Can a Flash unit for Contax T be repaired?

neilt3 · Aug 19, 2021

Most common reason for a flash to not fire on a camera is because the contacts on the camera body need cleaning .
A tarnish / oxidisation layer builds up over decades of non use and prevents effective contact between the camera and flash .
Try cleaning them with rubber on the end of a pencil .
As already mentioned , you can also use a peice if wire to short the contacts on the flash directly to check if the cameras at fault .

AgX · Aug 19, 2021

wiltw said:
The contact in the middle of the hot foot is ordinarilty the Tringger pin of almost all hotfoot flashes.

The edge of the foot is either metal, or plastic with an electrical contact...the Ground

Short #1 to #2 to caus the flash to fire (assuming flash ready light is illuminated)...what I said in post #15

You misunderstood.
The flash in question is not a generic flash but a proprietary one, similar for instance to the one dedicated for the Olympus XA. And thus got proprietary contacts and maybe actuator.
The camera in question does not have a hot shoe.

Don_ih · Aug 19, 2021

In this flash, the locking screw might be ground and one of the pins might be hot.

wiltw · Aug 19, 2021

AgX said:
You misunderstood.
The flash in question is not a generic flash but a proprietary one, similar for instance to the one dedicated for the Olympus XA. And thus got proprietary contacts and maybe actuator.
The camera in question does not have a hot shoe.

Thx for that.
OP, does your flash look similar to this?

The underside of the above flash unit looks like this...

and the two contacts are clearly visible as the two protrusions (contact pins) on the underside of the foot that slides onto the camera and locks in place.

removed account4 · Aug 19, 2021

wiltw said:
Thx for that.
OP, does your flash look similar to this?

The underside of the above flash unit looks like this...

and the two contacts are clearly visible as the two protrusions (contact pins) on the underside of the foot that slides onto the camera and locks in place.

that's not the flash
https://www.cameramanuals.org/contax/contax_t.pdf

wiltw · Aug 19, 2021

jnantz said:
that's not the flash
https://www.cameramanuals.org/contax/contax_t.pdf

Well, thanks to your inclusion of the user manaul, looking thru that one can see on page 56 that there are THREE pins on the flash unit that make contact with the camera.
That makes it tricky to tell which two to short together. A voltmeter detects voltage on the pin, but is that votage due to ready light display in the camera, or is it the Trigger pin?! Best guess is separation of Trigger from Ground, so shorting the two outermost pins would be my first guess.

fabulousrice · Aug 20, 2021

wiltw said:
Well, thanks to your inclusion of the user manaul, looking thru that one can see on page 56 that there are THREE pins on the flash unit that make contact with the camera.
That makes it tricky to tell which two to short together. A voltmeter detects voltage on the pin, but is that votage due to ready light display in the camera, or is it the Trigger pin?! Best guess is separation of Trigger from Ground, so shorting the two outermost pins would be my first guess.

I have solved the issues and posted about it (and thanked you and the other guy for the advice!). All's good Have a good day!

wiltw · Aug 20, 2021

fabulousrice said:
SO... I ended up making it work!!
Many thanks to Agx and wiltw - and everyone else whose knowledge about such things is mind-blowing!
After leaving the flash unit powered for long enough, the "Flash ready" light came up and the flash fired. The second time around, it was a bit faster to charge.

I'm probably still going to sell it, but not "for parts" and for a much different price! Thanks a bunch fellow users

You will be inherently limited in the sale to a Contax T user whose flash quit on them! Probably require a fair amount of serendipity for that to happen.

Film-Niko · Aug 21, 2021

fabulousrice said:
SO... I ended up making it work!!
Many thanks to Agx and wiltw - and everyone else whose knowledge about such things is mind-blowing!
After leaving the flash unit powered for long enough, the "Flash ready" light came up and the flash fired. The second time around, it was a bit faster to charge.

I'm probably still going to sell it, but not "for parts" and for a much different price! Thanks a bunch fellow users

Congrats!
Great to hear you have been successful with the help of the forum.
Just some additional information: If in the future you have some repair problems with Contax or in general electronic cameras / flashes just contact Pierro Pozzella:
https://pppcameras.co.uk
He is a "repair wizard" and is able to repair cameras other repairers refuse to work on.

Can a Flash unit for Contax T be repaired?

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