Pentacon FM

[bob955i]

Acquired this beauty the other day.

Body works but really needs new shutter curtains and the lens could do with an internal clean.

[Attila]

Looks beautiful! Congrats for your purchase! What is this camera value, I saw one in local shop?

[Orio]

A true beauty! I want one!

[bob955i]

Thanks Attila and Orio - I got the body and lens for 60 GBP but I don't know what the Contax/Pentacon line are really worth. According to Rick Oleson, they all generally need new shutter curtains by now and this one was no exception as although one curtain has only two pinholes and could probably be rescued by sealing them, the rubber on the other one has started to crack at one side.

I was more interested in it as an alternative M42 body to my Bessaflex as it can take the older lenses with the rear "nose" and still work, unlike the Bessa....

As an aside, the Biotar 58 that's mounted on it can, I believe, be mounted on the 5D and it doesn't foul the 5D's mirror because the lens doesn't have the rear "nose" that the presets have, although I'll need to check that to be sure.

If it does, then I'm laughing as I always wanted to be able to fit at least one of the Biotars on my 5D.

[Attila]

This wasn't bad price 30 GBP for body and an good Biotar 58mm a bargain. Congratulation!

[bob955i]

I'm waiting on the Aki-Asahi shop to get back to me about shutter curtain material as we speak.

Thankfully the Pentacon FM is easier to work on than the Exaktas....

[rick_oleson]

Nice camera! I'm glad people are continuing to rescue these. I think the FM is the nicest of the Contax/Pentacons....

[bob955i]

Thanks Rick.

And thanks also for providing the body disassembly and shutter replacement notes on your site.

Mr Asahi has got back to me about shutter curtain material so with any luck I should have the old Pentacon re-curtained fairly soon - it actually works fine apart from the curtains being cracked/pinholed.

[rick_oleson]

i may have some more detail beyond what's on my website (can't remember for sure)... if i haven't already sent you some of that stuff, email me at rick_oleson@yahoo.com and i'll send you what i've got

[montecarlo]

Hello,

Congratulations. I too, consider that its beautiful camera.

[rick_oleson]

Basically, yes, it's because the shutter is made of rubber coated cloth, and with age the rubber gets hard .... but the great majority of the best shutters are made of rubber coated cloth, and not all have the same problem to the same degree. The material used in East German cameras in the 1950s seems to have this trouble more than average: I have replaced curtains in Contax/Pentacons nearly every time I've encountered one, and somewhat less in Exaktas, Praktinas, and Praktisixes. Leicas of the same age seldom seem to need curtains, nor generally do Japanese cameras (although Japanese cloth shutters of that age are not as common to begin with). I've been doing this for over 20 years, so if it was just a matter of age the cameras of the 60s and 70s would be starting to show the problem by now... but they don't. So basically I think it was an East German material supply problem during that period. Some of the Russian Zorkis and FEDs also have the same problem.

The mirror in the Contax/Pentacon, like all other SLRs of its day, comes back down when you advance the film for the next shot. This is not a problem in using the camera, but be careful not to leave it in the sun with the shutter released as the lens focuses the sun right onto the shutter curtain. I drove home from work once with an Exakta lying on the seat next to me, and had a hole through the curtain and halfway through the film by the time I got home.

[montecarlo]

Thank you very much for the explanations.