Contax I ribbons

Pioneer said:
I have had the opportunity to study Maizenberg's repair manual for Russian cameras and he discusses the Kiev 2, 3 and 4 cameras in fair detail, but he never gets into the barrel itself or the replacement/adjustment of those springs. I suspect that this was considered a "modular part" and was replaced completely by technicians rather than disassembled and repaired.
Click to expand...

Yes, I've a downloaded copy of Maizenbergs book, but there is no mention of the construction of this very elementary part AFAIK. I think you are right, maybe this part was considered irretrievable.

Erik.
 
Pioneer said:
I have had the opportunity to study Maizenberg's repair manual for Russian cameras and he discusses the Kiev 2, 3 and 4 cameras in fair detail, but he never gets into the barrel itself or the replacement/adjustment of those springs. I suspect that this was considered a "modular part" and was replaced completely by technicians rather than disassembled and repaired.
Click to expand...

We live at different time, soon all "modular part" for old cameras will disappeared. We have to learn how to repair them..🙂
 
Deklari said:
We live at different time, soon all "modular part" for old cameras will disappeared. We have to learn how to repair them..🙂
Click to expand...

Oh, I fully agree. But, like Erik, I can find lots of information around the repair and adjustment of the Contax rangefinders, but nothing at all regarding this crucial part of the camera.

You would think that detailed construction diagrams or drawings would exist, but if they do I haven't seen them. Beyond that I would believe that there existed jigs and other assembly assists that would have been used by technicians in the factory. Where have those gone? Some of the drawings shown here are the first detailed drawings that I have seen let alone any other items surrounding their construction.

It all just seems a bit odd. I have breakdown drawings and assembly instructions for all kinds of different types of shutters, but only parts and pieces of this one. Are there patent drawings and descriptions, or were those destroyed in the War?
 
Pioneer said:
Oh, I fully agree. But, like Erik, I can find lots of information around the repair and adjustment of the Contax rangefinders, but nothing at all regarding this crucial part of the camera.

You would think that detailed construction diagrams or drawings would exist, but if they do I haven't seen them. Beyond that I would believe that there existed jigs and other assembly assists that would have been used by technicians in the factory. Where have those gone? Some of the drawings shown here are the first detailed drawings that I have seen let alone any other items surrounding their construction.

It all just seems a bit odd. I have breakdown drawings and assembly instructions for all kinds of different types of shutters, but only parts and pieces of this one. Are there patent drawings and descriptions, or were those destroyed in the War?
Click to expand...

Who knows...My be in Aresenal or Zeiss archive. I own pre-war Zeiss Jena coated lens with big "red dot" (no "T" as usual). I have contact Zeiss directly about this lens. They found all information about this lens in archive (base on S/N) and tell me whole story. They still have all (or most) information. How many total Contax I are manufactured?
 
Pioneer said:
Oh, I fully agree. But, like Erik, I can find lots of information around the repair and adjustment of the Contax rangefinders, but nothing at all regarding this crucial part of the camera.

You would think that detailed construction diagrams or drawings would exist, but if they do I haven't seen them. Beyond that I would believe that there existed jigs and other assembly assists that would have been used by technicians in the factory. Where have those gone? Some of the drawings shown here are the first detailed drawings that I have seen let alone any other items surrounding their construction.

It all just seems a bit odd. I have breakdown drawings and assembly instructions for all kinds of different types of shutters, but only parts and pieces of this one. Are there patent drawings and descriptions, or were those destroyed in the War?
Click to expand...
Some things, including blueprints, were destroyed during Allied bombing raids on Dresden. That much I can recall from reading various articles in the Zeiss Historica journal. For exactly which products I'm not sure, for that matter I don't know if anyone is. It's surely possible documents for the original Contax may have been among those lost though. Back issues of the journal are available to read at issuu. You might be able to elucidate further details from them?
Cheers
Brett
Edit
Direct link to Zeiss Historica at issuu here.
 
Last edited:
If there were a manual this would not be so much fun would it?!

As to the question of a 'modular' part. I suspect Zeiss subcontracted these rollers to a wandering band of magical multi fingered dwarves who would weave intricate springs for various manufacturers while sitting around the campfire singing songs of their long forgotten home.

All traces of these legendary itinerants are long gone and they are now only remembered by the few surviving examples of their work.

Michael
 
Yup, got there last night!

IMG_2844 by dralowid, on Flickr

I've made a bit of a mess of the outer spring, they are indeed tricky to remove and I don't have Deklari's dexterity but I'm sure it could be coaxed back into approximate shape.

It is the end of a voyage of discovery. Knowing that I won't have the skill to put the roller back together I'll be searching around for parts cameras. Surely there a lots of broken, partly dismantled Contax Is hidden away in boxes and surely they can't all have broken springs...or can they?!?

Michael
 
Welp...I'm now having to follow this thread too.
First roll of film shows issues with the shutter speeds at several settings. I got maybe 7 or 8 usable images on the roll.
And when I tested the shutter after taking out the roll of film the right strap broke.
 
Dralowid said:
...and they are way too expensive for this exercise.

Isn't it 'strange' that the Ebay sellers of Contax Is mention rangefinder, focussing, cosmetics, case etc but often fail to mention the shutter?
Click to expand...

I will go for Kiev for this part. To avoid same problem, I will buy working Kiev from Russia. I have good experience with Contax III, I got a parts from Kiev and it work for me. But still a risk. What if I mess with Kiev's spring during installation...
 
Dralowid said:
Yup, got there last night!

IMG_2844 by dralowid, on Flickr

I've made a bit of a mess of the outer spring, they are indeed tricky to remove and I don't have Deklari's dexterity but I'm sure it could be coaxed back into approximate shape.

It is the end of a voyage of discovery. Knowing that I won't have the skill to put the roller back together I'll be searching around for parts cameras. Surely there a lots of broken, partly dismantled Contax Is hidden away in boxes and surely they can't all have broken springs...or can they?!?

Michael
Click to expand...

I've fortunately fixed several Contax II shutters having the same bottom drum spring unit problem by using good Kiev spring units.

Unfortunately, there is no postwar copy of the Contax I shutter, and so you cannot get a more recent shutter with a spring unit in better condition than yours.

The Contax I is now a very old camera. A kind of a prototype with, like Erik said, innards designed by people having no real experience of how designing a shutter so that it would be reasonably reliable.
 
Dralowid said:
...and they are way too expensive for this exercise.

Isn't it 'strange' that the Ebay sellers of Contax Is mention rangefinder, focussing, cosmetics, case etc but often fail to mention the shutter?
Click to expand...

They selling them for display. They know what shutter is bad, but they want to sell it.
 
Mr_Flibble said:
Welp...I'm now having to follow this thread too.
First roll of film shows issues with the shutter speeds at several settings. I got maybe 7 or 8 usable images on the roll.
And when I tested the shutter after taking out the roll of film the right strap broke.
Click to expand...

Rick,

Welcome to an exclusive club you really didn't want to belong to, indeed none of the existing members want to belong to this club either.

Bad luck and I hope you will be able to restrict the problem to the ribbons.

Keep us informed,

Michael
 
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