Contax IIIA strap lugs

[Pfreddee]

OK, here's a question about my Contax IIIA, not trying to start an argument. The strap lug on the right is loose, wobbly, and I use the half-case since I don't trust the lug. I have applied epoxy cement to it ----- I know, there goes the collector value, and it's a working model, even the light meter works, about two stops over----- and the lug no longer wobbles. But are the lugs trustworthy? My Kiev 4AM has the same problem and the same solution: a half-case.

Thanks to all who reply.

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[Grytpype]

I read somewhere on Henry Scherer's site that the strap-lugs on the IIa and IIIa were liable to failure - whether it was by breakage or by coming adrift I cannot remember. They are held in place by a fixing screw accessible when the mechanism is removed from the body casing.

Your half-case is the safest solution.

 

[Highway 61]

Both the Kiev (same design as the prewar Contax II/III strap lugs) and the Contax IIa/IIIa strap lugs are connected to the camera innards casting with a screw which goes through the hidden part of the lug. But there is much more metal around the screw on the Contax II/III and Kiev lugs than on the postwar IIa/IIIa Contaxes. Also, the older lugs have a more clever and sturdy design. Probably the best strap lugs ever made before Nikon made theirs with steel inserts. The IIa/IIIa strap lugs are more fragile indeed.

Yet, as far as you don't use the strap to carry the camera like an olympic hammer thrower, the risk of breaking the IIa/IIIa lugs is quite low, provided that you always use a neck strap connected to both lugs and never a wrist strap connected to one lug only.

Epoxy can look seducing but this is a no-go because the contact area between the lug and the outer camera shell is very small. The proper fix relies on taking the camera top cover off and secure the loose screw with a screwdriver and then some nail gloss so that it won't come loose again. On both your IIa and Kiev cameras.

 

[Pfreddee]

Thank you both for the information. I'll keep the half-case on the body and carry it that way.

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)

 

[TenEleven]

Thank you both for the information. I'll keep the half-case on the body and carry it that way.

With best regards.

Pfreddee(Stephen)

I've had issues with one lug, too. Wether the lug will come loose or not seems to vary camera-to-camera.

I have an IIa that I used for years and the lug never ever came even slightly loose despite the camera getting more than a good share of jostling on the strap. I have another IIa where the lug came loose twice despite me tightening it up again.

Ultimately I decided to use a half case approach and since then that decision has paid off multiple times, for example: when I stupidly knocked the camera off the table. It fell onto the cased part and thus survived my stupidity unharmed.