Would you bid on this? Contax+Sonnar 50/1,5 + 135

[Paul T.]

mmm, your point is? Only one person thought the camera looked dodgy. And in fact, early Kiev cases look EXACTLY like prewar Contax cases. They were a direct copy. The case changed to a copy of the more bulbous IIa style case in the late 50s. The 70s cases were more angular, a bit like the Leica M4 case.
Agreed, though, the $317 is a decent price, if you factor in the fact PayPal offer only a limited guarantee and use your credit card as a funding source.

 

[FrankS]

I'd say that characterizing this thread as containing "an incredible amount of misinformation" is an exaggeration.

 

[harry01562]

Most posters seem to have forgotten that the description mentions shutter problems. When you factor in a CLA with possibly other additions for the shutter, it's more like an average deal to me. Something has to be added for the additional time and aggravation to bring the camera and possibly lenses up to performance standards.

I still like the post-war Contax, and I love the CZ lenses, especially the 50/1.5.
When you see what some of them have brought on the 'bay, it brings shudders to my lowly bank balance....

Harry

 

[burninfilm]

mmm, your point is? Only one person thought the camera looked dodgy. And in fact, early Kiev cases look EXACTLY like prewar Contax cases. They were a direct copy. The case changed to a copy of the more bulbous IIa style case in the late 50s. The 70s cases were more angular, a bit like the Leica M4 case.
Agreed, though, the $317 is a decent price, if you factor in the fact PayPal offer only a limited guarantee and use your credit card as a funding source.

Well... sure, one person thought it looked "dodgy." But then nearly everyone responding after that couldn't say with absolute certainty that the camera was genuine (including you, by the way). Things like "looks original to me" aren't very conclusive... If it's real, you'll know it. Also, I wasn't disputing that early Kiev cases looked identical to pre-war Contax cases. I was replying to an earlier post that stated the case was an original Contax IIa case because it had chrome trim, which Kiev cases didn't have. In fact, Kiev cases DO have chrome trim, once you get into cases made for Kievs like the 4a. Though I'm sure you already know this, since you repeated everything I already stated... LOL!

And in case you are wondering, I'm just giving you a hard time ;-)

Does this thread contain a lot of bad info? Yes. It does. "Incredible" might have been a bad word, lets make it more politcally correct with "noticeable quantities." Feel better now?

One more thing. Even if the camera was given a "Henry Scherer" CLA (you know, because he's the only man on Earth that God gave to the talent to for restoring vintage Zeiss cameras), at about $245, the camera body still only comes out to $345. An incredible deal if you think about it, in comparison to current values of similar Leica offerings from the same period. Best part, you only have one window to look through for viewing/focusing!