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Spectacular overhaul of Contax+Sonnar
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 26, 2012 11:08 pm    Post subject: Spectacular overhaul of Contax+Sonnar Reply with quote
I recently gave my Contax IIa and a couple of lenses (a Sonnar 1.5/50 made February 6, 1939,
and a Sonnar 2/50 red T made February 9, 1948) to a former (now retired) Zeiss technician that Ludoo kindly introduced me to.
It took a long time to deliver, but I have to say, that this was the most spectacular camera/lens overhaul I ever had!

The camera now has a perfectly working shutter, sounds and works with the precision of an electronic shutter of today!
I am only still not 100% satisfied with the vertical alignment of range finder, so I will take it back to him to fix that too.
Here's a few test shot I made with the camera and the prewar Sonnar 1.5/50
The Sonnar used to be hazy, now it's perfectly transparent and clean, and the sharpness really splits hair in two! Wow!!
I think it's even sharper than my postwar Opton, and my Opton is really sharp!
But while the Opton is red T, this copy is uncoated! And it works without a glitch even in strong sunlight. Prewar Zeiss knew how to build lenses. Surprised

The first two photos have lots of dust and cat hairs because they were scanned without Digital Ice in order to verify the sharpness.
Which is perfectly calibrated where I focused the lens! Wow.
And note that these scans are low res, I scanned at less than half the optical resolution, in order to keep time short.
The third photo has Digital Ice applied, but in spite of that, it is possibly even sharper! Shocked
Now I have a copy to keep forever and to use as benchmark for other copies! That's for sure.







Please excuse these trivial subjects in an artistic gallery, but our anachronistic regulations force us to use the oversize gallery whenever we need to show something larger than 1024 pixels.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Definitely worth a place here, great to see superb workmanship in evidence!

Congrats


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Katastrofo wrote:
Definitely worth a place here, great to see superb workmanship in evidence!
Congrats


Thanks Bill. The camera does not show any change, but the lens looks like a different lens! I wish I had photographed it before -
now without the comparison, it does not mean much.
THe thing that impressed me more is the precision of the focusing (as long as you stop the lens down to f/2.8, if wider focus shift happens like in all 1.5/50s)
I know that he calibrated the camera with the lenses, he made really a perfect collimation... wow. Sometimes when we buy used old stuff from Ebay we are content with average calibration.
Now I know that a precise calibration really makes a difference!
All Ebay buys of old items should really be CLAd by a professional (if money wasn't an issue of course...)


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Agree, even though I had to send my little Konica C35 back again, it is well worth
the money to have a professional perform the CLA.

Amazing clarity from an uncoated lens! Shocked


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Katastrofo wrote:
Agree, even though I had to send my little Konica C35 back again, it is well worth
the money to have a professional perform the CLA.


Yes, unfortunately we often are victims of GAS, but really it would be better to buy one camera and have it CLAd by a pro,
than to buy two cameras and keep them as they are.

Katastrofo wrote:
Amazing clarity from an uncoated lens! Shocked


yes, and see picture 3? The focus is precisely where I did place it with the old small rangefinder of Contax II, it seems like I measured it
with a laser beam, I am impressed, and it was not the only shot in the roll like this, so I know it wasn't just a lucky strike.
Also in #3, the lens resolves all the tiny structures and shadings of ceramics, I get this type of clarity only from contemporary lenses,
amazing that a 1939 uncoated lens can do that, in fact it didn't before the CLA, but it does now!


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, #3 is spectacularly in focus. Did you scan these with the 4490 or were they done professionally?

Woops, you mentioned Digital ICE, so you did these yourself. NICE...

The cat hair adds character! Smile


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Katastrofo wrote:
Yes, #3 is spectacularly in focus. Did you scan these with the 4490 or were they done professionally?
Woops, you mentioned Digital ICE, so you did these yourself. NICE...


Yes that's my old scanner... but I didn't do anything particular, it's just the negative that it's super, it self-scanned Laughing
and it was a simple grainy Ferrania 200, imagine if it was an Ektar...
other negatives with the same scanner setting turned out crap, this tells me that this negative is super.

Katastrofo wrote:
The cat hair adds character! Smile


Yes! To my sweaters as well Laughing


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 12:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Was going to ask you what film, Ferrania 200, *sigh*, will miss Ferrania.

Ektar, or using slide for that matter, would be wondrous fine.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
A properly restored camera just purrs in the hand, I don't know how, but just holding one feels different. I've had some Pentaxes done and the Autocord - I still need to put the new skin on this, but it came back, well, purring Smile I'm planning to send my Super Ikonta B to a guy who specializes in these, and expect it will feel like butter when it comes back.

Those are clearly well adjusted examples... the J-9 Kiev/Contax I bought had been CLA'd previously, and the results I got had that special look of everything just locking in.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Nesster wrote:
and the results I got had that special look of everything just locking in.


Yes! Smile


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Great result from the prewar sonnar Orio.

I wonder if i have to send mine for cleaning. Currently i do not see something very wrong with it but it looks like not very sharp and if you look at the glass there is some kind of rainbow reflection despite the lens is prewar and should not be coated.

Btw what is the filter thread size - is it 41.5 mm? I'm looking for a lens shade as it flares in strong sunlight.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
std wrote:
Great result from the prewar sonnar Orio.
I wonder if i have to send mine for cleaning. Currently i do not see something very wrong with it but it looks like not very sharp and if you look at the glass there is some kind of rainbow reflection despite the lens is prewar and should not be coated.


It's a lens that deserves CLA. Both the lenses I had CLAd work much better now, and I am planning to send all these oldies that I have to CLA, when I have the funds.
If you send them with your camera, the technician will collimate the lens for infinity with your camera. That will ensure 100% precision with your rangefinder. It's this that makes the difference I think.
You should send the camera together with the lens.

std wrote:
Btw what is the filter thread size - is it 41.5 mm? I'm looking for a lens shade as it flares in strong sunlight.


All 50mm Sonnars for Contax RF, including the Jupiters, have 40,5 mm filter thread.
The Jupiter-11 also is 40,5


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ah yes 40,5 mm - I have one like this but it doesn't screw properly - i guess i have to send the lens to my repair man and also to have the filter thread fixed. About the focus it seems correct except when using it at f 1.5 on the minimum focus distance - those pictures are getting off a bit.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 1:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
std wrote:
About the focus it seems correct except when using it at f 1.5 on the minimum focus distance - those pictures are getting off a bit.


You can't do anything about that, focus shift is a characteristic of this lens.
I use this technique: I focus, then I lean slightly forward and shoot. With some practice, you will learn how much to lean.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I'm glad you are happy with the results, that man is a real magician. He managed to rebuild a few cameras for me, from broken clunkers to marvels of smoothness. As you have noticed, I think he finds aligning rangefinders boring, he did the same thing on a couple of my cameras as on yours, and I had to bring them back. Smile


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
BTW I have a few things for him to fix, if you are going back there tell me when, maybe we can manage to meet.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ludoo wrote:
I'm glad you are happy with the results, that man is a real magician. He managed to rebuild a few cameras for me, from broken clunkers to marvels of smoothness. As you have noticed, I think he finds aligning rangefinders boring, he did the same thing on a couple of my cameras as on yours, and I had to bring them back. Smile


Laughing


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ludoo wrote:
BTW I have a few things for him to fix, if you are going back there tell me when, maybe we can manage to meet.


Yes, I have to go there, I was thinking about one day after the 1st of May.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Drop me a PM when you know the date!


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ludoo wrote:
Drop me a PM when you know the date!


Sure!


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ludoo wrote:
Drop me a PM when you know the date!


Sure! I will arrange with Giuliano for an appointment, then I will let you know.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Omar wrote:
How much would he charge to clean and re-lube my Distagon 35 1.4?

The only repair shop that would fix vintage lenses said the distagon was too complicated to fix.


He's always been really cheap for people like us, but I don't what his fees are after he retired. I'm sure he will have no problems working on the Distagon.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Omar wrote:
How much would he charge to clean and re-lube my Distagon 35 1.4?
The only repair shop that would fix vintage lenses said the distagon was too complicated to fix.


I think that a lens like the Distagon 1.4/35 with it's floating element can be fixed only with the help of the Zeiss machinery.
Contax must have had a Swedish importer. Try contacting them. Here in Italy Fowa (the importer) still services the Contax lenses.
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