Eyepiece for Contax IIa?

gdmcclintock

gdmcclintock

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I have a Contax IIa with a Jena Tessar 5cm/F3.5 collapsible lens in excellent condition. There seems to be a piece missing from the eyepiece assembly (i.e. there is a ring and a short threaded shaft protruding from the camera), yet I have seen many pictures of IIa cameras with the same eyepiece. I also saw one picture of a IIa with what appears to be a black rubber eyepiece attached. Is my camera missing a part?

Thanks!

gdmcclintock
 
I have a IIa, why don't you post a picture and than I can tell you if a part is missing compared to my camera.

Leo
 
It might be possible to get a diopter to thread to the eyepiece. Otherwise, it should have just the eyepiece.

If you can see through the viewfinder, then that's all there is.

You probably can find a small collar to thread onto this that can protect eyeglasses.
 
Thanks for the replies. Based on the photos I have found on the web, my IIa seems to be normal. I am sorry I did not post a picture of the camera to aid the description, but I am not set up for that yet. I will look for some kind of collar to protect my glasses. -gdmcclintock
 
I have a couple of Contax IIa cameras that have a small black metal ring that screws over the threads. It seems to be decorative in nature.

I don't know if Zeiss Ikon made diopters to fit over the viewfinder window, but it seems a reasonable guess.
 
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The small black ring you describe is what I thought might be missing from my camera, although I have seen many pictures of IIa cameras without this decorative ring. Many thanks.
 
dexdog said:
I have a couple of Contax IIa cameras that have a small black metal ring that screws over the threads. It seems to be decorative in nature.

I don't know if Zeiss Ikon made diopters to fit over the viewfinder window, but it seems a reasonable guess.
Click to expand...

Bringing this thread up again, as I've just recently acquired a Contax IIIa, and am finding it a little hard to squint at the tiny viewfinder..

has anyone successfully mounted an eyepiece over the viewfinder to make it brighter & more comfortable to look through, as well as easier to focus...?

cheers/
 
ZeissFan said:
One of the downsides of the older cameras is that they had small eyepieces. You just learn to live with it.
Click to expand...

hi, agree that older cameras have their inconveniences, but figured it shouldn't be impossible to have a comfortable magnified eyepiece screwed on top, since it seems the threading on the camera eyepiece exists seemingly for this purpose... :rolleyes:

i guess i'm just trying to explore avenues to make things a little easier for shooting... :cool:
 
my contax IIa is missing the black ring from the eye pieces too. the VF totally works, but the bare metal eyepiece do scratch my glasses. any one here know if there is some sort of rubber eye-cup for these contaxes? if not, i might need to DIY a pad around the eyepiece using electrical tape.
 
They may have been decorative, but they do tend to be less abrasive to eyeglasses than the bare threads. Since many of my Zeiss Ikon cameras lack the ring (they fit most of the post-WWII ZI RFs, e.g., the Super Ikontas, as well as the pre-WWII Tenax II), I transfer the rings from body to body as needed.

I'm guessing that perhaps someone in Japan, like Hansa, makes generic replacement eyepiece rings & there might be someone who makes diopters, too.

dexdog said:
I have a couple of Contax IIa cameras that have a small black metal ring that screws over the threads. It seems to be decorative in nature.
Click to expand...
 
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