Very thorough and professionally done video. It answered my question about the aperture ring / focus ring interaction and that it's best to select aperture while at infinity lock. Thank you.
Beautiful camera and well done video. Its nice to see such a clean example. I have several of these along with a Leica IIIc IIIf & IIIg, all great user cameras. But the Contax has something the Leica's just don't. Perhaps it tactile, or the single view/rangefinder window, or the lack of a spinning shutter speed dial that I end up touching and ruining exposures. what ever it is Its really too bad Contax didn't continue to develop this camera, as I think they had a superior product. For those who have a Kiev and like it, you really owe it to yourself to get your hands on a Contax IIa or IIIa .
I've a Kiev 4m which I really quite love and have considered picking up one of these since. Just far more interesting and functional to me than a Leica. Truth be told, I'm not a huge RF person, but I do enjoy them for snap shots out and about. All of that plus these old IIa models are just stunners. Beautiful.
Agreed. I love the excellent but quirky engineering. They feel just right in your hands and have perfect weight. There's just something about these old cameras that have a certain aesthetic feeling that I like. I hope to find an old Leica that I can afford one of these days.
The workmanship of these gems is just marvelous,a shame Zeiss didn't any Evolution till the manufacturing time,athough there have been prototypes with an improved viefinder.
Hey Bob, I have a 1936 Contax that was restored. Is the rewind nob the same nob? I shot a roll of 35mm film today and am trying not to ruin it by rewinding the film back into the canister improperly! Thanks!
@@rlevitta I found it shortly after leaving this comment. You do use the left knob, but you also press a release button on the bottom right side of the camera to release the spool lock.
I've got a Contax ii with a stuck Biogon 3.5 cm f2.8 on. Any idea how to release it. The 3.5 cm have similar mount as the 135, it mounts "outside" the mount
I can only tell you how the 135 comes off - press the locking lever on the lens (assuming it has one) and turn it to the right (clockwise.) It doesn't click into position if you move the lens all the way to infinity, so I don't think that matters. However, it wouldn't hurt to try moving the focus to infinity. I hesitate to say that you might be not using enough force - being careful of course. I've found with these old cameras that having the right tools is important but I have no ideas on what that might be in this case. Improvising is usually necessary. Only an old time camera repairman would have the exact thing. There are actually some repair guys around. I would think that something kind of gizmo like an oil filter wrench - except smaller. Maybe a pipe clamp and a pliers? Or just using a thin sheet of rubber for traction and your hand. The kind of thing you might use to get the top off of a jar. Good luck.
When using the "normal" lens, the viewfinder shows (more or less) the field of view. For other lenses, you use an auxiliary viewfinder that fits in the shoe on top of the camera. I show it starting at about 1:50 of this video. It has frame lines on it for lenses other than the 50. There's a manual at www.cameramanuals.org/zeiss_ikon/contax_iia.pdf
+ToddB987 I don't own a Leica - one of these days - so I can't make comparisons. The Contax IIa makes great photos for a 60 year old 35mm camera. I like how these old cameras are made and how they feel in your hands. Unfortunately, they were made to be unobtrusive so you could use them on the street, and when I use mine someone always comes up and says "hey - I used to have one of those" so not so unobtrusive anymore :)
I have the Contax IIa, the M3, the IIIf, and the Nikon S, S2 and SP all with matching lenses and comparing them is quite interesting. For a long time Zeiss lead the RF market and the Ikon system was considered to be superior to Leica's offerings at the time. Having Ansel Adams and Robert Capa on their list of happy clients certainly didn't hurt. For me it comes down to the lenses more than the functionality of the bodies. The Sonnars have their distinct aberrations that give a sort of dreamy look. The early screwmount Leitz lenses have this to some degree but they're more corrected from the get go. Great microcontrast and great bokeh. The Nikkors are definitely tuned for more contrast overall. Some Sonnar glow but very sharp and also possesses great bokeh. You can see differences in wet prints and scans. They're all good. 😀
Thanks for the video!!!! My version has a yellow tint to the viewfinder. Do I need.to have the viewfinder cleaned, or is this what I should see when looking through the viewfinder?
Mine has a yellowish tint as well, with a clearer focusing rectangle in the center of the view. I know that many rangefinder viewfinders had a tint of some kind - to make it easier to differentiate the focusing patch from the rest.
I have heard the earlier IIa/IIIa cameras used gold-coated beam splitters in their viewfinders while the later ones used platinum-coated ones. The former viewfinders had a greenish tint but were easier to focus while the latter had no color cast but were a little harder to focus.
Pretty camera. I have one just like it, but its a paperweight. Shutter sticks at slow speeds, but hangs up (or something?) at higher speeds and no exposure takes place. its tough finding someone who can work on them.
