RTSIII Mirror Problem?

Wow, you are quite the Zeiss historian.

No, the lens is of Japanese Manufacture. I purchased it from a Contax dealer in Australia a few months ago. He represented it as a new lens..old stock. From all appearances of lens, box and paperwork. It was new.
 
Wow, you are quite the Zeiss historian.

No, the lens is of Japanese Manufacture. I purchased it from a Contax dealer in Australia a few months ago. He represented it as a new lens..old stock. From all appearances of lens, box and paperwork. It was new.

New AE lens ? I doubt that very much. Maybe in perfect condition but MM lenses replaced AE a long time ago.
 
New AE lens ? I doubt that very much. Maybe in perfect condition but MM lenses replaced AE a long time ago.

Dun think macro lenses come in MM version. All of them should be AE version most likely because of the very long lens extension when using at 1:1 it is not easy to design the linkages in MM mode.
 
Just checked the ContaX Zeiss catalogue. The following lenses not available in MM mode:

16/2.8
15/3.5
35/2.8 PC Distagon
300/2.8
60/2.8 makro (1:1 version)
100/2.8 makro
All the teleconvertors Mutar I, II and III

And of course the mirror lenses that has no aperture setting so no MM mode.

bwcolor I feel that u should return your RTS III to the seller. Even u can live with the existing (most likely electronic) issues, u will run into fading LEDs quite soon and lost all the view finder display.
 
Dun think macro lenses come in MM version. All of them should be AE version most likely because of the very long lens extension when using at 1:1 it is not easy to design the linkages in MM mode.

I just checked my 1994 price list and the 60C makro was an MM at that time. The the 100 2.8 was AE. But is was also touted as an all purpose lens in my Contax book (produced by Zeiss). I earlier did a quick check at :

http://www.contaxcameras.co.uk/slr/slrmanlenses/makroplanar100.asp

where it says it is an MM lens. But that would have been the later versions produced if it is correct.

The above website was the UK contax website and it has been left in place to enable people to get to service and I hope they think they may need it again sometime in the future.
 
Nahhh,,,, I really like the camera. I do plan on sending back to Japan for CLA.

Then that is a different story. Get them replace the view finder blue LEDs, the data imprint of the data back, and adjust the mirror.

And I would advise u to store your RTS III lying flat front facing up.
 
On a similar note...

I just recieved my Contax ST, put some batteries in it, slapped the 50/1.7 MM on it, and attempted to test it out.

Seems like there is a problem. With the lens on, the camera's mirror won't return back down. When I switch the camera off and then on again, the mirror returns.

Without a lens on it, the mirror seems to go up and down as normal.

Does this mean my camera has the dreaded mirror slip problem?

Also, I'm not 100% sure that the batteries are fresh....
 
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Does this happen with fresh batteries and the camera in manual mode?

I'll have to wait until I get home to try some fresh batteries. With these existing batteries (which I *think* are fresh) and on manual mode...does the same thing.

What's weird to me is that the mirror will return once the camera is powered off and on again...even with the lens still in place.

Upon a more careful inspection, it does looks like the mirror is slightly crooked.
 
I've heard that you can soften the glue on the mirror with a hair-dryer, then push it back into place, so it doesn't collide with the lens. (Do this at your own risk, of course!)

A simple test to make sure it's colliding is to fire the shutter until it sticks, then remove the lens. If it was stuck against the lens, it should flip back into place as you loosen the lens.

I had this happen to an FX-3. Solution: stop using the camera!
 
I've heard that you can soften the glue on the mirror with a hair-dryer, then push it back into place, so it doesn't collide with the lens. (Do this at your own risk, of course!)

A simple test to make sure it's colliding is to fire the shutter until it sticks, then remove the lens. If it was stuck against the lens, it should flip back into place as you loosen the lens.

I had this happen to an FX-3. Solution: stop using the camera!

Thanks, I was just reading about softening the glue here: http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/forum/messages/3/20700.html?1299458032

When the mirror gets stuck and I remove the lens, the mirror does not come back down. When I turn off the camera and turn it on again, the mirror comes back down, with or without the lens attached. Weird...
 
When you look at the mirror, can you see that it has slipped beyond the frame? This sounds more like an electrical problem. It is as if the camera doesn't know that the shutter has fired, until you turn the camera off.
 
Yes, it looks as if the mirror is lower than the bottom part of the frame. Also, the camera seems to work fine when there is no lens attached.
 
Wow, that was easy. I took a hairdryer on high to the mirror for about 30 seconds, carefully pushed the mirror back up into place and voila...fixed. It'll be interesting to see how long this stays fixed for....
 
Wow, that was easy. I took a hairdryer on high to the mirror for about 30 seconds, carefully pushed the mirror back up into place and voila...fixed. It'll be interesting to see how long this stays fixed for....

Keep your camera lying flat when not in use.

The mirror issue is important, as u may accidentally scratch the rear glass element of your favourite lenses like 28/2, 35/1.4 etc.
 
Keep your camera lying flat when not in use.

The mirror issue is important, as u may accidentally scratch the rear glass element of your favourite lenses like 28/2, 35/1.4 etc.

Good tip, thanks.

It seems as if one could pull the mirror out, apply a small line of super glue on either edge and place it back it without problem. From what I understand, it's actually a thin piece of double sided tape (or equivalent). I'd imaging super glue would work well.

When someone sends a camera to Japan to get this problem fixed, what do they actually do?
 
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