Contax IIa - any suggestion for shooter with glasses ?

[raytoei@gmail.com]

my contax iia has a metal contact point which
tends to hit against my glasses. i tried searching
ebay for eyelet without any success, can
someone suggest a solution ?

thanks much.

raytoei

 

[Vickko]

Maybe buy some leatherette from aki-asahi or fargo microtools and make a bumper.

I know Fargo sells sheets of material.

 

[Boris Stupak]

Get a rubber washer at a hardware store and glue it around the eyepiece. Problem solved for less than a dollar.

 

[ruby.monkey]

A couple of layers of liquid electrical tape on the eyepiece surround will take the edge off it.

 

[Elmar Lang]

I think that a good merchanic could prepare a screw-on piece made of Teflon or nylon.

Best wishes,

E.L.

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

thanks all for your comments, i think a rubber washer would do the trick.

raytoei

 

[sevo]

Sugru would be another option - it has just about the right consistency for eyepiece rings.

 

[furcafe]

In addition to the above suggestions, if you can find the original black-painted ring that screwed onto the eyepiece, it is significantly less scratchy than the bare metal eyepiece threads. The eyepiece ring is often missing on IIa/IIIa bodies, but can often be found on various post-WWII bodies (Super Ikonta, Contessa, et al.) & accessory VFs.

 

[KoNickon]

In addition to the above suggestions, if you can find the original black-painted ring that screwed onto the eyepiece, it is significantly less scratchy than the bare metal eyepiece threads. The eyepiece ring is often missing on IIa/IIIa bodies, but can often be found on various post-WWII bodies (Super Ikonta, Contessa, et al.) & accessory VFs.

I've never been able to figure out how these things could ever come off -- they are on really tight. They are metal, but have never caused trouble for my glasses.

 

[furcafe]

They do unscrew, but it can be hard to get a grip on them as they're small & a bit slippery. Only a few of my Zeiss Ikon cameras & VFs came w/them, so I often move them around between cameras.

I've never been able to figure out how these things could ever come off -- they are on really tight. They are metal, but have never caused trouble for my glasses.

 

[Highway 61]

Get a rubber washer at a hardware store and glue it around the eyepiece. Problem solved for less than a dollar.

+1

And if you get the proper rubber washer it will even screw on the eyepiece w/o glue (thanks to the male threads of the eyepiece), and will stay on place very securely, like mine has been doing for years now !

 

[outfitter]

aki-asahi sells eyepiece patches - scroll down to the bottom of his webpage. He only list Soviet cameras but write him and ask which might fit a Contax IIa

 

[sevo]

aki-asahi sells eyepiece patches - scroll down to the bottom of his webpage. He only list Soviet cameras but write him and ask which might fit a Contax IIa

The IIa eyepiece does not have the same thread as the II and Kiev, so the Kiev ones are useless! The best options I found so far are small O-rings from a plumbing kit, and making my own from Sugru.

written on the road

 

[farlymac]

I consider eyeglass scratches as a sign to other IIa users that "Yes, I have one too".

But that o-ring fix sounds good.

PF

 

[ZeissFan]

The small black eyepiece protectors also are found on some other Zeiss Ikon cameras: Continas, etc. Note that some of these cameras have square viewfinders, which don't have the eyepiece protector. So just be sure to look at all of the photos.

 

[Elmar Lang]

Actually, the black (Bakelite?) screw-on ring of the Zeiss Ikon Contina, perfectly fits on the Contax-IIa/IIIa. I've never thought such a solution.

I think it's the most "philological" way to solve the problem.

Now, a question rises: why almost all Continas still retain the ring, while almost Contaxes have lost their one?

Perhaps, since the Contax was a top-class, expensive camera, all "Nebenteile" were sold as extras... who knows?

Best wishes,

Enzo (E.L.)

 

[Highway 61]

I had posted this long ago already, but here you go again for a couple of photos of the rubber gasket I once found by chance on the pavement in front of my doorsteps and which securely screwed-on like a dream on my Contax IIa eyepiece, without using any glue. It's been attached to the camera for six years now.

Not only does it protect my glasses, but it also enhances the VF contrast by blocking some parasite light when I look through the eyepiece ! 🙂

A few years later I found another similar (yet a bit larger) plumbing gasket on my way to the office, and then it revealed to be the perfect match for my Nikon S2 eyepiece... 😱

You guys should look down more often ! 😀

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

excellent post!

 

[raytoei@gmail.com]

i wrote to aki-asahi, this is his response:


Aki-Asahi.com
4:27 PM (31 minutes ago)

​

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Hello,[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]We do not have Contax IIa eyepiece patch but I can cut for you if you[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]inform me the outer diameter and inner diameter.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, sans-serif]The price is $4 US (for 4 pcs patch) + $4 US shipping fee.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, sans-serif]Best Regards,[/FONT]

 

[Elmar Lang]

I think that -besides cannibalizing a Contina- looking at a plumbing supplier could be the best and less expensive choice.

I will look at the floor much, much better!...

All the best,

Enzo (E.L.)