Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
Well, I guess all of them are a bit strange, and there is a lot of variation, but mine has some things I have never seen elsewhere.
I recently summoned up enough courage or foolhardiness to replace the shutter tapes in this camera. Although the 1A is a simpler design than the later Contaxes, it is very delicate, and not at all well designed, so unless you are really sure you know what you are doing, and have already succeeded in this job a few times with Kievs and a Contax 2/3 model, don't attempt a similar repair on a Contax 1! The shutter curtain design is NOT anywhere near as reliable or robust as the later versions, although they may look the same at first glance. These cameras were notoriously unreliable, even 80 years ago, and it's close to miraculous to find one that's working today.
Through luck or excessive caution, I did manage to finish the job without breaking anything. So now the camera is back to normal, that is rather cranky. This is a very old one, with a serial number indicating it was made in 1932, and it has the original design's rather rare steel shutter curtains. There are a couple of strange things about it, and I had asked for opinions about these features on the list a couple years ago, but I guess it is just too obscure. So I'm trying again.
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This is from the series that should have a raised "pimple" in front of the focus wheel. Instead, it has a flat brass disc pressed into the aluminum front casting. It wasn't primed well enough, and the paint has come off the disk as can be seen. Is this an indication that the focus mechanism was updated during some repair, and the original "pimple" insert was replaced by a flat one?
The second question is about the serial number. As for almost all Contax 1's, the original number has had an engraved "A" added at the front, indicating that it had gone through the Zeiss repair system, possibly on warranty. What's different with this camera is that there is a lightly-engraved "3" between the year letter, U, and the first digit of the serial number, which is in the 21,000 range. Also, there is an engraved suffix "P" at the end of the serial number. I have never seen either of these before. I am making the assumption that the "3" indicates that the camera had been through warranty repair three times, and might be a warning to repair technicians to avoid touching it with a barge pole.
I would greatly appreciate any information people on the list might have about these unusual aspects of my camera.
Also, if there is anyone out there who has some genuine original Contax shutter tape material and is willing to part with it, please let me know. The tapes are made of woven Unobtainium, and I needed to do all manner of unusual things to make a substitute material work properly. The good stuff is flat and smooth, a hair under 2.5mm wide, and approximatelu 0.2mm (.007") thick.
Cheers,
Dez
I recently summoned up enough courage or foolhardiness to replace the shutter tapes in this camera. Although the 1A is a simpler design than the later Contaxes, it is very delicate, and not at all well designed, so unless you are really sure you know what you are doing, and have already succeeded in this job a few times with Kievs and a Contax 2/3 model, don't attempt a similar repair on a Contax 1! The shutter curtain design is NOT anywhere near as reliable or robust as the later versions, although they may look the same at first glance. These cameras were notoriously unreliable, even 80 years ago, and it's close to miraculous to find one that's working today.
Through luck or excessive caution, I did manage to finish the job without breaking anything. So now the camera is back to normal, that is rather cranky. This is a very old one, with a serial number indicating it was made in 1932, and it has the original design's rather rare steel shutter curtains. There are a couple of strange things about it, and I had asked for opinions about these features on the list a couple years ago, but I guess it is just too obscure. So I'm trying again.
<
This is from the series that should have a raised "pimple" in front of the focus wheel. Instead, it has a flat brass disc pressed into the aluminum front casting. It wasn't primed well enough, and the paint has come off the disk as can be seen. Is this an indication that the focus mechanism was updated during some repair, and the original "pimple" insert was replaced by a flat one?
The second question is about the serial number. As for almost all Contax 1's, the original number has had an engraved "A" added at the front, indicating that it had gone through the Zeiss repair system, possibly on warranty. What's different with this camera is that there is a lightly-engraved "3" between the year letter, U, and the first digit of the serial number, which is in the 21,000 range. Also, there is an engraved suffix "P" at the end of the serial number. I have never seen either of these before. I am making the assumption that the "3" indicates that the camera had been through warranty repair three times, and might be a warning to repair technicians to avoid touching it with a barge pole.
I would greatly appreciate any information people on the list might have about these unusual aspects of my camera.
Also, if there is anyone out there who has some genuine original Contax shutter tape material and is willing to part with it, please let me know. The tapes are made of woven Unobtainium, and I needed to do all manner of unusual things to make a substitute material work properly. The good stuff is flat and smooth, a hair under 2.5mm wide, and approximatelu 0.2mm (.007") thick.
Cheers,
Dez
Vickko
Veteran
I suppose you've tried this: http://aki-asahi.com/store/html/curtains/shutter-curtain.php
And would Henry Scherer be any help?
Vick
And would Henry Scherer be any help?
Vick
Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
i suspect the material I have is the same as is available from them, but I should check.
I have corresponded with Henry about it. He has given me a lot of advice about the tape material, but has not commented on the specific questions.
Cheers,
Dez
I have corresponded with Henry about it. He has given me a lot of advice about the tape material, but has not commented on the specific questions.
Cheers,
Dez
Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I checked the site in japan, but I don't think it's a good match. The original tapes are ~2.4mm wide and 0.2mm thick. Their tape is 3mm wide and 0.11mm thick. The stuff I am now using, sourced from Russia, is 2.5mm wide by 1.14 thick. it is not as smooth as the original tape, so even though it is thinner, it is necessary to polish the sharp edges of the slots on the lower curtain to get the right amount of friction in my 1A. It generally needs no work for the later Contaxes or Kievs with wider slots.
Cheers,
Dez
Cheers,
Dez
S.H.
Picture taker
Well, I have Kuc's book on my desk but my German is rusty... If I am not mistaken, it says AU and AV numbers are U and V series which did not leave the factory and were upgraded, hence the A prefix. P, V and PP suffix are less common, and could have been on camera which were delivered and sent back by owners for repairs/upgrades. It seem the product was rushed, and clients were beta testers...
For the "pimple", I dot not know. 1st version (1000 ex?) does not have any, second version can have 1 or 2. This is Kuc's classification.
For the "pimple", I dot not know. 1st version (1000 ex?) does not have any, second version can have 1 or 2. This is Kuc's classification.