The new work “Disassembly” by the Canadian photographer Todd McLellan is really inspiring to me. Todd approaches himself to vintage technical objects in a special way. He dismantled a typewriter, a Pentax camera or an old Clock and arranged the disassembled items in a somehow very organized or very dynamic way, seen on the photo with the clock.
The items reveal their essence, their functionality. In times of highly integrated digital devices, it is quite fascinating to look at the complexity of mechanical items, such as the analog Pentax Camera above.
My personal favorites are the “flying apart” Clock because of its dynamic and the typewriter because of its aesthetic. I think we will get to see certainly more interesting works from Todd in the future.
Here are some impressions of a nocturnal walk through Berlin with the trusty Contax RTS. Optic was a Carl Zeiss Distagon 2.8/25 mm.
The automatic exposure with aperture 8 and 200 ASA at the Berliner Dom brought an exposure time between 20 and 25 seconds. The Contax built in 1975 was doing its job, as you can see, quite well.
Cause of this little photo tour was the Festival of Lights in October 2010. Numerous buildings in the city were illuminated.
The numerous tourists with their little digital plastic flash cube cameras could not detract from the overall impression of the photos. However, how they managed to shoot a building like the Berlin Dom flashing with those cameras in their hands, will probably remain a mystery forever. Tripods are probably out of fashion.
Enthusiasm all over when they look at the 2-inch displays of their Digicams, the disillusionment probably came later. The festival is to be recommended, not only for photographic reasons.
Seeing this photo one stops breathing.It is the front lens of a Leitz Summicron-M 50 mm in a more than horrible condition, usually a total loss.But what is usual in this unusual world?How can this happen?Well, the technically totally unskilled owner of this lens wanted to quickly remove some fungus, no big deal, done in a minute.
A “good” tip for this work from the Internet was quickly found, vinegar.Should remove the fungus quick and safe.The result can be seen here, the acetic acid was pleased to find nice coating, the result is probably something like magnesium acetate.Now this unfortunate victim is here in the lab, let’s see what we can do.
Lightweight semi-polished, look still worse, this should be a lens? At the moment you cannot see anything, only some ctappy light.
Oops, a first reflection can be seen with rudimentary details.Maybe the lens can be saved, hope is there.There are still plenty of coating rests on the glass.
In fact, the details become clearer.This strange piece of glass starts behaving like an optical lens.Whether and how it goes further on, success or fail, coming here soon.
We primarily restore Zeiss cameras, especially the Contarex types, Contaflex TLR, all Contax rangefinder, Super Ikonta, the Ikoflex, Super Nettel, Tenax II and other high-quality Zeiss devices.With the Rolleiflex, we mainly work on 3.5/2.8 F.
We offer polishing and recoating of optical lenses.
LTM Leicas can also be repaired and some Linhof types.If interested inquire via mail service@classic-camera.de or phone ++49-2305-922928.
Servicing the Contarex
The Royalty, it was probably in the naming of Contarex Zeiss, a word with construction loan from the Contax, which set new standards even in 1932 and was a synonym for luxury and for technical perfection and development.
With Rex in its name the Contarex presented the claim to surpass even this.The result was one of the most expensive, heaviest and most complex SLR cameras of all time.
No wonder the Contarex is affectionately called “repair mans hell”, and that should be taken literally.Not for reckless contemporaries.Is the restoration of the Contax shutter already a skill (especially with the Contax I), we can say the Contax is compared to the Contarex journeyman, although a complex one.
For all these reasons, any Contarex for restoration is an individual decision.Whether it can be fixed or not, the problems will be examined in detail to see if restoration is possible or if the camera will be rejected. The spare parts supply is a real problem (especially for Crex SE), a certain stock of spare parts is indeed available.
All Contarex types and the Hologon Camera can be restored, also most of the Contarex lenses.After complete restoration the camera can be used in every way just like the one shown below. Contarex Super with Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 80-250 mm.
And after a professional restoration everything works smooth …
A complex and well built piece of photographica, the Zeiss turret finder 440 from Zeiss Stuttgart. Was built on customers choice, one could choose the focal length he needs.
This one had the focal lenth 21 mm built in, hard to find and useful for the Biogon lens.
Due to age there are often problems with the glued prisms inside. You can see it on the photo.
This is fixable and brings your finder back to work.
Here are a few numbers, which help to illustrate the complexity and the precision of a Contax rangefinder.
80 holes with an accuracy of 1/100 mm have to be drilled into the housing of the camera at the beginning of the manufacturing. With other construction units the precision rises up to 1/1000 mm. Over 500 individual parts were produced, they were controlled at least four times. These numbers apply to the Contax I, with the Contax II it were over 650 parts already.
This immense level of precision is at the same time curse and benediction. An overhaul, 70 years later, can succeed only if one takes the Contax philosophy of absolute precision seriously, otherwise it will fail.
So what do you think, is it possible to solve technical problems in a Contax by the use of cheap Kiev spare parts with low quality?
Some people who look for the quick buck do think so, you can find the cheapest Contax on eBay and the worst. When customers send in cameras they have purchased there with wonderful optics and some “really small” technical problems, it often comes out as a nightmare, compared to cars they bought a nice looking Mercedes-Benz with some parts of Fiat and Toyota in it. In the past years I found about 80 percent of this “nice” rangefinders to be tuned, most of them in an optical condition 9, inside filled with wrong spare parts, often parts missing.
A thorough analysis showed the mess, here are some examples::
Contax III:
Complete exposure meter of a Kiev 3 built in Selenium cell of a Kiev 4, soldered with colored plastic cables
Contax II and III:
Complete Kiev shutter inserted and “modified” Brake of the lower drum “modified” Lamellas exchanged, wrong yoke Wrong ribbons, too thick (russin made)
“Glued” Sonnar lenses, not to be opened any longer without destruction (what might be in there?)
Noticeable as well, beside wrong parts used there are parts missing, especially on the shutter. Who cares about a spring more or less, there are so many. (sarcasm off)
But now back to the sunny side of life, what can be done to bring a Contax back to service and beauty. A lot so far.
In case of missing parts there is a large collection of parts cameras available, so no problem, restoration can take place with authentic parts.
Sonnar lenses can be checked quickly via adapter on a professional digital scientific camera.
Testing of the overhauled camera with shutter speed tester and of course, as in the old times, with real analog film.
A complete analysis of the camera in photos, now you can learn about the mistery of your Contax.
Complete Kiev shutter inserted and “modified” Brake of the lower drum “modified” Lamellas exchanged, wrong yoke Wrong ribbons, too thick (russin made)
“Glued” Sonnar lenses, not to be opened any longer without destruction (what might be in there?)
Noticeable as well, beside wrong parts used there are parts missing, especially on the shutter. Who cares about a spring more or less, there are so many. (sarcasm off)
In the year 1950 a genuine piece of “High Tech” comes from Stuttgart, the Contax IIa is there. Easy to identify as a successor of the Contax II, it is nevertheless a complete reconstruction. Same with its sister, the Contax IIIa.
No more headaches in terms of Contax copies, these are unique. The two Cameras are built in a more compact way, especially the IIIa looses height compared to the Contax III. The lenses of Contax I – III can be used on these new rangefinders with two exceptions.
The PreWar Biogon 3,5cm does not fit. Same with the PostWar Biogon from East German production, it is a simple copy of the PreWar Biogon.
What can we expect now today, if we take a Contax IIa or IIIa, either as a collectors item or for photography, suitable still today.
Contax IIa und IIIa:
Particularly after long storing and not using the camera it might be optically in really excellent condition while technique does not work. Usually the slow speeds of the shutter are not present, cleaning will help. Same with the selftimer mechanism.
Another problem that is special with PostWar Contax are not working high speeds. In speeds from 1/250 to 1/1250 it does a nice click, but there is no exposure on the film. You can easily check this, take your Contax without lens and back, hold it against a strong source of light and fire, for example 1/500. Chances are good you see no light, only darkness.
These can be fixed as well and shutter speeds can be adjusted.
A further possible problem is the vertical deviation of the rangefinder, can be fixed. The Contax itself is a genuine high quality camera, built by specialists with high-quality material, a good basis for a restoration anyway.
The last point are problems with the optic of the camera, Zeiss Bumps are often found. These belong not only to PostWar Contax, PreWar Contax have them as well.
Even before the Contax II in 1936 saw the light of day, the Zeiss Ikon family grew by three more quality cameras, which also belong to Contax family. We begin here with the Super Nettel, which ended 1934 at the start.
The Super Nettel is indeed a folding bellows camera, their affinity for the Contax is obvious. It has a vertical-travel metal blade shutter as the Contax, and the removable back wall remind her sister.
The Super Nettel came with fixed lenses, which were in the range 2.8 / 5 cm, and the Tessar 3,5 / 5cm Tessar, in 1935 as a cheap alternative was added another 3.5 / 5 cm Triotar. The camera has two openings for insight and e-finder diameter, the closure time is from 1 / 5 to 1 / 1000 sec off. The release button is like in the later Contax II on Top.
In the spring of 1936 they released the Super Nettel II, this was even more chrome and reminiscent of the Contax II The Super Nettel II is a coveted and rare collector’s item was purchased with only 2.8 / 5 cm Tessar.
The Super Nettel is not a cheap production, it is very high processed and can be still used for photography in general, at least after a complete overhaul.
How were the Zeiss Ikon cameras of this era of high precision absolute quality products at all, a quality that will last for generations and which we know no more today.
The word “breaking point” was the Zeiss engineers hardly a notion that you built, cameras could be inherited through generations calmed.
Other nurses the Contax next to the Super Nettel, the TLR and the Contaflex Nettax.Both cameras will be described in later chapters.
The Contaflex is certainly one of the most remarkable miniature cameras ever built.De facto, they could be described as “two-storey” Contax.She appeared in 1935.
Also in 1936, shortly before the Contax II, saw the light of Nettax the photographic world.Also from this report will be more later.
Although not building only TLR cameras under the name Rolleiflex, those became the trademark and a synonym for 6 × 6 TLR cameras in general.
The history of the brand begins in 1920 when a businessman and a technician set up the company Franke & Heidecke.In hard times, good conditions, but both the commercial side as well as the technical are well occupied in this company.Mr. Franke and Mr. Heidecke should write camera history for decades.
When there is not such a balance, in case a domination in the technology, it can quickly lead to problems, as documented in the late period of the Zeiss Ikon.An engineering company that is dedicated to the technically feasible (Contarex) and not to the economic numbers will soon reach their limits, now it’s history.
The production of the first prototype began in 1928 Rolleiflex, in 1929 the TLR started their conquer from Braunschweig into the world.The Rolleiflex has a committed fan base, which for decades was thrilled by the many models.Even today, the Rolleiflex pleased with friends classic photograph of a great popularity, high-quality properties such as the 2.8F and are 2.8GX and tele-and wide-angle Rolleiflex Rolleiflex quite popular and well suited for photography.
From the view of the restorer the Rolleiflex TLR is primarily a machine of high quality design and craftsmanship.I’ve restored several Zeiss Ikoflex and can say from experience that only the Ikoflex Favorit can compete a bit.
The problems that can occur at a vintage Rolleiflex are the same as with other classic cameras.Old lubricants can lead to problems, the error can be fixed by cleaning well.The transport mechanism is rarely a problem, this also applies to the index.The counter and the transport mechanism of Ikoflex cameras is a much bigger problem.A special feature that struck me at the Tele-Rolleiflex.With three different cameras each had a similar looking Heidosmat separation, the Sonnar was always OK.As a friend of the classic Contax one is a burned child in terms of separation.
The Super Ikonta is a family of very high quality cameras with bellows rangefinders, even some younger models with light meter.These cameras were built starting 1934 until 1960.They come in various sizes, from 4.5 × 6 × 6 and 6 for 6 × 9 cm to 6.5 × 11 cm.
The modern models from the 50s are definitely looking for user cameras, but also a 532/16 can be a really nice 6 × 6 camera for use, if you are able to use it appropriately.
The Super Ikontas came with fixed lenses on offer were generally Tessar, but also Novar and Triotar were used.Various closures, depending on the model of the Super Ikonta, were used as Compur, Compur Rapid, Synchro Compur or Klio.Focal lengths are different depending on the format.
In principle, each camera system, one or several weak points, by design, as a rule, these errors often show only after years or decades.The Super Ikonta (530/16 and 532/16) in a 6 × 6 format has a weak point in the lift mechanism, many cameras of this series have this problem, which makes them unusable without restoration.
The 6 × 9 cameras, it looks clearly better.All in all, but all Super Ikontas built so high, which always offer restorations.How ever the value of a camera determines the possibility is still 50-70 years later to perform repairs.Compare a super Ikonta with an ordinary or a Ikonta Nettare and you know what I mean.
As for the lenses, so you can achieve with an uncoated Tessar Prewar very good results, the fully coated Zeiss-Opton the 50′s were already beyond doubt. With the Super Ikonta one hand you have a piece of technical perfection from early times, on the other hand, a working medium format camera, which gives the joy of photography knowledgeable in the work.And one thing seems clear, in the age of megapixel madness is 6 × 9 cm negatives or slides are still an order of magnitude for themselves.
