Hello, I recently purchased a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex Super B w/50mm 2.8 Tessar along with the three supplementary Pro-Tessar lenses: 35mm f3.2, 85mm f3.2, and 115mm f4.
All are in excellent cosmetic condition but as is known with these cameras, the controls are all sluggish and in need of a CLA. The Pro-Tessars could use some lubrication on the rotating lookup scale on the lens barrel.
I've scoured the internet searching for sources to send the camera to but cannot find anyone on my own.
Can someone recommend someone who might be able to work on these? I have read that the Super B is a "B" to work on 🙂 and a lot of folks won't touch it.
Thanks for you help!
Hi,
first the focus calculator rings on the Pro Tessars. I don't usually suggest this with a normal lens but the Pro Tessar rings are just a rotating collar, they don't connect with anything inside or outside the camera, they just spin around, no helical, nothing, really, so, if they're particularly stiff a little lighter fluid to clean them, and if necessary a small drop of oil or two. The lenses are well sealed externally (they have no internal focus, so they're completely enclosed). No risk of any damage whatsoever with sane amounts of suitable lubricant on the rings. But if you get some solvent behind them they probably won't even need that.
As far as the Super B is concerned, well, I think it's a pussycat. The bodies of all the Contaflexes are well made and pretty reliable. Problems under the top cover are not entirely unheard of but they're uncommon. Whenever these fail to run correctly it's always the actual shutter that's the issue. Which, when you think about it does make perfect sense. The reflex shutters have a few extra parts and the blades have to stop down automatically, but the essential parts like the escapements, cocking rings, main spring and it's drive and actuating levers, flash sync and timer are all entirely conventional. I'd have to check the part numbers to prove it but I'd be amazed, honestly, if many of those items were not also shared by other non-reflex shutters of the same size and period. And in any other camera with a Synchro Compur (rangefinders, Rollei TLRs, Voigtlanders etc) you are going to have the shutter giving the same sorts of problems as a Contaflex will. Granted, the Contaflex one does have to open when it is being cocked, and yes, non-reflex ones don't have blades that must move rapidly to stop down. But despite that the issues a Contaflex will usually have are just the same old age-related lubrication connected ones that any other Compur camera is going to have.
So, if you can reach the shutter OK (and you can fairly easily with a Super B) then it's not so hard to clean it and get it running nicely.
Don't be too fazed by all the auto exposure stuff. The tricky parts live under the hood and, as long as the meter cell works you shouldn't need to go in there. The coupling to the shutter aperture is via a drive keyway to a key that protrudes from the rear of the shutter. It literally disconnects by itself when you remove the shutter and lens from the body and slides back in easily on installation. It's been ages since I did a Super B but as I recall one of the (dozens) of running changes they made was to ditch an actual gear pinion for the drive from the body to the shutter cocking and release, and switch to a lug and socket or key type connection. It might be possible to put the lug on 180 degrees out (or not, it has been a while and there are lots of different models), and, if so, it will look just fine because in typical Zeiss fashion it will be almost symmetrical--nearly perfectly but just enough not to work if it goes on wrong way around. So even taking the shutter/lens out is no big deal if you note some basic details about the engagement between lens and body. Earlier models used a splined coupling and gear on the back of the shutter, with those you can get the timing off a tooth, no real drama, as you will know if you do, the later ones are easier as they slot into place or they don't.
Getting the three screws out for the shutter and lens from inside the back of the camera can be tight access wise, you definitely have to have the lens to infinity to get the best access to the screw heads. The worst thing you can do is to take out the shutter and then move the focus ring and change the relationship between the inner and outer helicals, this sets the infinity focus. Worry about that if you take the shutter out, but the easy fix is to note the precise installed infinity height by precision measure (depth gauge, vernier) so if it's disturbed you can restore without trial and error. You may be able to unscrew the middle lens glass (it comes out the front) with a simple rubber tool or not. The ease of removal can vary widely. Some are little more than finger tight. Others can induce a great deal of invective. In the worst cases you may need to purchase a lens spanner of the collet type with which to effect removal. Don't even be tempted to try gripping the lens mount with any conventional set of friction grips, pliers etc. The mount materials is very soft and easily distorted. The top of the middle lens mount also supports and locates the rear of the interchangeable front lenses in position. If you mangle it on removal it won't just be a cosmetic issue, you'll probably have lens alignment problems and might even be unable to lock the front lens components into position on the bayonet. So invest in the correct tools to do the job right, if required.
Early model unit focusing Contaflexes had a locking screw or pin to precisely locate the middle lens cell. The first unit focus Contaflex, the III, uses a very small locking screw to both locate the cell in the correct rotational orientation and also to secure it. The first Super model changed to a simple pin with an offset eccentric head. There's a small chamfer on the inner diameter of the middle mount. To get those out you use a toothpick or small piece of hardwood to rotate the pin around and clear the pin head. It will then simply slide up out of its hole with tweezers. From memory I think the Rapid is as per the Super and uses a pin. The early models even had the serial number of the matching front 50mm Tessar lens stamped into the middle lens mount, making it easy to verify at a glance that the interchangeable front 50mm standard lens is the original one for your camera, a nice touch. But the new Super, the Super B, and Super BC/S (same camera, different badges/paint) dispensed with the locking pin or screw altogether, and do not show the serial number of their original 50mm front lens.
The main issue you have with the later models such as a Super B will simply be persuading the middle mount to unscrew if it is recalcitrant. I prefer shooting with the surprisingly sharp recomputed 50mm lenses of the late models, but as you may appreciate, in certain respects, the older Contaflexes were better made. Aperture and shutter markings were simply printed onto the rings of the versions after the Super/Rapid. I don't use my own Super B any more, even though it works perfectly. I prefer to set exposure manually, and I used it so much, I wore the aperture numbers off the ring! If you always shoot in "A" using the shutter priority auto exposure (which does work very well) you will not have this problem. But there are small plastic grips on the aperture ring at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions, and if you tend to set your aperture manually then they're important features. I must admit they're not the fastest SLRs with which to set your f stop as one tends to have to pinch the grips with thumb and forefinger to rotate the setting ring. But if you don't want to wear away the printing, it's what you have to do. It's how I shoot with my Super BC, and I've used that a lot without harming the markings. But older models featured engraved setting rings and these will never rub away. Each edition of the Contaflex has its own peculiarities. My personal favourite is the second or new Super.
There are copies of the factory manual for the Super B and new Super available online for around the twenty-odd dollar mark, I have one, worth getting for some basic reference information, sounds like you may want a copy as it is the definitive reference source for the models. I don't think they are anywhere near as bad as people say, actually a really early original pre-shutter change model has unique details and is I think the worst of the lot. Jon Goodman would disagree, he thinks the early models are much better to work on, I prefer the later ones, perhaps we're both right.
I wouldn't recommend a Contaflex as a first repair attempt for an inexperienced repairer but they are nowhere near as bad as most people say IMHO. Let me know if you get stuck.
Cheers,
Brett
