The Super BC arrived today - and it is in excellent condition (the less tasteful of us might be tempted to use the term "minty"). I don't have a battery to test the meter or automatic expo. modes, but using manual settings everything works perfectly. Only issue is the missing take up spool... might be able to use one from an Exakta? Haven't tried yet.
The viewfinder is remarkably bright for a camera with TTL metering.
Sorry, missed this post. An Exakta spool might work. I use a Varex IIa a little bit and have noted the similarity to the Zeiss one in the past. Certainly worth a try, otherwise one from a spent 35mm canister may also be a possibility.
When one considers the 50mm Tessar is a f/2.8, the brightness of the finder is doubly impressive. All the Tessars fitted to the Contaflex range, right back to the original are decent performers. But in my experience, those late ones are real sharp. You may find yourself using it more than you expected to.
Check the usual len shutter things, but also the aperture stop down to make sure it's not sticking. When you get a battery, cross check that by using a constant light source, and adjusting the shutter speed/ASA to verify that the f top changes accordingly. There's a decent chance it will all be working well. Watch the aperture ring when manually setting exposure. Those markings rub off fairly easily. The little plastic grip at the 6 o clock position is an essential item if you don't want the f stop numbers to disappear!
One point not often inspected is the shutter/capping plate timing. Wind the camera slowly with the back off until the capping plate has only just seated fully. Stop winding but keep a constant pressure on the lever as spring pressure will make the mechanism back off very slightly, otherwise. Then, examine the lens shutter blades. With the unit focus models, especially the later ones, sometimes the plate can run a little late and you'll spot a pinhole opening at the shutter blades. Naturally if the camera is wound in bright light this can give some fogging. Later Contaflexes ran pretty tight timing between the plate and the shutter, so with some use, occasionally, the plate can lag enough to do this. The front cell models had much more conservative timing, and I don't think it could ever be an issue with those. There's an easy-ish fix for the issue if it manifests itself. Let me know, if you need more details.
The 35mm & 85mm Pro Tessars are excellent. With the late cameras, they are at their best, and are worth picking up.
Cheers,
Brett
