Back to SLR with a Contaflex IV

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NeeZee

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Hi there,

I just wanted to share with you my latest acquisition. Got a Contaflex IV for 15€ on the flea market yesterday. Condition is really nice: working selenium light meter, compur shutter sounds good at all speeds, lens is fairly clean and everything is pretty smooth. I also think it's a damn attractive camera. Here's a picture:

contaflex1 by Thomas Niesenhaus, on Flickr

And here with the Canonet 28 to demonstrate how compact it really is (it's heavy though):

contaflex2 by Thomas Niesenhaus, on Flickr

Usually I don't enjoy SLR's very much and I have been all RF since I bought a Leica IIIf about 8 years ago. What I love about the Contaflex is the build quality and the fact that in operation it feels more like my IIIf than like an SLR. Oh, and did I mention that it's compact and sexy?

Took it to the local cemetery for a test film. The APX100 wasn't the best choice as I had to shoot a lot wide open or at F4 which I'd usually try to prevent when shooting a Tessar, but well, it was fun anyway. I used the internal light meter for these shots.
 
Looks like a keeper! As a precaution you may wish to set the aperture down to f/22 and fire the camera a few times at various speeds, with the back removed, looking through the lens, to ensure it is stopping down rapidly enough. It is rare for a Contaflex to break, however after decades they generally need their shutters cleaned. Because the aperture has to stop down fast, even if the shutter speeds themselves sound OK sometimes the aperture will be sluggish. If it can manage f/22 at 1/500 and you cannot see any visible change in the size during longer times such as one second, yours should be fine. Fire the camera a couple of dozen times to check. Sometimes they'll run OK for a little while before they play up. I'm very partial to the various models and have a number of them, but it is unusual for one to be running perfectly as found, (maybe one in ten in my experience of a few dozen). Still yours might be one of them.

Keep your eye out for a 35mm or 85mm Pro Tessar too if you like either of those focal lengths. They're actually very decent lenses.
Cheers
Brett
 
Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
Looks like a keeper! As a precaution you may wish to set the aperture down to f/22 and fire the camera a few times at various speeds, to ensure it is stopping down rapidly enough. It is rare for a Contaflex to break, however after decades they generally need their shutters cleaned. Because the aperture has to stop down fast, even if the shutter speeds themselves sound OK sometimes the aperture will be sluggish. If it can manage f/22 at 1/500 and you cannot see any visible change in the size during longer times such as one second, yours should be fine. Fire the camera a couple of dozen times to check. Sometimes they'll run OK for a little while before they play up. I'm very partial to the various models and have a number of them, but it is unusual for one to be running perfectly as found, (maybe one in ten in my experience of a few dozen). Still yours might be one of them.

Keep your eye out for a 35mm or 85mm Pro Tessar too if you like either of those focal lengths. They're actually very decent lenses.
Cheers
Brett
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Thanks Brett, appreciate your input. Actually I did those tests already because I read about it in an older thread (think that was your post, as well). I think this one has most likely been serviced some time, because it's very smooth overall and it's also the first of many leaf shutter cameras I bought on the flea market that is working at all speeds. It also had a konica centuria film in it which looked like from the late 90s or early 2000s - so it didn't sit unused for 50 years or so.

And yes, I'm already looking for a hood and the 35mm pro-tessar - will skip the telephoto ones, though. I just never get anything out of lenses longer than 50mm...
 
Why don't I find these gems? I have never had that kind of good fortune. Great rig .... good shooting with it.
 
ray*j*gun said:
Why don't I find these gems? I have never had that kind of good fortune. Great rig .... good shooting with it.
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Well, being in Germany definitely helps when you like cameras by Zeiss, Voigtländer etc. I go to flea markets about every other weekend and this is the 2nd great find in one month (a vitomatic III cs with 50/2 Ultron for 10€ was the even more valuable one, but the Contaflex is way nicer to hold and shoot). Often enough I have to leave with empty hands as well, though.
 
I just recently picked up a Contaflex Super in a box of photo stuff, ordered the 35 and 85 Tessars online as it didn't come with the 50mm installed.

Excellent haptics and hopefully the optics give results as good as yours.
 
Lovely photos, and it has a lot of shiny and engraved knobs and lens with all sorts of markings on it! I'm not kidding! I really like shiny and engraved knobs and lenses. Enjoy your new camera.

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)
 
Oh yes, Contaflex cameras are very nice, no matter which model you have. I've got a II and a Prima in good working order, and an Alpha and IV that need repair (if I ever get around to them). I too like the way they are designed, and the quality of build.

You did good finding one in good nick, Thomas. Keep having fun with it, and I look forward to your 35mm shots.

PF
 
GarageBoy said:
My dad bought a buncha these in the 90s for under $50 ea. Sadly, a lot of them need shutter service, which is expensive
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Which models? It's actually not that hard to do most of them, although every one has their own little variations along the way. I'd probably rate the Super and Super B as the easiest of the lot, overall. All are do-able although the 1953 and early 1954 ones did things the hard way...
 
I started with Contaflexes and sold them all...stupid as I had a really nice nearly complete Super kit in leather box. Only thing I was missing was the monocular and a couple of hoods. Later found out I had a very rare lens cap and a few other choice items. Out of three bodies I had...two worked perfectly the third was janky.

Tonight I just couldn't resist a beat up black Contaflex S for 60 bucks plus 15 on the auction site. So I have another Contaflex coming and this one black and the last model. I have one remaining 115 lens and a polarizer I think maybe a few hoods. So I am back in the game...hopefully it will at least mechanically work well I don't really care about the meter. :)
 
Contarama said:
I started with Contaflexes and sold them all...stupid as I had a really nice nearly complete Super kit in leather box. Only thing I was missing was the monocular and a couple of hoods. Later found out I had a very rare lens cap and a few other choice items. Out of three bodies I had...two worked perfectly the third was janky.

Tonight I just couldn't resist a beat up black Contaflex S for 60 bucks plus 15 on the auction site. So I have another Contaflex coming and this one black and the last model. I have one remaining 115 lens and a polarizer I think maybe a few hoods. So I am back in the game...hopefully it will at least mechanically work well I don't really care about the meter. :)
Click to expand...
Being an S the Tessar lens should be sharp as a scalpel. The early Supers are nice, very well made, and the standard Tessar is very good, but the really late ones are surprisingly sharp. I find the Super B to S types generally the easiest to work on, too, although many others would argue the first two are simpler. Perhaps they are, but they don't come apart as quickly or easily in my experience. One thing you have to watch with the models after the first Super is your grip on the aperture ring. The markings are not engraved and only printed on. It's quite important to make use of the small grips on the ring because after some use it's possible to abrade the f stop markings to the extent that you can't set exposure manually. You sort of have to pinch the ring between thumb and forefinger to actuate it. A little fiddly but using the TTL meter for aperture priority with the "A" setting on the aperture ring this is not an issue.

I have most of the various bits for the Contaflex system myself, now. There are three major pieces I still require: the Monocular; the M1:1 macro 50mm; and the Teleskop and its mounting bracket for the Contaflex I/II. I've finally got all the Tessar models, although I'd rather like a black BC and black S, they tend to command steeper prices and are yet to come my way.

Cheers
Brett
 
Contaflex slides that I was exposed to in college years were gorgeous. The only camera I had was a Waltz Envoy with 50 2.0 Nikor permanently attached.

I was not until a decade later I finally realized German lenses were what worked.

My best friend had a Leica screw mount camera that he claimed made much better pics than his Cannon RM SLR which was current at the time. He went to RIT. in early sixties,

German is still better, although both have improved.

Contaflex problem is real lack of interchangeable lenses.
 
Ronald M said:
Contaflex slides that I was exposed to in college years were gorgeous. The only camera I had was a Waltz Envoy with 50 2.0 Nikor permanently attached.

I was not until a decade later I finally realized German lenses were what worked.

My best friend had a Leica screw mount camera that he claimed made much better pics than his Cannon RM SLR which was current at the time. He went to RIT. in early sixties,

German is still better, although both have improved.

Contaflex problem is real lack of interchangeable lenses.
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This is true, but there's quite a lot you can do with a 35mm, 85mm, 115mm and a set of Zeiss close up lenses for the standard 50mm. And with magazine backs for the later types you'll always have the film you need in the camera you need it in, when you find the shot.
 
Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
Which models? It's actually not that hard to do most of them, although every one has their own little variations along the way. I'd probably rate the Super and Super B as the easiest of the lot, overall. All are do-able although the 1953 and early 1954 ones did things the hard way...
Click to expand...

A lof of different ones, mainly the first 4 variants- but theres also a few super BCs
 
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