Classic Contax shooters ?

df cardwell · Aug 25, 2006

Now that we're alone,
and the children have gone to bed,
pour some scotch and sit over there.

Friends,
I LOVE my IIa.

Anybody else ?

Here's a snap with the 21.

Sat the camera on the wall, set the self timer,
and drank a glass of wine while the shutter did it's job.
Then, fetched it up, and walked around the city for a while,
looking for Catherine Deneuve.

..

Uncle Bill · Aug 25, 2006

I have a IIIa with a CZ 50 F2 Jenna Sonnar, nice camera but I have not used for a while.

Bill

copake_ham · Aug 25, 2006

I have the IIIa. Also a "compatible" Kiev 4 and a couple of good lenses (they are in NYC and I'm up here in Copake right now and cannot remember - friggin' brain farts!).

Also shoot Nikon S-series so some of those lenses are compatible.

Going forward, do you think it is appropriate to talk of Kievs here?

Robert Budding · Aug 25, 2006

I had a IIIa that was restored by Henry Scherer. But I sold it when I was seduced by medium and large format. Great camera and stunning lenses!

Which reminds me - I still have a 135mm lens (also overhauled by Henry Scherer) and torpedo finder for 85/135. Drop a note if anyone is interested. It's silly to own a lens with no body.

André E.C. · Aug 26, 2006

copake_ham said:
...do you think it is appropriate to talk of Kievs here?

Weren`t the Kievs II/III assembled by Zeiss Jena works for a period of time?
Therefore... !

http://www3.telus.net/public/rpnchbck/zconrfKiev.htm

Cheers

André

benjiboy · Aug 26, 2006

I have a Zeiss Contax, I think it's a 2,( without the meter) my dad gave me as teenager that got my lifetime interest in photography started.
Andr'e, I think you're right, but I understand the mistake the Russians made was that they took the key workers, plant and tools but didn't take the glass back to the Soviet Union.

Robert Budding · Aug 26, 2006

And then there's that famous Soviet quality control!

df cardwell · Aug 26, 2006

I think we can move Kiev chat over to
Russian Rangefinder land:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Claire Senft · Aug 26, 2006

I suppose you will not tell about whether or not you found Catherine D.

I do find the old mechanical cmeras so very intereresting. I am tempted to wonder what would have happened in the 30's if modern film had been available.

It convinces me that all the auto ..focus..exposure..etc is at least as much a curse as a blessing.

magic823 · Aug 26, 2006

I miss my IIa. One of the shutter curtain straps broke so I sold it on ebay (got $350 for it with the 50/1.5 Sonnar). I'm looking to pick up another IIa or IIIa. I love these old rangefinders (although I'd love to own a new ZM).

Steve

Robert Budding · Aug 26, 2006

df cardwell said:
I think we can move Kiev chat over to
Russian Rangefinder land:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

The history of Zeiss and Kiev are intertwined. You can't talk of one without, at some point, referring to the other.

df cardwell · Aug 26, 2006

Intertwined ? How ?

copake_ham · Aug 26, 2006

df cardwell said:
Intertwined ? How ?

I agree - in part.

Short history lesson:

The Kiev line was a "spoils of war". Entire Contax factory lines from East(ern) Germany were dismantled and shipped east to the Ukraine after WWII. [Same with Leica].

So in that sense - Contax and Kiev are "intertwined" (or, better said, "related").

But it was a free for all after WWII ended. The Cold War was commencing and both the US and USSR knew that Germany had the best optics and camera gear.

The US took the patents from Occupied Germany for both Leica and Contax gear and provided them to highly-qualified "sponsored" manufacturers in what was then Occupied Japan. Nikon was "granted" the Contax patents and Canon (and others) were given the Leica designs. [This "lifting" of patents was not, shall we say, fully in "compliance" with accepted international patent law - ahem.]

It was a defensive move. The US was not confident it could "hold the line" in Central Europe in the late 1940's (and early 1950's) and wanted to ensure that it would have access to the best optics/camera designs available. If all of Germany fell to the Soviets - the US wanted to ensure it had "secured" German optical designs.

Despite WWII (and the ugly PTO ending with the A-bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima) - MacArthur quickly convinced the US Govenment that it needed to "lock in" Japan as an ally and source of mass produced, yet quality, production of key defense items.

In 1950, MacArthur was still acting as a "Viceroy" over Occupied Japan. In that year the Korean War (the first "proxy war" b/w the US and USSR broke out).

There is more than a coincidence to the fact that the Life Magazine reporters (someone here will know their names) were given access to the "pick of the litter" of the nascent Nikon production line at the start of the Korean War. Ultimately, MacArthur would run afoul of the political situation and be relieved of duty by President Truman. At the same time, the new Japanese democracy operating under MacArthur's "dictated" Constitution rightfully wanted a formal peace treaty with the US as a "price" for becoming an ally.

Quid pro quo ruled the day. And, with a peace treaty Japan also obtained nearly unfettered access to the US marketplace.

So, in the end, Nikon and Canon etc. obtained their entry into the US market and served as "substitutes" for Contax and Leica, respectively. Japan obtained its formal peace treaty and alliance with the US. Thus the "MIOJ" acronymn disappeared from Japanese camera gear and this gear gained first its foothold and then its, to this day, continuing domination in the US camera marketplace.

André E.C. · Aug 27, 2006

This is not a Soviet camera , it is a German camera, made in the Soviet Union- Seller of Russian cameras in Sweden

Cheers

André

Mark Layne · Aug 27, 2006

The Contax asembly line was actually loaded on American flatcars when the Russians kicked up a stink and demanded them.
And the Zeiss lens collection went to US but was sold as surplus and remaindered by Porters

copake_ham said:
I agree - in part.

Short history lesson:

The Kiev line was a "spoils of war". Entire Contax factory lines from East(ern) Germany were dismantled and shipped east to the Ukraine after WWII. [Same with Leica].

So in that sense - Contax and Kiev are "intertwined" (or, better said, "related").

But it was a free for all after WWII ended. The Cold War was commencing and both the US and USSR knew that Germany had the best optics and camera gear.

The US took the patents from Occupied Germany for both Leica and Contax gear and provided them to highly-qualified "sponsored" manufacturers in what was then Occupied Japan. Nikon was "granted" the Contax patents and Canon (and others) were given the Leica designs. [This "lifting" of patents was not, shall we say, fully in "compliance" with accepted international patent law - ahem.]

It was a defensive move. The US was not confident it could "hold the line" in Central Europe in the late 1940's (and early 1950's) and wanted to ensure that it would have access to the best optics/camera designs available. If all of Germany fell to the Soviets - the US wanted to ensure it had "secured" German optical designs.

Despite WWII (and the ugly PTO ending with the A-bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima) - MacArthur quickly convinced the US Govenment that it needed to "lock in" Japan as an ally and source of mass produced, yet quality, production of key defense items.

In 1950, MacArthur was still acting as a "Viceroy" over Occupied Japan. In that year the Korean War (the first "proxy war" b/w the US and USSR broke out).

There is more than a coincidence to the fact that the Life Magazine reporters (someone here will know their names) were given access to the "pick of the litter" of the nascent Nikon production line at the start of the Korean War. Ultimately, MacArthur would run afoul of the political situation and be relieved of duty by President Truman. At the same time, the new Japanese democracy operating under MacArthur's "dictated" Constitution rightfully wanted a formal peace treaty with the US as a "price" for becoming an ally.

Quid pro quo ruled the day. And, with a peace treaty Japan also obtained nearly unfettered access to the US marketplace.

So, in the end, Nikon and Canon etc. obtained their entry into the US market and served as "substitutes" for Contax and Leica, respectively. Japan obtained its formal peace treaty and alliance with the US. Thus the "MIOJ" acronymn disappeared from Japanese camera gear and this gear gained first its foothold and then its, to this day, continuing domination in the US camera marketplace.

Mark Layne · Aug 27, 2006

My favourite lenses are the Stuttgart 85 f2 Sonnar and 35 f3.5 Planar but I dont really have any bad lenses.
My 21 is on a Contarex.

df cardwell said:
Now that we're alone,
and the children have gone to bed,
pour some scotch and sit over there.

Friends,
I LOVE my IIa.

Anybody else ?

Here's a snap with the 21.

Sat the camera on the wall, set the self timer,
and drank a glass of wine while the shutter did it's job.
Then, fetched it up, and walked around the city for a while,
looking for Catherine Deneuve.

..

df cardwell · Aug 27, 2006

One of my first photography teachers, when I was a highschool kid, was in his 70s at the time, and had learned his photography in the early 1900s. He had photographs from WW1. He was a wonderful craftsman, charming photographer, and a patient teacher. He died when I was 30, and he left me his Contax IIa kit. In the 25 years I've owned it, I've followed his directions in using it. Henry Scherer rebuilt it for me. It is a wonderful camera.

I hope this little sub-forum can fill a need for the Contax shooter. There is a LOT of lore, and a great deal of information to share, that can be helpful to somebody who has found grandfather's camera, or needs to have the old Contax repaired.

Or who would like to just talk about their experience with the Contax without having threads hijacked.

Mark Layne · Aug 27, 2006

Actually Henry Scherer has my Contarex in hand at this moment.

One of the reasons I became bored with Zeiss Historica was that it was focused on history with no user activity, while LHSA seems split between user and collector. There is really more zeiss innovation out there than Leica. So all of it did not endure but the engineering innovation was superb.
Mark

df cardwell said:
One of my first photography teachers, when I was a highschool kid, was in his 70s at the time, and had learned his photography in the early 1900s. He had photographs from WW1. He was a wonderful craftsman, charming photographer, and a patient teacher. He died when I was 30, and he left me his Contax IIa kit. In the 25 years I've owned it, I've followed his directions in using it. Henry Scherer rebuilt it for me. It is a wonderful camera.

I hope this little sub-forum can fill a need for the Contax shooter. There is a LOT of lore, and a great deal of information to share, that can be helpful to somebody who has found grandfather's camera, or needs to have the old Contax repaired.

Or who would like to just talk about their experience with the Contax without having threads hijacked.

Wayne R. Scott · Aug 27, 2006

I have a Contax IIa and Contax IIIa. Here are a couple of shots with the IIa:

21mm f4.5 Biogon:

50mm f1.5 Sonnar:

Wayne

Robert Budding · Oct 10, 2006

Well, I really do miss my Contax. So I've contacted Henry Scherer - he has a nice IIa BD that I'm going to buy. Now I need to wait for a year to get it overhauled!

zenrhino · Oct 11, 2006

Where can someone buy a nice old Contax without ending up with a Kiev fake? Not that I dont love my Kiev 4a, but it'd be nice to have the real thing someday.

Robert Budding · Oct 11, 2006

zenrhino said:
Where can someone buy a nice old Contax without ending up with a Kiev fake? Not that I dont love my Kiev 4a, but it'd be nice to have the real thing someday.

I purchase Contax gear from Henry Scherer. He fully retores everything that he sells. My Contax IIIa worked as if new. Not the cheapest, though his work is superb.

http://www.zeisscamera.com/

bruce terry · Oct 12, 2006

Wayne - Heck with the lightning, that's one cute little bundle of big energy youv'e got there!

Bruce

elekm · Oct 12, 2006

There's a big, big difference between the Contax II and the IIa. Mechanically, they share no parts. Only the specs for the lens mount are identical. Otherwise, every part is different (not interchangeable from one camera to the other).

If you buy a IIa, then you can only buy a West German camera, because there is no Soviet equivalent.

The Contax II and some of the Kiev models are very close (nearly identical) mechanically.

blackmelas · Oct 13, 2006

Thanks for starting this thread Don. I love my Contax IIIa. I had Henry Scherer overhaul it, then like Robert I got a hankering for a medium format rangerfinder. I told my wife I'd sell my IIIa to fund my Bronica RF645 but in the end I couldn't do it. Luckily my wife doesn't hound me about such things. Even though it's the least used of my rangefinders (I also have an M2 and a Kiev 4) I couldn't let this beautiful camera go. I usually pick it up when to shoot outdoor photos of my daughter with FP4. I like the type of contrast the Sonnar f2 gives outside with not too much sharpness. Now, I just wish I could find a MF rangefinder that handles and shoots more like my IIIa or M2, and is inexpensive and that I could fix by myself like the Kiev.
James

Classic Contax shooters ?

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