Contact part ii

Ok while that shutter is out we can get to the rest of the camera.

So lets take a look at the front … time to clean the focus helicoid part. The Contax used a design were the focus mechanism of the 50mm lens is on the camera. The large focus wheel turns a helicoid in the body that moves the lens.

The front part (whatever you want to call it) is held on by four screws, note the top left one is short …. and another note, that there may be shims so keep an eye.

You can now pull this off the body.

Slowly turn the focus helix out and note its position when it is released … this will give you a hint when you put it back on.

Clean off the old grease, give it a good clean with a toothbrush.

Put on some new medium helicoid grease.

Now back to the top.

Take off rangefinder cover and other metal pieces … lift off the rangefinder tube and rangefinder windows … clean

Before putting focus part back in, lock it at infinity … then adjust the rangefinder focus with a really far away object.

OK, so the below image shows a new strap has been put on … and thinking about this further I really should have replaced both … another thing I forgot was to note the distance of the curtain opening.

Ok, so I was too busy putting this back together to photograph the process … so oh well.

Now, if you had removed the top curtain roller make sure that you had reset the shutter as noted by Richard Haw before you put it back on … very very important.

Wind up the tension on the bottom curtain … again Richard’s notes … follow them to set/test the shutter. If it looks OK then put some more turns on the lower roller … test the speeds … then put it all back together.

For those of you working on the Kiev versions you will find them similar … for those with the later Contax models, then things will be a little different.

Contact … II … part i

Ok, so this is my take on cleaning up the Contax II. I was really just following Richard Haw’s posts on doing this … so I will skip some images as he already described it and also done a better job at instructing … so go and look there also.

Ok, from the top.

Take off rewind knob, note the circular spring washer underneath. Under that are two screws that hold top plate on that side.

Film advance knob … the inner part with the shutter release button … remove three outside screws. Ok, flip over to drop out the inner disc (note the inner ring has a dot that is at 4 o’clock), and shutter release button (there is a spring under it).

The winding knob is attached with three screws, remove. Now you are left with the speed dial scale (1250 is at 7 o’clock). Two screws … there will be a couple of washers under it.

Take off the top plate … and there is another top plate.

Second top cover … remove the one large screw on the right, then take off the film counter disk.

Yeah, that picture shows the top is still there … just ignore that . Front side … bottom two screws under the lens mount. Top of the bezel right two screws are shorter then left … last screw is under the leather bulge.

Lift up off the bezel from the bottom, and pop off.

Put aside the viewfinder frame and rangefinder glass window.

Remove the back film cover, and flip camera upside down.

Two large screws on both sides … not that little one. note that one screw under the advance side has a different head shape

Ok, flip back up … hmmm, that one gear probably would have fallen out by now.

Flip to expose the back remove the four long screws … the longer ones are on the left. take of the rear cover and you will have to work it off around one of the sprockets

Sooooo, in the above image you will notice that the right side ribbon is not attached … hmmm.

Ok … hmm, I keep saying that … back to the top … remove the one large cog (though as I mentioned before it probably has already fallen out at some point) under it is a brass screw to be removed … left side beside the viewfinder large screw remove. then on the far right a large brass screw

Again … flip to the bottom there are two large black screws to be removed.

Now you can remove the shutter assembly … wiggle it out.

You should pull up off the baffle from the front, unscrew the rest of the protective cover two on top two on bottom.

Now to removing the curtains … the top roller on the left there is a slot on the pin. Turn it a bit (it is not screwed into anything) and then use a screwdriver on the other end to push it out … you have to get screwdriver in there around the gears.

The bottom curtain loosen the screw with the spring attached (do not remove it or damage the spring) … refer to Richard Haw on this for more detail as I did not have a good image of it. Turn the c type plate under it so it disengages from the roller pin … the roller will spin releasing its tension

You can now work on the shutter ribbons

ZI Contax II

Everyone wants a Leica …. well a camera was needed for Zeiss lenses to compete with the Leica I rangefinder 35mm roll film camera. So Zeiss Ikon made the Contax I, it was born in 1932, the same year as the Leica II.

This first version got another version, the Contax II in 1936 after ironing out all the initial faults. Hubert Nerwin was the designer of the Contax II rangefinder. He was the chief designer at Zeiss Ikon in the 30’s, and later in time was the creator of the Kodak 126 film cassette.

The Contax was designed to be technically superior to the Leica cameras. It had a combined viewfinder and rangefinder … bayonet mount, removable back to load film, and high speed metal vertical shutter.

Some things to compare with the Leica … the shutter speed dial does not turn when with the shutter and it is is incorporated with the winding dial. The viewfinder is larger so easier to see through and the back is removable. A focus helix in the body that is used specifically for the standard lenses (that little wheel is used to change focus) … an it used a variable slot shutter so both metal curtains move as one.

After WWII the Soviets moved the Zeiss Ikon Dresden Contax factory (with the tooling and drawings) to the Arsenal factory in Kiev … and thus begat the КИЕВ KIEV. The Kiev 2 and 3 used much of the original stock parts.

The west German Zeiss Ikon Stuttgart plant had to make new Contax cameras from scratch, the IIa and IIIa where released in 1950.

[note that I forgot to put the self timer lever before taking this image]

I got this one in really crusty condition (as you can see there is a lot of wear and corrosion that could not be fixed after I cleaned up). It also noted a broken curtain tape, the lens glass was not clean and aperture was frozen.

Zeiss an icon … umm, Ikon

Well Zeiss is a name we all know, they make lenses … but they are also involved with cameras. Zeiss had their fingers in many other companies, mainly to have them use their optics.

In 1926 four different camera makers merged to become Zeiss Ikon … of course Zeiss was a major stake holder. This became a powerhouse in Germany for camera’s.

Zeiss’s website has a history page that goes over this in brief if you want to read more, and a illustration.

They later absorbed more companies to become the biggest camera companies in Europe. After WWII the company split up … which is typical of all the German manufacturers.

The last camera was the Zeiss Ikon ZM 2004 made by Cosina.

Well you probably guessing which one I have one.