Zeiss Ikon Contaflex

Shahin said:
Thank you very much for your help Brett,
I took a look at the camera and did not find a X like I have on my Contaflex IV.
The good news is, that my flash is fully manual and on my current iso400 film I
only have to set it on f8 and 1/60s and I am ready to go.
I hope the results will be good. :D
Click to expand...
You can even get some interesting effects in low light. Faster shutter speed=darker background, and you can 'drag' the shutter by using slower speeds
 
Contaflex II on ebay ends soon...

Contaflex II on ebay ends soon...

For the benefit of anyone who is in the market for an earlier Contaflex, there is what sounds like a really sound example currently offered on ebay, ending in just a few hours. It is a Contaflex II. This version is very similar to the original Contaflex I and is fitted with a front cell focussing version of the 45mm Zeiss Tessar f2.8. The principal difference between the I and II models is the addition of an uncoupled selenium light meter. The one in the listing is the earlier version of the Contaflex II with the dual range meter as denoted by the two small slots in the light meter cover. Zeiss Ikon model number 862/24.

As I have previously mentioned in this thread, it is quite hard to find a fully working example on the big auction site. Most sellers, even, sadly, professional camera sellers, frequently seem unable to competently inspect and test these cameras for full working operation. Using the same Synchro Compur leaf shutter design as a Hasselblad 500C, they have the potential to be equally reliable, but because they are at a price point that rarely makes it economic to have them professionally serviced, few will work well when acquired, regardless of the seller's claims. I have personally acquired about eleven various models over the last few months, and the only ones which arrived as described, was a batch of five a seller sold to me which were described as not working in his listing!

So if you are in the market for a good early Contaflex, I think this one is definitely worth a look.

I must stress that I have NO connection with the seller. I am in Australia, he is based in Ohio, and I have merely noticed the listing, as a regular observer of Contaflex sales. If I did not already own two other examples of the Contaflex II, I wouldn't be saying a word about it on the forums, as I'd be bidding on it myself. . .

Anyway FYI guys, and here it is.
Regards
Brett
 
I have a question :D

how big can the printouts from the nagatives, shot with the contaflex S be ? is 50 x 70 possible?
 
OOOOOKKKKK I found out myself and printed one of my pictures in 30x45cm an it is very good, nothing is lost. :D
I also bought new equipment: skylight filter, green filter and UV-Filter for my Contaflex and i am looking forard to see what they will do for my photos.

Do you have any experiences with filters on a analog camera?
 
I know the difference between a tessar and a planar from zeiss, but what is the difference in picture quality?
THX :D
 
Hopefully there still are some Contaflex experts around.

I just was given a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex with the fixed Tessar 45mm 2.8 lens. It looks like it fires ok but I noticed that when I focussed through the finder on an object about 4 meters away the scale on the lens said 1 meter..!

Guess I can try a roll with scalefocussing but does anybody know if you can adjust the viewfinder yourself?
 
Roel said:
Hopefully there still are some Contaflex experts around.

I just was given a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex with the fixed Tessar 45mm 2.8 lens. It looks like it fires ok but I noticed that when I focussed through the finder on an object about 4 meters away the scale on the lens said 1 meter..!

Guess I can try a roll with scalefocussing but does anybody know if you can adjust the viewfinder yourself?
Click to expand...

I would trust the ground glass, not the focus scale.

You can check the groundglass against the film by using a piece of scotch tape over the film rails. Focus in the finder, open the shutter on the B setting, and see if the focus on the tape matches what was in the viewfinder. For accuracy using a piece of ground glass is better than tape, but you might not have any lying around.
 
Here are some tips on adjusting the mirror in a Contaflex II.


DSCN1024_2 by br1078phot, on Flickr
Remove Mirror Adjustment Port Cover


DSCN1019_2 by br1078phot, on Flickr
Mirror Adjustment Screw
There is a locking collar around the mirror adjustment screw.


DSCN1025_2 by br1078phot, on Flickr
Mirror Adjustment Tool Making
Made this out of a Security Screw Removal tool by lengthening the slot.


DSCN1021_2 by br1078phot, on Flickr
Focusing Aid
Tape a piece of plastic cut from a blister pack, put some frosted tape on one side, then place it in the film plane with the frosted tape towards the lens. Set aperture on maximum opening, and focus the lens at infinity.


DSCN1028_2 by br1078phot, on Flickr
Mad Scientist!
It helps to have a good magnifier to see the image on the frosted tape. After you have assured yourself that the lens is properly focused at infinity, reset the mirror. Then while looking through the viewfinder, make sure the image in the split prism agrees with the infinity setting. If not, loosen the locking collar on the adjuster, and turn the adjuster one way or the other until the image in the split prism lines up. Carefully tighten the locking collar on the mirror adjuster so as not to disturb the setting. Making a visual reference as to the orientation of the slot in the adjuster will let you know if it moved while locking it down. It might take a couple of times to get it right.

Good luck!

PF
 
Roel said:
Hopefully there still are some Contaflex experts around.

I just was given a Zeiss Ikon Contaflex with the fixed Tessar 45mm 2.8 lens. It looks like it fires ok but I noticed that when I focussed through the finder on an object about 4 meters away the scale on the lens said 1 meter..!

Guess I can try a roll with scalefocussing but does anybody know if you can adjust the viewfinder yourself?
Click to expand...

That's quite some discrepancy.
As already suggested, inspection through the lens using a ground glass over the film rails both at infinity and close up is the first thing to be done. Don't touch the mirror adjustment, until you are sure it needs correction.

The first two models of Contaflex Tessar are fundamentally different to later ones in their lens focus design. In order to access the shutter both the focus scale ring and the lens front and centre cells have to be removed.

Following on from that if you have a considerable deviation in the actual focus distance and what the scale says (and I regard from one to four metres as a substantial error), perhaps the scale ring has been incorrectly re-installed. It has to be rotated in order to access the fixing screws for the infinity of the front cell adjustment. It may have been simply incorrectly positioned when it was fastened. Can you get a good infinity by rotating the lens as far in towards the body as it will go?

Alternatively, perhaps the mirror adjustment is OK and focus of both the film and viewfinder are out, because the front lens cell was not correctly started at the right point of the focus helix. The clue to this being, of course, that whilst the film focus and viewfinder focus may both be off, they will agree with each other and be off by the same amount (pointing to the actual lens, as the only common component to the focus of both, being the problem).

It is best to mark the positions of the rings before the front lens cell is removed as this makes correct alignment on re-assembly a formality. If the problem is with the lens alignment, it is not a complex procedure to dial it back in, merely tedious as you may need to make several trial assemblies to get the helix started correctly and the focus and scale rings set back to the correct relationship. But you can dial the helix in by itself without the other rings fitted to start with so it's not so bad.

There was a good thread recently in the repair forum about an early Contaflex that I commented on, with some photos. These may also help.

Be warned that these can make all the right noises and sound like the shutters are firing well even when they're not. I've personally bought around 25 examples of all types on line, most of which were said to function well. Of those 25, two got a clean bill of health on arrival, including one that wasn't said to work... Unless it has been cleaned, the odds of proper function are not good, although it is almost always only evaporated lube that stop them, actual breakages are rare and they were made to a high standard with many quality metal gears instead of strings or pulleys or plastic drive parts.

So take the back off the camera, hold it up to a light, and fire the shutter at 1/500-f/22. You should see a very small pentagon flash. The set it to one second-f/22. When the shutter opens, the aperture should already be completely stopped down. If you can see the size of the lens opening changing after the shutter blades open, the aperture is faulty and the blades require cleaning. This is not as hard as many people believe but perhaps not a task for the beginner in camera repair.

Check all of this out and then get back to us, but these points should give you something to get started with.
Cheers
Brett
 
By the way, does it have a selenium meter on the front left of the body? If so: it is a Contaflex II. If no meter fitted, it would be a version of the original Contaflex, retrospectively known as the Contaflex I. It will be one of these two; only they had a 45 millimetre version of the Tessar f/2.8. All subsequent Tessar models were fitted with standard 50mm version of the Tessar f/2.8 and featured unitary lens focus.
Cheers
Brett
 
The Contaflex is a great and under appreciated camera. I have two. They are well made, all metal, but small and light, a bright viewfinder, and the Tessar lens is very good. The only downside is the shutter is loud.
 
I find the Zeiss Ikon line of cameras in general to be very confusing. There are so many different things to consider, lenses and bodies and version and models.

I've been eyeballing a Contaflex for a bit to add to my collection of shooters and it's a confusing world. I've read through this thread and everyone seems to have a specific preference for which one with certain lenses on them etc.

Is there a nice list of say the top 3 that are the best choice along with an approx value in USD for current market... for a fully working Contaflex?

I've been browsing eBay but many dealers these days are getting flakey with their listings and instead of taking the time to fully test each camera, they just say "AS-IS" and maybe fire the shutter once. No one seems to take the time to test the aperture, check the speeds, test meters, etc anymore. It's not that difficult to do, but I think they skip it because they know they can toss a possibly not so great camera on there for say $50 and sell it knowing that they can just say "Sorry, as-is" when it doesn't work.

I'd like to spend under $100 USD for it, shipped. Is that a good budget? The Zeiss Ikon stuff just has this air to it, a reputation, and the prices tend to be all over the place as a a result. It's not nearly as bad as looking at Rollei gear but still, can be overwhelming even to someone who has an eye for things.
 
alienmeatsack said:
I find the Zeiss Ikon line of cameras in general to be very confusing. There are so many different things to consider, lenses and bodies and version and models.

I've been eyeballing a Contaflex for a bit to add to my collection of shooters and it's a confusing world. I've read through this thread and everyone seems to have a specific preference for which one with certain lenses on them etc.

Is there a nice list of say the top 3 that are the best choice along with an approx value in USD for current market... for a fully working Contaflex?

I've been browsing eBay but many dealers these days are getting flakey with their listings and instead of taking the time to fully test each camera, they just say "AS-IS" and maybe fire the shutter once. No one seems to take the time to test the aperture, check the speeds, test meters, etc anymore. It's not that difficult to do, but I think they skip it because they know they can toss a possibly not so great camera on there for say $50 and sell it knowing that they can just say "Sorry, as-is" when it doesn't work.

I'd like to spend under $100 USD for it, shipped. Is that a good budget? The Zeiss Ikon stuff just has this air to it, a reputation, and the prices tend to be all over the place as a a result. It's not nearly as bad as looking at Rollei gear but still, can be overwhelming even to someone who has an eye for things.
Click to expand...
Early ones are light, compact, almost pocketable, but you get a fixed 45mm lens, although a Teleskop accessory extension was available. From the C III a unit focus 50mm Tessar was fitted with interchangeable front components known as Pro Tessars giving 35mm, 85mm, & 115mm focal lengths. These share the same middle and rear optical groups as the standard 50mm. It has been often said that this is a compromise design compared with, Eg. Voigtlanders discrete lens design used in their Bessamatic. This is true, but do not make the mistake of lumping the Pro Tessars into the same category as the many optional or third party accessory lenses available for Eg. Many range finders of the 1960`s or earlier. They were designed by Carl Zeiss specifically for the unit focussing Contaflex and feature as many add five or six additional elements in the Pro Tessar alone to optimise performance. Wide open I have found the corners of the 115mm a bit soft at infinity, but stopped down it is quite OK. The 35mm & 85mm Pro Tessars are quite sharp at any aperture as is the standard 50mm.

Best buy? Well this depends on your preferred focal length & how you like to set exposure. If you love a focal length of 45-50mm you may find the very compact early front cell focus CI or CII and manual shutter & f stop setting a good fit.

If you would like the added flexibility of interchangeable lenses models from the CIII on accept Pro Tessars. The Super introduced a coupled meter and f stop setting via the unique front thumb wheel. This is the most common Contaflex model (most common of all German lens shutter 35mm SLRs actually). Personally I find it slightly less appealing because the full range of EV is restricted by the ASA selected and the meter coupling range. In practice this means that, if, for instance, the meter is set to ASA 400, when the sun sets, you will have to set the ASA down to Eg. 25 if you want to used Bulb & f/2.8. An d vice-versa at the other ednd of the EV scale...this is not a deal breaker of course, but but I do prefer a camera that does as it is told.

The Rapid is a no fuss model, no meter, lever wind, quite collectible and rarest of all. It has an EV coupling if you can live with that. It took me a while to find mine.

Later models have meters. The Super B, Super BC & S all offer shutter priority auto exposure via auto aperture coupled to the built in meter. Super B has an accurate selenium
cell to actuate the auto exposure system. The Super BC & S are essentially the same model with badging & cosmetic differences and use a CdS TTL system to provide auto exposure.

The Super B & BC/S all offer manual aperture control via the aperture ring on the lens mount as well. Be aware that for reasons known only to ZI, the built in meters of those models are activated only when the aperture ring is set to the red "A" automatic position. This makes them quite frustrating to use manually as it is necessary to shuffle the ring back and forwards between "A" & your preferred f stop if you want to use the built in meter and set exposure manually. Both for this reason and my preference for incident readings I employ a hand held meter most if the time instead.

The one later model that fully couples its built in meter full time is the relatively rare New Super. Essentially a Super B without the shutter priority auto exposure function, this is a conventional manual exposure camera the selenium meter of which is always "on". These, I think, are a good thing, even if they do not have the TTL ability of the Super BC/S.

All models from the original Super onwards can also be fitted with optional magazine backs permitting mid-roll changes of film without forfeiting a single frame (Ie, just like the Hasselblads that inherited the Contaflex version of the Synchro Compur shutter can). I use three such magazines weekly for B &W, C-41 & E-6, and they have performed flawlessly. I think you would agree that for a 35mm SLR, this is a very cool feature &, together with the full set of Pro Tessars and superb quality Zeiss Proxar lenses for the standard 50mm, gives me a compact, versatile kit able to tackle 90% of general photographic activities.

Of course being equipped with a lens shutter, electronic flash sync is available at any shutter speed, a wonderful feature for daylight fill. There is no dedicated mirror lockup system, however setting the self timer pre-fires both the mirror and rear capping plate (shutter), resulting in a near total absence of vibration superior to *any* focal plane shutter.

There was also a cheaper line of Contaflex models fitted with standard Pantar three element lens and cheaper reflex Prontor shutter and their own parallel range of interchangeable lenses (shared, in their case, with certain ZI rangefinder models) . These are often little, if any, cheaper than superior Tessar models so I see little incentive acquiring them unless you are gifted one, or it is very cheap.
Whichever model you prefer, the not-entirely deserved reputation these superlative SLRs have for complexity makes it unlikely you will find an example that has actually been serviced, and like any other 40-60 year old camera fitted with a Compur shutter, they will not appreciate this. I've done so many now, I can (just about) do them in my sleep, and a couple of other RFF members can also attest that they are not nearly as hard to work on as conventional wisdom dictates. However finding someone in your location with a similar perspective may not be so easy and most repairers will refuse to touch them.

Today, these quality SLRs are commonly regarded as a technological dead end. Having just sorted my first (and, it must be said, possibly my last) Exakta, I've experienced, in no uncertain terms, the shortcomings of 1950s focal plane shutters. Viewed in the proper historical context, ZI had some very sound reasons for pursuing the lens shutter SLR configuration, however as a result of the vastly improved reliability of newer focal plane shutters this point is often overlooked. Perhaps controversially, I rate the ahead of Exakta in several ways including reliability and durability as nothing more than a CLA will usually see them returned to as, or near-new, operation, and most Exaktas today will require a darned sight more than that...
Cheers,
Brett
 
Brett, thank you for the long, detailed summary! It will help me make a decision for sure.

It appears that the "Super" versions are all priced past my budget for this camera so I will probably look at the older ones. I am a huge fan of 40-50mm lenses anyway so this works out nicely.

I've been scouring eBay since reading your post and there are still a lot of cameras with a lot of descriptions there to weed through. I keep hoping I'll stumble into one in person so I can lay hands on it and play/test it!

Thanks again for the time you took to type all that out, I appreciate it!
 
Unfortunately the lube on my Rapid's focusing helicoid has turned to the consistency of almost-set epoxy. Don't have the cash right now for a CLA, but someday....

I welcome any suggestions on loosening the old girl up a bit.
 
My dad used one frequently as a walk around camera (in the 80s and 90s)
The Tessar is amazing
The bodies are cheap, but desilvering of the prism is common, as are gunked up Compurs
I personally like the early cameras for their size (45 Tessar, no metering) and the Rapid (no BS, just camera, BYO light meter)
Who CLAs them? My dad has a pile of them with dead slow speeds
 
Sarcophilus Harrisii said:
By the way, does it have a selenium meter on the front left of the body? If so: it is a Contaflex II. If no meter fitted, it would be a version of the original Contaflex, retrospectively known as the Contaflex I. It will be one of these two; only they had a 45 millimetre version of the Tessar f/2.8. All subsequent Tessar models were fitted with standard 50mm version of the Tessar f/2.8 and featured unitary lens focus.
Cheers
Brett
Click to expand...

Thanx guys for the tips!! Will look tomorrow if I can do something.
My Contaflex is the Contaflex 1. No meter.
 
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