OK, I *think* I have a Contax III here...

[Sarcophilus Harrisii]

I have a reply from Ed Trzoska - I'll have to save my pennies, but I could spend a lot more buying something newer, and given that he describes it as "one of the finest cameras ever made" he obviously likes them a lot!

He's right.
Just one little-appreciated point is that compared to Eg. their period competition from Leitz, the swinging wedge beam deflectors Zeiss used in the II/III must travel through a far greater arc than the prism Leitz used to deflect the patch of their rangefinders. According to Lipinski, this, alone, increases the precision of the Zeiss design by a four-fold factor over the screw Leica rangefinder, and that is before one even contemplates the gargantuan physical base length of the Contax. (But, EBL. Apparently that's the one and only thing that affects RF accuracy, according to some M6 owners.) 🙄

 

[Muggins]

Yes, I did try the RF out - compared to anything else I've used the travel on it from close to infinity is huge!

 

[Muggins]

Well, Ed has worked his magic, and I now have a handsome and working Contax III with a beautiful clean Sonnar. Pics will be shared when I feel I've done it justice.

 

[Muggins]

Well, Ed has worked his magic, and I now have a handsome and working Contax III with a beautiful clean Sonnar. Pics will be shared when I feel I've done it justice.

@johnf04 - might I know you somewhere else, by any chance?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Congratulations!

I bought my 5th Contax II two weeks ago at the Dutch Photographica Fair in Hilversum.
This one already had new shutter straps installed and only needed some exercise and cleaning to bring the shutter speeds back into spec.
Came with a nice 50/1.5 Sonnar as well 🙂

 

[KoNickon]

Did you just get it back? That's a year and a half, but hey, he's a busy man, and good things come to those who wait! Enjoy it. These are noticeably heavier and larger than the II, because of that meter, but I think they're pretty great. (And does the meter work, by chance? If not, I think Oleg Khalyavin has Kiev meters that will fit.)

 

[Muggins]

Did you just get it back? That's a year and a half, but hey, he's a busy man, and good things come to those who wait! Enjoy it. These are noticeably heavier and larger than the II, because of that meter, but I think they're pretty great. (And does the meter work, by chance? If not, I think Oleg Khalyavin has Kiev meters that will fit.)

He's busy and semi- retired now, so I'm not going to knock the delay. I couldn't have fixed it!

You are not wrong about the weight, its a tank, a real Nikon-breaker. Luckily the meter works, and if I remember the details from the letter right it's been calibrated as well.

 

[Muggins]

Congratulations!

I bought my 5th Contax II two weeks ago at the Dutch Photographica Fair in Hilversum.
This one already had new shutter straps installed and only needed some exercise and cleaning to bring the shutter speeds back into spec.
Came with a nice 50/1.5 Sonnar as well 🙂

I'd love to see some of then when I'm in the Netherlands in May, but it will be a sport tour so not much opportunity for anything that doesn't involve cricket or drinking.

 

[KoNickon]

He's busy and semi- retired now, so I'm not going to knock the delay. I couldn't have fixed it!

You are not wrong about the weight, its a tank, a real Nikon-breaker. Luckily the meter works, and if I remember the details from the letter right it's been calibrated as well.

And another great repairer takes a well-earned step back. And you're right -- there are some really skilled people on this forum who work on these cameras, but the Contaxes are way above anything I would try fixing!

I bought my III from a guy who'd had it worked on by Oleg, so it may have some Kiev shutter parts, but still, he does excellent work on the prewar Contaxes (and as far as I know doesn't have a crazy backlog and is a younger guy).

 

[AndyCapp]

Popped into my local junk shop today as I spotted a camera from the door... Next to a Nikon SLR I couldn't ID without reading specs was a brown leather Zeiss-Ikon case, so I opened it up... and swore! The chap in the shop said he knew nothing about cameras, he was going to put £50 on it, so I thought *Sod it* and paid.

So... looking at the intertubes I *think* I have a Contax III. Body number is B59218, the lens is a collapsible Carl-Zeiss Jena f2 Sonnar Nr.1827262 - a little oil on the aperture blades, and maybe some haze, but I don't think any fungus (famous last words). It's also obviously got a bit damp at some point as the brassing on the back is knee-deep in verdigris, but I've seen worse.

The shutter doesn't work - which is a drag, but maybe one day I'll have time/money to sort it?

Quality of pictures and lack of hardcore research down to me doing this (and buying it!) when taking a break from strenous DIY!

Congrats. This is what an RF camera is supposed to look like!

 

[Muggins]

Not the greatest of pics, but they will do until I can do some proper glamour shots. I'm not sure I have any tasteful period props, mind... It might just be a plain "camera, on backdrop" shot!

Refurbished back by gray1720, on Flickr

Refurbished front by gray1720, on Flickr

 

[johnf04]

@johnf04 - might I know you somewhere else, by any chance?

You do indeed.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

I'd love to see some of then when I'm in the Netherlands in May, but it will be a sport tour so not much opportunity for anything that doesn't involve cricket or drinking.

I should probably make a new group portrait of all of them together with the all the Contax I, III, IIa and IIIa cameras, and my Contax D SLRs 😆

The one I bought at the fair two weeks ago.

 

[Muggins]

You do indeed.

Elmarman here is another you'll recognise.

 

[Muggins]

I should probably make a new group portrait of all of them together with the all the Contax I, III, IIa and IIIa cameras, and my Contax D SLRs 😆

The one I bought at the fair two weeks ago.

Very nice indeed! What's the device to the right, please?

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Very nice indeed! What's the device to the right, please?

An old Rollex Rollfilm back for a 9x12cm camera. Still had an unused and very expired roll of 120 film in it.

 

[davidswiss]

Good news on the Contax III, it's been a long time.

 

[Muggins]

Good news on the Contax III, it's been a long time.

I've tried to think of it as building the anticipation. Luckily I have lots of other toys, but I've really wanted to play with this one.

 

[Muggins]

You guys would know... how easy is it to find filters for this lens? A yellow one would do me, unless they are stupidly hens teeth/costly.

 

[KoNickon]

This is the collapsible 50/2, correct? Those take 40.5mm filters, not really that hard to find at all. More common than something like a 43mm or 48mm for sure. Should be plenty of used ones out there; maybe some folks here have surplus ones?