Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/03/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi LUGers, Sorry this is a bit off-topic, but many of you are experienced at getting old cameras repaired, so I thought this would be the place to ask. I have a (circa 1958) Contax S which, you may remember, was the very first production SLR camera ever made. On this particular example, the Contax name was burnished off and a plate riveted onto the pentaprism on top, with the engraving: "Hexacon". There is also a ring in the lens barrel (a 58mm F2 Planar with the most amazing bokeh -- really, really distinct), which also covers the lens' original markings, which said "Carl Zeiss Jena". You can still barely make out parts of the letters. The covering ring just says "CZ Jena". On the bottom of the camera is stamped "Made in Germany USSR occupied". Very interesting. My father purchased this camera new in New York and we suspect that this it was possibly a black (or at least grey) market import. I know that at that time, the Carl Zeiss Jena plant had been moved to Russia, and there were still a few stragglers left in Jena assembling the S from parts that were still left around after the Russians carted everything off to the Soviet Union. Perhaps that's why this S had all the original Carl Zeiss and Contax markings burnished off. But I digress... The cloth focal plane curtains in this camera are losing some of thier (rubber?) backing, and you can now see light through the cloth. I want to get this thing rebuilt, lubed, etc., but all the local shops just look at it with a blank stare. Can any of you folks recommend a repair shop that can handle an old, classic Contax like this one?