Well, everything but the glass is 1937 CZJ. The glass is from a 1977 Valdai J-3. Doesn't it have to be assembled in Russia, with the intent to decieve, to be a "russian fake"?

http://images41.fotki.com/v1580/photos/3/1126243/7872702/P1000170-vi.jpg

[jmkelly]

And it makes a decent image. Mounted in a Muscelli adapter on the R-D1, minimum distance @ f1.5:

http://images51.fotki.com/v178/photos/3/1126243/7872702/EPSN7137-vi.jpg

[digitalintrigue]

John, I guess it's a fake Russian fake. :)

Nice work and nice photo.

[jmkelly]

John, I guess it's a fake Russian fake. :)

Nice work and nice photo.

Thanks Robert. I prefer to call it a "deliberate hybrid" :D. The paint is a blend of flat and gloss enamel from Micro Tools, applied with and airbrush and baked for 7 min @ 500°+. Seems pretty tough so far, especially compared to what I applied to the nose and could not bake. I could not get it to match your excellent job on the Contax, but it's "close enough for guv'mint work."