broken shutter in Contax II

[bolas]

After developing 5-6 films my Contax II just died. One of the shutter ribbons just broke. I am wondering about a place to repair it in Europe. In Poland, where i live most of service points offered me replacing whole shutter with similar one from Kiev. I've been also talking with Uwe from classic-camera.de and he mentioned that this is really bad idea to replace orginal parts with Kiev ones it will cause another problems in close future. His offer in my opinion seems to be most professional, but the price is so high ... (almost 200 Euro - it's much more than i paid for whole camera). On the other hand he also said that after such repair the camera will be still operating during next few years without any problems. Here in Poland most of services can replace the original shutter for the Kiev one for about 20-25 Euro. I am really confused what to do now. On one hand i bought Contax to have Contax, not a Kiev in Contax box. One the other hand money is also an important thing. Any advices ? What will you do ?

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[dee]

Hi bolas
You might try Mike hayley in Ukraine - he will have the Arsenal factory techs repair the Contax for you . If the shutter ribbon is broken , they will repair the shutter , not replace it with a Kiev unit . If it cannot be repaired you will be told .
He fixed my Contax III for me .
I think Mike will charge around 70 euro , but you will have to check with

http://cccp.alien-planet.net/index.htm

I am having a Contax II parts camera which has no shutter fitted with a Kiev one -
at least I get to use it !

 

[Nikon Bob]

I would agree with you, I bought a Contax because I wanted a Contax not a Kiev. I think most people are that way so if in the future you want to sell your Contax it would be better in the long run to have as original as possible. A proper repair is money well spent in this case. Using a Kiev shutter is an option of last resort. If you are good with your own camera repair skills you could do it yourself if you are confident enough. I was not so had the work done professionally. Check here http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-29.html .

Bob