I need to get a spare part to my Contax CZ Vario-Sonnar 28-85! HELP!

[isakb]

Hi!

I am looking for a spare part for my Contax Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 28-85 lens. It is the one with a ball bearing with a lever attached to it, I attach a picture of it (I do not want the mounting ring only the part with the ball bearing and the lever).

Do anybody know where I can get one? I have mailed the shops that are in that sticky thread in this forum. But if anybody have a lens with broken glass or any other defects maybe you want to sell it for a good price to me 🙂

Thank you for your help!

With regards
Isak Bergwall

 

[mbisc]

How about contacting Carl Zeiss -- AFAIK, they still service all C/Y lenses, and have done a wonderful jobs for me in the past...

 

[isakb]

Hi!

I don't know what AFAIK is but I contacted Carl Zeiss directly and they said they didn't have parts for this lens any longer, I also got word back from Tocad and some other repair shops but they did not have the part either, I have emailed the Kyocera office in Japan and awaiting an answer..

 

[ZeissFan]

You should check with Micro-Tools. They sell ball bearings, as I recall. If you know the size, it would help.

» Here's the page.

As far as the lever, I'd look for a similar Yashica lens. Perhaps, any Yashica or C/Y mount lens will work. I'm not sure. It would depend on whether all C/Y lenses use the same size lever and ball bearing.

 

[maitani]

Btw are you happy with the lens? I was thinking of adding this one for the rts. Reviews on it are rather scarce

 

[Rico]

Great lens, optically. Being all-metal build, it's rather heavy. I don't like the one-touch zoom, but that's just me. The lens is quite long at full zoom which, oddly, is the wider FOV (28mm). I also have the D28/2.8 and S85/2.8, and prefer them for the ergos, smaller size, and wider aperture.

 

[isakb]

Thanks for your help guys and ladies(?)

I will check out the Yashicas, but I wonder where I can get info on the buildups on each lens? I dont know if they are all the same. Btw you meant the cheap yashica lenses right?

As far as my thoughts of the lens, well.. I didn't get so far so I could use it, I was going to use it on my D800 but messed it upp badly before I had a change to try it. But the mechanical feels is supernice, very smooth focusing ring and a super solid build, but I do not like the push zoom and it creeps a bit if you have it pointed to much downwards. I only shoot landscapes so I will use it mostly from F8 and beyond so I think the sharpness from edge to edge will be there hopefully.

The problems with going primes is that for me I would have to Leitax Mount all of them and that gets quite expensive aswell (like 68 euros or something for one mount).

I will continue my hunt for parts and all tips are greatly appreciated!

I almost feel abit sad for killing one of these classics so I really want to fix this one up rather than buying a new lens altogether :angel:

 

[mbisc]

I don't know what AFAIK is

Sorry, it's "as far as I know" -- and I was obviously wrong here...

 

[isakb]

Mbisc: I looked it up afterwards hehe, I thought it was some company first thats why I asked 🙂