Did I buy a fake Contax II?

Great.... so I bought a real Contax, at a fair price (£150) only to be told even if it's the real deal, I bought a devalued cam?! :confused:

That fake on the link looks like someone dipped it in white chocolate. Do you think it was a school project?
 
Ash said:
Great.... so I bought a real Contax, at a fair price (£150) only to be told even if it's the real deal, I bought a devalued cam?! :confused:
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Post-factory synch obviously decreases collector's value, that's what I meant. From a user standpoint it is just as good and the flash connection can be sometimes useful. It also suggests that the camera was good enough to be actually used - otherwise why bother with the mod.
 
Ah, quite true Eugene, unless the mod was to add something to the camera, as it was lacking somewhere else down the line.

We'll see. The camera should be in my hands this time next week (I'm hoping earlier, but I won't hold my breath) and I'll post some nice photo's of it, and some test photo's I hope.

First thing I gotta do is check for irregular frame spacing!!! :D
 
Another thing to check in yours even being it a devalued camera, is the shape of the focusing wheel. Kievs look like a tooth wheel, and Contaxes have a wheel with two rows of teeth.

Ernesto
 
Post-factory flash-sync was pretty common in the old days. It makes the camera very functional ... (sync should be for 1/25 and below.)
 
Ernesto, even from the shoddy photo's from the auction it's clear there are 2 rows of teeth (I think!), thanks for that tip though :)

Vince, good to know, the auction mentioned a sync, but not the speed
 
Hi Ash

What do I always say?

'Stop worrying an elephant won't sit on your sandwiches!'

It's only money you are spending anyway and its a sunny day here.
 
You people have been reading AND believing too much of Henry's bull-loney. I wouldn't be concerned. This certainly looks like an authentic Contax II with aftermarket flash synch.

The Soviets put the flash synch much higher up on the camera, and it didn't protrude as much as what you see on this camera.

What you can do, if you don't like the look of the flash synch, is to remove the front leather, pull the flash synch, use some epoxy to fill the hole and then replace the leather. I've done that in the past.

You have to go to a lot of trouble to replace the Contax shutter with a Kiev shutter. There's no monetary gain in doing this, because you need two cameras to turn into one. It's easier to replace the shutter straps than to swap shutter assemblies.

Because the early Kiev is essentially a Contax with the only major modification being the nameplate, there wouldn't be any problems with doing this.
 
Yours is the real deal.

Mine on the other hand.... I bid on the bay for a Black Kiev. It was clearly a Kiev from the nameplate but I had a Nikkor 85 f2 'C' lens that didnt focus right on my Nikon Rangefinders so I wanted a camera just to try the lens out cheaply. When the camera arrived it certainly wasnt the Keiv badged camera that I had bid on. I could have returned it but I found it so funny that I bid on the actual Russian model and still got a Contax fake!

Note the acuracy of the Contax name in comparison your yours. Pretty close? NOT! Also note that the focal length of the lens is 5sm! Centimeters is spelt with a C! LOL
 

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I won't get into the argument over whether this sample is fake or not. But they say that duplication is the sincerest form of flattery, and Leicas and Contaxes surely hold the records for that kind of praise. They have been copied by more outfits in more countries than even the Germans ever imagined.

Currently, I have three Kievs. No one tried to tell me they were Contaxes. But remember, the Soviets literally moved the Zeiss factory to Kiev (after some delays), after World War II, and you can find remarks about Kievs all the way from "Contax with a different name" to calling them pretty much junk. In fact, some of the early-production Kievs actually had nameplates that had been ground down and replaced with "Kiev", spelled in Cyrillic, of course. Some repairmen that have worked on both brands say there was very little difference, especially in the early productions of the Kievs. But some feel that the Kievs did lose quality later on.

There are a number of websites about FSU (former Soviet Union) cameras. They can make some interesting reading. These forums have a whole separate section on them.
 
Palaeoboy said:
When the camera arrived it certainly wasnt the Keiv badged camera that I had bid on. I could have returned it but I found it so funny that I bid on the actual Russian model and still got a Contax fake!

Note the acuracy of the Contax name in comparison your yours. Pretty close? NOT! Also note that the focal length of the lens is 5sm! Centimeters is spelt with a C! LOL
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That is a strange story alright! Your pictured camera could be the twin of mine... :)
 
dll927, I'm well aware of pretty much all that you said, but thanks anyway :)

thirteen, thanks for the link, Rick is a great source of info and a very nice guy to correspond with

palaeoboy, LOL

ZeissFan, thanks for the confidence boost :)

Jesse1dog, the sun was shining but i was bloody freezing!!! :D
 
Noel, maybe it was a short-run thing introduced thanks to the need for flash, prior to (or during) the introduction of the post-war models??


GRRRRR it STILL hasn't arrived! :bang:
 
Ash
Mine is '43 ish.
Post war there had Iron Curtin problems and either side may have fitted new 'fangled' flash connectors.
Noel
 

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It's here!!!

I gotta say, if it's fake, its a bloody good'un!


The only issue I can see from the outset is the buzzing shutter sound (or the sound of the clap at higher speeds), and the CONTAX on the front plate looks almost wonky!! Maybe mine was a demonstration camera built by the newbies in the factory ;)

I'll run a film through it tomorrow before I see the boss ;)



Also, every other RF is now SHAMED by how dull their RF patch/window is compared to this cam!
 
Thanks Brian. I'm still in debt to the bank though. I couldn't resist the purchase, but it's pushing back the RF overhaul on the Leica. Pity, the Leica is smaller, lighter, and feels nicer in the hand. It's becoming difficult to choose!!
 
Ash

My Contax and Kiev rangefinders focus spots seem very similar, their colour is different are you sure about the brightness?

Some Contax and Kievs do buzz a lot, what speeds you got buzz at?

Noel
 
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