Question to Contax owners

R

ruben

Guest
Dear friends,
It may sound provocative perhaps from first glance, but kindly give a good thought to this question:

Why don't you service your pre-war Contaxes yourselves, using the guidelines of the Kiev Survival Site ?

I may be ignorant of some related things, but if one day I get a Contax, the first thing I would do is to disassemble it and CLA it myself. Knowing what is there, what could you possibly damage ?

Now, in case you fear for your money, you could just start training with a cheap Kiev.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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Ruben, I do not service my own Contax cameras because i am basically all thumbs with detail work, and besides, I don't have the patience to take on the job. I would probably get it taken apart, lose a bunch of small pieces, and never get it put back together. Wish I was able to fix cameras, I would have saved a lot of money.
 
Ok, this is Your case, but people are drying on the line for a year, while many of them (I suppose) could do the job. If you glance at the KSS, you find very detailed explanations.

Now, I take for granted that if I myself would have to service a Contax, I would not produce the ultra superb results of Henry Sherer.

But on the other hand, according to my experience with the Kievs, you can obtain a very very soft and accurate camera.

And my assumption is that with a pre-war Contax, the job should be even easier.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
I forgot to mention an important thing.

If the shutter of your Contax is stucked or very defective, then definitively the camera should go to fix, as it will take you a lot of training with Kievs until you become versatil with these issues.

But if the shutter is working more or less, then cleaning the gears, lubricating and adjusting the range finder for accuracy - all these doesn't justify a year wait, nor more than $50.

But I am speaking from the point of view of a user, not of a collector. So if a small spring jumps in the process, for me to insert there a Kiev spring is no violation of any commandment.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
I tried to service my Contax III myself but ended up in complications (ribbons broken, in addition to a faulty shutter), so I'm waiting to get a job & then to save up enough money to take the train and visit a friend who's helped me a lot with my Contax servicing & spare parts. I'm sure with his skills we'll get these issues fixed quick. I paid the 50$ reservation to H.S. but I've not the patience to wait, and besides, I'm totally broken now so there's no need for these extra expenses.
 
Max, I repeat, before opening and servicing either a Contax or an expensive Kiev, one has to train onself with a cheap Kiev. It demands time, but I don't see much reason, after some training, to break ribbons or damage shutters.

I don't speak from an elitist knowledgeable charlatan. It took me a lot of time and patience and I am not specially prompt for fixings. For instance I still don't know how to sychronize a stucked shutter, or other really complicated issues. But if we look at the surrunding situation and if we are going to use Contaxes and Kievs, better we start learning the most basic things.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
Cameras weren´t made to be dissasembled.
The less you touch them, the longer its life.

What you propose, is like operating yourself, even if your body have no problems just to learn cirgury.

Ernesto
 
Yet there is a quite visible fact: At the Kiev forum we find several members who have successfully upgraded themselves to perform many fixings and CLA, at different degrees. Not only with Kievs, but I remain in Kiev grounds as the cameras are identical to the pre-war Contaxes.

I don't find a simetry with the Contax users, who have to either pay a lot of money for CLA/repairs, or put themselves into Henry Scherer list and pay. I am sure, according to the reports, that owning a Sherer Contax must be a great pleasure and I have nothing against it.

But I also notice there are many Contax folks who desperate for the lack of alternative options, while it seems to be no "tradition", so to speak, to deal with the Contax oneself.

I would like to make clear, crystal clear, that I am not trying to tease Contax users. But the phenomena jumps to my eyes, as well as the fact that if Contax users would start to open their cameras, this would benefit the learning of Kiev users in their turn. Kiev users, in this context, have done a lot on behalf of Contax users, and out there there is the KSS, but the Contax side remains still.

What's the big deal friends ?

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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ernesto - you are simply wrong.
Cameras are mechanic tools and when they break down they can be repaired sometimes a replacement piece being needed, sometimes just something cleaned, or unjammed.

Ruben - i did it to my former contax iiia (postwar). I was scared as hell. But it did not work, and i had no $$$$ for mister Scherer.
It worked out beautifully. The shutter was completely stuck, i had to take it out of the camera, dismantle its bottom part slightly and clean it down there. It came back to life and two rolls of beautiful shots were the result.
The twist of the story - a few weeks later it got stolen from my house.

I also did a Kiev shutter ribbon replacement, with original Kiev shutter from a FSU seller. It worked, but there's something more wrong - sometimes the fastest speed does not work. But re-tensioning the shutter was a terrible PITA.
 
OPINION OPINION OPINION
Ruben, I've owned quite a few Contaxes and Leicas. In my opinion the Contax II and III are primitive in their workmanship and design compared to a Barnack of the same era. The Barnack seems to have been designed to be serviced where the simplest maintenance on the Contax is a major operation. The biggest problem that I see on the Contax is the vertical shutter arrangement. The torque of the wind on has to be converted 90' to cock the shutter. The slightest wear on the chassis bearings where the bevel gears for the upper shutter roller and the film advance are and the wind on effort goes through the roof. Timing the upper roller is also a b-tch. High speeds you can't be off with as the size of the slit between the curtains is set when the camera is wound on. Lower speeds rely on a train of gears that seem to go nowhere-just adding friction to the operation. Too clean or too dirty and your slow speeds are off. Everyone is terrified of changing the curtain tapes which is probably the easiest job to do on the whole camera. One Contax service person I spoke to actually takes the entire shutter assy and dumps it in an ultrasonic cleaner-then uses an oiler here and there.
On the other hand the IIa and IIIa are butter smooth.
Don't get me wrong-I love the Contax. I just think there was too much hand fitting and an iffy design. I know if I send a Leica to one of the usual supects it can come back as new. This is just my opinion. Stu
 
I'm not very interested in camera repair, although I respect those that are. I like cars too -- but have zero interest in fixing them. (FYI I l do love working wth machine tools, so I'm not a mechanical ignoramus ).

Users want fully working cameras not elaborate projects. That's not an unreasonable wish at all. I can also pay for something as expensive as a Contax IIa - no problem. Finding a good one is often the problem.
 
Ruben,

I vowed never to work on a pre-war Contax...

Not until I completed work on a stubborn Oly RC that had been sitting on my workbench in parts for the last two years. Happy to report the RC was completed Tuesday evening. Next project is either an Iskra, an early Kiev 2 or a pre-war Contax II. Might even do the Kiev and Contax at the same time just to do a real time comparison.

Now that I think about it, that's exactly what I'm going to do. Heck yah!

Cheers.

Russ
 
ruben said:
I would like to make clear, crystal clear, that I am not trying to tease Contax users. But the phenomena jumps to my eyes, as well as the fact that if Contax users would start to open their cameras, this would benefit the learning of Kiev users in their turn. Kiev users, in this context, have done a lot on behalf of Contax users, and out there there is the KSS, but the Contax side remains still.

What's the big deal friends ?

Cheers,
Ruben
Click to expand...

Ruben, in my opinion, it has to do with replacement costs, at least in USA. If one attempts to overhaul a Kiev and botches the job, a replacement Kiev in working order can be obtained for under 100 USD, and often less. Alternately, sending your Kiev to a skilled repair service like Oleg will cost about the same, or a bit more. If one has a working pre-war Contax with a few minor problems, the replacement cost if one botches an attempted overhaul is higher, in the range of 200 to 300 USD on eBay (in which case, you are still taking a chance that a 60+ year old camera still works). Based on what Contax experts like Henry Scherer or Ken Ruth will charge, having a qualified repairman fix your Contax may cost 200 to 300 USD, or more.

In short, there is reduced exposure to risk with self-service of Kievs than with Contaxes.
 
Well I worked both on my Kievs and on my pre-war II. The knowledge and skills are transferable/applicable both ways.

Contaxen are quirky beasts, but surprisingly rugged. Usually if something strange goes with Contax, it's due to construction and overly elaborate mechanics rather than some external damage. Mine proved to be almost indestructible, yet there are certain things to watch out while operating it.
 
Dear Contax users Friends

I would like to make myself a bit more understable.

First of all I have to admit that it is very easy for a non-Contax owner like me to throw advises to Contax owners, even if none of you has thrown it to my face, a fact for which I thank you.

Secondly, you know or should know, that few Kiev owners dare to surgeon their cameras, in spite of the KSS.

Thirdly, I am by no means a technical Kiev connosieur. Long ago I had a dream known as "the Kiev project", in which I intended to make the Kiev maintenance or CLA, easy for every newbie. I went stucked, not because the CLA was over my capabilities but because high level technicalities beyond the CLA demmanded much time self training and I prefered to continue photographing. But upon making myself aware that those high technical fixings are ahead of me, I could not asume responsibility in case anyone following my prospected instructions will jam his camera out of misdoing my instructions. Therefore I left it pending.

It is still possible one day I will resume this job. By now I am assesing the real capabilities of the Kiev, versus other cameras, as street shooters. It is quite possible that I will be led to the conclusion that the Kievs (or Contaxes) have a unique place there and this may make me to resume my tech studies/training.

OK, all these are my resevations for which, I find it perfectly legitime not to fiddle too much with our Contaxes or Kievs.

However, I have the feeling that among Contax users there is a kind of unnecessary fear, or halo of sancticity, to perform a simple CLA. I am not talking about deeper fixings, but a cleaning, lubricating and adjusting of the rangefinder mechanism, is not something to be afraid of.

If you happen to loose a screw or a spring, what's the big deal in replacing it with a $10 parts Kiev one ? What is the big deal ?

Forwarding all these to you, is due to my looking around and seeing the Contax and Kiev pro servicing going narrow and narrow.

On the other hand if some of you would take the initiative of starting opening your recently purchased cameras and giving them an internal look before sending them to pro-fix, if you would start using the KSS as back up, the community of technical knowledge folks of the Contax-Kiev breed will gain a lot.

You yourselves have a lot to gain, and contribute to us, Kiev owners. After all we are talking about the same designed camera, who happened to split its places of manufacturing.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
I am a very thrifty (cheap) photographer but there are some areas that I don't mind paying extra for to get the service of someone that knows a lot more than I do.... I need my contaxes (what do you call a small group of contax) to last me the rest of my life in as good of operating condition as possible. The fees a expert like Harry or the likes charge for this service seems small to me considering what a good job they can do. I am sure I would be spending more on Kiev practice bodies than the cost of a CLA and still be only able to do a halfass job. Just reading on H.S. web page about the different lubricants involved in the job he does makes me glad someone cares as much about these cameras as I do.

Just the same I am sure that there are people that are capable of fixing there own cameras, and derive much joy from doing so but I hope I don't hurt anyones feelings when I wish that I never buy a Contax that was someones learning project
 
Hi Mish,
I agree with you. With a small fleet of Contaxes, and a good fixer in your country, you can manoeuvre.

For others in other parts of the world, or smaller pockets, this is no solution. I too developed my Kiev fleet. But having no specialized fixer around, I had to go the hard way.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
As owner of a single Contax II and two Kievs, I must admit that I like to get into cameras specially in those which are mine.
The ´66 Kiev and the Contax both were CLAed on arrival, and now I have to do the same with the ´62 as it developed a stuck shutter syndrome.

The first Kiev was open in 1982, years ahead of the Internet and Russ´KSS.
The Contax was a lot easier after KSS.
Hopefully the next Kiev will be a lot easier.

Ok, I´m not broken but allways had thin pockets...

Cheers

Ernesto
 
Here's my next two test victims ready for sugery. I hadn't realized just how many parts cameras I've acquired until I gathered them all together. Yikes!

Cheers,

Russ
 

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hey ruben i have one question for you. will you stay with your kievs or you will buy contax one day? do you want to try it also even if it is a same camera?
for example i am perfectly happy with my kiev but i would also like to try contax - i know its same (kiev is maybe even better because contaxes are 20 years older) but i am just curious.
 
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