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I bought 2 Screw Leicas off a Clergyman many years ago -- a 1934 Model II with 1936 50mm f2 Summar and a IIIa with 50mm f3.5 Elmar which was stolen in a 'drive.by' theft in Thorpe Park, Surrey, England -- be careful in the car park if you g there ! There was a Russian 135mm f4 Jupiter and a Russian Turret viewfinder in the kit but the Russian 135mm Jupiter does not focus correctly with the Model II .  I have done some good photos with the Model II and 1936 Summar on outdated film and even did a Video about it with Prints taken with it .

You can see it here

 

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On 9/30/2019 at 12:50 AM, George Furst said:

That is interesting that you mention the difficulty of fixing the Contax shutter. I often visit Mr Kim in Seoul and see him working on the shutter of the Contax. He showed me the shutter that as you know it goes up and down and is made up of thin strips of metal joined with a thin tape. There are a large number of these in the shutter and it is not easy to fix the shutter for this reason. He does repair the shutter but he spends three of four times the amount of time then to replace the Leica screw mount shutter...

Very few places left to repair a Contax - especially the pre-war models. I’m aware of one tech in the US for Contax I & II. I’ve been on his waiting list for a few years, and it looks like at least a few more before I can send mine to him. The Contax has great workmanship and many rave about the design and materials compared to the Leica ltm, but a truly elegant design should have simplicity - and Contax was just too complex

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I suspect that spares for pre-war Contaxes are close to non-existant, as opposed to just difficult, like old Leica spares. One can 3D print replacement metal parts like I did for my Combat Graflex but it is a very expensive process, as you have to temporarily repair the broken part, scan it, have a CAD drawing made and finally a print file written, before the actual printed part can be made.The whole process cost me over £400 for a small part (the brake ring for the motor drive shutter spindle). 

Wilson

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20 hours ago, TomB_tx said:

The Contax has great workmanship and many rave about the design and materials compared to the Leica ltm, but a truly elegant design should have simplicity - and Contax was just too complex

That's my feeling too. I have a Contax IIa and while it's an interesting camera and my sample works well, I think the Leica is a better design. I don't really see the advantage of a metal shutter in the style Contax used. 

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I think the worst feature on my Contax IIa CD, apart from the “wrong way round” focussing, is the finger ripping body focus roller. I have fragile skin from the arthritis medications I take and less than 10 minutes use of the body roller will have my finger bleeding. For a film camera, I far prefer one of my M’s or R’s and if it ever comes back from service, my IIIa with MOOLY motor drive. 
 

Wilson

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I would happily sell my Contax IIa Colour Dial, as it currently works perfectly but I just don't like it very much, compared with my various M cameras, both film and digital. However, it was my father's, albeit he was not a great fan of it either other than the 50/1.5 Opton-Sonnar lens, which he thought was marvellous and I would feel really guilty about selling it. 

Wilson

Edited by wlaidlaw
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On 12/30/2019 at 8:15 PM, TomB_tx said:

Very few places left to repair a Contax - especially the pre-war models. I’m aware of one tech in the US for Contax I & II. I’ve been on his waiting list for a few years, and it looks like at least a few more before I can send mine to him. The Contax has great workmanship and many rave about the design and materials compared to the Leica ltm, but a truly elegant design should have simplicity - and Contax was just too complex

Hi,

I found a local former old Contax service that still service them. They have serviced my IIIa that now runs like a charm and they're currently servicing my IIa CD. I know I'm lucky about it but, once service, in my opinion they're great cameras.

On 12/31/2019 at 4:38 PM, wlaidlaw said:

I think the worst feature on my Contax IIa CD, apart from the “wrong way round” focussing, is the finger ripping body focus roller. I have fragile skin from the arthritis medications I take and less than 10 minutes use of the body roller will have my finger bleeding. For a film camera, I far prefer one of my M’s or R’s and if it ever comes back from service, my IIIa with MOOLY motor drive. 
 

Wilson

Hi Wilson,

I'm pretty sure that you know that once you have unlock the infinity, you can focus with the barrel of the lens. Focusing with the small teeth wheel is a pain specially if the focus is not really smooth.

I must recognize that, together with Leica, I consider the Contax rangefinders (the proper ones: II,II,IIa,IIIa) some of my favorite cameras of all times. And personally, one of the few things that I miss is that Leica didn't move to a metal shutter. May be not the Contax one but a horizontal travel titanium curtain like Nikon F would have been a great improvement in my opinion.

Best regards,

Augusto

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1941 IIIc

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Another 1941/2 111c with 1941 Elmar.

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My first Leica is also a type iii, with Elmar 3.5/50, which likely came with the camera as both are 1935 👍

The camera is very nice, I’m tempted to become a mild collector and get myself another one, perhaps in black this time.

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Point and shoot from 1936 (lens 1952)

Love it for it's size.

Cheers, Michael

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Point and shoot set from 1928. (Modified in 1932/33 in Wetzlar)

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A fairly new addition to my LTM bodies...a Tower (rebadged Nicca) from the mid 1950s. Nice features distinguishing it from its Leica cousins...a lever wind and a back opening on a horizontal hinge, much like my M2. Speeds seem on, but the shutter is a little louder than my iif, will probably get it relubed later this year and ensure it's good for another 50 years.

 

 

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7 minutes ago, spydrxx said:

A fairly new addition to my LTM bodies...a Tower (rebadged Nicca) from the mid 1950s. Nice features distinguishing it from its Leica cousins...a lever wind and a back opening on a horizontal hinge, much like my M2. Speeds seem on, but the shutter is a little louder than my iif, will probably get it relubed later this year and ensure it's good for another 50 years.

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I have the same model, and had Youxin Ye do a CLA. I see you have a Tanar 3.5 lens on it. I have the Tanar 2.8 version on a Tanack IV-S, which is much like a Leica IIIf, but with fully hinged back. Youxin seemed impressed with the Tanack construction as well. By the mid 1950s the Japanese III derivatives had gotten very good, but of course didn’t have the great VF of the M3.

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On 1/12/2020 at 12:36 PM, TomB_tx said:

I have the same model, and had Youxin Ye do a CLA. I see you have a Tanar 3.5 lens on it. I have the Tanar 2.8 version on a Tanack IV-S, which is much like a Leica IIIf, but with fully hinged back. Youxin seemed impressed with the Tanack construction as well. By the mid 1950s the Japanese III derivatives had gotten very good, but of course didn’t have the great VF of the M3.

My Tanar came with an earlier Leotax, my first LTM.  Youxin did a CLA on the lens in 2014, making it a very usable tessar lens, although it sits on the sidelines more often than it should. 

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  • 11 months later...

Here comes my full set of 1937 Leica II, all in mint condition.

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Wow! I'd never seen this thread before for some reason; some lovely things on show! I'm not about to go through all 1100+ posts but will be sure to keep an eye out for when there are updates. I'll look out a couple of snaps - both historical and current - of those few Barnacks which I have known and loved and also, if it is permitted (as it seems to be) to post images of members from their 'extended families' shall we say?

I've certainly posted at least a couple before but certainly not here and I'm not sure I've even posted many of them in the 'Historic' sub-forum at all...

Philip.

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