help me decide

[nzeeman]

i saw one contax II with sonnar 1.5/50 for 100 eur. it seems that it works properly. i was saving money for it and somehow i managed to collect all 100eur. now i dont know what to do - i already have kiev II that i bought in bad condition for 5eur and after many months i managed to repair it fully. do you think that it makes any sense to buy contax II ?
thanks a lot for help
Srdjan

PS also i am afraid that ribbon will die even if now everything works very nice. and i will not have money for repair. do you maybe know is there some way to know by the sound how good is ribbon?

 

[varjag]

Remove the lens, set the shutter speed to B, fire and hold the shutter open. If you have a small inspection mirror, or just look at an angle, you can see the ribbons to the left and right in an open shutter. If they are all worn and fluffy you know the story.

 

[rxmd]

Hi Srđan,

if I remember correctly you are a camera user rather than a collector. If you have a fully-repaired Kiev II, I think it makes no sense to invest in a Contax camera body. If you also have a good Jupiter-3 I think it makes no sense either to invest into a Sonnar 1,5/50. Both will, if anything, offer you very little added user value over what you have, and for that it's simply too much money. If I were you, I'd save the money for something else that will actually expand your photographic possibilities - some lens, or eventually a Bessa R body, or something like that. It's what I did when coming from a Zorki. I could have bought other FSU camera bodies all over and over, but in the end it made more sense to save up until I could afford a Bessa, and that really brought me forward photographically.

Incidentally, your music is weird, but not at all bad. 🙂

Philipp

 

[Nikon Bob]

What Philipp says makes a lot of sense from a practical point of view. OTH if you have managed to get a bad condition Kiev II up and running you might be up to replacing the shutter ribbons yourself. There is some info to be found here http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-29.html .

Bob

 

[nzeeman]

Hi Srđan,

if I remember correctly you are a camera user rather than a collector. If you have a fully-repaired Kiev II, I think it makes no sense to invest in a Contax camera body. If you also have a good Jupiter-3 I think it makes no sense either to invest into a Sonnar 1,5/50.
...
Incidentally, your music is weird, but not at all bad. 🙂

Philipp

i dont have j3 but i have helios 1.8/50. i was interested in contax because of that 1,5 lens. but you are maybe right 2/3 of a stop is not worth 100eur.
(also i think that my kiev is fully repaired but as i know my luck something new will happen to him lol)
glad you like our music - i hope i will make new stuff soon. last few months i was whole day on job - no time for photography and music at all. 🙁

 

[lubitel]

what if you buy that combo and then just sell the body and keep the lens? assuming your kiev works well.

 

[payasam]

You'd do well to listen to Philipp.

 

[SCOTFORTHLAD]

This is such a personal decision that it is difficult to advise.Having gone down a similar road myself in the past 18 months---on two occasions😕 firstly with a Leica 111C,and later with a Contax 11,I will add my personal experience

I personally found, that when my expenditure on these two beautiful cameras became questionable due to other pressures,it became evident to me that great as they were,neither,pride of ownership apart, would satisfy my personal photographic needs any more satisfactorily than a good Zorki 1 or Kiev 4A.

I then let the two beauties go,with ,and the regret I felt soon receded,but as I say this is a purely personal slant on your situation.🙂

Brian.

PS.I will say that 100 euros is considerably less than my expenditure---seems to be a good price.

 

[nzeeman]

thanks for all your help - you were very helpful - i think i will stay with my kievs.
😀