Real contax III?

[icemanh]

Hi

Could you help to have a look to see if it is real Contax III or not?

Ebay item: 170218535475

I found some Contax III has s/n marked on the shutter speed dial, some has s/n on the sync cord, but this one does not have it.

Besides, what're the pins next to the self timer?

Thanks.

[photovdz]

the pins are an old flash synch system (possibly pre-war)..;
It's a bit on the expensive side ;-)

[Brian]

Looks real, the lens is the proper prewar 5cm F1.5 Sonnar. It's 3x what I paid for my Contax II with similar lens off of Ebay last year.

[icemanh]

Thanks for the info.

You guys are very luck. Local stores in HK quote at around USD450 for Contax II (or IIa) + CZJ pre war 50/1.5 with poor condition, one local store even quotes me around USD1300 for Contax II/III with 50/1.5.

A guy offers me $512 for prewar 50/1.5 with hood, mint, never be opened service, what do you think?

http://www.hklfc.com/forum/?o=topic&act=show&id=39862&page=1

[Brian]

If it has the box, and all accessories, I could see it for a collector.

I paid $160 for a near-mint lens, and converted it to LTM. I had to take the lens apart and clean the elements on each side of the aperture. The glass cleaned up perfectly. Add the cost of a Jupiter-3 for a conversion to LTM, or an Amedeo adapter.

Personally, I would keep an eye open on Ebay for the Contax lens and J-3. The pair will run about $300.

I ended up selling this lens with an M-Mount adapter for $350, included postage in the US. I converted it myself. As shown in the thread. I do it for a hobby, and getting the "components" at a reasonable price is the hard part.

http://ziforums.com/album.php?albumid=195