"These old cameras are like that", my foot.

[davidtan]

I bought a Contax IIa with a Zeiss-Opton Sonnar 50mm 1.5 back in May. When I got it, the rangefinder alignment was way off. I sent it in to a local repair shop thinking that it wouldn't take that long to fix. Repairs dragged on though, as the shop needed to get new parts and the like.

Fast forward to October, and I finally get it back. I shot a roll through it and I find that at close distances, the focusing is way off. The Contax IIa has a minimum focus of 90cm, but the rangefinder patch would register minimum focus at 75cm.

I brought back the camera to the shop, but they insisted that the focusing was fine. The technician 'demonstrated it' to me by opening up the camera back, placing a ground glass, and focusing against a mark on a shelf—though he didn't bother even measuring how far he was standing from the mark.

I got him to take out a ruler, and lo and behold, the minimum focus was off. The technician shrugged, stating that "these old cameras are like that", and that there's a general tolerance when focusing close-up.

Bull. I've shot at minimum focus with a Kiev 4a just fine. How am I to believe that the Contax IIa has less accurate focusing than a FSU Contax II copy? In any case, I didn't bother objecting any further and brought the camera home. I'm mulling over what I should do with it; sell it, or even fix it myself? The whole ordeal has left a very bitter taste in my mouth, and I'm wondering why I even bought this camera that took so long to fix, only to come out not-yet-fixed.

 

[sepiareverb]

Send it to someone who can work on it properly?

 

[davidtan]

Send it to someone who can work on it properly?

At this point, I wouldn't want to drop more money and time on this than I have to.

 

[sanmich]

These bad technicians are like that...

RF adjustment shouldn't be THAT expensive.
Find a good repair person...

 

[hendriphile]

it might be worth contacting Henry Scherer who is a well recognized Contax repairer, for his advice but be prepared for a long wait

Three years, I believe. 😱

 

[Range-rover]

Get yourself a nice Nikon rangefinder, it's almost like a Contax IIa
and you can use some Zeiss lenses on it, just a idea.

Range

 

[Classique]

If it is just rangefinder misallignment, wouldn't it be an easy fix? I know I have done that for countless FED and Canon rangefinders with not much issue. I also have a kiev 4am that has perfect focus when i got it. It may be worth it to find DIY rangefinder adjustment for contax (should be similar to kiev). Good luck.

 

[Vickko]

The focus alignment is moderately easy to adjust. I'd recommend doing it yourself.

 

[sevo]

Fast forward to October, and I finally get it back. I shot a roll through it and I find that at close distances, the focusing is way off. The Contax IIa has a minimum focus of 90cm, but the rangefinder patch would register minimum focus at 75cm.

I brought back the camera to the shop, but they insisted that the focusing was fine. The technician 'demonstrated it' to me by opening up the camera back, placing a ground glass, and focusing against a mark on a shelf—though he didn't bother even measuring how far he was standing from the mark.

I got him to take out a ruler, and lo and behold, the minimum focus was off. The technician shrugged, stating that "these old cameras are like that", and that there's a general tolerance when focusing close-up.

Well, the way the Contax is constructed it is quite hard to introduce a partial range focusing error - it has no lever arrangement, but direct cog wheel coupling between the helical angle and RF angle. Unless he bent or re-glued something, it will either be mis-focusing by 20% all the way or it is right throughout.

If the ground glass and rangefinder agree at any single distance for a known good lens, the rangefinder is properly adjusted. If the close distance is wrong and some other is right, he might have attempted to calibrate at one single distance with a lens with a focal length deviating beyond tolerances - have him re-try his test at a variety of distances. If GG and RF do not agree throughout, there is a lens issue - which means that the body has to be readjusted with a good lens. If they agree, there is some issue with the engravings on the lens (e.g. wrong or misaligned barrel), but optically you are fine.

 

[Sejanus.Aelianus]

The gentleman at http://www.zeisscamera.com/ has some interesting (and ocassionally ascerbic) comments on Zeiss cameras, materials and workmanship. There may be some useful information for you there, David.

 

[Highway 61]

The gentleman at http://www.zeisscamera.com/ has some interesting (and ocassionally ascerbic) comments on Zeiss cameras, materials and workmanship. There may be some useful information for you there, David.

You are kidding, of course.

Well, the way the Contax is constructed it is quite hard to introduce a partial range focusing error - it has no lever arrangement, but direct cog wheel coupling between the helical angle and RF angle.

Yes and the only way to horizontally adjust the Contax IIa rangefinder is to get it perfect at infinity by engaging the cog wheels one into another and secure one cogwheel screw. Once the rangefinder perfect at infinity, there is no other adjustment to be done - and the rangefinder is then perfect within all the distances scale.

Yet there exists a fine adjustment screw but it's very touchy and on practice it's not necessary to touch it once the rangefinder unit is properly assembled and the infinity collimation is perfect, with the infinity mark properly placed.

And it doesn't have anything to do with the problem described here.

I would rather suspect that the return spring driving the rangefinder plano-concave moving element has got weak from stretching with age ; this is a fairly common problem of these cameras ; as a result this part doesn't run all its way to the left when you focus to closest distances, so the rangefinder fails to follow the lens mount helical all the way to the closest focusing distance. The well known remedy is to shorten this spring so that it has more force (or, better, to replace it with a new one) and the plano concave moving element gets snappy again. It's also a good opportunity to clean the rangefinder mechanism so that there is no grime in it any longer.

Here we go again to what I'm keeping writing here about those otherwise nice cameras : either learn to service them yourself (which is pretty easy even if you aren't a retired US Navy ingeneer with an XXL ego) or switch to something else (Nikon rangefinder, Leica, whatever takes equally great photos).

Well, see the attached image which is better than a long writing.

 

[Pherdinand]

are you actually SURE that only at close range it is off? At longer distances it might be just camouflaged by depth of field.
As said above- not that difficult to align it yourself. And that tiny screw can do miracles.

Finally- some lenses can be misaligned too. Be sure to check with a lens that you KNOW it is OK -e.g. by testing the lens with another, OK body.

 

[Pherdinand]

oh yes and do tell us the name of that shop/technician who got rid of you in such a funny way.
I wouldn't want to do business with them.

 

[sevo]

I would rather suspect that the return spring driving the rangefinder plano-concave moving element has got weak from stretching with age ; this is a fairly common problem of these cameras ; as a result this part doesn't run all its way to the left when you focus to closest distances, so the rangefinder fails to follow the lens mount helical all the way to the closest focusing distance.

Yep - but from the description what is happening is the opposite error, that is, the lens is focusing too close at close distance. If it should be a weak spring issue, it would be indirectly so with the fool technician compensating the weak spring by mis-setting focus. Not impossible, but it is not very likely, as that spring issue generally causes the near focus to be all over the place. A lens with a diverging (probably too short) focal length that caused the technician to screw up in his adjustment seems more likely.

 

[Highway 61]

Yep - but from the description what is happening is the opposite error

Yup but what I wrote is likely to be the lone possible problem on this camera regarding differences between what the lens mount helical says ont its distance scale, and what the rangefinder patch tells, at close focusing distance.

If you are right, then the RF patch should be quite off when looking at a target located at infinity with the lens mount helical locked on infinity, and the opening poster didn't mention that.

Anyway, this problem can be solved easily IMO, once the Contax IIa is in the hands of someone serious having worked on those cameras already.

 

[davidtan]

Three years, I believe. 😱

Ouch. Likely not an option, though I was leaning away from sending it for a fix anyway.

Get yourself a nice Nikon rangefinder, it's almost like a Contax IIa
and you can use some Zeiss lenses on it, just a idea.

Range

Nikon rangefinders look beautiful, but are so, so expensive. Maybe a Bessa R2C/S, if they're still available.

BTW, aren't wide angle lenses the only Contax lenses that might be usable on the Nikon?

If it is just rangefinder misallignment, wouldn't it be an easy fix? I know I have done that for countless FED and Canon rangefinders with not much issue. I also have a kiev 4am that has perfect focus when i got it. It may be worth it to find DIY rangefinder adjustment for contax (should be similar to kiev). Good luck.

The focus alignment is moderately easy to adjust. I'd recommend doing it yourself.

I'm not a very handy man. If there's a nice step-by-step guide or video, I might be on board.

are you actually SURE that only at close range it is off? At longer distances it might be just camouflaged by depth of field.
As said above- not that difficult to align it yourself. And that tiny screw can do miracles.

Finally- some lenses can be misaligned too. Be sure to check with a lens that you KNOW it is OK -e.g. by testing the lens with another, OK body.

I shot at minimum focus (both open aperture and slightly stopped down) and saw that the focus was behind the subject in both instances on film.

At infinity, the focus looks almost correct, but there is a slight sliver off on objects in the horizon. It's really small though, and I don't know "how off" it would be to be considered off.

oh yes and do tell us the name of that shop/technician who got rid of you in such a funny way.
I wouldn't want to do business with them.

I won't name them here, but I did make a reference to them in a post back in June. Crazy Fedya will know exactly which shop I'm referring to.

Yup but what I wrote is likely to be the lone possible problem on this camera regarding differences between what the lens mount helical says ont its distance scale, and what the rangefinder patch tells, at close focusing distance.

If you are right, then the RF patch should be quite off when looking at a target located at infinity with the lens mount helical locked on infinity, and the opening poster didn't mention that.

Anyway, this problem can be solved easily IMO, once the Contax IIa is in the hands of someone serious having worked on those cameras already.

I don't know if I want to keep this camera now. Thinking back I should have stuck with the Kiev, especially knowing that a broken Kiev can be replaced for much cheaper than repairing it.

 

[wolves3012]

Not being a Contax expert, I don't know how similar yours is internally to the Kiev 4/4a but I'm guessing they are close. In which case this page may be of help:

http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/adjust rangefinder.html

 

[Highway 61]

I shot at minimum focus (both open aperture and slightly stopped down) and saw that the focus was behind the subject in both instances on film.

At infinity, the focus looks almost correct, but there is a slight sliver off on objects in the horizon. It's really small though, and I don't know "how off" it would be to be considered off.

Then it sounds like the infinity calibration is off.

To answer your question about the "how off" : well any bit of off is considered off.

Get a well defined target located at a minimum of 1km from you (a skyscraper is fine) and look at it through the rangefinder patch with the lens mount helical locked on infinity.

There must be NO offset. By no, I mean no - zero, nil.

A very slight offset at infinity will give a very sensible focusing error at the closest focusing distance.

The IIa is a very nice camera so towing it away just for this would be a pity, if the camera looks good and if the shutter works OK at all speeds.

 

[Highway 61]

Not being a Contax expert, I don't know how similar yours is internally to the Kiev 4/4a but I'm guessing they are close. In which case this page may be of help:

http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/adjust rangefinder.html

Nope, the Contax IIa has nothing to do with the Kiev which is a copy of the Contax II.

The Contax II and IIa are two completely different cameras not sharing the least screw.

 

[Vics]

The main thing is to KEEP the lens! I will receive on Tuesday an adaptor to let me mount the Sonnar on my Leica M3 (like HCB did). You could get the adaptor for LTM as well. It's one of the great 50mm lenses. So put the lens on another body ((Leica, Bessa, FSU, whatever) and put the body in a drawer, and get on Henry Scherer's wait list. The Contax is a wonderful camera after HS gets done with it. It was the choice of Robert Capa, for heaven's sake. It was the only 35mm camera Ansel Adams ever used. It's a serious piece of gear!
I have read on this forum that Essex Camera (NJ?) repair works on them as well.