Contax II and III shutter curtain restoration.

[Milandres]

Being familiar with the Kiev rangefinders (Contaxes made in the FSU) I had no reservations about buying a cosmetically beautiful Contax III with a broken shutter.
I was confident that I could fix it.
Upon disassembly however I found that the leather strips alongside each edge were disintegrating.
Perfectly understandable for a camera made in 1937.
How to fix that ? I was stumped. Searching the web for a solution yielded nothing.
A lot of info on replacing the shutter tapes but nothing on the leathers that I could find.
Having never before posted in a photograpy forum I tried registering in the Ragefinder Forum to ask for help but was rejected, believe it or not, because there was no online evidence of my interest in Photography !
I am sure I have been messing with photography since before the administrator of that site was born !
This forum on the other hand appears much more welcoming to new members.
Back to the Contax, at least temporarily I installed a Kiev shutter while I hopefully restore the original one.
Thanks to this topic (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
I started considering options such as monofilament line in place of the leather.
I must remind you, these leather strips are extremely thin and narrow, in the order of 1mm wide and 0.1mm thick.
Because of my desire to restore this camera to as close to original condition as possible I decided I was going to try to reproduce those leather strips.
I can now report that it is perfectly feasable ! In fact it is a lot easier than it appears.
I will be attaching a little guide with some images.
I hope this helps somebody and it helps preserve this wonderful camera.
Milivoj

 

[Milandres]

Restoration Contax Shutter cont.

The first image shows the little tabs on the sides of the curtain after being pried open.
I used the tip of a sharp scalpel to get underneath the tabs and bent them up 90 degrees at the most. In hindsight only about 45 degrees or so is needed.
The old disintegrating leather strips fall out on their own. They are not glued at all.
The second image shows what the strips look like.

 

[Milandres]

Restoration of Contax Shutter Cont.

The first image shows a piece of leather off of an old wallet. I think it was cowhide. Most importantly it was thin and in good condition.
What type of tanning and what animal species it came from it's possibly important, reaction with brass, durability etc I will leave to somebody else to figure out.
Next image shows how I thinned out the leather
using a handheld boxcutter blade. There is a certain knack to it but anybody can do it.
Disclaimer: I still have all my fingers but ymmv. Don't cut yourself. It is a very sharp blade.
Milivoj

 

[Milandres]

Restoration of Contax Shutter Cont.

First image shows the cutting of the strips.
Next image shows the strips with the desired dimentions of 1mm in width and approx .1mm thick.
The one in the middle is the original one.
The 2 on each side are the new ones.

 

[Milandres]

Restoration of Contax Shutter Cont.

First image shows the fitting of lhe leather strips and the last image shows the end product.
I must say the repaired curtain feels exactly like the original. Very supple and it drapes around the roller beautifully.
Now to mount the shutter adjust the speeds !
Thank you for your time.

 

[Xmas]

Should also be valid for a contax I.

Seen it on web before only difference was instruction to only bend tabs just enough to clear. probably Henry Scheerers site.

I use zip lock bag and cardboard box when I get stuck, after I give up googling.

I've got Kievs with broken shutter springs, they arrive in zip lock bags, Kievs and Contax work best with low tension and barest trace of fine oil on bearings.

Me mum operated a forge from she was ten. I only got taught to cook.

 

[Milandres]

"only bend tabs just enough to clear"
That is so right !
I bent them up too far and it was very difficult to bend them back neatly.

 

[Xmas]

Neat is less critical than broken off --
I'm impressed.

 

[Milandres]

Well, it is done. My first Contax restoration.
Everything turned out well, all speeds working.
Took a lot less tension than my Kieves and the winding is so effortless !
Not bad for a $100 find in an antiques store. Including the lens, which incidentally is an early coated version.
According to the shop owner the camera belonged to an old Swedish gentleman.
Now to shoot some film !

 

[Pioneer]

Leather is longer lasting than many believe.

I have owned and used pre-war Contax cameras with these leather strips in place and have never had a problem with them. One of these cameras has been serviced within the past 10 years so may have had them replaced, I don't know. But, to the best of my knowledge my second one has not had any service for a very long time, most likely since it was manufactured. They have both been very reliable, more so than my Leica LTM cameras of similar vintage.

 

[Milandres]

I'm sure durability of leather depends a lot on storage conditions for the past 80 yrs or so.
The leather strips that fell out of this shutter were quite brittle and dry.
It might be kosher to use man a made material in these curtains.
After all nylon strings replaced gut in the Spanish guitar But the antique collectible guitars from the 19th century are never strung with nylon.
One concern I have is whether the type of tanning process of the leather that you might use
could react with the brass slots. Isn't that what causes the infamous Zeiss bumps ?

 

[Knjy]

Bravo, great work Milandres. Another Contax myth bites the dust. These cameras are proving themselves to be great survivors and here is another example of how a renewable part can mean a further 80 years of fine pictures.

 

[Xmas]

Leather is like cuts of meat at the grocery store. Some are tough as shoe leather, some are not. And the only way to find out is to buy it and take a chance.
Some leather bags, like the 50's style gadget bags have totally fallen apart. There's no way of knowing if you ended up with a good long lasting piece of leather. That's why my reticence of it. And those tabs. Surely you get one bending opportunity, if you're even THAT lucky. But when THIS leather goes, there's going to be a real problem.

If you use leather you know which animal to use which part and how to post process.

Think the slats from a Kiev are compatible other wise it is cannibal.

My benser bags are holding up well...

 

[Pioneer]

Most of the old leather camera and gadget bags I own from the 30s, 40s and 50s have come apart because the stitching failed or the leather tore at the stitching holes. Very few have dried out to the point where they cannot be rescued.

Although storage conditions certainly have an impact what I find most interesting is that leather seems to hold up pretty well if it continues to be used. Like most parts in cameras, if they are regularly used, instead of being put away and forgotten about for years, they hold up pretty well.

So take that wonderful Contax off the shelf and go take some pictures!

 

[Milandres]

For the sake of completeness if you bear with me, I would like to share a couple of things I noticed while working on this Contax shutter curtain.
First, the brass of the curtain slats, the tabs specifically, felt quite malleable and at no time did I feel that I was near the fatigue point. One of the tabs I bent skewed and had to do it over with no problem.
I wonder if their extreme fragility is simply hearsay.
Second thing I noticed was that without the leather strips holding the curtains in one piece, you can slide off individual slats. It's hard to explain but each slat hooks onto its neighbors by means of a hinge like groove along its length. You just slide one onto the other starting on one end. It's quite amazing really.
What this means you could transplant a single slat from a donor curtain if you had to.

 

[Xmas]

It is not often there is a problem with the leather ribbon. Lots if other problems are more frequent.
Although complex they are modular and easy to repair.
Id suggest starting with a Kiev the spares are easier.