Contax II black paint project

[jmkelly]

Thanks to Eddy Smolov for repairing the shutter & RF/VF, Morgan Sparks for the new black kidskin leather, and especially Robert Jagitsch (digitalintrigue) for the most excellent paint work:

More pics can be found here. Maybe not to everyone's taste, but I like it.

 

[steamer]

To each his own, and all, but something doesn't sit right with me when I see this, it's like if god wanted Contax II's to be black she would have ...

 

[hans voralberg]

It looks fabulous IMO, and it belongs to jmkelly so he get to make the decision 😉

 

[jmkelly]

steamer - I don't think anyone intended for the camera to look as it did when I bought it. Perhaps it would have been kinder to just bury the thing, but I felt like playing Frankenstein and... its ALIVE!

Thanks, hans 🙂

 

[david.elliott]

Looks awesome 😀

Enjoy it!

 

[Paul T.]

My first instinct was to share the others' opinion, that the Contax is meant to be chrome and black. But once you've put a few hundred rolls of film though it, and those advance and rewind knobs are nice and brassed-through, it should look amazing.

 

[Muggins]

My first thought was how astonishingly modern the black finish made it look...

Adrian

 

[jmkelly]

Yes it is missing a screw. Let me reiterate that this was a very badly mistreated piece headed for the junk bin before I started with it. You may not like the look of the replacement leather, bit it feels better to me than the best examples of the original I have handled - and the original leather on this one was not salvagable.

I'm quite certain that Robert de-chromed the bits before painting. Note that we did not paint the screws, since the de-chroming might have eroded them past usability. This is one solid paint job - seems sturdy so far and doesn't show fingerprints.

Now 'scuse my while I take this very modern-looking user with its killer Bauhaus lines and go shoot some pictures 🙂

 

[splitimageview]

If Nikon can make a black SP, then by all rights there should be a black Contax II. 🙂

I'm curious how anyone could tell by a web photo whether there is chrome underneath the paint or not. That's a neat trick! (Yes, it was completely stripped just like all the ones I paint.)

The Contax logo was left unfilled per John's preference. I think it looks very striking, and I'm glad that it's got many years ahead of it now, instead of a dumpster. 🙂

 

[cidereye]

I think it looks great personally.

When compared to the Nikon beside it in that pic it just looks right to me.

 

[jmkelly]

And the thing takes decent pictures (even if I don't, particularly). These were on out-of-date Kodacolor 200, 1-hour photo develop and scan. Lens is the Opton Sonnar (101xxxx) in the first pic in the thread.

f1.5

f4

 

[Vince Lupo]

How easy/difficult would it be to white letter the 'CONTAX'? I like the black, but I think that the word 'CONTAX' might look better if it stood out somehow - unless your idea is to be stealthy, in which case it works just fine as it is.

A few months back I was going to buy a black 'no name' Kiev/Contax from the early 1960's. I was advised against it because they 'didn't come that way from the factory'. The camera is still available, and having seen your Contax has given me second thoughts!

 

[naren]

The camera looks nice but I second the person who said once the knobs get some brassing it will will look a lot better. I prefer the chrome knobs on mine (which is actually a Kiev 4a from eBay for $95). Still haven't shot any film with it, but there are only so many hours in a day...

This thread reminds me of the black paint M3 and M2 that were for sale on here a few months back... both were really sweet lookin'. I'd love to have the M3, great to focus a Noct and shoot available light at night... of course I can afford none of these things.

 

[dee]

Hmm - I am in the market for a really rough Contax II - again - this time for a black one !!
I like it .

 

[jmkelly]

Naren - the chrome knobs on your Kiev/Contax DO look cool, and the white-fileld "CONTAX" answers Vince's question. That's the nice thing about these custom project cameras - we can each get exactly what suits our own tastes best.

This week I picked up a beater Contax IIa to mount the Opton Sonnar on. I don't plan to do anything to this body other than ask Eddy Smolov to service the shutter and check the RF.

On the other hand, the lens that came with the Contax II body Robert painted for me? I have it apart, and dechromed the bits yesterday. When I am done it will be black to match the Contax II.

 

[dee]

I would keep chrome controls and white inlay too - black lens ? Mabe a J 8m with '' no name ''

 

[jmkelly]

I completed the black paint job on the 1937 CZJ 5cm f1.5 Sonnar. I used the black enamels available from Micro Tools. The shell and aperture ring were baked after painting and the finish is very tough. I was not able to bake the nose of the lens - did not feel like completely dis-assembling the aperture mechanism - so the paint wore off there during the shimming process. The exposed brass reminds me of what the rest of the camera may look like in 20 years.

 

[squirrel$$$bandit]

Really nice! Very Nikon-y.

 

[raid]

The camera and the lens match very well in Black, John.
I like the set.

 

[jmkelly]

Thanks, John & Raid. John, initially I was thinking of taking a black Nikkor S.C and asking Brian Sweeney to adjust it to Contax standard, as he has done for some of his own lenses. But in some ways I prefer the drawing of the older CZJ Sonnars to the more modern Nikkors. Also, having a contemporaneous lens on the body creates a sense of cognitive resonance for me.

I shimmed this lens by mounting it on the R-D1 with a Muscelli adpter. I'm looking forward to getting my first roll back from it on the full-frame Contax.