What luck that you bought my camera and got the old girl working again. Now maybe she will have a couple more decades ahead of productive photography. These two videos should get a lot of views as there are still quite a few Contessas out there. I have to say it is still one of the best looking classic cameras out there. Thanks for buying and fixing it.
I have been in exactly the same sort of predicament as you, taken a camera to bits, put it back together exactly the same way and one tiny thing was out of synch which threw the whole thing out. took hours and hours to get the thing sorted, but I did it, and now have a vast respect for camera and watch repairers, they certainly earn their money! Subbed!
These cameras are at least 60 years old and the grease from the focus mechanism seeps into the rest of the shutter gluing up the shutter blades and the aperture blades. A quick solution is to put a bit of lighter fluid on the blades to help them break free from the old grease..never use wd40 and never put oil in these. If you want to see a professional at work watch Chris sherlock on his Kodak retina CLAs. The only true way to service these so they provide another 60 years of service is to completely strip them down and give it a thorough CLA. I have been servicing shutters for years now and the difference when they are fixed again is beautiful. My last two cameras recently fixed are a retina iiic which has a silky smooth wind on now. These repairs are not for the faint of heart and springs have a mind if there own and will vanish just by looking at them. These cameras are well built and don't really go for much money. I just received 10 different models of these all working but need a service. Good luck on future repairs and if you get the big buy the right equipment. Start on something cheap and as your experience grows you can fix more expensive ones.
Thank you for the insight. I did run a roll of film through the camera after these videos and the shots were all blurry. Thought the focus was off. After some tinkering I noticed that the shutter was taking way too long to close... obviously getting stuck, just like you mentioned. I did attempt to dismantle the shutter, clean it with lighter fluid, and reassemble. BUT something is out of whack in there. Work has had be too busy to get back into the project. But summer is around the corner and I plan to do some video watching and taking another crack at it. This camera is too nice to have sitting on a shelf!
@@tomzook when I was a student I dismantled two cameras and they were in a shoe box combined. My teacher gave me a box of photographic paper for them as he reckoned he could rebuild them! Over the years I've made mistakes but I enjoy taking a leaf shutter to pieces and rebuilding it. Once you have done one the others get easier. I'm lucky to have bought a small part of a large collection in Denmark and had them shipped to France where I reside now. They have not been messed about with like some that I've bought in the past. I highly recommend doing a search on here for chris Sherlock and watching some of them. The shutters in the retinas are also found on other cameras. I've written to him several times and his help saved the day. Good luck. Take your time and never force anything. If you need any help just message me.
