Ron F
Member
I'm toying with the idea of selling my Contax iiia, but I don't have a good idea of its current worth. The camera and lens are from around 1951-52 with the lens being an early 50mm f2 Zeiss Opton from West Germany.
The body was originally a black dial version, but was apparently factory converted to a color dial camera in the late 60's or early 70's (or so was hypothesized by Henry Scherer when he overhauled it). The body and lens were most recently overhauled by Henry Scherer about 3 years ago. The shutter module and meter are the latest versions. In fact, the the meter module was such a late design that Mr. Scherer had only seen 2 or 3 of the same type in the hundreds of Contax's he had overhauled up to that time. The body does have some brazing on the corners, but has apparently always been cased. The meter has been restored to operating standards with a modern meter cell by Mr. Scherer.
The lens is in cosmeticly great shape, but the front surface of the lens does have cleaning marks as well as a few fine scratches and some circular blemishes in the coating that were caused by humidity. Mr. Scherer said that despite the blemishes, the lens is capable of ~98% of its original rendering quality.
In addition to the camera and lens, I also have 2 cases (1 that has the medalion and one that is missing the medalion and is a bit worn) and 1 film cartridge complete with its red anodized case (both cartridge and case are in excellent condition).
Anyway, I've always been afraid to use this camera for fear of hurting it. Last year I bought a used Leica that I use quite a bit. Now the Contax just sits there - hence, my dilema.
If anyone can please let me know an accurate value of my camera, I would really appreciate it.
The body was originally a black dial version, but was apparently factory converted to a color dial camera in the late 60's or early 70's (or so was hypothesized by Henry Scherer when he overhauled it). The body and lens were most recently overhauled by Henry Scherer about 3 years ago. The shutter module and meter are the latest versions. In fact, the the meter module was such a late design that Mr. Scherer had only seen 2 or 3 of the same type in the hundreds of Contax's he had overhauled up to that time. The body does have some brazing on the corners, but has apparently always been cased. The meter has been restored to operating standards with a modern meter cell by Mr. Scherer.
The lens is in cosmeticly great shape, but the front surface of the lens does have cleaning marks as well as a few fine scratches and some circular blemishes in the coating that were caused by humidity. Mr. Scherer said that despite the blemishes, the lens is capable of ~98% of its original rendering quality.
In addition to the camera and lens, I also have 2 cases (1 that has the medalion and one that is missing the medalion and is a bit worn) and 1 film cartridge complete with its red anodized case (both cartridge and case are in excellent condition).
Anyway, I've always been afraid to use this camera for fear of hurting it. Last year I bought a used Leica that I use quite a bit. Now the Contax just sits there - hence, my dilema.
If anyone can please let me know an accurate value of my camera, I would really appreciate it.
