Contax iia film spool

In a pinch you can use a spool from a standard canister of 35mm film - I've done it. Kiev spools are available form Russian sellers on eBay at modest cost - some of them are metal too and they work just fine.
 
In my experience, the Kiev spools can result in film spacing issues on pre-war contax rangefinders. Their size (width) is slightly different.

The old Contaflex (I-IV) SLR cameras have the exact same plastic film spool as the post-war contax rangefinders.

Either you can buy an old Contafelx camera, os someone sells the spools individually on ebay.
 
In my experience, the Kiev spools can result in film spacing issues on pre-war contax rangefinders. Their size (width) is slightly different.

The old Contaflex (I-IV) SLR cameras have the exact same plastic film spool as the post-war contax rangefinders.

Either you can buy an old Contafelx camera, os someone sells the spools individually on ebay.

???
The sprocket hole counting cogwheel in the camera is the thingy deciding how much film to wind.
Frame spacing issues cannot result from takeup spool width.
Unless you misload the film somehow.
 
As stated above, the sprocket teeth allocate the frame spacing. The takeup spool drive in the camera has a slip clutch to allow for the increased diameter of the film spool as you wind more film layers on it. If the grease is hardened on your old pre-war Contax, then it can literally drag the film farther than it is supposed to, as you get towards the end of the film and most of it is on the takeup spool. So, you get frames farther and father apart as you get towards the end of the frame.

This is a problem with your camera, not the takeup spool.
If this is happening to you, it needs to see Henry Scherer.
 
I use Kiev, Contax, and homemade spools alla Mr Elek's instructions and all work fine on my Kiev 4 and 4a. I had one Kiev 4 that had frame spacing issues, but that was not due to any of the 3 different types of film spools used but the cure was loosening slightly the screw holding the drive fork where the take-up spool attaches to and lubing that upper clutch above that screw ever so lightly.
 
???
The sprocket hole counting cogwheel in the camera is the thingy deciding how much film to wind.
Frame spacing issues cannot result from takeup spool width.
Unless you misload the film somehow.

The spool dimensions can impact whether or not the perforations impinge into the image area slightly, or not with the pre-war cameras. I haven't run a live film through a IIa or IIIa so can't comment about those.
Cheers
Brett
 
The spool dimensions can impact whether or not the perforations impinge into the image area slightly, or not with the pre-war cameras. I haven't run a live film through a IIa or IIIa so can't comment about those.
Cheers
Brett

Ah, maybe i misunderstood the issue and "film spacing" is not about frame to frame soace but about the space between the exposed part and the film edge/sprocket holes.

My selfmade spools work fine in kiev iv and in postwar contax iia\iiia.
 
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