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Manual Focus Lenses Forum

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.

Explore the world of vintage lenses through repair notes, real test shots, and detailed archive threads packed with images.
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Zeiss Ikon Contessa
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 5:17 pm
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Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 5:17 pm
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 2:24 am
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 2:24 am
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My sisters and I were just going through our late parent's things and found one of these, my father's. Several years ago I had asked him about this and we looked for it to no avail. I had used it a little back in the seventies till I purchased my own new SLR (a minolta).

Finding this gem( Whoo Turtle ), I'm wanting to have someone go through it and make it ready to run again....

Anyone have a suggestion as to who to send it to?





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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 7:20 am
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 7:20 am
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What's wrong with it?


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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 1:11 pm
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 1:11 pm
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lucca1x wrote:
What's wrong with it?


The viewfinder is very dirty and I would like it gone thru by a knowledgeable person as its 60 odd years old so I can use it without worry or problem (hopefully.)


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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 8:43 pm
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Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 8:43 pm
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I recently had one serviced by Chris Sherlock in New Zealand. It needed rangefinder realignment and a good cleaning of the viewfinder. He did a brilliant job.
His email is:retinarepair@gmail.com
His main repairs are for Retinas, unsurprisingly.


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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 12:47 pm
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Posted: Tue Mar 15, 2022 12:47 pm
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I have most of the non-folding Contessas and they are reliable and good cameras.

I bought one of the folding ones on a whim to complement the Ikonta35 I had and it is a wonderful camera.
Everything the article says is true, a few notes:

- Mine is the 1st version (1950-53) the Compur-Rapid shutter and a W serial number, thus made in 52/53 before the change to the version with the Synchro-Compur (1953-55). Also the shutter was old school speeds 1-2-5-10-25-50-100
- 45mm is a perfect focal for me, and the Tessar is a great lens close down above 5.6
The iris has 9 blades, making an almost perfect bokeh all the time.
- Speed and aperture rings are packed very close to the focusing and is easy to screw up any of them while trying to focus
- RF patch is bright, and clean, I guess the use of a prism instead of mirror makes it longer lasting
- Mine is the american version, with distance in feet and ASA in the film speeds
- Having to manually cock the shutter makes me slow down, but works fine
Also dont forget to move the film counter to diamond before loading. Otherwise least pictures will have weird spacing.
- Lightmeter is operational and it seems to be very close to a handheld for EV 7-13 (ISO100) with gate open (black) and EV 11-19 with gate closed (green)
Mike Elek has easy instructions on how to fix this selenium meters
- This thing is heavy! But balances really well and is easy to hold.
- Film wind and rewind are clumsy for this day and age, but not dissimilar to other cameras of this vintage (Agfa Solinette, Voigtlander Vito)
- Previous owners really cared for the camera, is clean and the case has been restitched and repaired, as well as the leather strips have been replaced

Contessa 35 (~1952)
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