Contax III almost working - user not quite a repairer

[loccdor]

1) All shutter speeds are accurate, except 1/250, 1/500, and 1/1250 where the shutter does not open (but it does move across the frame).
2) The rod with teeth that engages the sprocket holes sometimes skips a set of holes, about one set per film advance, causing the rewind lever to briefly not turn for a small portion of any film advance. Might lead to a frame spacing issue, need to test.
3) Collapsible Sonnar 5cm f/2 lens has a bit of stiff movement when collapsing/uncollapsing it.

Everything else in the camera seems to work, except selenium light meter of course. It's from 1941.

Are there any quick pseudo-repairman fixes I can try for any of these, like removing a couple screws and squirting a drop of clock oil, then working the mechanism a few hundred times? I can't do anything advanced or which requires steady hands based on prior experience. Thank you for your suggestions. I'm going to take it out for a film test today. I bought it for a low price that was worth it for the lens alone. Already have a fully functional Kiev-4 so I don't necessarily need the body, but it would be nice to improve it.

 

[Don_ih]

Are there any quick pseudo-repairman fixes I can try

Apart from cleaning what you can, not really. You can remove the panels inside that camera and access a lot of the mechanism, though, by removing 4 screws (I think it's 4). Be careful what you squirt in there or the ribbons might come off. Better off not squirting anything, actually.

The general advice for servicing that camera is take it completely apart, clean everything, reassemble. I wouldn't try it.

 

[Kino]

Not that camera. Others may feel otherwise, but I wouldn't try it.

 

[loccdor]

Okay I had a feeling that was the case. Thanks!

 

[dxqcanada]

No quick fixes based on your descrip ... someone's gonna have to take out the innards for examination ... its actually not that difficult.

 

[1957ExaktaVarexIIa]

1) All shutter speeds are accurate, except 1/250, 1/500, and 1/1250 where the shutter does not open (but it does move across the frame).

My 1936 Contax II has had a similar problem including the same speeds plus 1/125 sec. I have asked the well-known repairman Oleg to CLA it.
I had noted Henry Scherer's advice concerning the spring issue which produces these shutter problems. But I thought I'd give it a try though.
We'll see...

 

[loccdor]

My 1936 Contax II has had a similar problem including the same speeds plus 1/125 sec. I have asked the well-known repairman Oleg to CLA it.
I had noted Henry Scherer's advice concerning the spring issue which produces these shutter problems. But I thought I'd give it a try though.
We'll see...

Thank you, let me know how it works for you and how long it takes and I might do the same. There's a repairer who's kept my other camera for years without update now and I hear that many repairers have long backlogs.